Nellie’s Barn Sale

So- I’m just NOW getting to catch my breath and start to recover.

It was an inCREDibly busy 2 months getting ready for Nellie’s.
But that was NOTHING to—
Wednesday- 
all the LAST MINUTE to-do-lists,
loading for the show, and the EXPERT SKILL of fitting it ALL in,
(in, on, behind—picture coming!)
Thursday-
the LAST, last minute packing,
the nerve-wracking drive there with an over-loaded van (no joke!),
getting laughed at on arrival for the CRAZY load,
OFF-loading & setting up.

See that sloping hill?  THAT was our challenging space.

Friday-
a BIG storm in the early hours that totally messed with us
the first morning and beginning of the show.
THAT was followed by temps in the 90’s & 100% humidity,
A N D- I lost a BIG sale when my Square card reader decided
it needed an update in the middle of processing!
(and she didn’t have enough cash or a checkbook available)

A scoop of FAT ELVIS on a peanut sugar cone softened the blow some.
◊ I passed SEVERAL people (bathroom break) Oooooooo-ing & O-M-G-ing over the ice cream they were eating—I HAD to ask.  “FAT!  ELVIS!”  So I went directly to the ice cream truck  –didn’t even LOOK at the menu board–  and ordered “One scoop of FAT ELVIS, please!”

O.  M.  G.

IN-CRED-IBLE beyond words!
I was totally in the “OMG’ing” camp!  ; D

Chocolate, Peanut Butter, Bananas!

Saturday (cont.)–

ANOTHER storm, can humidity be more than 100% ???
We heard a lot of “I’m SO hot- I can’t think!”
as shoppers tried to decide on purchases.

–
We’d sold several big anchor pieces Friday and killed ourselves completely REsetting the 2nd morning.  In my exhaustion, I smashed my finger with the sledge hammer.  It’s NOT a show until there’s blood- right?

Show over, time to REload.
Drive the hour back to my bf’s.
Sunday-
Off-load HER U-Haul van,
load up a few extra things on MY van,
make the final drive back home.
Monday-
Off-Load van at the antq mall & REset my space with All New Stuff!
I still wasn’t finished when they kicked me out at closing.
Gas station & Car Wash with the van and return it to my GENEROUS s-i-l!
Tuesday-
Back to the antq mall to finish.
And finally–
START the recovery process! 

This morning I slept in to 7:30!
And now I’m writing you guys.
I have cool pics to share—as soon as I edit.

Until then, here’s a couple pics from our Holding-Sold area.

Catherine

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Uncle Fred’s bed

So, long story short~

This was part of my late uncle’s bedroom furniture at Grandma’s house wAy down in IL.  I know –somewhere– there’s got to be a picture showing its original severely dark stain~but I can’t find it.

When we cleared out grandma’s in the sale to cousins, I brought it back to change things up in one of mom’s guest bedrooms, and painted both bed and dresser a soft white.  Seriously– this was already old hand-me-down stuff that moved from Grandma’s farm, up to her hill house, and then to mom’s.

It had a 1904 date on the back side of the headboard I’d never noticed before.

Above, painted a soft white for a lighter, shabby chic look in the guest bedroom.  Eventually, it got bumped for another 1930’s set.

Below, painted something funky for a teenage nephew to use for a while. . .

And then it all came back –again.  With no one else in the family having need of it—I gave the dresser a total makeover and sold it in the antique mall.  Remember this project?  (it’s near the end of the post link)

And finally– I’ve pulled the bed from storage for

one last REinvention before Nellie’s Barn Sale!

 

I padded and upholstered the headboard with one of my vintage grain sacks.  The foot board is just REpainted, but I did add vintage wood wheels—
I LUV them, they’re just fun, and it’s SO much easier moving a bed around!

I also added a padded back rest and tied-on seat cushion to this petite rocker (the neighbor gave me) with the leftovers from my
bed project—I think they look really cute together!

They’re already getting great attention and feedback from the Nellie’s Barn Sale pages and on instagram!
OMG–I’ll be packing Wednesday, driving & setting up Thursday!
Hope to see you at the show
Friday or Saturday!

Catherine

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Nellie’s Barn Sale!

OMG!  I don’t feel totally ready yet—about 80% there.

If you’re in the Chicago area, sure hope to

see and meet you there!

Catherine

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life. (aka~multi-tasking)

–

We’re in the countdown to Nellie’s.

23 days away.

My project list is ambitious—and loooong.

I’ll have some pretty AWEsome things to sell! (even if I do say so myself)  But they aren’t all finished yet~YIKES!  So I’m crazy busy!

Can I offer you a few pretty FILLERS?

Things are flowering again and greening up—YaY!

THIS is my kind of Purple ♥

~and those yellow “flowers” are back, ugh.

Yes~ Spring has Sprung!  But the clean up has to wait for the show.

Here’s a tease of just a few present projects—

I’ll share shortly!

–

–

But this guy-

he waits for no one

and nothing!

(he’s my surrogate dog)

Catherine

 

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back to those frenchy tables

THESE tables, that the neighbor gave me.

That I DEconstructed right away and am REcreating one into a sofa table.

I’m still working on that project, just not consistently because I’m juggling MANY projects for Nellie’s.

–

OMgoodness~ I swear, someone got paid by the screw putting this table together.

68 screws held this table together × 2 tables!

I now have a GOOD supply of screws on hand!

After taking everything apart—I decided to make shelves from the aprons.    I started with 3 -the 4th needed repair.  I cut the ends of each on a 45° miter and added sides.  I primed them, gave them a really sloppy paint job and over-sprayed the bottom edges with a darker shade of green.

THEN a twist!  I coated them in stripping solution just long enough to wreck the paint, and clean them off with a pressure washer.

They looked A-MAZ-ing!

Until I clear coated them.

It “washed out” the distressed effect and I don’t even have a picture to show you the difference.

I’m SO bummed.

–

I cut tops for each following their contours, and routed a simple edge detail to dress them up.  Gave them a very light stain and clear coat.

I know I said “SHELVES”

and they DO look great clustered together, but, I think they would also be pretty fabulous used as

a Bed Corona!

Catherine

 

A N D  they too, will be going to Nellie’s Barn Sale!

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closer to finished~and OMG!

Some projects just “come together!”

THIS is one of THOSE!

And I’m totally

in love with it!

—too many exclamation marks ?

I DID decide on tin for the back boards—but found myself struggling with, “What COLOR goes with RUST?”

I dug through the random quarts on the shelf and pulled a few that could be mixed to create something.  I landed on this shade of a Dusty, Muddy, Coral-y, Pink’ish color.  And it looks great with the Rusty tin!  Like how Pink & Orange are complimentary to one another!

I took great pains to “interpret” the antique tin to each section and love how the pattern lines up with all the shelves!

It turns out the bookcase needs some repairs—it got roughed up in storage.  So I guess it’ll end up being one more way these two disparate pieces will be brought even closer together.  *The “dots” are from the countersunk screws–they’ll be plugged today before painting.  And I’ll REstain the top darker.

And THIS is one more piece ready for

Nellie’s Barn Sale!

Catherine

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sewing cabinet projects -pt 3

I’m clearing through some long-waiting projects in my stashes.

These are my last two sewing cabinet drawer sets.

Pulled out and now parked in the middle of the NEXT chaos!

They were rougher than I remembered and needed a lot of REgluing, clamping, and REcreated “parts.”

All of that attention meant a very -S L O W- project launch.  Things needed time to set up before moving on—like ME, to other projects!

I finally got to a stage of sanding, priming and painting.  I would have loved to leave it “natural” for the purists, but most of the drawers were kinda’ gross!  And cleaning wasn’t gonna cut it!

I thought a pale blue and white would give it a fresher look!

I had to modify the ends at each side from their crude DETACHMENT from the original cabinet.  I REcut, added rope trim, a back, and finally a top to each with a handle.

Catherine

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mirrors~antique & vintage

I love mirrors.  ALL kinds of mirrors.  They can really add to a design!  And I do have MANY in my collections.

O k a y, I confess–I have MANY things in my MANY collections.

But it’s funny the things you REfind when you’re looking for something particular and you’ve got (cough-cough) –a lot of stuff- to dig look through.

–

The smaller mirror I had was probably salvaged from something like this Victorian piece.  I bought it at a boutique flea market a few years back.

When I stumbled back on to it -during my search for the sewing table top– I knew I needed to work it into a project for Nellie’s!

I pulled one of my many door & window headers to pair with it and

make a very simple shelf!

I disassembled the header, repaired its necessary issues, and cut it down.  I’d recently stripped its detail trim for one of my Bespoke Birdhouses, so I had to search my stock for something to put back.

Above-  the header cut down and REassembled, some very small quarter-round added back for detail, and the mirror is now attached.

The picture below shows you how I attached the two pieces—I pre-drilled on the diagonal -or- toe-nailing fashion to screw them together FIRMLY.  It’s –different– from the current trend towards Pocket Screw joinery, and I’m really not sure just how to explain the difference–but there is.  I learned the old-school way and I’ve been doing this a looooong time.  

THEN it was on to painting.  I sanded, primed the whole piece, and then drove myself crazy trying to figure out a color.  Which I knew it would need for Nellie’s Barn Sale–that’s what they’ll be looking for!  And my 2 yellows were still on my mind.

I purposely painted out in the full out sun.  BECAUSE- the paint is old and a bit thick, and it would “set up” quickly for what I intended.

◊ I mottled the two colors together, and as soon as it “felt dry” touching it, I took a soft dry rag and started rubbing areas to peel off paint.  The paint isn’t actually dry so it hasn’t affixed to the wood yet.  If I couldn’t do this in the warm sun I would have used a heat gun.  *These were some of the tricks PRE-chalk paint.

Now, the other mirror.

This too was kind of buried in the stashes, and, w-e-l-l–

out of sight~out of mind. 

At some point I primed away the garish gold these plastic frames originally came in.  But the poor thing was SO dirty–it didn’t LOOK very white-primer.

After I scoured it clean again, I grabbed a can of the soft gray spray paint Chalk paint and sprayed small sections at a time and wiped away the paint.  It tinted the white and left the gray in the voids for more dimension.  SIMPLE.

Catherine

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sewing cabinets -part 2

With a good imagination, you can come up with all kinds of things to do with these old cabinets!

With the WHOLE or salvaged parts!

Like this old project!

 

While in a mad search for the original top to the sewing machine cabinet I was just working on, I stumbled back onto these drawers.  I’d forgotten totally about them.

I’m working on SO MANY projects for Nellie’s Barn Sale in June and needed some “cash & carry” items.  Hmmm. . .

–

These are the drawers.

Pretty “standard,” right?

But they’re nice.  And still desirable.  And I’m not going to mess with them!  Entirely.

Are you surprised?

I found them in a flea market originally, but only the left side was available for purchase.   I stripped the appliqués from it and used some in an immediate project soon after.

I decided to just clean things up and not take away the “ghost” of the missing appliqués.  I also decided to leave the wood raw—no wax, no sealer.  Raw.

I DID make a top for it

and add an amazing handle!

–

–

 

Cash -and- CARRY!

Cuz’ sometimes going

SIMPLE

is BETTER!  ; D

*OR, showing restraint!

Catherine

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so much to share~

I have a LOT of projects going on at once.  Seriously!

But the hectic pace, with two 1st communions, a school auction, and a piano recital in the mix has me running a little helter-skelter—

so bear with me, I’ll be right back to you!

But here’s a glimpse of the beginnings of my Nellie’s stashes—and there’s MORE!

Catherine

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