Beach bound

And we're off! We're headed to spend a week at Quin's family beach house in Pawleys Island, South Carolina. We can't wait to see how Maren takes to the ocean; we think she'll love it right up until she gets knocked flat by a wave and gets a face full of salt water! She's a pretty tough little girl so I'm sure it will take more than that to scare her away. I'm excited to spend some time in our beloved Charleston and Savannah again (we moved here from Savannah almost exactly 3 years ago). It's going to be face-meltingly hot and humid and I'm prepared to embrace the horror, but that is not going to stop me from complaining about it!

I most likely won't have access to the internet while I'm away (no email and no Bloglines--the horrors!) but I'll see you all when I get back! And if I return with blog posts full of ya'lls and dahlins, you'll know why! :)

The (not Pottery) Barn

All righty then. I'm just going to ignore that header mess up there and hope that maybe the HTML fairies come by and clean things up for me. In the mean time, I want to tell you a little about a place near to my heart called The Barn.

The Barn is the name by which my family's cabin is known. It's not really a barn, nor is it barn-shaped or barn-colored or anything remotely barn-related, for that matter. My great-uncle's cabin is on the same property and it actually is a barn (or was, more accurately) but for some reason we still call our place The Barn too.

Setting foot in The Barn is like stepping into an interior decorating time warp. It is a repository for old and unwanted furniture and as such is a special blend of interesting antiques and slightly horrifying relics of the 1970s. The carpet is orange & avocado shag, which nicely sets off the orange wicker furniture. Yes, orange wicker. Yes, I know--YIKES. The kitchen countertop is Formica patterned to look like ye olde time advertisements, kind of like they used to have at Wendy's and Subway, back in the day. The refrigerator is brown and very small, and has a tiny freezer inside the larger fridge compartment. The decor could accurately be summed up by that old bon mot, "Late Attic, Early Garage Sale."

Really though, part of the charm of The Barn is the whole "Land That Time Forgot" aesthetic and it's somewhat comforting to see the same yugly furniture, year after year. All of the crazy decor is strangely friendly and welcoming. While I was at The Barn a couple of weeks ago I took a few photos of some of my favorite things to share with you.

Acrylic grapes, fetchingly lit by the afternoon sun. Probably made by my Grammy at a church function sometime in the 1970s. (Note the stack of woven placemats in harvest gold, orange and avocado)

Pretty pillow-ticking from one of the bed pillows; there was also one with lavender flowers. Why don't they make pillows from pretty ticking like this any more?

Very cool 1950s-ish floor lamp and shade. If you look close you can spy a glimpse of the orange wicker desk on the left side, the orange & green shag carpet at the bottom, and the strange orange and yellow Lucite-look artwork on the wall behind.

I have no idea where this goofy sign or the old metal lantern hanging above it came from. All I know is that they've been there as long as I can remember and may well have hung in that exact spot longer than I've been alive. You can also see the old glass doorknob on the bottom left and the big dark shape on the right is the antique player piano.

This is the old wood stove in the kitchen. There is also a new cooktop (well, not new by today's standards but electric) and on the left you can spy a microwave, but this stove cooks the best darn breakfasts you've ever eaten. If you squint, you can also see a couple of orange & green mushroom plaques, an antique ice tongs-turned-paper-towel-holder, and a set of salt & pepper shakers and large bowl in the Jewel Tea "Autumn Leaf" pattern.

For some unknown reason there are numerous sets of salt & pepper shakers in the kitchen at The Barn. My favorites are the Autumn Leaf set in the background, this adorable spun aluminum set with the red tops, and this year I discovered the Hazel Atlas New Dot salt shaker lurking in a cupboard. I never noticed it before but that doesn't mean it wasn't there--it just means I didn't know as much about Hazel Atlas as I do now. That little beauty just might have *sneaked* home with me in my suitcase and be sitting on my kitchen windowsill right this very moment. Maybe. I'm not confirming or denying anything without my lawyer present.

So there you have a few of the highlights of The Barn. I wish you all could come and stay for a week--it's charming and quaint and relaxing and very orange, but I know you'd like it anyway!

Redecorating

Things are under construction on the ol' bloggity blog. If you're reading on Bloglines you won't be able to see my messed-up header but trust me, it's there. I successfully got the new header (made by my fabulous little brother, Nick) installed but I'm having trouble deleting the old title. I thought I followed the instructions exactly and deleted the proper code but now when I try to save my new template, Blogger tells me that I've made an error somewhere and my code is broken so it won't save. Arrgh! I'll try again tomorrow, but please excuse the mess in the meantime!

Thrifting on the road

I didn't go yardsaleing on Saturday morning, something I'll probably regret in cold January when I'm stuck paying inflated thrift store prices to get my junk fix. I did get to do a good amount of junkin' when I went to visit my grandparents a couple of weeks ago and have goodies to show you.

The three blue Ball jars were from an estate sale that we ran into while we were on the way out of town. My mom and I made a spur of the moment decision (involving a U-turn) and I'm glad we did, as we found good stuff. Usually estate sales are overpriced but the small jars were only $2.00 and the large one was $4.00, which I think is a bargain. The estate sale was interesting--the man worked for Kellogg's and had all kinds of cool memorabilia and promotional stuff, most of it priced pretty reasonably. I bet I could have bought some good stuff for resale if I'd had more time & money & knowledge (or a wi-fi connection!) The cherry teacup is a Mary Engelbreit piece and matches a honey pot & set of candlesticks I sold last year. I think it's an unusual pattern because I almost never see it, and I had a buyer email and ask if I had any more to sell. That was purchased at a brand-new church-run thrift store in the town just one over from the one where my grandparents live, so I will definitely be going back. Prices in there were high but it was their first week being open so maybe they'll get a better idea of what's reasonable in the future. The clear glass Ball jar was $1.00 and came from the thrift in my grandparents' town.

With the exception of the Girl Scout cookie cutter (which came from the same estate as the blue glass jars), everything else in this photo came from one estate (but two different sales). This one was an estate sale we happened onto when coming home from the pool Maren was just about in full meltdown-mode so I couldn't shop long. The old-lady beaded necklaces are great! I've already worn the pink one with a brown top. The dog broke one of the vintage ornaments. :( The vintage silk hankie is printed with an image of the Oakland Bay Bridge and will go in my guest room. Not sure what the crocheted thing is--a potholder, maybe? I forgot I was holding it until I got in the car! And I keep buying those darn painted-handle utensils, even though I already have about 3 of this particular tool (an egg beater?) and no good way to display them. Somebody stop me! I just can't leave them behind.


The two vintage felt pennants were from the same estate sale, and will also go in the guest room. I also bought a great big vintage Ball glass jar but that went to my mom as a birthday gift. Wish there had been more! This sale was held in an old shed/barn and it was the kind of place you have to dig. There was neat stuff and great old furniture, but everything was very dirty and would have needed a lot of work. I was there just an hour before they closed the sale on a Monday afternoon but I wish I'd known about it earlier--they said the place had been packed to the rafters on the Friday before. It makes me slightly ill to think of the treasures that must have been in there, since the leftovers were still pretty darn good. The calendar with the cute black terriers was from the same estate sale as the blue jars. The top part is embossed cardboard and it's really quite charming. Not particularly old--the calendar is for 1973--but a really sweet piece of ephemera nonetheless.

The Avon Outlook is a booklet sent to Avon ladies and is dated 1943. It's a hoot! I should scan some pages to show you. It's all about encouraging sales and such and I find the pictures highly entertaining. The Girl Scout catalog is from 1949 and is really fun to look through. There was an official Girl Scout Apron and it's just darling! Another one I where I need to scan and post someday.






And last, another pile of ephemera I bought in a bag at the barn estate sale. Lots of vintage Valentines for my collection (my fave is the one on the right with the astronaut), some neat old flash cards with scalloped edges, and a few random old playing cards with fun pictures. There was a bunch of other random stuff in the bag, including school pictures and report cards for a boy that my mom went to high school with! She took those and is planning on sending them back to him. Yeah, it's a small town. :)

One other thing is a very old carved wood frame from the barn but it's really dirty and it's pretty darn shabby. It has potential but it's going to need some work. I love small town junking! The prices are usually low and you don't have as much competition from other pickers. Good stuff!

Halloween a la Martha

Thank you all for your well-wishes and words of advice about my last post--I really appreciate them! It's going to be a few weeks before we can get a toddler bed because we're going out of town but until then I think I might just put the side of the crib down. If Maren's going to get out anyway, maybe I can make it less likely that she'll hurt herself in the process . I'll look into the crib tent, and we may have to start doing the Supernanny thing Sarah suggested at naptime. Again, thank you all, really. Motherhood is not for wimps, indeed!

Have you seen the new Martha craft Halloween stuff at Michael's? If you haven't, get thee to Michael's, pronto! (You may want to call first to make sure they have it--my mom's store does not yet.) One reason I've always had a soft spot for ol' Martha is her unabashed love for Halloween that translates over to really great spooky projects in her magazine and now, products in her craft line. Halloween is my favorite holiday to decorate for so I'm always looking for something new and spooky!

I did a quick reconnaissance run yesterday to check out the new stuff and bought a package of black cupcake boxes, Halloween-colored bakers' twine, neat vintage-looking patterned paper tape, and a spooky witch cling to put in the window. I may go back for more later but this time I got the things I wanted most while they're still in stock. Maybe it's a good thing that they don't take 40% off coupons on the Martha stuff, or I have a feeling I'd be making a trip once a week, coupon in hand! There are many more neat things like glittering kits and bones & bugs to glitter, laboratory-inspired party supplies & favors, and neat patterned paper and stickers.

One thing that I didn't buy was an invitation kit using mock slide holders and plastic specimen slides. I'm hoping to have another Halloween party this year but I'll need a whole lot more than the 6 invitations the kit makes. It does give me some good ideas, and I bet I can find plain slide holders and slides in bulk somewhere else if I start looking now. Hmm, maybe a "mad scientist" theme for my party would be really fun!

Naptime Nightmare

Ever feel like you're walking around with a little black raincloud over your head? That's been me for the past 3 days. Maren figured out on Wednesday night that she could climb out of her crib. I know that prior to then she absolutely could have physically done it; the child is like Spiderman in her ability to scale the furniture and appliances in this house. I attribute it solely to a tender mercy of the Lord that it took her this long to realize that she could do it.

Thursday morning at about 6:45 a.m. I was awakened from a blissful slumber by a -thump- and a little voice saying proudly, "I get out!" followed by a bedside visit from the owner of that little voice. I'm going to confess: when I heard that thump I knew exactly what (or rather, who) it was, and the first thought that popped into my head was a four-letter word not suitable for polite company. My fears were well-founded, as I am now unable to confine Maren anywhere in the house, which for her means NO NAPTIME! I can't make her stay in her crib to take a nap in the afternoon if she doesn't want to, and she rarely wants to. Oh, she needs to take a nap, she just doesn't realize that, so I wasn't surprised at all when she started to melt down at about 5:00 p.m. yesterday afternoon.

Perhaps more than Maren needs a nap, I need her to take a nap. Naptime has always been my favorite time of the whole day, and if it makes me a bad mom to say that, so be it. I have always looked forward to and relished those few hours of peace and quiet and solitude when I don't have to be Mommy; I can just be Heidi again. Sometimes I take a short nap, other times I do chores that are easiest without little hands undoing all the work right behind me, and sometimes I even do something crafty without the threat of those little hands tearing up or spilling my supplies. Either way, those hours are precious and quite vital to me and when Maren doesn't take a nap I get cranky and short-tempered and I count the minutes until Quin comes home so I can get a break.

The prospect of no more afternoon naps because I can't keep Maren in her bed makes me incredibly distressed. Short of installing a net over the top of the crib or handcuffing her to the crib bars, I'm out of ideas. I have a feeble hope that maybe the novelty of climbing out will wear off after a few days and naptime will resume. Until that happens (if it does), I'm going to be praying hard. I just don't know what else to do.

Birthday wishes

Happy Happy Birthday Shara dear
Happy days will come to you all year
If I had a wish than it would be
A Happy Happy Birthday to YOU from ME!

It's Shara's birthday today! Hop over to her blog and leave her a birthday wish!

Vintage Linen Q & A

This post is for you, Miss Sarabeth! Sarabeth posted this lovely comment this morning:

Hello Heidi,
This is off your topic for today, but I'd love your advice on a thrifting question. I've been enjoying your blog for a while and you have inspired me to get over my fear of the "linens" area of my local thrift shop. My questions are
1) how do you know when sheets, pillowcases, etc. are vintage?
and 2) What do you do the clean the average sheet when you bring it home? Is it safe to use bleach if the sheet has a colored pattern? or do you clean it some other way?
Thanks in advance for any words of wisdom! I just bought a cool (I think vintage, but who knows) sheet with big pink and yellow flowers all over it.
--Sarabeth in Mass.

I don't have Sarabeth's contact information and I thought it was a good post topic so I'll answer it right here. Also, I know there are readers of this blog who also love vintage linens and probably know a lot more about them than I do, so I hope they'll leave a comment or two and we can all learn from each other!

Question 1: How do you know when sheets, pillowcases, etc. are vintage?
The more linens you look at, the easier you will be able to distinguish vintage linens from newer goods. Thrift stores are a good place to practice this as they will usually have many examples that you can compare, whereas yard sales might have only one or two.

One distinguishing factor is the pattern. I like floral patterned sheets in bright pinks and yellows and aqua blues. Look for bright, happy colors! Same goes for pillowcases. Often they'll have a nice contrasting "cuff" (is there a better term for that?) like you can see on the yellow pillowcases in the photo. The older ones seem to have nicer details than newer pillowcases. Embroidery or monogramming is another giveaway on pillowcases, although from time to time I do see new cases that have been embroidered with old patterns. I can tell they're newer because the quality of the fabric isn't as nice as the old ones. That's another distinguishing factor: fabric quality. Again at the thrift store, run your hands over the pillowcases and you'll be able to tell which ones are made of yucky synthetics or blends (the kind that pill and look all crummy) and nicer quality cottons. Sometimes you can even find real linen. Good fabrics are heavy and smooth and feel cool to the touch.

As for printed tablecloths (my favorite!), they're easy to recognize because they all have a certain "look". To see what I mean, head over to Sarah's blog and check out the link to her flickr, where she has lots of photos of her fabulous printed tablecloth collection.

Question 2: What do you do the clean the average sheet when you bring it home? Is it safe to use bleach if the sheet has a colored pattern? or do you clean it some other way?
If the linens are stained or just looking dingy, I like to put them into a good OxiClean soak. Personally, I am afraid of bleach--ever since the incident in high school where I dropped a bottle of bleach with a loose cap down the front stairs of my house with predictably disastrous results, I've steered clear of using it. That's why I like the OxiClean and then usually a good hot wash right after, but you could probably use color-safe bleach and be okay even on patterns. Maybe another reader has experience with this and will comment. Tablecloths are more likely than bed linens to have tough stains, just given the nature of their use. If you have a clothesline (I don't, darn HOA regulations) you might want to hang out your linens to bleach in the sun a little. I've heard that Biz detergent can work for really, really grungy stains but haven't ever tried it. Sarah cautions against using OxiClean on tablecloths that have gold printed details, as it will eat through the gold and leave you with holes in the fabric!

Most of all, I think you should just buy what you like and what makes you happy to look at, no matter how old it really is. I hope that helps!

Hollyhocks

The town where my parents grew up and where my grandparents still live is a small one; the population is under 10,000. It's full of old houses and old yards, which fortunately equates to an abundance of hollyhocks! Hollyhocks are an old-fashioned flower. I rarely see them in my area of the 'burbs, but they seem abundant in the old parts of town and in the small, rural towns we so often pass through on our road trips.

I tried my hand at hollyhocks of my own last year and planted a whole packet along a back fence, but nothing came up. I can't say I was too surprised, given that the ground there had more in common with a concrete sidewalk than a flowerbed. This spring I vowed to rip out the ugly, scraggly ground cover and work some fertilizer into that dirt so that I could plant the hollyhock seeds I received from Linda. I have to shamefully admit that I didn't get the work done in time and my laziness coupled with our unusually wet and cold May-June meant that I didn't get any more seeds planted.

Imagine my surprise when a few green shoots with heart-shaped leaves popped up! A few of the seeds I planted last year survived the cold winter and the poor soil and up they came. They weren't completely unscathed, as the stalks are much shorter than they should be and only managed a few pitiful white blooms before they keeled over and died. Next year I'm going to try again with Linda's precious seeds and some old ones I found in a bag at an estate sale. The old seeds may be dead, but what have I got to lose? I'm sure Linda's are still good. I have already worked several bags of Soil Pep into the ground and I'm determined to have my own hollyhocks for next summer! Maybe in a few years mine will look like the flowers I saw all over Alamosa, in gorgeous fuschias, pinks and whites. Maybe they'll add a little old-fashioned charm to my otherwise modern, suburban backyard.

Happy Mail

My goodness, it's been a while since we visited, hasn't it? Since I last posted, my parents came to visit from Utah and then together we drove to Southern Colorado to spend 5 days at a family reunion. The rest of the days have been spent getting the house put back together and getting back into the swing of everyday life. I admit that I haven't felt like I had much to write about, hence the blog silence. I don't know why but for me it's so easy to fall out of the blogging habit and such a struggle to get back in the saddle. How about I ease back into things by showing you a few photos of fun mail goodies I've received?

The first package was just a fun, no-reason Happy Mail box from Miss Andy, who is on a fabulous island vacation as we speak. She sent me a set of handmade tissue paper cards and envelopes, a bottle of her favorite OPI summer polish, perfect for pedicures, a bookmark (which promptly went into Harry Potter), cute H sticky notes, and a great vintage Colorado plate for my guest room wall! The plate was even tied up in a vintage apron. What a fun surprise it was to receive those goodies in the mail!

The second package was from Shara, who very sneakily found out when my birthday was and sent a box full of red & aqua goodies! Everything was wrapped creatively in red or aqua fabric and tied with ribbon and vintage seam binding. Isn't it just darling? I had to take a quick photo before I opened it all up so I could remember how cute it was. I still haven't unwrapped the books tied up in the red nylon scarf and vintage aqua earrings--I just like looking at them on my desk! LOL

Inside all that wrapping and ribbon was a neat vintage Fire-King turquoise mug, a set of vintage Colorado salt & pepper shakers and a Colorado bell for my guest room, the books Heidi and Heidi's Children, a hilarious t-shirt with Heidi the Hen on the front (conveniently done in red & blue!), a baby Leo Ward bluebird (to go with the mama bird Shara sent me a couple of weeks ago), a cool letter H from a sign, a set of glass salt & pepper shakers with darling red lids, a very funny Rugrats book for Miss Maren (who is not too young to love junk!), red and aqua foil, and two darling aprons. One has buttons strategically placed so that the wearer can make a little pocket to hold eggs or veggies (or Legos, as Shara suggested LOL) and the other one is probably my new favorite: it's done in turquoise polka dots and seam binding and has bright red radishes appliquéd on the front. I love it so much that I very nearly wore it to dinner that night, only to chicken out at the last minute! One of these days I'll get up the courage and do it. Shara's package was an absolute delight to open!

I did some good junking in my travels last week and I'm off to take photos so I can show you all my goodies!