Little Chair, Little Chair...

What is your past?
Who built you? Who first took you home and made you their own?
Were you a country chair or a city chair?
How long did you languish ruined and forgotten in a barn? A garage? A basement?

Jon and I are always curious about some of the old stuff we find. You know how sometimes when you are shopping or "picking" you see something that you snatch up without hesitation?
A while back, we found this chair and I immediately liked its lines and curves and brought it home.

Then followed 18 months of sitting out in our garage. Waiting. Sorry, Little Chair. Now you are helping me learn some new tricks. Reupholstery. New paint techniques. You are going to be beautiful again!

As you can see, this chair is still a work in progress. But all the nasty fabric and stuffing (along with the 5 million little tack nails!) are gone and its had a good scrubbing. Time for the fun part...
I don't now how wise it is to write a tutorial on something I've never done before, but follow along as I share this project with you. More to come...

Warning! These are not glamour shots.

Ahhh, Nostalgia...

 

A fun find this weekend...

this vintage children's cookbook.

First edition, 1955.

Practically perfect condition.

(Apparently the original owner didn't use it or this book would look like the shabby little kids cookbook that I loved as a child and is missing its front cover!)

Hmmm,I don't recall looking this put together when I was baking and I'm pretty sure neither one of my brothers wore a tie in the kitchen! 

 How about serving up a delicious grape float? Here's the recipe!

There are many fun old-fashioned recipes that I want to try again but one for "French-fried potatoes" under the Vegetables and Salads tab?  Smile

 I'm not a collector of cookbooks and I don't cook that much anymore, but looking forward to fun in the kitchen with the granddaughters!

Vintage Books

Great for adding height and interest to your tables, bookshelves, vignettes -- these "antique" books! We've enjoyed learning how to create these and finding just the right appropriately vintage books to cover using this special technique.

We'll be selling them at our spring events...the Funky Junk Antique Show held April 9 and 10 as well as our first "home" event for 2011 - the Angel's Attic Spring Open House on Saturday, April 30.

Can I Blink and Have This Done?

Sarah Richardson is one of my favorite designers!
For one of her television projects, she gutted and redid an old farmhouse in Canada (HGTV series) and I think she is now living in the house with her family. Sarah is great at adding vintage lighting and furniture to her rooms, which fits right in with the work we do at Angel's Attic. Of course I cannot begin to match her remodeling budget or talents, but the minute I saw her master bathroom it became my inspiration for the redo of our main floor bathroom.
Our current bathroom has a big jetted tub, which is rarely used and we need another shower in the house.
We haven't started the project - still in the planning, budgeting stage and beginning to gather the main elements such as tile, fabric, paint. Sarah planned her bathroom around the drapery fabric. Sarah paid $130 a yard for her fabric. Husband says too expensive. I agree. Especially now that I've found something very similar to what she used for a much more affordable price.
Right now I am looking forward to our new bathroom. Not looking forward to the mess along the way. Stay tuned...
Here is the inspiration...

And here is the more down-to-earth designer fabric...

No room for both a shower and a clawfoot tub so there will be some modifications. Plus, we sold the old clawfoot tub that we found on the property - the deer were using it to drink from. Seriously.

Faded Elegance or Too Far Gone...

That is the debate here at Angel's Attic. We just picked up this "beauty" today - Linda was instantly in love but Husband thinks it is too late for this one. How sad. So we bought it cheap, mainly for the weath of old mouldings and bric-a-brac (or so I told him). For our spring shows, we plan to create a tremaux mirror, which would be a great use for the antique dentil moulding. (But shhh, I'm still secretly hoping for a miracle and to bring this table back to life.)
Yes, it time to start designing and planning for shows in 2011, beginning in April. More on that to come very soon. And watch to see the fate of this wonderful old table - either revitalized or repurposed, it will be a gem.

Winter Break

Hello, Spokane! Yes, it is back to winterness after our vacation to Disney World in Florida. It was a lovely week with Kristen's family (which includes our three granddaughters) and several days with our son and daughter-in-law who joined us from Atlanta. It really is true - Disney is a great place to create family memories. It was delicious to see the excitement and delight of the little girls when they first glimpsed Mickey Mouse or one of the princesses. Jon, Kristen, and I also soak in the creativeness that is Disney - from their architecture and landscaping, ride designs, to the amazing shop windows.
      It was hard to return to our regular lives and even harder to give up those breakfasts outside in the sunshine!

 Summer got her first haircut and set of Ears, complete with fairy dust.

 Lily Happiness!

 Lily with some special characters.

 Magic Kingdom

              Gabby in Kermit the Frog Ears

   Disney dining plan - yes, desserts like these for lunch! Our bad!

   

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

Jonathan and Linda at Angel's Attic wish you a wonderful Christmas!
We're looking forward to hosting our kids and grandgirls which means spiffing up the house a bit...
here are a couple of peeks.

Vintage Finds and Handmade Treasures Market

I hope you had a chance to visit the Vintage Finds Market this past weekend, hosted by Unexpected Necessities Jennifer and Kathy!
There was a wonderful variety of goodies - from the ooh la la Frenchie chic to vintage '50's Christmas.
Jon and I came home inspired and with a gorgeous stained glass window!

 Jennifer and Kathy

 Shari with her wonderful Southern Charm jewelry.