Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Spring Flowers in Bloom

With the warmer days and the past sunny days, Spring has
finally arrived. And the rain, too has arrived. Before the three
days of rain, I had a chance to walk around the yard to see
all the wonderful things in bloom. It's like Christmas for me,
this is my first Spring in this house. I did plant a few things like
the Allium and the Bleeding Hearts, but the rest was already there.....











What for the next garden post of my Peonies!

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Blue Kitchen Cabinets

I am cleaning up my basement. When I moved last summer, I put
all my cookbooks and cooking magazines on the shelves in the
basement until I decided what I wanted to do with them. I have
slowly been bringing my large cookbook collection upstairs. I am
now going through all the old Gourmet magazines, ripping out the
good recipes and throwing out the old issues. Now, all you have to do
is go online to find a recipe, they even have pictures! Anyway, I came
across this issue of Gourmet magazine from June 1998, there is an article
on Staunton and Mrs. Rowe's Restaurant in there. I loved the cover picture....

Can you see
that cabinet color, is it milk paint, is it one or two or three colors of  blue?
It almost has a purple hue to it and is it ragged? That technique was big then.
Can you see the knife and fork handles. I want these blue cabinets in my next
kitchen with white marble counter tops and back splash. The walls and trim will
be decorators white and the fixtures would be silver. Light pine floors and a really
cool stainless steel commercial stove. A girl can dream, right?

Thursday, April 10, 2014

The Vintage Home Market and Two Freebie Upholstered Chairs

Margaret McElroy's shop is hitting the road. I am taking my shop to The Vintage Home
Market at Richmond's Raceway this spring on May 3rd and 4th. It is my son, Edmund's,
18th birthday and I will be staying with him and his dad for this event. I am hoping that my
daughter, Ellie, can help with the market. I sold a couple of big pieces recently, so, with the
floor space opening up, I decided to set up a mock up of my market booth.
I signed up for a 10' x 10' space and I measured it out on the floor and taped the corners
so that I would have an idea of how much space I will have. I am using two folding screens
to create walls, I want to take some of my nicer pieces.
I am borrowing a friends van and dolly, and I plan on taking back up pieces to sell if I
end up doing well on Saturday and need more stuff. It has been years since I did the antique
malls, I really just don't know what to expect.
I know this event is weeks away, but I just have to plan ahead. I am thinking of things I
need to take 24/7, tissue, bags, an inventory list, packing material, my square, cash box,
sales books, etc. I also will take our antique guide to Staunton, in hope of raising awareness
of all the great antique shops here and the great prices we have. So if you are around Richmond
on the weekend of the show, stop by and say high!


And I just got two chairs back from the upholsterer, these chairs were freebies. I used fabric
that I had on hand and had them redone. They look great!


I am slowly getting the store freshened up for Spring and Summer. I also have been posting
some very funny old pictures on facebook if you are a friend, you can see them. This is what
happens when you learn how to use your scanner on the printer. Happy Thursday.

Friday, April 4, 2014

Revisiting an Old Design Project


A few years ago, I helped a client with draperies for her large floor to ceiling windows
in an old house they have been slowly renovating her in Staunton. This room is the
living room with cream walls, an oriental rug and a new cream sofa. We went with Robert
Allen's Crystal Lake in Midnight for floor to ceiling panels in the two windows. This house
has really high ceilings, so the drapes really make an impact.  My client bought two club
chairs into the room that she had from her DC home. For these chairs, we decided to go
with Schumacher's greek key pattern, Maiandros Weave in Indigo. Two small french chairs
will also be added to the room for extra seating, for these we are looking at Beacon Hill's
Monsieur cotton and silk in the color Ruby.

To add to this Chinoiserie look, we are looking at a couple of fabric options
for the big sofa. Above you see a Pierre Frey with the big pink medallions, a
Highland Court solid raspberry, a bold pink and blue Robert Allen's Sophia
Range and the new Duralee Fabric's Soskin by Tilton Fenwick with the blue, green
and white pattern.


Once the chairs are done, we will have a better idea of what fabric works best and we
can play around with shapes and sizes.
I even threw into to the group a embroidery by Schumacher and a crewel by Stout Fabrics.
I will have to post more pictures of the job when it is finished.

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Spring Flowers

I brought in some spring flowers yesterday.
Forsythia from my front yard that is starting to
bloom, one of the first signs of spring.....
And I have a bank of a variety of daffodils......
I think spring has finally arrived.