A Vintage View

If Cheree and I were in a Fraternity, I believe this week would have been called "Hell Week"! With our amazing new opportunity to display our items in Historic Snohomish came the task of filling and beautifying our vendor space, and creating a seamless surrounding with our new friends at Faded Elegance. After arranging what seemed like thousands of items (in actuality about 50!), and realizing the space looked empty, we set off on a week of searching, driving, buying, thinking,creating, sanding, painting, nailing, and worrying. As friends for 15 years, Cheree and I have leaned on each other during stressful times, but this time we were deep in the muck together. So we dug deep, put on our big girl panties, injected some humor and set out on a mission!

We started at a Yard Sale of a family whose parents had once owned an antique store!

Lots of unique, beatiful, rusty things.  Regrets:  not enough money to buy everything we wanted, including a French blue and white enamel Enema Bottle!!

As we picked through things, we started a pile and acted like 2 year- olds when other people even thought of looking at our stuff by yelling, "Mine, Mine". One of us had to stand next to it at all times for fear that playground rules wouldn't apply at an Estate Sale.

Bubble Bath anyone?  We sure felt like we could have used one that day.

A gorgeous air vent still attached to the floor it lived on! Too heavy to hang as art on the wall, though.

Next we headed to an old historic museum that thought they wanted to sell vintage items, but everything cool, unique or exciting said "Not For Sale"or " Do Not Touch" or "Please Dont't Sit on Me".   

So we had some tea,

And Cheree tried to haggle over prices with the store owner, to no avail. She wouldn't even speak to us!  How rude.

By the end of the week, we had found some gems, like this turn-of-the-century spindle table, candlesticks and glass doorknob.

And we found some diamonds in the rough.......

This is a blank canvas for us to completely revitalize as something new. Not even sure what it is?  A stool? A plant stand? A serving tray?

This poor thing begged us to take it home and make it pretty. The top is bubbly and warped but will get a good facelift soon.

This gorgeous all-metal pedestal came complete with cob webs and spiders just in time for Autumn.  It is missing it's top, so we will get creative and give it a "head transplant.

Yesterday we brought it all together and created a new look at Faded Elegance.

Cheree did not seem to notice that if she slipped off this dresser she would tumble over the railing and down a flight of stairs!  Such courage in the name of Vintage Beauty.  

In the end, we put together our own little 10- foot by 10-foot look into the past.   

Cheree and I just wish we could hang out in our corner of the world and have a cocktail and chat.

Our families have been so supportive these past 2 weeks as we embarked on a new adventure, and I know my family is ready to give up my creative new dinner theme called, "Fend for Yourself".  It worked well for me, but they weren't as excited.

Stay tuned for the head transplant on the pedestal and the other facelifts we will be doing in the next week.

Wishing you creativity in the week ahead!

Jill and Cheree