A Woman With Excess Baggage

Inspired by a post at Beatrice Banks last week about finding vintage suitcases, I wanted to show my collection. This is about half of them. I could never resist buying one if the price was right. I once bought one at an estate sale for a couple of dollars and hidden in the side pocket were two sterling silver evening/compact bags from the twenties. Suitcases make such good storage, easy to move around, and have been stacked as a side table, used to fill the empty space under a long sofa table, and used as part of an arrangement on top of an armoire. But this post isn't about decorating with suitcases, I wanted to show you what's in them.

The little one on top is full of lace, lace and more lace. Handmade lace, crochet lace, lace collars, lace cuffs, old cluny lace, vintage Valenciennes lace,; pieces yards long and pieces only a few inches. All of it old, pieces I collected over the years because I thought I might use it (I used to sew for my girls)or just because it was beautiful and I enjoyed looking at all the different patterns.
The next one is storing some vintage things I've already put on Etsy.

Then I have three that are full of crochet and embroidered doilies and table runners, vintage fabric and evidently at some time in the past I bought a box of embroidered hankies and there's tea towels and pillowcases and oh yes, here's a crocheted bedspread I forgot I had.

I had plans for things I would do with this stuff but I have more projects than one person could complete in a lifetime.

I'm going to be putting all this for sale in my Etsy store.

Because there's so much I'm going to make groups of several pieces. I'm going to start with the lace. I should have some of it listed by this weekend so check my Etsy store, Red Lilly Vintage for some super buys.

I'm linking this post to White Wednesday at Faded Charm
and Share the Love Wednesday at Very Merry Vintage Style

Sign of the Times

A couple of years ago when we went to the county fair we were captivated by this fabulous piece of folk art. Although it was the size of a billboard, we wanted it. J.D. took this wonderful photo of it.

                                                           "The Rat" copyright Duncan McKinnon

He made big copies of the photo but I got the bright idea to recreate The Rat as a sign. I drew the outline and cut it out of a salvaged piece of old plywood. It's pretty big and we thought it would be an amusing piece. Turns out it scares little kids.

I know it's kind of weird but we think it's funny. The sad thing is, we got distracted and never did go in and see The Rat. The next year it wasn't there so I guess we'll always wonder. Was it really green? Did it drink gallons of water daily? And why is that scary?

Linked to Very Merry Vintage Style  Share the Love Wednesday
Funky Junk Interiors:SNS #74

Wordless Wednesday

Clothes That Don't Fit Anybody Anymore, #2

Back in September 2009 I wrote about cleaning out my mother's house after her passing and my frustration with her inability to throw anything away. I actually found a box of clothes in the the garage labeled "clothes that don't fit anybody anymore". Now I've seen the reality show "Hoarders" and it was a revelation to me. To have a name for this.....condition. Mama was a hoarder and she couldn't help it. Just to know how many people there are out there dealing with this has made me feel better.

Now it's almost two years later and I am still trying to get the house cleaned out. Some other family members continued to live in the house because they had nowhere to go. Turned out they were hoarders too. I finally got everyone out in September last year then I broke my wrist and was unable to do anything, now the weather is nice and I'm back at it helped by my wonderful daughter without whom I couldn't do it. Hoping to get the house up for sale (finally) in a month or so.

This whole thing has made me take a long, hard look at myself. I mean I collect things too. But how much is too much and when do you cross the line between collector and hoarder. Do you not realize what's happening? When I was a child Mama was an immaculate housekeeper. At the end you couldn't walk through her house. So I've been destashing and selling tons of interesting little stuff on Etsy and taking tons of ordinary stuff to the thrift store to be recycled. I feel the need for an uncluttered life.

Here's something I found today when we were cleaning.

It's my grandmother's purse. And it's stuffed with ephemera of ordinary life in the 1930s - receipts and driver's licenses and wage statements and here's where Grandpa bought a mule in 1936 for $240 which seems like a lot of money in the thirties seeing as he paid $75 for his car. It's trivial and fascinating at the same time. And now as the eldest I am the keeper of the purse.

Wordless Wednesday

From The Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore

Makeover

I found this at the thrift store the other day. For $35!

This is what it looked like before. Not attractive and the hardware was all broken and the back was missing. But it was solid wood and best of all, the drawers all worked smoothly. I love antique furniture and that's all I have but sometimes you just want something functional, especially if you use it constantly. I really had my baby grandson in mind when I bought it because he was fast outgrowing his white nursery furniture but his mom (my daughter) didn't like it. I thought it was too masculine for a white finish so I painted it black and distressed it. I got the cast iron bin pulls at hobby lobby on sale, I think it was $12 for all of them. Now she wants it.

Linked to
Shabby Nest Frugal Friday

Memo Board

When I saw these name tag holders in the office supply department at Walmart I knew I could do something neat with them, I just didn't know what. They were only a couple of dollars for a bag of six. So this is what I came up with. I stapled a piece of hardware cloth to the back of a shabby frame, snapped the clips on, and had an interesting bulletin board for almost nothing.

I like it because the clips are strong enough to hold relatively heavy things securely.

linked to
Funky Junk Interiors
 Romantic Home
 Naturally Me Creations

My New Old Plaster Walls

I've been plastering the walls downstairs and it's turned out really well. The walls were paneling, the kind that comes in 4 x 8 sheets and has grooves that supposedly simulate planks, not real paneling. I taped all the joints because cracks will form if you don't then used sheetrock mud, the kind that comes in a huge bucket, to fill the grooves. I troweled over this with more mud stippling it with a rag as I went to get the effect I wanted. Very time consuming but a cheap way to change an ugly wall.

I've hated this ceiling since the day I saw it and I finally took the plunge and took it down. I knew it wasn't a drop ceiling attached to a flimsy metal frame so it was a huge undertaking to get it down. The tiles were nailed to 1 x 3 pine boards that were nailed across the rafters. I spent days and days on top of a ladder with a crowbar.

Here's the huge beam I uncovered that runs the length of the house.

Everyone should have flourescent lights in the ceiling. Energy efficient.

The rafters turned out to be dirty so I spent more days on a ladder with a scrub brush. This picture is before they were cleaned. I wanted them exposed but now I can't decide if I want to clear coat them or paint them white.

No after picture yet because it's not in order yet, but soon. This is only about a third of the space I have to do anyway. At least I got started!

linked to
No Minimalist Here Open House Party
Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Water Under The Bridge

Summer 2010, Swimming in the Mulberry River

It's been a long time, it's been a hard year. Happier days have to be ahead of us.

So I've given the blog a new look and will try again.