We Are Not Heading South This Spring!

A little bit of sunshine goes a long way!

 To make a long story short, we are not heading south this spring. Steve and I are in the process of remodeling our lower level and he fractured his ribs, in December, so we are getting a late start.
 

To make up for lost time, we are staying north.

 We are painting the guest room and having fresh draperies made and a chair and ottoman reupholstered. This is "team marriage" at it's finest! But it will be worth it! 

I love blue and white, so fresh.

We have started gutting the bathroom, making room for paint and tile. Blue and white!! The rest of the lower level, other than the guest room, will be a glorified mud room. With a dart board and comfy chairs in front of the wood stove!

This was last winter's project but the contactor, Steve, broke his leg! Now it's this winters project, except it really is this spring's project!

 If there are anymore setbacks the whole mess will be hired out. 
And "you know who" is leaving for Florida!!

We'll get her done. 

 

We Don't Call Her "Big Blue" For Nothing!

A pretty day for a ride in the truck. Due west are the Manitou Islands.

Down the center of the peninsula we drive. On our way, into Cedar, to buy fresh smoked hotdogs.

Sidetracked by the shoreline. Had to make a stop, at Good Harbor, for a walk in the fresh air.

It was a blue day! The sky and water. The islands and the moraines. All are just a bright and sunny blue.

It was twenty eight degrees with the wind eight miles an hour out of the east. We walked into the wind first off so the walk back was a "breeze"!

We determined which stone was worthy of taking off our gloves to pick it out of the water!!

What do you do, for fun in the sun? We bundle up and go for a walk on the beach. Gulping the cold air and smiling in the sunshine.

The shore of Lake Michigan never disappoints.  

 

Going To A Book Signing!

 

Lonnie and Twyla Money. If you were a customer, at my retail shop, you will remember that I had all these carved and painted critters! Since 2004 Steve and I would make the trip to Kentucky to buy these one of a kind pieces. 

Cans full of dots and squiggles! Twyla's paint station.

Amazing what Lonnie will come up with in his barn!

They live in the hills of Corbin Kentucky where the roads meander out and around homes and rivers.

One day a lady came out and said that she wanted to publish a book with their painted creations!

May thirteen at the Oak Hill Gardens in London Ky.

Twyla gave us a quick preview of the book!

If you type Money or critters in my search bar, on the blog, pictures of the critters that I brought home, over the years, will pop up.

Why didn't I buy this whirly gig? I was being careful not to take their inventory because they are going to need it!! 

They will be at the Kentucky Crafted Market, in Lexington Ky, March eleven and twelve. Selling the book and taking orders for the painted animals. 

They just finished stocking the Kentucky Artisan Center in Berea, where Steve and I first discovered their work.

They are going to be famous!!  

I will keep you posted with more information on the book. If you are a collector and want to buy a book, let me know and I can bring some back with me from the book signing party!

Still Thinking About The Antiques & Garden Show!

French Bleu is responsible for this booth. This image has stayed in my mind all week. Mixing "vintage modern", if there is such a thing, with traditional gold urns in front of a contemporary painting framed in carved gilt over a marble table top and next to the sculptured lamp. 

"Karl" on the walls and the chair. Kim Faison Antiques featured the blue, white and coral combination in her space.

Flying swan with the blue floral chair, she had a pair, against the wallpaper. I came back to see her wares, several times, during the show. Holland MacRea. 
 

All the way from Harbor Springs Michigan, Elliott & Elliott Art and Antiques! 

Elliott also had these fish andirons. The two pieces are a hundred miles away, in style, and yet they belong at the same generational home in this area. The mirror with the shovel and the hay rake over top of a blazing fire with the fish at your feet says you are in the north country.

I had heard of Tucker Payne Antiques. He didn't disappoint! This chair was covered in a soft, plaid wool. Such the gentleman's perch.

In the same booth he had an African cloth wing chair covered in old old textile. 

Where would I be if not thinking of Jackie the decorator? She asked for the color, amethyst, in her transitional, French décor. What did I find? This valance in a true French vignette. Laval Antiques had the best scraps of fabric, toiles and Aubusson filled with Lavender.

This is an eagle mirror! Darn if I didn't write down the name of the shop. It was one of the last pictures I took. 

This is a novel idea. 

We finished up and walked out the back door of the Music City Center. There she was! The iconic AT&T building also referred to as the "Batman Building"! The tallest building in Tennessee, you see it from all the angles going in, out and around the city.

Caught this tabletop going out the door. Mrs. Alice Tablescapes all the way from the UK. The candlestick in the background is a Carolina Irving piece. My son, Timothy, sent a pair of these as a Christmas gift two years ago! He has a great eye.

You think I could wrap this up but I haven't even mentioned the delicious dinner at the Southern Steak and Oyster, the great conversation and Christopher's performance, with John Stone, at Kid Rock's bar!

This post is dedicated to my husband. Without him it wouldn't have been as fun. Happy V Day babe!! Love you. 

 

The Concrete Side Of Garden Ornaments

This concrete sphere from Atlanta Planters, LLC. Roll a few of these across your yard. Love the sizes. Love the way they roll.

Not my cup of tea, then, wedding perfect, so easy and elegant. The Antiques & Garden Show looked outside the box, so to say. 

So much concrete. Benches, planters, table bases. No lattices, gates, trellis pieces in the show. 

Quite a few, cement critters for your yard. I loved them all. Distressed and pre-mossed, as far as I can tell.  

Iron ducks from Charleston Garden Works. Stepping around the water feature at your townhouse!

I may have to go back and pick this concrete Sand Hill Crane up and bring it home. Artifacts/Randy Farmer. 

We have all seen these chairs in the forest! Especially after logging. What do you think Mr. Scott? Provenance Antiques.

Look at the tag! How in the heck can I use these chairs outside! I would really sit in them in the garden. They look like a very comfortable perch. We will see if my lumberjack can carve one out!!

The focus of the show was to sell fantastic collections of Southern style. I saw quite a few carts, full of pieces, already sold, heading out the back doors! I didn't go back on Sunday, as I couldn't buy anything because I didn't have anyway of bringing it home.

There is still more "show and tell"!