Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Places Everyone!

First, let me say how much I appreciate all of you that have become followers and those of you that comment as well. I hope I always leave you with some food for thought about our prim/colonial attraction, good ideas I have surely copied and photos that you enjoy looking at. I'm going to step my writing up a notch in July (or so I think!). Today though I am sharing some "spots" that received new items in my home. When I get back from one of our adventures, I am always excited to find that spot for the things I purchased. Sometimes I know immediately where they will go and other times not....sometimes it means parting with a treasure from before and other times it just means "make room!" I really had a nice gathering of treasures a few weekends ago. I was mainly looking for old books, but found none....most of what I purchased was not on my "need to find" list. None the less, I loved my goodies and found homes for them. I took some photos of a few of them to share now, some to share later. So, without further adieu: Places Everyone!
The little red box with the nicely curved front received a little sanding and some stain over the red paint, giving it a much older appearance. It was on my "list to find" so that the fire place lighter had a place to hide. My mantle is a work in progress right now, so the box is off center. Need your ideas and inspiration to finish out the mantle. Love the painting of my sweet Olivia, still deciding if I need to frame it...any thoughts? Place the pewter cup next to it for now.

Previous post revealed the make over on the firkin, the old "crate box" and the wonderful grain box all teamed up in the laundry room. The large square document box found it's way to an end table in the den....placed it underneath the smaller box I had there. Not sure if this will be the final "spot" for this beauty. Greenery from Spoon Sister's Tiques and Treasures nestled in on the kitchen table for some summer foilage display. Should have bought loads more of those, they are so sweet and delicate. Rebecka and I often call our trips by the items we bought. The Pie Safe trip is one tale. The Book trip is another. For me, this was The Box trip. I only needed one...but came home with four. Five if you count the one that ended up in Olivia's bathroom for a trash can. Wouldn't you agree there is a great joy in the hunt? And only your prim friend can understand the grin of satisfaction, the squeal of delight and the hug you give the item. ( Please tell me other people do that!) Our drive home is often a converstation of placement of items, favorite item found, best deal of the day, and the regret item ( the one you left behind for whatever reason that seemed reasonable at the time but now seems like utter nonsense!) Typically, one attempts to resound the reasonable reason to make it seem reasonable again, but, tragically fails to do so! So you might ask, my regret on the last trip? Letting a great old blanket box get away at the auction. My favorite item was the grain box. Best deal? The grain box! Lastly, placement has been revealed here with the hopes it meets your approval. After all, you are my inspiration at The Prim Colonial. ~~ Beth

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Whatcha workin' on?














I can never imagine my home "done", there is still that dream home to build with the walk in pantry and a six foot table to find for that kitchen. In the meantime, there is still the regular upkeep and tweaking to do here....and I always seem to find a piece I love and have to have, not knowing where in the world it will go or what piece I will have to part with to make room ( I know I should never say such things!). I am wondering what you all are working on; what room or concept or prim-over. I love watching those transformations that many of you have shared. Currently I am painting, a little along all the while. Doors badly needed it, so they have been my target of late. Most of all, I have been working on a change in the prim scenery in Olivia's bathroom. I have added a few work in progress photos for you. I bought this wonderful bucket bench after I had painted her bathroom and that set off a whole new direction in the prim accessories there. So, I keep tweaking there right now. When it is all done, I will share again! I continue to be inspired by your beautiful posts and they keep me on the road to completion with each new idea or vignette you share. Many thanks for being my daily dose of prim decor addiction! Now you know what I will be up to this weekend! ~~ Beth

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

A Prim-Over for a Firkin.



You might remember from a previous post a little firkin that I purchased. Someone had painted it a weird brown color with gold trim and topped with a decal. Since it was much less than all the other firkins I had seen that weekend I decided it should go home with me and I would strip it. Mind you, I really don't like to strip things...I am not patient enough and often, after all the work, you discover that the wood underneath is just not that great. In this case, I figured it would be a case of just paint over it and prim it in that fashion if stripping fails to impress. So, I got to work and found a layer of yellow paint and then a layer of blue paint underneath. Nice copper tacks too! Once down to the wood, I was pretty pleased. I did not get it stripped completely, left some of the paint for a nice prim look. I added some stain and found a new home for the firkin. What do you think about how it turned out? I think my prim-over came out just prim perfect!














And, I completely forgot to mention that I picked up this lovely grain bin on our little outing too! I am loving the patina on this box and all the "stains" on the top. I bought it as the man placed it in his booth. It went to the laundry room, Now the firkin has a lovely place to rest next to the neat box made from an old lettuce crate (part of the label still inside!)
I would be remiss if I did not mention this little box with the painted strawberries. I did not buy it, but it caught my eye...want to know why? Well, because it was a make do for sure: an opened can of spam, painted black, rickrack added to the edges and some tolepainted strawberries added. Notice how the spam tab acts as the hanger for this little jewel. :)

Now that is ingenuity at its finest!

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Traveling Swap

Two little kittes came to live at my house courtesy of the swap I participated in! Some of the goodies I received!





Two prim candles that smelled good enough to eat have found their home in my pewter sconces.

What a treat to see that wonderful box arrive! The Sisterhood of the Traveling Swap box arrived at my home...a little tattered from it's travels so far, but certainly still tough and concealing its contents well! Sweet Mary from http://marmmiesmammysandmore.blogspot.com/ sent the box on to me. She has a terrific blog that I enjoy, so I was pretty excited to see what all was in that box! Olivia wanted to help me open it and see what I had to choose from. We sat on the floor in the middle of my little home office and we opened the box revealing 5 wrapped goodies. The aroma from that box was yummy...cinnamon and coffee smells filled the room. I let Olivia choose the first item to unwrap. Once we were done unwrapping, we knew it would be so difficult to choose less than 5! Olivia promptly advised me to keep them ALL! I laughed and said "I can't do that, I am not a crafter and the next person on the list deserves some hand crafted items too. I will have to choose wisely, add a few of my collected treasures and send it on to the next person." We debated, discussed, carried things around the house to see if there was that special spot. I signed the inside bottom of the box, removed a cat that had decided it was a great place to sleep, made my selections and added my goodies to the box. Olivia had carefully wrapped all the goodies again for the next recipient, Mary G. I had to leave some of those beautifully crafted items in the box, though I wanted to keep every one.

Mary at Marmmies is very talented and her items were perfectly prim! I left some in there for you Mary G. as I could not be selfish and keep all those handmade items for myself. Many thanks to Deb T. over at Crows Creek Primitives (another outstanding blog!) who started the swap. What a fun idea, like Christmas in June! I would love to do it again! I am enjoying my Sisterhood Swap items and will remember them as my first ever swap goodies!

Monday, June 6, 2011

Life in the Laugh Lane

Off on an adventure with my friend Rebecka is always a treat. You may remember me mentioning two wonderful women we met at an antique mall a while ago. They had a "to die for" booth filled with all the things we love and were so much fun to chat with. We stayed in touch and saw them a few times again when we were back through the area. They held a barn sale that we attended also. We were delighted when they told us they would be holding their first auction! Of course we had to go support The Spoon Sisters! They opened a great little shop that we visited last October when we went to the Country Living Fair. Across the parking lot is a restored railroad depot that is now an event location. The event of the day was the auction. We hit a few shops along the way and I came home with several new treasures as did Rebecka. I did not "win" anything at the auction, but Rebecka did very well.



I guess I was on a box kick, I bought three of them this trip. A nice funnel, a small wooden bowl, a tall glass globe and a Wisconsin Pottery Preserves Jar. Got a great little firkin that I will have to do a little prim-over to.

Also came home with a great metal dustpan, a very large crackled and crazed off white platter, a pewter mug and a neat "trash can".



One of my favorite things about traveling with Rebecka is all the hilarity that seems to follow us all around. First we saw a goat on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere...maybe not too funny to others, but because of past encounters with animal sightings we laughed out loud. The music at the two malls we stopped to visit was the craziest ever, that just got us tickled even more. We have great therapy in the car time, which when you are raising teenagers you surely need. The GPS in Rebecka's car played several jokes on us too, but always to our advantage and made us laugh even more. Our hotel had a shower, not a tub and half the wall was curved....think it was so late and we were so tired and that made us laugh. From vending machines, to oversleeping (we just about missed our free breakfast) from auction entertainment ( we enjoyed the conversations going on behind us as much as the action in front of us) to making peanut butter sandwiches in the car ( on bread we smashed with our treasures ) to so much more, it seemed everything was funny.




I am sure you have similar stories to share... I think that is part of what I enjoy so much about this passion of collecting things from the past; the part about spending time with friends and sharing the fun of the hunt with them. The girl time together whether it is two or twenty is such a blessing and a treat from the daily joys of raising a family and working at a job. It seems to me that no one but a prim friend can really appreciate the treasure you just found or the placement of that treasure in your home. In the decorating world I think it is unique....and to us is not decorating at all but the feathering of the nest to bring warmth and beauty to the place we call home. As Rebecka reflected on the very large cotton basket she "won" at the auction, we discussed it's beauty as an art craft, the many hands that had used it, the stories it could tell, how she would use it in her home and how it would remind her of the trip. The same is true of many of our other selections as well. Every item has a history and we added to it. We will continue to add to the history of those treasures as we use them in our homes.




If laughing makes you live longer, I am pretty sure I added about 10 years to my life. Though we did not drive in the fast lane, we experienced life in the laugh lane! ~~ Beth

Friday, June 3, 2011

Prairie Rose



Prairie Rose Eye Candy. YUM!



Busy Friday for me, lots of errands it seems. Now the weather is REALLY hot! Oh, how I already miss spring. I decided since it was so hot and there were so many errands on my list I should stop at my favorite store in my little town for a break. After all, the Prairie Rose gals had completely redone their booth and I had not seen it yet! They have the greatest ideas and a very simple color palate. Even though my house is prim colonial in decor, I am drawn to their khaki, white and black color scheme enhanced by silver pieces and some rusted items now and then. This creative pair seem to always have something that makes me say "AH-Hah, how clever is that!" and I often find special things for my home in their booth. Here are a few shots of their booth that you might enjoy. I would like to gleen 1/10 of their creative genius for myself but until then I will just continue to be amazed by their work and bring a little of it home from time to time. Hope your weekend is perfect! ~~ Beth

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Things Cats Like

I find cats so interesting. They have such eccentric personalities it seems to me. Pets are such incredible blessings from God and we certainly enjoy our two kitties.
Cats seem to really like summer. There is something about this change in season that they enjoy. From the new baby birds flitting about on the lawn to the ice cream in your bowl, they seem to enjoy all things summer. Jackie naps a little more on the rug in the foyer. She sleeps like a dog, don't you think? Hairry Baker has a thing for flip flops....can't get enough of them, rolling on them and hugging them. They love the fresh fish we have during the summer and they love curling up in Olivia's lap as she enjoys her summer reading. As I think about it, I believe both kitties were born in early summer, so chances are they like this time of year simply because it's their birthdays. ~~ Beth