Easter is not that far away, are you ready?

I love Easter. It is the first party of Spring. I think we are all ready after a long, cold, hard, winter. There is nothing more fun than Bunnies, chicks and bright colored eggs and Spring Flowers.

It is one time of the year when the child of you can come out, one does not have to be so serious about the decorations. I just adore little fun bunnies, chicks and other  fun things  that we all associate with the Easter Holiday.

I know none of this has to do with the true meaning of the Easter Holiday, but sometimes we just have to let the little kid come out. What better way to do this, than with fun Easter decorations. they need not be expensive. I have no problem shopping for these fun things at second hand, antique and thrift shops. makes it even more special.

If one does not spend a bundle on the decorations, makes it easier to add      new ones or replace them all, year after year. One of my favorite things to do is, have an Easter brunch and send the cute  little decorations home with my guest. Another favorite is to buy cheap, real candy, Bunnies, at the Dollar Store, use them for decorations and then send them home with my guest for a door prize treats. You'll be a real hero and loved and adored.

I made this fun hanging lamp for the shop window. I used and old lamp shade, some rose chintz and some vintage linen napkins. A glue gun made the project go fast and was very easy to do.

I wanted the store window to be Spring, not just Easter, so this is what I came up with.

This is my favorite Bunny. Hand made of burlap and velvet. Ain't he just the cutest.

Not to be out done by the burlap Bunny, these two are made from  recycled blue jeans.

 

 

 

 

 

Last week while I was at work at the antique mall, during a snow storm, I thought about Easter, so I got busy and did the window and a couple of other Easter displays. Looking around the mall I found neat and fun items in several booths. I think the results are cute and whimsy.

Ruby Red!

My Father was a manly man. he was over 6 foot tall and very handsome. He worked hard on the farm and always had a dark tan in the summer. He  hunted, deer, rabbits, quail,  ducks and etc. etc. He threw hay bails, cut down trees and could turn a cow down with his bare hands. As manly as he was, he liked antiques. One thing that got his attention was ruby red glass ware.
 

My father would often go house to house, farm to farm, to  buy cattle and hogs. He also bought walnut, oak and other types of trees. It was always amazing to me, how he would know what to offer someone for these things and know what they would sell for. He made money from them and never really touched them. he also asked if these people had any old stuff they wanted to sell. I guess in a way, he was the original American Picker. Some of that has rubbed off on me. One thing he liked to buy was ruby red glass. I got a lot of these pieces from his estate.

 

 

 

This glass was popular in the last part of the 1800's and early part of the 1900's. It is what they call flash, that means the red is painted on and fired. The glass is also known as press glass, which means, it was blown into a mold, which pressed  the pattern into it. This glass was often sold at fairs, and peoples names were etched into the red part of the glass. A lot of towns and cities, as well as states ,  sold  glass  with      there name etched on it as well. People brought it home  to remember there trip.

I look for pieces when I am lot and about today. Sometimes people will give me a piece as well. Most of my collection is in the china pantry in the dinning room. One day while setting in the kitchen I thought it would look nice above the door, where the light from the transom will make it shine. So I added a shelf and there you are.

Some times I use all the ruby red glass on my table for a party. it is really fun for Valentines or Christmas I add votive candles to some pieces and fresh flowers to others. I use others to serve drinks, salads and so forth. I really enjoy using my things and it is fun to do different table scapes

 with different themes. Next    time I use the Ruby I will have to remember to take pictures.

 

 

Buddy Boy likes to take Selfies, so I'm sending a few along. Come see us anytime. We will always leave a light on and I might even set the table with   the Ruby, and we can have a mess of      smething to eat,.

NOT JUST A LAUNDRY ROOM.

 When I first bought, My Old Historic House, in 2006, there were no real working utilities and especially , no laundry room. At first I only camped out there on weekends, so having no washer and dryer was not a big problem. There was a space for a laundry room. In 1945 the second owners of the old house, the Bankhead Sisters, closed in a small section of the side porch and made a first floor bath room. This was the first time the old place had a working, inside bath. I chose to rip that bath room out, as the space was right off the kitchen. I chose to use this space as a pantry/laundry room. It was not much of a room, only 6 foot by 7 foot. The floor was full of holes where the bath room plumbing had once been, very roughed in. The walls were cheap paneling and there was no insulation. After a massive overhaul. new sub floor and floor, new drywall and then bead board paneling, new electric, new plumbing and fresh paint, the new laundry room/ pantry was ready to move into. While I had my carpenter there and had his full undivided attention, I added a small broom closet, lots and lots of shelves and installed a wonderful old antique, step back, pantry cabinet. This all took place in the fall of 2008. The two years before that, I spent a lot of time and all my money, buying and collecting for the new room. I chose to use English Brown and White Transfer ware, brown pottery, brown and white French Toile and brown and white gingham  fabric. because I was always buying this stuff there never was a budget for the actual work on the room. I was moving into the house full time and there was no way I was going to a laundry matt, so it was important to get this done. It took about 2 weeks, a few days I actually slept in the house with a wall missing, where we had removed a window

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Transfer ware is a process where, a design, printed on tissue is applied to wet ceramic. When the ceramic is fired, the tissue burns away, transferring the pattern to the ceramic item. This was made mostly in England for the American market. Some American companies made it as well. It was an iron stone ware, or soft paste pottery. Was most often used as everyday ware. Some house holds, in rural areas used it daily and was the best they had.
Brown pottery was made by many companies. Most common ones were, USA, Morscroft, Bennington and Rockingham. It is so named for the dark brown glaze. Some times darker than others. The only design was usually a pushed out pattern on the clay before the glaze was added.

 

 

 

 

  Toile is a type of fabric that is well know and most originally came from France. It can be many different types of fabric, linen, cotton, silk or even velvet. It is a simple definition. One color on white with a pastoral design. I chose brown and white, to go with the transfer ware. In these pictures it looks a little burgundy. I had a really hard time finding the brown and white. I found it on Ebay.I also used brown and white gingham,2 sizes of checks. My Dear Sister made the curtains and I had her line them with the larger check size. . The curtains on the side are in place of a door for the small broom closet I added at the side of the Antique built in cabinet. I also lined the Antique cabinet, inside with the smaller brown and white check fabric. I cut foam board to size, glued on the fabric and pushed them into place. Easy to change some day.

I chose and antique oil hanging lamp for the ceiling light. The micro wave is on the top of the step back antique cabinet. I used white washer and dryer. I hide the laundry stuff in a white metal laundry box with lid, that I found at World Market. Not an antique, but looks right and every thing is out of sight.

The laundry room is always a favorite when I have tour groups. Some say they have never seen a prettier one , anywhere. Others say it would be fun to do the laundry if you had a room like this. The last pictures are of the view of the laundry room from the kitchen, so you can see where it is located. Also ending with Buddy Boy, asleep in his basket, by the kitchen fireplace. Please come for a tour anytime. Bring your laundry if you want. I will leave the light on and Buddy will always have time to say hello.