July Sale Photos

So are you all getting ready to spend part of your holiday weekend with the Second Hand Rose gang? We are getting all prettied up and gussied up and dressed up in anticipation of your arrival! Spent a good portion of today in the shop and got quite a few photos - so come on in and get your July preview!!

Rose and Barb combined their areas this month - isn't this welcoming?

And here is Lula - just had to let you see her! I think she may have gotten a bit carried away with the shampoo! Kind of a fun and funky piece don't you think?

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this aqua color that Susan has used!

The awesome green wall that you see when you come in the front door! I love this wall and everything on it!!A little bit of everything and a chicken incubator table in my area!
And a little bit more of everything!

Lots of fun and colorful stuff in Kim's area - and my favorite cupboard!

Rose and Barb - gosh they make a great team don't they?

Pat has lots of fun items - many of which I think I have to have!

I love this little pink table!

And this corner of MaryAnn's area - a to die for table!

Bonnie always comes up with the best china - and this pattern is gorgeous!

Hmmmm.........I was pretty sure I had uploaded some more photos. Guess I might have to do another post tomorrow! Enjoy - and we'll see you all on Thursday!

I Love A Parade!

Last week was Buffalo Days - Buffalo celebrates with city wide garage sales, sidewalk sales, live music in the park all week, a carnival with rides and cheese curds, fireworks and a parade! The parade is Saturday nite and Barb lives right on the parade route so she always hosts a Parade Party! We have never been able to make it before - but I think we will be regular attendees from now on! It was a potluck party, bring your own chairs and blankets, the kids, the family and prepare to oooohhhh and aaaaahhhh over the floats and bands. Quite a few members of the SHR gang were there to help celebrate along with many friends and family members of Barb's. Come on in and take a look!

Here we have Barb - the hostess with the mostest!! She is being helped in the kitchen by her grandson Sam. He was a good helper and a great kid (gosh, I remember when he was born and I was pretty sure it was just yesterday!!) Barb made sandwiches and salads and bars and then there was all of the other great food brought by everyone else! Sam and his mom made a beautiful cake for David (Barb's husband) to celebrate Father's day.

And here we have David - a great host, the money handler at SHR, and an all around great guy! He is sampling his Father's Day cake!

And some of the SHR gang - my husband Mike, Sonja, Rose, MaryAnn and Pat and John Carver! Hey, I remembered your name John! I usually go totally blank on his name and end up calling him Mr. Pat!

The sidewalks are full waiting for the parade to pass by! Barb has the perfect spot to enjoy the parade - a great shady porch and big old tree and plenty of curb space to get up close!

And so it begins - lots of great marching bands and music,

And there were lots of great floats and pretty girls and horses and dancers and vintage cars and fire trucks but I think the Shriner copters were the big hit! They were so much fun to watch - we all decided we needed one of those to play with!

There were quite a few family members at the party - Maybe these folks are the next generation of SHR?????????? This is Barb's daughter Stacy,

and this is my son Kjell,

here is Rose's daughter Sonja who is everyone's sweetheart!

And last, but not least Susan's daughter Georgia! She was having a great time with all of the other kids. Most of the floats and parade members were throwing candy out to the crowds - and I think the kids got a pretty good haul!

Well - that's it folks! The parade is over, the streets have been cleaned, the kids have probably eaten all of their candy by now and the SHR gang is on to painting and sanding and setting up the store for you guys! Can't wait to see y'all next week!

A Tour of Barb's House

Barb had a little party at her house Saturday nite and she was kind enough to let me snap a few photos to share with you all. Barb lives in Buffalo in a big old brick house. I love her house - but what makes it so special is how she has made it a cozy, comfortable and welcoming home. Very few things in Barb's house are new. There are family pieces mixed in with new upholstered pieces mixed in with many treasures from Second Hand Rose, antique shops and thrift stores. She has put it all together with her very own stamp. Barb tends to be a bit of a minimalist while I tend to be a more is more person! But her mix of old and new, contemporary and traditional makes for an absolutely beautiful home. So let's take a look...........................

This is the garden on the side of the walkway leading to the front door. The garden is lovely and full and leads you right up to the front porch.
This is a shot of her back garden.

She has a fireplace in her living room with this cubby over it. I think it was once meant for a tv, but she keeps the doors slightly ajar - just enough to see this little vignette.

This was the centerpiece on her dining room table. I love the chippy little organ stool - a piece that she bought at Second Hand Rose!

This is a shot of her backyard sitting area. A very small little spot - but shady and cool and inviting!

The corner of one of the bedrooms. This room is all shades of whites, creams and ivories. It is so soothing. She got the little corner sink at SHR and it has an open book in it.

This is the other side of the room. I love her window treatment. She has wood blinds - very simple - but then the window is framed with a harp from a mirrored dresser with simple sheer embroidered panels just draped over the ends and hanging down either side of the window. Over the bed hands the pocket from a suitcase with a few simple treasures. Her bedside table is actually a small desk.

This is in her kitchen. I love the dog sitting on the scale and propped up against was an old ticket from some kind of carnival. I wish I had gotten a shot of her counter tops (they were covered in the most delicious foods of all kinds when I was doing this). She didn't like the counter tops or cupboards when they bought this house and she didn't want to go thru the expense of all new so she painted the cupboards and back splash (it is all soft greens and taupe) and then she painted her basic Formica counter tops. She sanded them to get some grit and then used many coats of paint and some faux techniques and they now look like dark marble. She then used quite a few coats of poly over them. She did this over a year ago and they are still looking great!

This is a wall in her living room. The living room and dining room are painted in this deep gold color. It is so cozy and warm. She framed a piece of ceiling tin with simple 2 x4's, a vintage bookcase, globe, mirror with a contemporary lamp and leather chair (barely visible on the right) and some vintage books and a few treasures and the wall truly makes a statement.

This is in her downstairs bathroom. I love her collection of ironstone pitchers!

The opposite wall of the bathroom. The buffet belonged to Barb's mother-in-law. They just had this installed and it looks awesome! Again, her vintage items with a contemporary lamp and fixture.

This is Barb's coffee table in the living room. I love the cloches. She painted the table black and I love it with the vintage sofa that she found at a thrift store quite a few years ago. It is so comfy and I don't think that old cut velvet fabric ever wears out! The rug is another find from Second Hand Rose!

A close up of one of her cloches. It houses her perfume bottles and it sits on a pedestal that she put together from some scrap pieces.

The wall across from the sofa. The chippy door less commode fits great with the simple rattan chairs. The cross was an antique store find and over the picture is a piece of trim from an old mirror.

So whadda ya think? Pretty awesome huh? And there is tons of stuff I didn't show you! So when you see Barb next let her know how much you love her home! I bet she would even share a few tips with you if you like!

July Snippets

What a grand morning this is! Blue skies and wonderful sunshine. It is only very early on Sunday morning but already this has been a FULL weekend! I have much to share with you all - auction tidbits, a tour of Barb's house, and a Buffalo Days Parade party held at Barb's house. BUT I am going to start with a quick run thru of what is happening in the shop! I was in there on Friday night and of course hardly anyone is anywhere NEAR being set up (except Coralyn and Barb!). But thru the stacks and piles of furniture and smalls and stuff I could find lots of wonderful treasures poking their heads thru so I thought I would share some of them with you! So come on - let's take a mid-month tour!!

This piece in Kim's area JUMPED right out at me - don't you just love the colors on that cupboard? Hmmmmm............the first item on my gotta have list!

This is the back wall of the front area - the first thing you will see when you come in. I don't have a clue what will end up happening on that wall but the newly painted color just drew me right in! Trying to figure out where in my house I could do a feature wall in that color!

I couldn't help but notice that great armoire and chair in MaryAnn's area! And I need a new chair in my living room - could this be the one?

Pat has the kitchen this month - and I see more gotta haves!! I'm seeing a pink table calling to me and those bee thingy's (can't remember the correct title this morning!!) - they have endless possibilities tho!

I'm seeing some fun color in Coralyn's area - and you know me - all about color!

This is in Angela's area. Yep the chair is nice too - but the metal cart underneath it??? Another item on my list!

A look into Susan's area! There is that turquoise/aqua color that I love so much. And I'm liking the pair of chairs! Hmmmmm, maybe I need 2 chairs for my living room?

Cathy Grott has joined us at SHR. She has everything that I love - but those windmill pieces - what incredible primitive/industrial/modern art! Oh my list is growing so fast!

Barb and Rose have joined forces this month and combined their spaces. I can always find one or two or twenty things in their items to go on my gotta have list!

Soooooooo is your mouth watering yet? Getting ready to shop??? Not much longer now til the July sale! Really, not much longer at all.......yikes - back to work - I have much to do!

And The Sun Shined - ALL DAY!!

Today finally the sun shone ALL DAY LONG!! It dried up, got warm but not humid - the perfect work outside, paint lots of stuff, build lots of stuff kind of day. So did I get anything built, painted, worked on or even looked at???? NOPE - I spent the ENTIRE day in my garden! I got rid of 2 wheelbarrows worth of weeds, found all of my vegetables, rototilled a huge new garden area, planted new stuff, divided old stuff, moved around stuff and got completely and totally covered in dirt and mud - honest, when I came in to shower I found dirt in places, well let's just say in odd places!! And I couldn't have gotten all of this done without the help of my 25 year old son Kjell who really prefers to look at nature from a nice deck with a beer in his hand while sitting in his black leather and chrome chair - I know, I know I SWEAR he was switched at birth!

Anyhow - when I got done I was filthy, tired, swollen with bug bites, sore and achy - but mostly very proud of how things look so of course I just had to share it with EVERYBODY!! I like to design and decorate gardens as much as I like to design and decorate rooms! So here goes.......

I already have 2 good sized green peppers in my vegetable garden!

And it looks like I am going to have a bumper crop of raspberries - YUM!! We'll be fighting over them - there are just never enough!

Galardias - my mother's favorite perennial so I always have some in her honor.

And look - one red tomato already!!! These tomatoes were started indoors in March by a little old man at the flea market.

Half of my back 40 vegetable garden - there are onions, peas, cayenne peppers, sweet yellow banana peppers, sunflowers, yellow beans, galardias and lettuce on this side - oh yes and a couple of pumpkin plants for the little boys next door!

The other side of the vegie garden with tomatoes, red and green peppers, pole beans, more onions, raspberries, squash, cantaloupe and along the back fence some hollyhock, a climbing rose (the first photo) and clematis - and NO WEEDS!!

My honeysuckle in the front sun garden - I LOVE this stuff!

Half of my front sun garden - wish you could see it better - there is a beautiful climbing rose on the windmill.

The other side of my front sun garden

Part of my new hosta garden - with one of my favorite varieties front and center (and nope, I can't remember what it is called but the leaves are HUGE!)

and the overall shot of the hosta garden - so many varieties thanks to my good friend Ingrid!

A shot of my side shade garden. Our patio table and chairs and swing are right where I saw standing under the big tree. This side of the yard is always cool and breezy and cozy no matter how hot it gets - even when it is humid outside it is bearable under the tree.

Another shot from the side shade garden with our smut cleaner and hog oiler! I wanted a hog oiler for so long and finally got this one last fall. Next I want a watermelon hog oiler - but they usually go for two to three hundred dollars at auction - more than I want to pay!

So tell me about your garden designs - do you get as much enjoyment from yours as I get from mine? Food for the soul - that what it is to me - food for my soul.