Christmas Parlor Tour

My home will be one of the homes on tour in our historic neighborhood. I never have a tree up as early as this, but this year I will!  Hope some of you can make it!

Beautiful Rain

I am one who loves fall and winter and spring and summer; in other words, all four seasons. 

I have lived in snowy climes as well as my wonderful rain forest. I have to confess that I opt for the rain forest. I love the dark, blustery, rainy days and my umbrella and my kinsale raincoat. I do love wearing layers of clothing. I do not like to be scantily attired unless I'm sleeping.

Today I discovered an enormous mushroom! Or perhaps it's a toadstool. In any event, I had to take a photo of it with my iPhone. These babies are right outside our dining room bay window.  

Cooler seasons afford a coziness inside the house with warmth and candle light. Rain affords mobility in traveling. Shopping is never stopped short here in the rain forest, but it often was in the big snow, so I am very content with my beautiful rain.

Editing My Home

I have an old friend, who told me the best way to really see your home, is to photograph it. Well, moments ago, I did a few pix and then ended up cropping much out of each one, because they were way messy.

Below is a corner of my kitchen. In photographic form, it looks way too cluttered. And yet, I like everything in the room that is in that picture. I guess clutter is essential for me.

Wabi sabi is a term the Japanese use to embrace and accept flaws. It is pronounced wobby sobby. I'd say the beautiful Renaissance Revival chair below is quite wabi sabi, and I love it exactly as it is. So there. I spotted it at a local used furniture store this past summer. It was out on the sidewalk. I had Greg drop me off so I could run in and pay for it. Greg drove around the block just in time for me to load it into the car.

In the picture below the dress on this old, rag doll, is made from Victorian carpet that had been ripped up many years ago. My mom bought the old carpet at an antiques venue, and then gave it to me. I think it's really cool. This doll was one I made from a pattern from Marcie LaJoie of The Shack in the Back. Marcie has quit doing dolls. I made the doll many years ago. So it is old to me.

Currier & Ives and Victorian ladies all over my house! I love those beautiful old pictures and I also love that most of them are indeed a bit wabi sabi. I am very specific about what I love. I don't like people to give me presents, because I have to choose my own stuff. I've had to sell many an item that has been given to me. Oh gracious, sweet friends. I have a few things hidden away in dresser drawers, because somehow, even though they are gifts of love, I don't like them in my decor. I know. Very weird, I am.

I also love old, worn out, hence, wabi sabi frames. Here is one I picked up at an estate sale a couple weeks ago. I like it as it is. I bought the picture of the young woman at the same estate sale. I felt sorry for her, because it was the last day of the sale where everything under $100.00 was half priced, and still no one had bought her. She cost me $7.00. She resides in my guest bedroom with that gorgeous wabi sabi frame around her.

Due to my having two personalities; one being high Victorian and the other purely primitive in decor sensibility, the below cupboard was originally all white. But I used some milk paint, mixed it into this boring green, and painted the cupboard. I was hoping for more of a robin's egg blue, but ran out of the right stuff. I like the sage-ish green though, and so it remains. But the photograph points out the flaws. I had to "antique" my picture in iPhoto so as to diffuse the flaws a little. The doll is one that I made a couple years ago and then didn't want her to sell, so I have kept her. She has glass pupiless eyes!

You can see the Victorian in me with the tassel on the primitive chimney cupboard. (Chimney due to the height and narrowness.) I like to refer to my decorating style as Primitive Victorian. Some might regard that as an oxymoron, but there were plenty of primitives around during Victorian days, especially since Victorian days began in 1837 and ended in 1901. I'm afraid you won't find much European in my  house. I am so in love with early American as well as later times in this fair country, all the way through to the end of the Edwardian days, which ran from 1901 to 1910. Because America is so young, naturally one will not find European aged kind of stuff. I appreciate European things, but they do not own my heart. Early America ended in 1850.

And here is something that was made in the twentieth century! I love this old, hooked rug that shows the country child waiting for the school bus. It hangs on a wall in my laundry room.

Below is a shelf in my laundry room, just above the washer and dryer. I had to antique this picture too, because it was way too bright for my taste. In real life it is not all that bright, and that is good for me, because I prefer dark decorating. The little hooked rug is one I did of a design by Kindred Spirits.

Of course I love the mirror below. I bought it from Brent Heeb of Stars Antiques Mall fame, years ago. It had been pictured in Country Living magazine when Brent's house was featured. I was thrilled to have a mirror that was in a magazine! Silly me, my entire house had been in the same magazine the year before!

Note the gorgeous, large, antique tin document box with early tole painting on it. See the wee one next to it. It too is very old. I've had the wee one for many, many years. It looks as though it's the baby!

Coming down the stairs is a tall expanse of wall and so I have put more pretty ladies there. 

Well, so much for editing. I could do this all day every day. This is why I have two spaces at an antiques mall, and my Old & Good online antiques site. The hunt is what it's all about. One can only have so much stuff in one's home before one becomes eligible for "Hoarders"! Yuck!

Recycle, Go Green, Economize ~ Oregon Antique Mall

Trish Williams and Scott Cunningham are the owners of the new Oregon Antique Mall here in Oregon City, Oregon. They are extremely aware of the need for recycling good, old stuff, as well as for re-purposing and economizing.  They used complete sustainability when they restored the old building, and they applaud dealers who creatively bring merchandise that speaks for all of those points.

As a lover of antiques, I am amazed at some of the lovely items that are being brought into our mall. 

Antiques, of course, were well made and stand the test of time. 

Here are a few shots I took the other day. Our new mall has grown with leaps and bounds in just a little over a month. There are now 52 vendors that I know of, and it keeps on growing. There is so much fun and camaraderie there, and it is a great place for me to find treasures galore, as well as to sell some. 

Enjoy the following pictures of many spaces in the mall.