This weekend is, at long last, the spring barn sale at Life’s Patina in Malvern!
SPRING BARN SALE DATES: Friday, April 26th: 10am to 7pm Saturday, April 27th: 10am to 5pm Sunday, April 28th: 10am to 4pm
I previewed it yesterday, and it was amazing!
1750 N. Valley Road, Malvern, PA
Remember that this is literally a barn sale, so wear appropriate footwear because you will be crossing a field to get to the barn.
Part of the proceeds from this springs sale goes to one of my favorite local nonprofits Surrey Services.
Also, if you want to make a Chester county day of it, Life’s Patina has their Café and Mercantile in historic Yellow Springs Village. And starting Saturday, the Yellow Springs Art Show opens.
So what does that mean? It means you can start at Life’s Patina barn sale and then go to Yellow springs Village and taking the art show starting Saturday and have lunch in the café or coffee! The café, located in the historic Jenny Lind house is located at 1657 Art School Rd., Chester Springs PA. And the Mercantile is also full of amazing things for your home.
Today St. David’s Church in Wayne, PA did a pop-up version of their annual fair. Flea market, books, clothes, kids toys, and more.
It was just fun. It was a beautiful day. A lot of people were out. Apparently they were lined up to get in before it even opened at 9 AM. The church raised a lot of money for their outreach.
I didn’t get tons of stuff but I found a few treasures!
I just love older colored glass. That vase is of indeterminate age, but hand blown which I love. A pair of never used April Cornell pillow shams for $6 and antique hand towels for $2 each.
A handmade pottery wren house for the garden. And some books. Including a very special one, that my friend Eddie Ross wrote and gifted to me today out of some treasures he found….and he personalized and signed it.
I also found a little garden sign.
But in this crazy and often unpleasant world in which we live, today was just a nice day. Happy people having a fun time shopping and volunteering and kids also having fun.
In life, we all need more days like this. Actual community in action.
Lampshades. Yes, lampshades. A very important detail in my opinion, just like choosing the right lamp.
Above is one of my favorite lamps. My husband can actually take it or leave it but I love it. I actually bought it for $30 without the shade, but newly rewired at the very first clover market ever a bunch of years ago and it was rewired.
Idealite, Inc., electric lamp base. Clear. Blown pattern incorporates stars, swags and tassels. Embossed under the base: “PAT. NO. 95524.” Possibly made by L. E. Smith Glass Company.
No, I don’t think my lamp is particularly valuable, I just like it and I think it’s cool that I was able to rewire it because I think it’s better looking than a lot of lamps I see today. Like many other details in a home, sometimes a rewired and modernized lamp is awesome.
I have actually used three or four different shades on this one lamp. I had not been thrilled with the one I had on the lamp most recently . It was almost right but not quite. Maybe it’s a woman thing and it’s kind of like not exactly having the right pair of shoes to go with an outfit or purse. It just has to be right.
So I was looking at a Facebook memory of a lampshade with pine cones and chickadees I bought from a woman in Maine who makes the most wonderful lampshades. Her name is Barbara Gail Lewis. Her business is found on Etsy and is called Barbara Gail’s Lamps.
Barbara is really an artist. And this lamp shade is so fun. I hunted for years a few years ago to find someone that made these pierced and cut and hand colored shades. I think it’s a real art form, and there used to be this lovely lady up in Adamstown, PA at Black Angus Antiques back in the day who made them, but I think she’s long since retired and the last time I went up there no one did lampshades like this.
To an extent, these handcrafted shades are an anachronism to modern designers. And they’re not in general “fashion” for home design and that’s fine. I don’t need to be trendy I just know what I like. And I have liked these lampshades since I was a kid because my mother has some, some of my friends’ mothers had them and grandparents had them. It’s kind of like a handmade patchwork quilt and to me it gives a sense of home.
So when I first bought the shade with the pine cones and the chickadees, I bought the wrong size. Because if you don’t learn how to measure properly for a lampshade, you’re screwed. From another business I buy lampshades from, Lamps Plus, here is a little video explaining how to measure for a new lampshade:
Anyway, I bought this lampshade originally for an old stoneware jug my mother had made into a lamp years ago. But the first lampshade I bought I didn’t measure correctly, and I needed a slightly larger one. So I hung onto the smaller shade and I’m glad I did because all of a sudden today I realized it would be perfect on this clear glass lamp.
I love these pierced and hand cut lamp shades. Sometimes they are just cut and other times they are multi dimensional and also hand colored like the ones that I have that are the chickadees and the pinecones. During the day when your lamp is off, it just looks like a pierced and cut lampshade. Here is another one I have for a converted oil lamp, another favorite lamp style of mine:
So I really do like converted oil lamps lamps. But I only convert lamps that have cracked collars or can’t be used as an oil lamp. I remember when Martha Stewart had converting oil lamps on her early TV series and in her magazine . Literally season 2 of the original series in 1995. It made finding antique oil lamps a very expensive proposition when they had been very reasonable in price. And then everywhere you turned, you had people turning usable oil lamps into electric lamps badly.
It was one of the Martha crazes back then I didn’t really like. As a matter of fact, it made me dislike her series and magazine, because half of the things I liked, she liked as well, and then she made a cost prohibitive for the rest of us. Yes, I know it’s the whole literal theory of supply and demand. Martha Stewart has always been good at supply and demand, and actually a lot of what many of us find sentimental.
So for years, I couldn’t either find oil lamps I wanted to use with liquid paraffin in them, or that were slightly damaged to convert to a regular lamp. You see I don’t believe in converting the ones that work in their original capacity to electricity. But everything is cyclical even in home decor, and now you can find some really great lamps and still get the shades made.
The lamp above is a great example. Over 12 years I found that brass lamp at the East Goshen Yard Sale when you used to go to peoples driveways and not to the township building or the park. It was from a farm on Hershey’s Mill Road set up off the road where I think it’s slated for some kind of residential development at this point, sadly. Or it was presented as such a couple of years ago. I wrote about the house:
Now I paid $12 for the lamp. The brass was In wonderful condition but it was unusable as an oil lamp due to a crack in the collar and a little one at the bottom. So it would make a perfect table lamp. I took it to Home Lighting of Frazer. They did a great job wiring the lamp, but they were super slow and really expensive. Because I spent so much on the wiring I had to hunt to find a reasonably priced vintage shade because I didn’t think a new shade would work for this lamp. I found one on eBay and it was hard sided and it’s historical buildings I believe of Williamsburg, Virginia.
Vintage lampshades can be the bomb. Usually they are, like lots of things, better made. I find them all over locally. Dishfunctional, Surrey Consignment Shop, St. David’s Fair, Frazer Antiques, Clover Market, estate sales and even Goodwill. Also eBay and Etsy. And sometimes even the Smithfield Barn.
First of all, I will observe that I do not think Historic Harriton House had a large visitor turnout for their “Harriton History Open House”. Mostly the only photos you see are adults playing dress up.
And about that dress up and ummm the fact that Harriton House is categorized as a Historic House Museum. One would HOPE that meant not playing house with precious antiques? Apparently not.
Look at the two photos immediately above. I do not even remember when I took above left. Please note photo on right which is a screenshot from a PUBLIC social media posted Sunday. If you zoom in on my photo (left), it says “DO NOT SIT”, nor are you supposed to monkey about with the petite antique side table. But photo on right, shows adults at the direction of Mrs. Puddle Duck the current executive disaster, err I mean director, frolicking on the antiques??? Are they even allowed to do that as far as their insurers are concerned?
But wait, there is more….
Below on left this time is a screenshot of a publicly posted social media photo posted Sunday as in yesterday. On the right is another one of years ago (I have taken hundreds of photos of Harriton and the fair, and notice the RED RIBBONS on the chairs? That means what class? Oh yes, DON’T SIT ON THE ANTIQUES IN THE HOUSE MUSEUM, correct? I mean can’t that person play their recorder or fife or whatever standing up?
Now then there is the kitchen. I was allowed to play with some dressed up kiddos circa 1976 or so, which although after 1973 when it went national, was an utterly different era. But today? Walter Staib uses the kitchen as a focal point in his PBS television A Taste of History series , but I bet he has some ultra bullet proof insurance to do so? But yesterday? It was dress up shlubs in the kitchen, so was there even special event insurance? Was Lower Merion Township ok with this after the executive disaster, err director’s first jam après the palace coup at Harriton replacing the man who literally made Harriton House what it became through 46 plus years of devotion, knowledge, and brutally hard work at times? As I heard it told there may have been a little fire in the colonial beehive oven because someone didn’t know how to use it and lumpy baking disasters? Below is a screenshot from January 2023 that shows the singed spot rather well doesn’t it? I mean I know that beehive door cover thingy had been rebuilt and was quite lovely before, right?
So yes, I did look up the National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form from 1973. This house is locally, state, and federally recognized. It’s also in a category of a historic house museum which mean randos playing reenactment dress up kind of should not be lounging on the furniture, nor should the furniture be moved around a great deal. That is only preservation common sense, isn’t it? And doesn’t the 2022 IRS Form 990 value the antiques at over $500K? Also they probably kind of like shouldn’t touch historical documents up in the office area on the second floor unless you are wearing those museum grade cotton protective gloves either, right?
I would send you to the Harriton House website, but it has been pending a make over as per their words since 2023. I mean how hard is it to launch a website these days? Not very, but hey what do I know, right? I mean if you can’t launch a new website in colonial garb, Benjamin Franklin might be rolling in his grave or something, perhaps? Gosh am I being sarcastic? Sorry…but not really. It’s just how I feel about WHY they still don’t seem to have an updated website that functions well.
So what does the executive disaster, err director actually do all day? Does she come to Harriton every day? Look, I get as the now not so new girl (well it has been two years) she wants to make her own mark “storming the castle”, and I have no problem with living history days but Harriton House is like a giant ball of antiques, some probably close to irreplaceable, so if she only used her brain for more than dress up opportunities?
I have been struggling with how I now feel about Harriton House since they shoved the former executive director out not so long after his wife died. He was planning on retiring, but it’s always felt like some on that Harriton Association board just knee capped him and we can have that opinion, right? I mean how many days was he given to clear out 46+ years?
Part of the issues Harriton House faces is it’s definitely hard to be a small non-profit in the current environment. But it also means that the board of the Harriton Association has to be more hands on, and they need a change in leadership. The person at the helm should step down. I am also allowed that opinion. They have created the air of insular. With the former executive director there was more interaction and co-mingling with other non-profits. That is necessary for survival. The financials at the end of 2022 according to the IRS Form 990 don’t paint a pretty picture. What will 2023 say? I saw losses from beginning of year to end of year, increased expenses and salaries and for what? Also not to be petty, but 2020 was COVID right? They had HIGHER contributions than 2022 and line item 22 wasn’t showing a loss at end of year, either….so let’s see that means what exactly? That they can’t blame COVID or the former executive director?
I think Harriton House is continuing to slide down. And that is truly heart breaking and a goddamn waste of so many decades of honest hard work. And playing dress up and play acting on the literal antiques of a historic house museum is just bullshit. Also have they found a suitable tenant for the rental property attached to the historic house yet? That has been empty since when? September, 2023? That’s a significant amount of time to lose rent on the best rental property they have isn’t it?
At the very bottom, I will show you photos of the Harriton House I love. Hopefully it finds it’s way back there. But it won’t happen with the current executive disaster, err director and it won’t happen if the current chair of the Harriton Association doesn’t have the grace to step aside for other leadership.
Have a great week ahead. Avoid historic preservation disasters like randos playing dress up and frolicking among the antiques etc.
Apparently according to the New York Times if you have bookshelves with books in them, you have “Bookshelf Weath” – it’s some TikTok interior design craze, apparently. I don’t really TikTok and books? We love books here. They aren’t in our lives merely for interior design cuteness.
When it comes to aesthetic trends, social media loves a catchy name.
Cottagecore. Dark academia. Eclectic grandpa.
Now there’s a new entry to the canon: bookshelf wealth.
On TikTok and other digital platforms, there has lately been much ado about people who own a great number of books and — this is critical — have managed to stage them in a pleasing manner.
If you’ve ever seen a Nancy Meyers movie, the look might ring a bell. Warm and welcoming. Polished, but not stuffy. A bronze lamp here. A vintage vase there (with fresh-cut flowers, of course). Perhaps there is a cozy seating area near the floor-to-ceiling display, with an overstuffed couch topped with tasteful throw pillows.
Kailee Blalock, an interior designer in San Diego, posted a video to TikTok last month that sought to define bookshelf wealth and school viewers in achieving the aesthetic in their own homes.
We have “bookshelf wealth” because we come from families of readers, and we are readers. Our books are here not because they look cute, but because they mean something. I don’t know how you can have a house without bookshelves or books, truthfully. I guess there are that many people that don’t read books anymore they just have them for decoration?
And I have had people come into our home and look at the bookshelves and ask if we’ve read the books, which to me is the weirdest question ever, because why would you have a book if you weren’t going to read it?
And please ignore the tiny pixies on the shelves. They are going away today. 🤣
Now a pro tip: those rolling racks that you use for underneath dorm room beds that aren’t up on risers for storage are great locations for extra books. In my case it’s where my extra gardening and cookbooks go.
But I digress….
I’m telling you this “trend” totally cracks me up because it was like that book trend a few years ago that also showed up somewhere on social media of people carving /cutting books, and like making sculptures out of the pages which to me was like so sacrilegious because again, I love books.
And I love fairs like the Saint David’s Church Fair every October because you can get some amazing books in the second hand book tent! And that fair probably has the best used book selection you will see at any flea market setting.
They used to have books at Harriton Fair in Bryn Mawr, but the current Executive Director in her eternal wisdom of behaving like an idiot, got rid of them at the fair starting in 2023 I think. Ironically, because I volunteered for that fair for so many years, I know for a fact that was one of the biggest moneymakers.
Also, most libraries will have used book sales at some point in the year. Two of my favorites, historically have been when the Tredyffrin library and Ludington library in Bryn Mawr put out the used books for sale sign.
For buying used books in general, it’s always fun to go into a used bookstore, there used to be one years ago at Bryn Mawr College called The Owl that was fabulous. And here in Chester County we have Baldwin’s Book Barn, and if you’ve never been, it’s an adventure and it’s awesome. You can also find a great selection of vintage and used books at garage sales and secondhand shops even Goodwill. And online through ThriftBooks and Abe’s Books etc.
Yes, can you tell I love books? But I have them because I read them or I read them or they mean something. They’re not just decorations on a shelf.
Here’s the article:
(If you click on the photo, it should take you right to the article)
Yes, these are cookies I baked this year, and they are on a beautiful vintage white milk glass cake stand that I got at the Smithfield Barn a few years ago!
Christmas is a magical time and season for me. I love decorating and I bake, so it is always something I look forward to.
When we are growing up, we are in the midst of our parents’ traditions. Then we start to develop our own traditions which a lot of the time have their base in family traditions.
My mother and great aunts and grandmothers always baked Christmas cookies….so I continue that. Now there are some of the old school cookies that I have not mastered like pizzelles or true shortbread, but I have my own cookies that I make, including a new one for 2023: white chocolate peppermint meringue cookies. The base recipe which I doubled and changed came from the A Cook’s Tour of Shreveport Louisiana by the Junior League there which I will also share. (And this is a fabulous and out of print cookbook, but you can find it on eBay and Etsy.)
So here’s my recipe based on theirs:
4 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1 cup white chocolate chips (mini sized if you can find them.)
3/4 cup crushed candy canes or other peppermint candy
1/2 cup ground hazelnuts
Preheat oven to 300°F
Chill beater attachments for mixer and metal mixing bowl about an hour ahead of time.
Beat egg whites, salt, cream of tarter, and extracts until soft peaks form.
Add sugar gradually until incorporated and stiff peaks form.
Fold in white chocolate chips, crushed peppermint candy, and nuts.
Drop by teaspoons about an inch or so apart. I bake these on parchment paper.
Bake each batch at 300° for 25 minutes. You will know they are done because they get puffy and they even may crack slightly on top.
I moved them, parchment paper and all to the cooling racks. I just slide them over from the cookie sheet that way when they cool they just come right off the parchment paper and I put fresh paper on the cookie sheet for the next batch also in between batches, I keep the cookie mixture chilled in the refrigerator.
My adaptation makes about 4 dozen meringues.
I also have a couple of recipes I was gifted. First was my childhood friend David’s grandmother’s pound cake recipe which I have made that is awesome. I was so excited when he gave me this recipe.
Another recipe I was gifted yesterday and will make it:
And then there is this shortbread recipe that someone found dropped in a grocery store and posted that I will try that I hope makes it back to it’s owner:
Now, one of the things that I learned from all my great aunts, both my grandmothers, and my own mother is when you’re having people over you get out the plates. No plastic glasses no paper cups no paper plates. Do it old school. It didn’t used to be old school, but now it is old school, because so many people who think plastic and paper are fine, and I’m not quite sure what they are saving their china plates and glasses for. China and glassware are meant to be used, and you can’t take it with you, so you might as well get it out of the cupboard and dust it off!
Funny I remember during Covid checking out this program by a “lifestyle expert“ only she used paper plates, plastic glasses, paper napkins. And this was a tutorial in instructing people how to entertain. Not a little kids party, but adults.
If you are going to set a table, then set a table. And you’re not doing it so the pictures look fabulous on social media, you’re doing it because you love it and you want to show your guests you care about them. Paper and plastic just don’t have the same appeal. And they never will no matter how a “lifestyle expert“ tries to tart it up along with a board for everything. Entertaining isn’t about social constipation. It’s about making things lovely for yourself and your guests so everybody enjoys themselves. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just put in the effort.
And if you don’t think you have the right things, check out a garage sale, a church sale, a holiday flea market. There are dishes and linens everywhere and you can pick them up for pennies on the dollar in most places, especially china because apparently it’s like “brown wood”. Sorry, not sorry while I like some accessories from West Elm, I will never be your West Elm child with art bought at Home Goods.
Yes, I am a crazy worshipper of old things. Especially at Christmas. I remember once in a past life, I had an almost sister-in-law at one time that did not put out holiday meals on pretty platters and things, it was all tinfoil containers and brown plates and paper napkins. How can you take the time to decorate a beautiful Christmas tree like she did and then the dining room table looked like an outdoor BBQ picnic table minus a fly swatter? But then, again, these were the people whose favorite blood sport was criticizing other people who weren’t there, so I guess it all fit?
And yes, do I dread unpacking everything and then having to pack it all up at times? Yes of course since I am not Martha Stewart with a Martha squad to clean up and set up….but then, when my dishes come out of their protective bags and the glasses come out of their storage containers and I iron the linens, it makes it all worth it. Kind of like the Christmas decorations.
My traditions for my female friends from high school, and a few others is a ladies tea. And it’s an excuse to dress up the table and I love it. It’s no politics, no world problems no local issues, it’s just Christmas.
One of my favorite flea market finds.
And yes, I actually do serve tea because years ago I acquired a slew of Spode Christmas tea cups and saucers at the flea market for next to nothing. And then this year at the Saint David’s Fair, I acquired the tea service that goes with the cups….again for next to nothing.
For Christmas plates I have vintage American China that I got a few years ago at the Smithfield Barn that has a very simple Christmas tree design on white plates that I love. They are not super valuable and they aren’t porcelain. They’re more like old hotel grade China, so they’re a little sturdier. But I love them and they’re festive.
And for hors d’oeuvres and nibbles and desserts I use those plates that people used to hang on their walls and now they are like bargain basement – the vintage Royal Copenhagen Christmas plates. A few years ago, I contacted the company to make sure I could actually use them to eat off of because there are some plates that are purely decorative. And the company wrote me back and said yes you can, so I do. And I literally see them now for a couple dollars a plate. Some of them are a little more expensive on eBay and Etsy especially if they are particular collector years, but plates are meant to be used. Above, I pulled two screenshots off of eBay to give you an idea of the plates.
I also like the clear glass, vintage dessert and salad plates that you can find all sorts of places that have the etching underneath the surface of the plate. They’re very simple, but they’re very pretty and they can go in the dishwasher. I know the ones I have are depression glass. Some were gifted to me, others I have found at church, rummage, sales and flea markets. Again very inexpensive if you find them in person a little more if you see them on eBay and Etsy but they have to be shipped.
Anyway, I hope all of my readers have a very Merry Christmas! Enjoy the recipes and enjoy the time you spend with others this holiday season.
Thanks for stopping by!
I don’t remember where all of the pixies came from, but the two little angels are Italian and they came from Melangell Antiques on Old Pottstown Pike in West Chester.
Clover 🍀 Market is open for their extra special totally fabulous holiday market this weekend December 2 & 3 from 10 AM – 4 PM on the campus of The Westtown School. They have the entire athletic center. There are over 100 curated vendors. It’s so much fun!
It’s free entrance and free parking and the setting is just spectacular if you have never been to the Westtown School!
We went to the preview this morning, and the place was filling up as we were leaving. And it was totally worth it going to the preview and we will totally do that again!
I hope you go and find yourself something spectacular to give us a gift for Christmas or a little something for yourself!
I will note that I did not get anything for writing this post. I am an avid Clover Market fan and was an early Clover Market supporter.
Life’s Patina holiday preview was AMAZING! This time their charity partner is St. Mary’s Franciscan Shelter for Homeless Families in Phoenixville.
The event was packed and people were enjoying themselves and this amazing holiday experience that Meg Veno and her team put on every year this time.
This is an amazing and magical event that is different every year. And every year there is a charity partner because Christmas and holiday season is about giving back as well as doing special holiday things.
The Sale is this Friday Saturday and Sunday at Life’s Patina Willowbrook Farm 1750 N. Valley Rd in Malvern.
Hours are: Friday, December 1st, 10:00 am – 5:00 pmSaturday, December 2nd, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm Sunday, December 3rd, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm.
I have been trying to give these Yuletide at Devon people the benefit of the doubt. Even sent potential sponsor people and others their way. But then on top of the fee just to walk in the gate, I next heard about the parking prices.
⬆️It’s not just ME questioning the prices…⬆️
Sorry not sorry, my inner Scrooge came out at the parking prices on top of the walk in the gate prices without so much as a complimentary candy cane? Ummm?
And then there was the whole “press preview” because that cracks me up. Influencers, and more benign mommy bloggers were invited. I am laughing because my invitation must have gotten lost, yes? But then again, I don’t ask for or expect freebies, do I? But hey some Russian and India based bot tweeters have it on “X” so I guess that matters?
I have never been an it girl (or needed to be), nor am I an influencer or an overly socially ambitious “therapist” who wants to be an influencer, I just love Christmas and offer an honest opinion.
But my honest opinion after mulling it over is that for $35 just to walk in the door, not including parking or anything else unless you want to ride kiddie rides? I’ve made the decision to skip it. I am not saying don’t go, I am saying for me it’s a shiny Christmas bauble without the necessary luster.
If Yuletide at Devon had decided to offer to donate a portion of proceeds back to a local nonprofit even on just select days, as in doing something that would help people during the holiday season, I probably would have bought a ticket in the end. But what their event is messaging to people in my opinion is Christmas magic at a cost that a lot can’t afford. So sadly, I think for its inaugural year I am giving it a pass. Also the reviews have been quite mixed and everyone has said it’s too expensive.
Christmas should indeed be magical but maybe not another gaping dividing line between haves and have nots. What would Charles Dickens think? I am thinking he might think we need a modern Christmas Carol or something, truthfully.
So what events will I attend that I was delighted to buy tickets to because of a non-profit component? Keep reading….and first two other great giving ideas….
One of my other just giving for good picks this year is Plaid Pajama Project.
See below for 3 amazing event picks. I also have heard of another fun shopping event near Christkindlmarkt in Bethlehem but I don’t know details yet. And I will also tell you that all of my picks for vintage and antique things that I love remain true at Christmas:
Now… here are my three picks for fun holiday events with a shopping component to attend in the area:
Holiday Magic for Good #1:
First up will be the preview for the Holiday Barn Sale at Life’s Patina at Willowbrook Farm. The preview tickets are sold out and I am happy to buy them every holiday season because it’s a spectacularly magical and beautifully curated holiday event that ooozes Christmas and the holidays. And a portion of the sales every time go to a nonprofit.
The sale has three FREE public days and free parking as well.
Friday, December 1st, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Saturday, December 2nd, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Sunday, December 3rd, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
LOCATION: Willowbrook Farm, 1750 N Valley Rd, Malvern, PA 19355
Every year I introduced more people to this event, and every year they thank me for telling them about it because it’s such a wonderful experience!
When I first heard about this event in its infancy, a year ago, I was so excited. I can’t wait!!!
I am talking about the Surrey Services for Seniors Holiday House Tour and Shop. It is the first real holiday house tour of its kind in the Main Line area since Christmas in the Country, which was the event that Agnes Irwin did for years as a fundraiser!
The tickets for this event at Surrey sold like hotcakes. So the tour portion is actually sold out but they have this amazing set of Christmas shops over in Eisenhower Hall at Valley Forge Military Academy and College. That is free and open to the public on the same day as the house tour! And the vendors are carefully curated and a lot of local faces, that people love among others.
The Christmas/holiday shops are Friday, December 8 from 11 AM to 6 PM. 1001 Eagle Road in Wayne. And best of all there’s ample free parking! And I know who some of the vendors are for this and people will love it!
Best of all, this entire day, benefits, the fabulous nonprofit known as Surrey Services for Seniors, so what is not to love?
Holiday Magic for Good #3:
I guess you’ve already figured out I like Holiday house tours. Especially when they benefit a good thing.
So number three on my list is a West Chester Borough and area tradition.
The Holiday Home Tour will take place on Saturday, December 2, from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm and will showcase eight homes in the Northwest and Southwest quadrants of the Borough decked out for the holidays.
Created as a socially distanced replacement for the Holiday Home Tour during the pandemic shutdown of 2020, the family-friendly Holiday Door Tour was so popular the library now offers it in addition to the Home Tour! Running from Saturday, December 2 through Sunday, December 17, this self-guided tour will feature West Chester doors and porches decorated by their owners in holiday finery. It can be enjoyed at any time of day and by a group of your choice.
All proceeds from the Holiday Tours will benefit West Chester Public Library and the community it serves. Holiday Home Tour advance tickets are $40 per person and may be purchased in the library or online through December 1. Tickets may be purchased the day of the Tour, December 2, at the library for $50 each.
She’s almost ready for prime time. The Jenny Lind in Historic Yellow Springs has been reborn. And she is magnificent.
The Jenny Lind is now the Life’s Patina Merchantile & Cafe located at 1657 Art School Road in Chester Springs, PA. Meg Veno has outdone herself.
The Jenny Lind is restored and transformed. It’s one of the most beautiful adaptive reuses I have seen in years. My other favorite as you all probably know is Loch Aerie mansion in Frazer. And I think it’s marvelous to have both of these lovely places in Chester County!
This was such an amazing experience yesterday that I am still super happy about it the next day!
The attention to detail is something you don’t see every day, and it makes this all the more special. This is quite literally everything you want to see in a restoration and an adaptive reuse, and I sure hope that Historic Yellow Springs Village and West Pikeland Township have deep appreciation of the fact that Meg Veno stuck with this, and is now bringing everyone this gem to enjoy.
This has been a very long and winding road because this was a very intense restoration. And Meg and her team are perfectionists. This is one of those places that you walk into and just stop and marvel. No corners have been cut. The materials and the skill of the craftsman who put the Jenny Lind back together are undeniable.
This is an amazing restoration, and I hope someone gives them an award like Chester County for example. Chester County should be counting their lucky stars that there are people out there that still want to do restorations instead of demolitions. I will go further and challenge every township official in the region and developers who want to tear down historic things and build plastic mushroom housing developments and apartment buildings to go visit this place once it’s open full-time and see the possibilities of just doing the right thing.
You walk in and you feel at home. The beauty of the place envelops you softly and then you get to the café. The chef of the café has an incredibly deft hand with pastry and everything she touches. I have not met her. I look forward to meeting her because the food is terrific. My husband said the mushroom soup was one of the top three best he’s ever had. Because we were there for brunch I had this little bacon, egg and cheese sandwich on a biscuit which was so light and flaky, it melted in your mouth. there are also these salads that are off the hook good and don’t get me started on the actual pastries and sweets. Wonderful tea and coffee. The café is a place where you don’t want to rush. You want to savor your meal and linger.
And then you wander into the Mercantile. The Mercantile is full of all sorts of wonderful things, old and new. The best thing it’s not only the way it looks, but the fact that everything for sale has been chosen with care and it flows together. You don’t walk into this store and wonder why something is there, you walk into the Mercantile and wonder how you can use that in your own home.
One of the other best things about this restoration is it fits. When it was the Yellow Springs Inn, the food was great but the gorgeous interior of this building was hidden by too much Victorian everything. And I am saying that as someone who did really enjoy that restaurant at one time. But this metamorphosis is so remarkable and beautiful and just stunning. This restoration has made me love this building even more. And this restoration will show everyone the possibilities of what you can do with the gorgeous old buildings that are scattered throughout Chester County that need love.
It was a few years ago now that I was at one of Meg Veno’s barn sales at Life’s Patina in Malvern and she said she was looking for another project. I was standing there with my friend and I turned to her and I asked if she had ever thought of Yellow Springs Village because the Jenny Lind house was at that time in foreclosure. And now look at the Jenny Lind. I believe the Merchantile and Café will be open soon for visitors full time, but if you’re going near the village, I hope you at least drive past until she is open full-time to see what a beautiful restoration it is.
This whole project is not only a testament to historic preservation, it is a testament to loving what you do. And above all else, you know why this place will be a success? Because it has a heart.
Brava, Meg Veno, brava.
I also want to note because I think it’s important, that those of us who attended yesterday paid for our meals, we were not given anything in exchange for our thoughts on the soft opening. I would like to say we are the right kind of “influencers” as we are the kind who are actual customers and will returngladly with friends and family.
