Today was errand day. I was the mostly stay in the car wingwoman. After a couple of stops in West Chester we were coming down 352 and when we were at the intersection of Ellis Lane and I noticed that Old Mill Antiques and Interiors/ Shutters and Sand were open!
I love antiquing even if I don’t need anything. I love looking and learning. Today was window shopping and they have some amazing pieces! They require masks, and have hand sanitizer right as you walk in.
One of the things I totally love they had is an antique punched tin chandelier. They are easy to wire and rewire and if you have a covered porch, they are the perfect touch. They also are great as a kitchen chandelier or even dining room. I love them but they have to be big enough to hold a space. This one was. See this photo:
Another thing I absolutely love about this store? Country chairs, and a lot are antique country painted chairs. I have some. Some of mine came via my Pennsylvania German grandmother and others I have found right here in Chester County.
This is two floors of exploring and fine country antiques reasonably and fairly priced. Also vintage and other things mixed in. Lots of things will catch your eye. Their hours are slightly reduced due to COVID19. But I highly recommend exploring what they have to offer. Enjoy the photos!
As always I will advise all of you I am not compensated for sharing about my discoveries. I share what I like and discover for the sheer joy and fun of it all!
I love vintage cookbooks. Some of my favorites are these local or regional ones that are put out by nonprofits, schools, churches. They are usually for fundraising.
I scored three the other day, all local to Chester County. This one from Grove Methodist is the best of the three. It could also be because that is one of my favorite little churches in Chester County.
My cookbook is from 1991. I can’t wait to try some of the recipes. This is one of those cookbooks that doesn’t have any Michelin stars attached, it’s just good home cooking.
You can find these little gems in many places – I found this one on eBay. I had seen it in somebody’s house years ago and I don’t know what made me think of it but I went looking for it.
I figure since we are still home so much because of COVID-19 some new recipes are in order! Thanks for stopping by happy Thursday!
After Christmas in 2013, I purchased the below settee from Consign-It Furniture in Kennett Square, PA. This had been manufactured for Hess Brothers in Allentown. The tag on the bottom of the piece said Hess Brothers. At the time I researched it and found it to be mid-century vintage.
I am not a big pattern person but I loved the settee’s shape and the arms and back in particular. So I lived with it for a few years and grew accustomed to the pattern until this year. I decided I was sick of the fabric and the piece was starting to sway in the middle underneath and get a little bulge.
So I began the hunt for an upholsterer. I did not wish to use the same person I used on a vintage wing chair a few years ago. It wasn’t that the upholstery job itself was bad, it’s that the price I was paying went from being agreed-upon to a moving target without notice. And when I compared notes with people and other upholsterer’s after the fact I paid probably $500 to $600 more for that chair to be reupholstered than I should have. It was a learning curve.
So I start looking for upholsterer’s and took a look at Ken’s Upholstery on Facebook. When I saw some of the work he had done from the bare bones of a stripped down furniture frame to finished piece, I knew this was the person I wanted to call.
We spoke and I think at first he didn’t know what to make out of me. I can be tough. But I kind of want to know what somebody’s about before I do business with them. The owner Ken and I bonded initially over 4th Street in Philadelphia. You see, 4th Street below South is where I went for years as a child with my parents to pick out fabric and sewing notions and trim.
My mother has always sewed, and we would also go into the fabric district there on 4th street for upholstery fabric for furniture and fabric for curtains and draperies. I remember being little and playing under the big workbenches where they would roll out the giant bolts of fabric to measure and cut. It was really kind of cool. Most of those places don’t exist anymore. I have all of these memories including back-and-forth discussion with the fabric sellers about what fabrics had a hard enough finish that would survive as upholstery and drapes.
So Ken came out to visit with sample books of fabrics which had been wiped down with sanitizing wipes. He came with gloves and a mask on. Which made me comfortable because face it, this year has been anything but normal with COVID19.
We discussed what I wanted and he took initial measurements and left me with the fabric books for a few days to decide what fabric I would choose.
I chose my fabric, and my quote was firmed up and emailed to me in writing and I provided a deposit for the fabric cost.
The Saturday after Thanksgiving they came and picked up the settee. I received photos all the way through the process, including when they took it down to the studs and found out that indeed the front legs were loose. So they stopped everything and put the settee frame back together the way it should be, and rebuilt her. Ken literally kept me updated every step of the way. I didn’t have to do the follow up, he just does it as a matter of best business practice.
The finished product speaks for itself. I had no idea such a gorgeous piece of furniture was living inside my consignment store settee! Ken’s Upholstery knocked it out of the park for us!
The settee is so gorgeous to me. The attention to detail and the time they took is self-evident. Oh I have provided a close-up of one of the arms in a photo because that’s very difficult to pull off and the tucks and everything have to be just right.
I will note that I am just a regular customer and the reason I am writing up my review is I think this business owner deserves all the accolades possible for just doing an amazing job and being a super nice, decent person. He’s very positive in a time when it is hard for anyone, let alone a small business owner to be positive.
I recommend Ken’s Upolstery highly! And his pricing is beyond fair.
I have attached a screenshot of the business card to give anyone interested all their information. Lots of interior designers in the greater Philadelphia/Main Line region he has been a best kept secret. But why go through the up-charges when you can deal directly with a craftsman like this?
If any of you out there are looking to get anything recovered I hope you will consider them!
Bit by bit, Christmas is coming to life. The tree is getting there. It takes a couple of days. The ornaments get layered in. Mostly vintage with some new. My nod to 2020 is the gnome with a little face mask.
Every year is a bit different. But constants like my father’s German mercury glass pine cones mixed in with the ones I have collected which include German and Ukrainian mercury glass pine cones.
The Ukranian ornaments I discovered thanks to my friend Kristin. They are really special. A little more primitive in style compared to their German counterparts and often more brightly hued and the glass is slightly thicker than their vintage German and Austrian relatives.
I use a lot of woodland themed ornaments made of mercury glass. As a homage to our woods acorns, pinecones, nuts, birds, foxes, and even a tiny red squirrel. I delight as each ornament emerges from it’s protective wrapping cocoon. Every December it’s like greeting old friends.
Santas and nutcrackers will join little elves throughout the house. Yes for a little over a month, it’s a lot of work. This year I went back and forth in my head on what I was going to do. In the end, Christmas won.
In a year when COVID19 has kept us in the grips of a grim pandemic reality, getting Christmas out is a sweet reminder there is more out there waiting for us.
This year there will be no Christmas parties, and Christmas Day will just be our small pod, but we will have Christmas…and still (hopefully) love every minute.
Three floors of festive fabulous and Christmas magic!!! Enjoy a sneak peek in my photos and go visit! Masks required and hand sanitizer stations throughout the store.
Brandywine View Antiques is located at 1244 Baltimore Pike in Chadds Ford, PA. Wednesday through Sunday 10 AM – 4 PM.
We walked into the beautiful big old barn and it was truly magical at Life’s Patina today. Beautiful and Christmas festive in every nook and cranny. There are only a certain amount of people allowed in the barn at any one time and everyone must be wearing masks, and there is hand sanitizer everywhere you turn around. It’s a magical and safe experience in a COVID-19 world.
Meg and her merry band of elves outdid themselves! From little balsam wood houses that light up, to Christmas mice in velvet dresses and tree skirts for feather trees it was amazing! Sparkling ornaments everywhere and among my favorites? Very lovely mercury glass pinecones and marvelous modern reproductions of old German Kugel ornaments.
Mixed in with Christmas magic were all sorts of vintage and antique items. One of the things I liked best was downstairs in the barn on the big long farmhouse table was a vintage Grenadine bottle.
We loved every minute we were there, and preview guests were also given amazing gift bags to take home.
I love Christmas, everyone who knows me knows how much I love Christmas and I loved today’s experience. You really should go if you can. Simply magical!
By appointment only. Life’s Patina at Willowbrook Farm, 1750 North Valley Road, Malvern, PA.
Soon little ceramic elves will be peeking from book shelves. Gnomes and Santas too. Maybe some nutcrackers. The tree will come to life with vintage and other ornaments. And Christmas baking season will begin.
But what will Christmas in the year of COVID19? Will we celebrate in tiny family pods? Will we celebrate. And what about that grinch holed up in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC? What about all the people who continue to be affected by COVID19 including now our former Chester County Sheriff?
So yes, finding my Christmas spirit has been a little challenging this year. There has been a little bah humbug in the air. Usually about now we are planning a Christmas party. But not this year. We won’t even see our entire family this Christmas. Too many people from too many places. That bums me out.
All of our Christmas celebrations will be quieter this year undoubtedly. But we do need to find our Christmas spirit!!!
Yes, even though I had recently discovered a couple of cool little Santas for a table, my Christmas spirit has been struggling.
Until yesterday. Yesterday my friend Kristin had her business’s open house. It was very different than previous years. We were timed, it was super small, we had to wear masks, and there was hand sanitizer. But there was still Christmas magic every which way I looked. She said sometimes we just have to believe and she’s so right!
Yesterday at the Smithfield Barn we were treated to a vintage Christmas. Totally magical so keep an eye out for more small, socially distanced pop-ups. Also check out what my other favorite elf Lisa has planned at Brandywine View Antiques in Chadds Ford! And you can’t forget Life’s Patina starts spreading holiday cheer next week and Meg is another favorite elf who always seems to know what I am looking for!
Also things that you won’t see this Christmas would be the open house I usually have for my friends to promote another friend’s business. But as luck would have it my friend Alice has two fabulous websites to showcase her products:
Also to be considered is Past*Present*Future in Ardmore. Owned by my friend Sherry, you can shop safely with a mask in the store or buy things online! An artist by training, she has an amazing I and hers is a store that you go in and marvel at everything she has collected for her customers. It’s a beautiful place! And if you’re more comfortable shopping remotely right now you can do that too.
The last three places I am mentioning today are also special to me an run by friends as well. Clover Market has pivoted to online due to COVID19 and Janet has curated an amazing collection of things and they offer free shipping! Shopping Clover 🍀 has never been easier.
Second to last would be King’s Haven in Paoli which is not just an amazing interior design destination, but has a remarkably beautiful collection of art and gifts. All due to my talented friend Lauren.
Finally, there is Framers Market Gallery in Malvern, Newtown Square, and Haverford. Yes Jayne and Dave are friends, but I am a devoted customer and not just for the framing business. They rep some amazing local artists! And to me one of the best gifts you can give anyone for Christmas or the holidays is the gift of art!
Yesterday I realized part of finding our Christmas magic means #ShopLocal and #ShopSmall as well. So I hope you find lovely presents at some of these places and they are all places I am just a regular customer of. They won’t even know I have mentioned their business until I hit publish on this post. As a customer I like to pay it forward.
So I know this is going to be a holiday season like no other. But we do have to believe in the magic of the season.
Shop local, support small businesses wherever you live!
A couple of weeks ago I went to an estate sale in Malvern. I bought some vintage linens and this was among them. Jennie the Little Hostess Doll from Colonial Williamsburg. I had seen it before and people treated this like a tea towel. But it isn’t. It’s a cloth doll pattern. Irish linen, actually.
So today I decided Jenny the Williamsburg doll would come to life as in I would sew her up. You see, a very special little girl I know has a birthday coming up. I like old fashioned simple dolls, and I hope she likes it.
I did trim the doll up a little with some vintage trimmings I have. I think she looks cute. A fun project on a rainy day!
I know very little about this antique Oriental rug other than the pattern seems to be what would fall possibly into Caucasian category. But I am not an expert, I just pick up rugs I think are homey or would fit in my home.
It’s not a very big rug, it’s just under 35“ x 45“. Just a little scatter rug. It’s a little worn in spots and it’s fringe is virtually gone as it was the wool of the rug itself. And it’s wider at one end than the other. But I love it and it’s one of those things to me that helps make a house a home.
Old oriental rugs are one of my earliest memories of things I liked in houses even as a little girl. My mother will tell you a story of me sitting on a giant oriental rug playing with a very fat Persian cat. Neighbors of ours when I was little.
Other major oriental rugs that hang out in my memory is like the giant one that used to be in the dining room of the Ardrossan estate in Villanova. I don’t know if it’s still there because when I was in my 20s it was very threadbare on the edges then and you had to watch not to catch your heel in the carpet. I have seen pictures of the dining room in the past few years and I don’t think that’s the same rug that I remember. The rug I remember had reds and deep blues in it. But I digress.
My mother likes oriental rugs as well, but styles she likes aren’t the same as I like. She always liked paler shades that you were afraid of walking on and as a matter fact she trained our dogs growing up to walk around the edges of the rugs.
I always like the stronger shades of color. I like the rugs that you think of seeing in an old British library with a fire dancing in the fireplace surrounded by beautiful mahogany wood paneling on the walls and books and a soft old Chesterfield sofa. You know, the kind of room you would expect to see Winston Churchill reading a book in.
And I’m not the person that you’re going to see in fancy oriental rug galleries buying rugs. All the rugs I have found have been picked out of places like the Smithfield Barn at a recent offsite sale, downsizing sales like those held by Caring Transitions, garage sales, Church auctions. (One of the best places to pick up really cool sometimes threadbare in places old oriental rugs is the Saint Davids Fair Auction which is not happening this year because of COVID19.)
The rugs I look for and some of my friends as well aren’t these perfect museum quality high end auction house rugs. They have been well loved and in many cases we’ve had to get slight repairs done before we could use them as well as getting them cleaned for moths.
I once gave Pixie from Zakian a bit of a start when I picked up a rug sight unseen from an estate sale around Charleston, South Carolina. One of my closest friends picked up the rug for me and shipped it to me. I figured because the rug was wool and had been in a southern climate in a very old house that looked slightly decrepit in photos that I shouldn’t bring it into the house until it was cleaned and that it probably might have moth damage.
Well, it arrived and it’s a good thing the moving box stayed on the porch until Zakian Rugs fetched it for cleaning. It was full of live moths when unwrapped for cleaning and repairs. Yes live moths.
I picked up a runner one time from a local auction house and they told me it was clean and I wasn’t sure so I sent it right out for cleaning, and that was loaded with moths. So old rugs can be a gamble. But when they are cleaned and repaired they are lovely.
Again, I don’t go for the rarest of the rare or the extraordinarily valuable antique rugs. I don’t even pretend to know enough to know what I should buy, nor can I afford them. In addition so many of them are overpriced. I choose the ones that need a little love.
It’s kind of like old patchwork quilts. I love them as well. The ones I choose aren’t the museum quality rare quilts from quilt dealers all over the country. I choose the ones I can pick up again at church auctions and tag sales and the more. I like to restore and patch them so I can use them.
I have written about old quilts before, and they are one of the other things that I think make a house a home. A lot of people have to have shiny new bedspreads and high-end designer quilts, I prefer the look of patchwork quilts. I have one that I picked up on eBay from someone in Maine that I have been working on for two years that I’m almost finish repairing all the threadbare patches. I picked up a neat one and another offsite sale for the Smithfield Barn a few months ago. It’s on my guestroom bed and it’s red and white and I just love it!
I think now more than ever especially with the year that 2020 has been our houses need to be homes. So try an old patchwork quilt, or a little tiny old oriental scatter rug, or even a vintage tablecloth. Don’t live in a beige, beige world. Add color and character instead of something brand new and always man made fibers.
