Billy Idol & Beaded Trees

Let me just start this post by stating something many of us would see as quite obvious…Billy Idol back in the day (can’t speak for now…haven’t seen him in years) was one fine looking fella.

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Ok, so what does that have to do with this post you ask?  Well, Sunday morning VH1 Classic runs 80’s videos for a couple of hours and I find this the perfect time to enjoy my coffee and usually write my blog post….or occasionally something else creative.

This morning it was something else creative….finishing a bead tree I had started (I really hate to admit this) a couple few years ago.  I was moving along focused on finishing the darn tree when all of a sudden Billy comes on the TV singing Flesh for Fantasy and for some reason the 16 year old in me surfaced and I was riveted.  Crazy!

Ok, back to my tree…originally when I started this tree the idea came from where most of my best inspiration comes from….a swanky little boutique.  This was one of my favorite shops in Marblehead called Piara Luna…it has since closed :-( …there is a new shop in it’s place called Surfaces which it perfectly lovely…but it’s no Piara Luna :-(

Surfaces
33 Atlantic Ave., Marblehead MA
I actually really LOVE this shop!

One of my friends & I were Christmas shopping and Piara Luna had just the most lovely decorations so of course we headed in.  A gorgeous display had several of these beaded trees as one of its centerpieces…of course we both immediately fell in love….but as usual didn’t fall so in love with the price tag.  So we headed to the craft store to pick up the supplies to make them ourselves.

Bag of supplies...at least I had the sense to put it all in a zip
lock when I put it aside unfinished...

Since I had started this project so long ago of course I don’t have a picture of the inspiration vignette nor do I have any idea of what that “outrageous” price was…you’ll just have to use your imagination here.

But, I do have my finished product….

I used 3 different sized beads…10mm faceted clear, 8mm white pearl, 6mm faceted iridescent (AB) as well as iridescent sequins and pink seed beads.  I used pink seed beads to give it just a little hint of color since the rest of the beads are white or clear.

These were stacked (seed bead, sequin & bead)on an extra-long pin and then stuck into a Styrofoam tree.  I do have to confess though…there were a few starts and stops (the first 1" pins I used were a bit too small) and another lesson learned was the beads stayed place better when the tree was brushed with some Mod Podge first.

I also had purchased the tree topper back when I originally picked up the beads at my local craft store.  I ended up having to remove the wire that was meant to hold it on the top of a tree and just hot glue the star to the top of my tree.

So another project that I had been procrastinating is finished this year and I’m thinking it looks pretty good with the rest of my holiday trees.

Linking on Savvy Southern Style, A Stroll Through Life

Local Goodness - Grace Sales Co

So, today Christmas shopping begins for me.  Small Business Saturday is so much more my pace than the craziness of Black Friday…and I get to support my local communities businesses as a bonus.

I have decided that this year I am going to do my best to do at least 80% of my gift buying from small businesses (Etsy & Ebay count as small businesses since the transactions are from individual sellersJ).  Wouldn’t it be great for all of our communities if you all could join me in this mission?

So in honor of Small Business Saturday I thought I would share this post that I wrote a few months ago and never actually got it posted. Grace Sales Co has such wonderful quirky things I often wander in when I am in the neighborhood and today this will be my first stop.

Grace Sales Co
185 Pleasant St., Marblehead MA

Sometimes in the place & time you least expect it, you meet the nicest people.  This was the case when after a lovely day of meandering through Marblehead with a wonderful friend I decided on one more stop before heading home. 

My wonderful friend Leslie had mentioned she had missed out on a fab bookcase from Harvard University that was for sale at a fun little antique shop called Grace Sales Co just down the street.  She contemplated just a little too long and someone scooped it up just before her….I call that “just not meant to be”.

Love, love, love these orange wood stools!  They look like something
my friend Leslie would also love.

I have been to Grace Sales Co several times and this is another one of those places where I always see something unusual that I (or one of my friends) just have to have. 

Isn't this blue tufted sofa from Grace Sales window just fab?
Looks very Doris Day in Pillow Talk.
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When I first moved to Marblehead this shop was an interior design shop that had just the most fabulous windows.  I had never visited the shop when the decorator had it but did make regular drive-by’s just to see the windows – they were always so colorful with lots of classic pattern fabrics and chic furniture pieces displayed.  Loved them!

This was one of a pair...wouldn't these just be magnificent in grey?

I’m not exactly sure when the decorator vacated and Grace Sales Co. moved in but I do know Grace hadn’t been open very long the first time I went in.  She has such great things that I have returned many times and usually with friends and we’ve all purchased something.  

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I find this isn’t a shop where I just can’t live without everything in it but there are always a few really cool things I lust over.  And really isn’t that all it takes?

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So on this particular Saturday I stopped in with very little on my list of wants/needs but was in need of seeing what new items were in the shop. 

What a great way to bring a pop of color to a room

While browsing in the back room I happened to strike up a conversation with a woman who was in the middle of checking out a vanity that her teenage daughter was admiring.  Her daughter really, really wanted it but she couldn’t figure out exactly how she wanted to update it.  I suggested Annie Sloan chalk paint and perhaps doing an accent color on some of the edges to make it pop as well as some new hardware (or painting the existing in a fun color).

Some teenage girl in Marblehead has fab taste...this is now a part
of her bedroom.  She loved the lines.

We ended up having so much fun imagining what this piece could be she bought it and was heading out to get some paint to start her project.

Sure hope it looks as fabulous in pink as it does in this original form.

I purchased these a bit ago and love everything about them!

This will soon be hung in my dining room.  I love both transfer ware
and commemorative plates so this just had to come home with me!

So today, I head back to Grace Sales Co to see what interesting finds she has for Small Business Saturday.  Wish me luck on my quest to find all of the goodies my family & friends desire at all of the lovely shops locally owned & operated.

Fall Vacation Estate Sales

I have not had nearly as much time as I have wanted this summer to frequent estate sales.  You know how much I love starting my weekend with a leisurely Saturday morning drive to a few where I can scope out the houses.

Well, last week I decided to take an impromptu vacation from my paying job to try to finish up that never ending Summer Project 2012 (you can see my progress here and here and here).  So while my week was primarily spent painting, painting and painting some more I did decide that Friday I would take a little break to enjoy an estate sale or two…

Friday’s first sale was maybe 20 min or so from my house in Melrose but I just knew it was going to be a good one.  It was run by some of my favorite sale hosts Essex Street Antiques.  

Melrose House

This fireplace fit perfectly the style of this house...it's not for every
house but I love the "earthiness" of it.

This is definitely not everyone's look but I find something endearing
about it...not sure I would be able to live with such a busy room for
a long period of time but I love them when I see them in other homes.

They always have great sales and their prices are extremely reasonable.  Not everything is always shall we say “bargain priced” but I find everything to be priced fair and there is always something at every price point.

Beautiful dishes I wanted these so badly...but my pragmatic self took
over and reminded me I didn't need them...unfortunate!

I did however totally score at this sale!

I couldn't pass this Towle tray up...it's kind of a unique size 21"W x 9"L
now I just have to decide whether to hang it or not

Darn it, these were sold by the time I got there...don't they just invite you
to sit & spend a bit of time relaxing?

The next sale was 30+ min away from the Melrose sale but had really good potential…100 years of accumulation can’t be bad right?  Well, it turned out to be not really my kind of sale.  There were a lot of cool things but most of it was terribly dirty.  I’m not afraid of a little dirt but this was more than I really wanted to deal with.  So no finds here.

So of course if I was going to hit the Friday sales I might as well put one on my list for Saturday morning…I mean it was just down the street in Marblehead and looked so promising.

This lovely little lane lead to a charming little oceanfront neighbothood
and the Marblehead sale

Site of the Marblehead sale...distinctly a cottage

Saturday however took me to a little summer “camp” in Marblehead.  It was tucked away in a part of Marblehead I didn’t even know existed and was so reminiscent of the summer cottages of Bayside or Temple Heights Maine (near my childhood home) that I felt right at home.

This was a livingroom that spanned the whole front of the cottage

There were 4 bedrooms upstairs but none of the rooms had ceilings...
interesting but charming in a camp kind of way

This was a really cool camp – definitely needs some TLC but I so loved that you could feel the history of everyone who had spent many joyful summers here over the years.

1 of 2 "Jenny Lind" or spool beds that were for sale

and the other one...can you guess which one came home with me???
Yup this one...couldn't believe they even had the side rails.  It needs a little
buffing but for $20 (yes twenty - I didn't forget a 0) it was the bargain'
of the day!

The lady who was running the sale told me that the owner had passed away and her children no longer wanted to keep it as a summer home so it was on the market (see the listing here).  So sad but I’m sure another family will enjoy this camp for many years to come…if I were in the market for a camp it would surely be my family enjoying it!

Ocean view from this lovely little camp...I'm ready to move in :)

You Win Some....You Lose Some

I have never really understood the “get there early or don’t bother” mentality that many folks approach estate sales with.  My feeling has always been if it’s meant for me it will still be there when I arrive at a  reasonable hour (i.e. after 9 am) and if that happens to be on the second day of a sale so be it.  I can’t tell you how many dealers I have spoken with who won’t even consider “wasting their time” on a sale if it’s the second day.

Yesterday morning I had a lot to do and really only a few hours to do it in so it was fortuitous there were 2 estate sales within just a few miles of my home.  The first one was in a lovely little neighborhood in Marblehead and by first glance this had all of the potential to be a great sale.  In a nice neighborhood, charming house, and the Craig’s List ad described it as “3 floors - packed - antiques - collectibles - dining set, bedroom sets - tons of clothes - full garage”.  It was a second day sale but good possibilities, right?

Well, this is just a sample of what I found at this sale:

And more and more of the same…along with perhaps some of the rudest people I have ever encountered at an estate sale picking through the “treasures”.  I really should have paid closer attention to that “tons of clothes” part of the ad.  It was a very quick stop and not a particularly pleasant one.

The next sale on my short list was maybe 2 miles away in Swampscott and was also a second day sale.  It was on one of the streets in Swampscott that has some truly magnificent houses but also has some very average homes.  It really could have gone either way.  Well luckily the gods were shining down and feeling bad for sending me to the earlier clothes sale and this was my prize.

This was such an incredible house – I really had a hard time focusing on the items for sale because I was too busy drooling over all of the phenomenal architecture.  It was 3 floors (plus huge semi-finished basement) of pure spectacularism, this house went on forever.

Formal Dining Room - love the paneled walls!

Library - wall-to-wall book cases behind me.  Gorgeous
woods

Master Bedroom - I personally love that
the drapes match the wallpaper.  Not sure you
can tell that here - but trust me fab!

That was the upside, the downside was the sale really was pretty picked over but clearly I really did not mind at all.  It’s about the journey, right?

Such a beautiful built in cabinet in the
upstairs hall.  Incredible workmanship!

I did find one treasure in one of the very last rooms in the back on the third floor.  I love the Mad Men feeling of this cabinet and am hoping it will finish out my dining room. 

It is cedar lined and has shelves inside so I’m thinking it will be perfect to put my grandmother’s table linens in.

The second day sale was a mixed bag for finding treasures this weekend but it was worth it just to have the opportunity to meander through the Swampscott house.