Headboard Project

I think I mentioned a while back how much I love mantels, especially when they function as something other than a surround for a fireplace. My mom's had this wonderful white, worn mantel for a few years now. Since she moved back to Georgia it's been sitting in her shed because she wasn't sure what she wanted to do with it. Last time I was in town I told her I thought it would make a good headboard for one of the guest bedrooms, one that was sans headboard with just a lonely, bare wall behind the bed. I love this mantel and couldn't stand the thought of it wasting away in the dark, damp shed. It's a little odd for my mom to have a bed without a headboard of some sort in any room in her house, but for this room, she just hadn't decided what to do--shutters, picture, screen, shelf, mantel? So I asked her if I could try to make this mantel work as a headboard in the guest bedroom. She said I could so I lugged the mantel out of the shed and gave it a good cleaning. After that I cut some ticking fabric to back the open area (and I ironed it). Then I nailed the fabric to the back, pulling it taut as I went. Then we screwed the mantel to the wall, using four really sturdy, long screws. And there you have it--a mantel headboard!

Peachtree Peddlers Visit

I don't have any Pickled Hutch picks this week because I'm not in San Francisco, but last Sunday mom and I went to the Peachtree Peddlers Antique Mall, so I can give you a bit of a picks fix. We were really on our way to the outdoor weekend flea market, which is in the parking lot of the antique mall. But only one lonely vendor was there. We were actually surprised to find anyone there because it was rainy and it was the Sunday before Christmas when most normal people were frantically shopping for last minute gifts, wrapping presents or traveling to get somewhere. But we just had to go see if any treasures were to be found--we rarely resist flea market temptation. Since the flea market was a wash, we went indoors to the antique mall. Not a whole lot caught my eye this visit, though, but here are a few things that did:
I love candle molds. I always think they'd make neat bud vases, with a flower in each hole.
Pretty, bud-like toped salt and pepper shakers. I love salt and pepper shakers and used to collect them. I stopped because I have so many now and not many places to display them. Also, although I love collections, I think sometimes they can get a little out of control (click on the video and you'll see what I mean).
Artist's table. This was really cool, but it was hard to get a picture of the whole thing. It looked like a tornado whipped through this vendor's booth, so it was hard to get a good picture because there was no place to even stand.
I loved this sugar and creamer combo. It made me think of my friend Caroline--good design, good color--these things make me think of her.
Metal basket. Good for holding towels, books, magazines, kid's toys . . . .
Orange-red metal stool. Good just as a step stool or as a plant stand, lamp stand, mini table . . .
Me, taking pictures.

Christmas In Bloom at Mom's

Wishing you a very merry Christmas spent with friends and family and filled with warmth and happiness.

Waiting for Santa

Baby Wyatt is ready. He has his list (never mind Santa's list). He's checked it twice (well, he looked at it twice, then tried to eat it). He's been very nice (really, he could easily make the top 10 list of well behaved, happy babies). He said he wanted to be dressed up cute for Santa so he wouldn't miss him. We told him that he'd be asleep when Santa came but not to worry because Santa wouldn't forget about him. Just in case, though, we gave him these antler ears to wear. He asked if we thought he should sleep in in his antler gear on Christmas eve just in case. "Sure," we said. (He just looks so cute wearing it!)

Victoria in France

Some blogs I read for their sheer eye candy factor, others I read for the writing. I read Tongue in Cheek for both. Corey's pictures are beautiful, and her stories are wonderful. Her blog is one of my favorites, so you can imagine my excitement yesterday when I saw her house in Victoria magazine. At first I didn't realize it was her house--I flipped through the pages without reading the text but thought the house reminded me of Corey's blog. We were about to eat dinner so I put the magazine down, but I was looking forward to getting back to it. Then this morning I read on Corey's blog that her house was featured in the most recent issue of Victoria, and I immediately knew that the house I had ooo'd and ahhh'd over the night before was hers. I ran back to the magazine to read what it said and was so excited for her. She even took the pictures for the article! Victoria just recently came back into print after vanishing for a few years. I happen to prefer the Victoria of the early 2000s to the ones in the 90s, but this issue reminds me of the Victoria I loved--warm, romantic, natural looking interiors, and, of course, anything French thrown into the mix never hurt a good issue of Victoria. Congratulations, Corey! (Click on the pictures to see them larger.)

Pickled Hutch Picks of the Week - 12/19

I have two Pickled Hutch picks this week instead of three since the ice skaters sold and since I'm not in SF to swing by to take a third picture. But two will do, I think.
Set of 7 French blush pink glasses. $75.
Child's tea set. $95. 6 settings.

The Pickled Hutch is an antique store in San Francisco that I love. Every Wednesday I pick three items to post on my blog that I especially like. The Pickled Hutch is located at 1605 Church Street, San Francisco, CA. Open Tue. to Sun. 11 - 6. PH 415-641-8875. Ask for Lisa.

Taking Something Seriously?

WNYC is putting together a photo project related to the book Taking Things Seriously, which I wrote about a few weeks ago--maybe you remember, but if not, you can read that post here. WNYC's "The Leonard Lopate Show" is inviting people to post photos of personally meaningful objects and the stories related to them to the "Taking Things Seriously" Flickr feed. Deadline to post is tomorrow, Dec. 19, at noon. Lopate will talk about the most interesting submissions on-air on Dec. 21, and the show will be available as an mp3 shortly after. So go on and tell the world what things you take seriously.

Happiness Is . . . Finding Beautiful Cards

A few days ago I bought some of these beautiful cards on etsy, which I originally saw on Poppytalk. I think they're so pretty and so sweet. You might wonder why in world I'm buying Christmas cards when I make them myself. Well, I'm a bit of a card junkie, and I don't always send out my own cards anyway. I send out some, but I like so many cards, I can't resist buying other cards and sending them out as well. I just love cards! I keep all the cards people send to me.

Here's a my rickety, old, paint chipped metal card rack that my mom bought for me at a flea market. It's filled with all sorts of cards. Every now and then I read through some of the good wishes and kind words that live on my card rack and think about how grateful I am for receiving them. I have a few boxes full of cards under my bed too, which are mostly from my mom. I started collecting her cards first. I also have a drawer full of blank cards yet to be sent--cards I just liked so much and knew would be perfect for someone, someday that I had to buy them. And when I buy a pack of cards, I almost always keep one, just for the sake of keeping it. I try really hard to send that last one out, but usually never can.


I'll definitely keep one of these "happiness is" cards. The card reads, "happiness is a fresh blanket of snow." And what a cute, curious bunny that is! I just want to pat its little cotton tail. I also like how Erika describes the card: "When snow is falling in the woods, and you can hear it. When all is quiet, and animals don't even know you're there. I imagine a tree somewhere that's been decorated for this time of year. The colors are inspired by memories of childhood--going to bed when it's snowing heavily, cold winter days, blankets of snow on trees and on the ground, looking into my backyard forest. One of our favorite books in the house is this darling little newsprint book by Charles Schulz called Happiness is a Warm Puppy where the characters of the Peanuts cartoon tell what happiness means to them. "Happiness is a good climbing tree; happiness is a night light; happiness is . . . happiness is a blanket of fresh snow . . . this is what happiness is to me this time of year."

This card makes me happy. It also makes me happy that now we're at my mom's house in Atlanta for Christmas, and soon the cards should arrive here in the mail. I think it will be too late to send them out this Christmas. Lucky for me, then, I get to keep them until next Christmas.

Paper Quilt Pack

I was so excited yesterday to find my paper pack in the mail from the Paper Quilt Project! I'm only allowed to use what's in the paper pack, which makes me nervous because I'm afraid I'll start with an idea and want to change it halfway through (as I often do) only to find myself with ruined, cut up paper scraps. We'll just have to see how it turns out! I'm gonna go have a peek now at some other paper quilt collages for inspiration. I'll post a picture of mine when I'm done.

It's a Wrap

We just about finished our Christmas shopping today, whew! And now I've started wrapping presents. Some years I stick to a theme for wrapping paper, but this year I'm just doing a variety of things, mostly using the vintage papers I got at the flea market a while back and using vintage fabric and buttons. One paper I'm using is new though--it's a button print by Retta Le Ritz. It's not especially Christmas-y, but I love buttons, and I love this paper! I decided to make button "bows" to go with it.

On Ice Outside

This skating duo was going to be one of my Pickled Hutch picks last Wednesday, but while I was browsing around the store, thinking of buying the pair for someone for Christmas, another customer swooped in a bought them not five minutes after I took this picture. She spotted them right away, like radar from the front of the store, which I thought was really something since these little figurines are so tiny. She said she collects them, which is how her eyes gravitated straight to them. We talked about how cute they were, and I told her I had just taken a picture of them and that before she came in I was thinking of buying them too. Now they have a new home at that nice lady's house, in her miniature town. And they are really tiny, see?

I've been ice skating outdoors at Rockefeller Center, which was wonderful, but I'd like to skate outdoors one day on a frozen lake or pond where it's really quiet with hardly any people around. This is a painting I bought at a flea market for $5. It hangs on the wall opposite of our bed so I can see it before I sleep and when I get up. I love the painting. Lately I like to think of that little river as a frozen river so I can skate on it.

Accepting the Funk

Yesterday I woke up in a funk. I was planning on getting A LOT done: doing some Christmas shopping, going to the bank and the grocery store, wrapping presents, making cookies to mail in cute snowman tins and going to the post office. I'm sure there was more, but now I can't remember what else I had in mind. I really wanted to go downtown and get in the hustle and bustle of Christmas shoppers and decorations and pretend I was in New York. Instead I woke up feeling fussy and sick and barely got anything done. Andrew started getting sick last week, and now I'm sick too. Pooh. When I woke up I felt like my head was going to explode. I would have liked to detach it for a while and set it outdoors to dry out, but alas, I don't have a doll head that I can just detach when it's bothering me.

So I made up my mind not to be fussy. I just accepted that I wasn't going to get much done. Instead of running around town to tackle the list above, I made good friends with Amazon. I'm not much of an online shopper--I prefer to see and feel things in person and to be out and about around other people, but shopping online proved to be a real time saver and stress reliever. I was surprised to find everything left on my list there in one place. So I sat back with Amazon and tea and oh, yes, cupcakes. I did run one errand--to get cupcakes. I thought they might help my cold. A ginger and spice cupcake with lemon-ginger tea, how could that not help? Just looking at the cupcake helped. Sorry I didn't take a picture. I was too busy eating it.

Pickled Hutch Picks of the Week - 12/12

Here are my Pickled Hutch picks this week. Very merry and bright!

Light reflections. $1 each.

Green hand blown, hand painted vase. $35. And I think it's 20% off.

Small sundial base. I think this would make a great plant or lamp stand. $42.

The Pickled Hutch is an antique store in San Francisco that I love. Every Wednesday I pick three items to post on my blog that I especially like. The Pickled Hutch is located at 1605 Church Street, San Francisco, CA. Open Tue. to Sun. 11 - 6. PH 415-641-8875. Ask for Lisa.

Party Hat Central

My party hats now have a new home on etsy. You can check out my party hat store here. I'm about to order some of these incredibly cute fabrics from Super Buzzy so I can make some new party hats for kids. I'll post pictures in a few weeks after I have a chance to make them.

Home is in the Art 15

It's been very chilly here in San Francisco. I love it when it feels really wintry right around Christmas. There's no snow here, but when it's cold like this, I always think of this painting. It's actually a print that used to live in my bedroom, right beside my bed where I would see it every morning when I woke up. Over the years I've probably spent hours staring at it thinking about the little town and those people walking to church. It looks so peaceful. The picture is at my mom's house now, and I look at it a lot when I'm there too. Unfortunately, I don't know who painted it because I can't read the person's signature.

Pickled Hutch Picks of the Week - 12/5

Well, I'm a day late, sorry! It's not because Lisa has her own blog now, it's just that I've been busy. But here are my Picked Hutch picks this week. After you take a peek, head over to Lisa's blog and say "hi" to the hutch owner herself.
Bavarian tea set with silver overlay. Tea pot, sugar and creamer. $85
A pair of little aqua chairs (the other one just isn't in the picture). These would be perfect for two boys I know. $48
Green painted step stool. $68 (20% off from $85). Even Santa has his eye on this one.

The Pickled Hutch is an antique store in San Francisco that I love. Every Wednesday I pick three items to post on my blog that I especially like. The Pickled Hutch is located at 1605 Church Street, San Francisco, CA. Open Tue. to Sun. 11 - 6. PH 415-641-8875. Ask for Lisa.