A Visit to the Tea Room

This past weekend my friend Cheryl and her daughter invited my daughter and me to accompany them to a local Tea Room. Shady Gables Tea Room & Shoppe has been owned and operated by Reba Starling-Silvey since 2000. Reba has been featured in a couple local magazines and has a great talent for designing rooms.

Shady Gables located in a beautiful old Missouri farm house.

The house is surrounded by lovely gardens.

Sweet little teapot birdhouse!

Inside were lots of little rooms and cubbies for relaxing and sipping tea.

Upstairs was a special room for little princess tea parties, all dressed in pink and purple frou-frou for little girls.

Check out the slip covers on these chairs. They were used throughout and guess what they cover? Ordinary white PVC patio chairs! I asked for the pattern but Reba was on vacation, so I will inquire again later.

Downstairs, there was even a dress-up porch for the BIG girls! Lots of vintage hats, shawls and gloves to choose from.

I told you it was for BIG girls!

Don't our daughters look lovely?

Here we are, in proper attire, at our table. Each seatback was draped with a fur stole for added glamour.

The teahouse boasts hundreds of flavors and many types of teas. We each chose a pot: Blueberry, Lady Grey, Holiday Spice, Italian Amaretto. Notice the little "lemon slice" drip catchers on the spouts. Clever!

Our tray of fresh fruit and petite fours arrived and, believe it our not, was quite filling after a pot of tea!

There was alot to look at and lots of goodies for sale.

We really had a nice day at the Tea Room and will definitely be returning soon! Thanks for inviting us, Cheryl!

On a side note, stop over to see what Priscila's got in the works for a new on-line shop at Casa Bella Chic. She has a talent for decorating and transforming old vintage items into objects of art!

G-sale bargains

Here are a few items I found on the hunt this past week ...(even though I haven't hit many sales due to INTENSE work at the cottage!)

Check out this vintage "handbag" rotary telephone. Too cool! It works fine and has that nostalgic "ring-a-ling-a-ling." The lady I bought it from worked at the Phone Company for 30 years.

Pretty oil seascape painted by a woman in her 90's. $2.

Here's a mix of goodies...Avon molded soaps $1. Chick S&P shakers $1. Avon "Buckeroo" talc for boys, .10. Funky Homeco gold tree wall hanging, .50.

Ballerina picture with cute Maltese...A STEAL at .10!

This is a very unusual picture that my good friend practically begged me to take off her hands, "I just continue dusting it with no place to put it!" The frame is spectacular and it will go great in the bedroom at the cottage. The tag on the back says "The Secret." The signature on the front says "JPL, 1963." Do you know who this artist is?

Here is a close-up of some detail on the frame. It is gorgeous.

Below is a tiny peek at some of the work we've been up to at the cottage:

I got this little square farm table for $10 and it fits PERFECTLY in the cottage kitchen. The top oak surface is not in the greatest shape but who cares when all you need is a pretty pink vintage tablecloth to disguise it? The legs are painted in the perfect country-cream color and distressed to look old. It came with 4 little stools that don't really match the table but I may paint them all and use them with the table anyway. (Note my painted wood floor.)

I know this is not much, but this room is about finished. A bit more molding and some pillows and I will try to take a better pic with my wide angle.

Last week we pulled up yucky carpet, painted lvgrm floor, finished drywall, put in new bathroom sink and toilet,(the old ones would not work properly...I was especially sad about the vintage sink. It was 100 years old and beautiful...but if it won't function properly, it's not practical) wallpapered laundry room....

I hope to have more pics soon! God is good all the time!

Chair Make-Over

I bought this ratty old chair at a garage sale last year and it has been sitting in the garage begging for attention. This week I finally got around to getting the darn thing done. I bought it because it had good strong bones and I especially liked the curved arms.

The paint was peeling and from the looks of the rust orange upholstery, it has been an "outdoor" chair. I took off all the ugly fabric and when I had given the wood a fresh coat of paint, I dug around my stash of material for something pretty.

I decided on this vintage blue fabric that I had gotten at the Salvation Army. I had about 2 yards. It only took one to cover the chair.

Here she is! (click on photo to enlarge.) What do you think? $2 for the chair, .50 for the fabric, paint I already had. Not too shabby...oh wait, maybe it is...it's Shabby Chic!

Cottage bathroom

Here are a few "before" pics of the bathroom. This is how it looked when we bought the cottage...trashed. Where the tub was, will now be the laundry area. (Boy, that tub was HEAVY to remove! Lucky for me, I'm married to the mini-Hulk....short but powerful.)






Here is what it looks like right now. I am hoping to get it finished this week since I am off work for the whole WEEK!





Before the new ceiling.



During installation...it is so hard to put something on the ceiling!I drilled my finger...twice!



I hope to have all "After" pics for you soon.



Here is another sure sign that summer is here...

OUTDOOR MOVIE NIGHT :)











Don't forget the popcorn!



Watching "Wall-E" was never so fun!

Vintage Laundry bag pillow

I purchased this vintage blue satin laundry bag for a dime. I brought it home, put it through the washer and stuffed it with an old bed pillow. It has a drawstring opening so I just stretched it open, kept the string inside and hand stitched it closed. It is embroidered with "Laundry" and has the most feminine ruffle all the way around. How do you like it?

The pink satin pillow was a .50 find last year. I got two similar larger ones that are just as gorgeous.

Do you know what this is? Besides being a mulberry tree, it is a sure sign of summer's arrival. My neighbor's tree is FULL of the tasty black berries and she has given me free reign to any fruit from her trees. (She also has a pear tree and some grape vines!) I can't understand why no one ever makes mulberry jelly or why they don't sell them in the stores like they do raspberries, etc? They are SO good!

All those little black spot are berries! See Mr. Squirrel sitting on the branch in the middle? He is STUFFING his face!

Even though it's in the 90's here, I sure thank God for summer!

Running WATER!

YES! The cottage has WATER! After a year of trucking water over in coolers, we now have the modern convenience of stepping over to the sink and...PRESTO! Welcome to the 21st century!

The plumbers has hooked up my kitchen sink, bathroom sink, tub and toilet. So not only do we have water for washing, we have water for flushing! I won't tell you what we did during the year whenever nature called....

Here is a picture of my son removing the old sink in the kitchen. Notice the burned formica countertops and lack of backsplash. (I removed the peel-and-stick tiles that were up there.)

I wallpapered the backsplash in a pretty embossed paper that mimicks pressed tin ceiling tiles. I will paint it with enamel white for durability. I covered the formica white crisp white ceramic tile....ah...Dad would be proud. Check out the old medicine bottles found on the property. Click on the pic for a closer view.

Here is a close-up of some of the many layers of wall paper on the old backsplash.

On a side note, we had a HUGE blessing last weekend with a surprise visit from some dear friends of ours on their way traveling on vacation. We hadn't seen then in about 5 years.
They have 10 of the sweetest children you will ever meet! They were driving home from a week at Suzuki Camp. You can see the older kids with their instruments in tow. They drive a 15 passenger van and haul all their belongings in a horse trailer. Clever! I hope to see them again soon!

G-sale finds

I have started a part-time job, 4 days a week and I don't get home until after 8pm some nights! Working for someone else, on their terms has really thrown me for a loop! I am so used to being my own boss that I can hardly take it! Good thing it's only a 2 month stint.

Anyways, work has left little time for blogging, but I am squeezing in a few posts on my day off.

Todays garage sale finds were few but nice:

Cute KITTY-CAT sock-monkey-$2 (Check out the bow in her ear!)

Metal animal musicians wall-hanging - .25

Vintage Family photo tree - .50

Sewing basket (minus top) - free

Child's letters for crafts - .50

Rhinestone belt buckle -.50

Gorgeous terry Spa robe, like new, but a tiny yellowed spot on the shoulder (I'm sure it will launder out) - .25! The faux ranunculus boquet in the pocket cost twice that!

1970's Hostess jumper -.50

I could show you a pic of me in it but it is so crazy that it would befuddle the average human and would render her senseless for the remainder of the day. You will have to be satisfied with this snippet of a photo of the wild lime/fushia/tangerine pattern which covers it. ( I walked outside with it on and my husband looked up, sheilded his eyes and then the mower went dead...I told you it was too much. But it sure makes a girl feel like Cher!! Bob Mackie would be proud!)

I know this is weird, but can a girl be in love with a bath towel? I found this towel and another one like it and was sure it had to be something from Rachel Ashwell's line. It is dreamy velour printed with pink roses!

But, no, it has this vintage Martex label in it!

I won't let anybody else use it! It is pure luxury! (.50 for two.)

Last week when I went sale-ing I found a boatload of carded vintage buttons. I bought them and asked my "jeweler" daughter to fashion this bracelet for me. Didn't she do a nice job? She may be making more for her Etsy account.

I'll be posting cottage pics soon. The plumber is about finished and I am going over this afternoon to check-out his handiwork. Bye!