AQUA!

Ok so I have had this love/hate relationship with the color aqua for home decor and painted furniture. Absolutely love it, I am drawn to almost any piece I see in magazines, in shops and shows. Be it beachy or country, more on the blue hue or closer to a shade of green, I gravitate towards it. New fresh paint or old and chippy, the color catches my eye.

BUT!! That said...for some reason I have never really had that color in my home decor.
Oh yes I did the 80s country blue, and the 90s South West contemporary pastel blue. (and I wear lots of aqua clothing and turqouise jewelry and have those colors in my tattoos).
But since I have been buying/selling and decorating with antiques and old pieces, vintage and painted furniture I just haven't been able to get those aquas to work in my home. (sage was the preferred basic for many years)
Anyway, I finally gave in to it.
I have lots of tweaking to do, still need to get another color, like seafoam, to do some pieces. Try to get a few hues going.

And of course now I will have a mission to search out anything aqua when I go treasure hunting!

Flip Top Storage Bench

Pics of an old dark storage bench painted in a creamy Malted Milk, and sanded just a bit.
Great for winter hats and gloves, and a good spot to sit down on to lace up the boots.
Also would be handy near the door for dog leashes, play toys and balls, and of course doggie clothing.
  I think this is another piece that must have a story.
 My guess is Mama had a specific spot picked out for this bench. Maybe under a window, in a hall way or mud room. But it appears there may have been some heat register down low on the wall. Which meant Papa had to modify the basic construction. So in his building of this bench he worked out a way to have it flush against the wall without interfering with whatever was there? Must have made Mama happy! Good old Yankee ingenuity. (see interior pic)

Shop Space

squeezing in all I can into the new smaller shop space

Cute country chair

This is such a cute high chair, youth chair, tall stool...? It isn't adult size so must have been for a child.
It has decent patina on it too, just needs to be oiled &/or waxed. Which means as much as I want to paint it I won't!
I got it at the auction the other night. Actually at the *junk* auction in the back corner before the real auction.
It would look good with a plant on it, or any kind of country cottage vignette, don't ya think?

busy day

I painted a book case I got at a yard sale today, basic white. Did the usual sanding to shab it up a bit.
Then used my new fav paint color Malted Milk by Valspar on an old mirror. Also did some sanding and waxing on a couple other things I recently painted.
We had a sudden down pour (only on our road) but luckily everything was done and mostly inside.

Table

I went to an auction last night...got a few things. Which means I will be painting!

I want to do this occasional table in Valspar Malted Milk. The color is soo creamy, yummy, oh wait, maybe I am influenced by the color name?!

It does have some nice detail, which should show up a lot better when painted.

June...

This morning I went to a monthly antiques market called Sage Farm. One dealer had a wonderful whimsical display of vintage children's beach toys. (well yes the kids who played with them would be vintage by now too!)
The metal pails and shovels bring back so many memories. There was a pair of sweet little *flippers* and up on the wall I saw the cutest smallest blow up swim ring.
I should have taken a pic when I first got there because by the time I went back around for a second peek, many items were already scooped up!

Waiting...

...for a dry sunny day to paint this sideboard and china cabinet.

....maybe an ivory or cream with the drawers and/or accents done in a soft sage or aqua? Scuffed to a worn shabby style.

Campy!

How perfect is this for your camp, cabin or porch?

Wooden slatted red canvas fold up chair $30
Vintage 50s Pendleton wool camp blanket $20 (as found) *SOLD*

NICE LEGS!

Nice legs (and ball and claw feet) on this sweet cottage-y upholstered floral bench.
Perfect size for a hallway, at the foot of a bed or under a window.
19"x42" 18" in height
$89 at Just the Thing!

Bench Redo

Painting...

We are still waiting for some lovely warm May temps here in NH.
I did find time on a day last week to use my little Wagner paint sprayer.  I love to make messes, like spray paint the air hose and have pink toe nail polish covered in tiny white paint dots. It was fun.  (not as much fun as a paint ball gun)

 I have a couple pieces I would like to do today but don't know if I want to risk doing all that set up and then get rained on. While it's not suppose to rain til later, it sure is a solid gray sky.

Always nice to have a son snap a pic when ya don't know it...specially dressed in old baggy painting clothes!

Garden Statuary Display at Brimfield Antiques Show

This area is always such a lovely spot. After all the crowds, mud and traffic it is wonderful to browse this *booth* for a few minutes.

Some pics from the BRIMFIELD ANTIQUES SHOW

Too much stuff, too many booths, too much eye candy....soooo little time!
We walked all day, just took 20 minutes to sit in the car for a snack and still couldn't get to all the fields.
Two hadn't opened yet and one charged to get in for opening day so we thought we'd have enough time to get to all the others but sadly, noo...
 But it's a fun time and there's so many photo ops.

Stone(d) Mushrooms?

All the funky metal brightly colored animals were great, but the goats were my favorite.

Not every one can claim to have a huge ball of barbed wire.

Ok these dolls were so bizarre, clever and creepy I couldn't take my eyes off them.
What a cracker this one is!

I am not going to even go there with the lard *ss comments.

Children's letter blocks on a bright blue child's chair, as I found them.  No really.

This could give a person nightmares...

Being a Shih Tzu  lover this was one of many garden statues that caught my eye.

Old Crosley wagon

Can I buy a vowel?

Put a spring in your step, or seat...