Sprucing Up

Some bits of furniture sold at That Old House's
antiques booth last week, so on Sunday
Howard and I tootled down Route 287 to
Somerville, New Jersey, to restock the booth
and jigger it around a bit.

Usually I forget to take pictures when we do this.

But this time, I remembered.

Here's how we left it:

I like to take pictures so I can look at them later,

at home, slap my forehead and say, "What was I thinking?"

Whenever I do this, one thing in particular screams out at me:

"I hate white walls."

Picture those 3 walls a nice warm soft yellow,

maybe with a pumpkin-colored back accent wall.

Old wood looks really lovely against yellow walls.

Or perhaps painted a soft dreamy sage green, or a warm gray.

Anything . . . and I mean almost anything . . . except white.

Cold and temporary looking -- that's how it strikes me now.

We added three pieces of furniture.

A pink upholstered, walnut

Empire-style slipper, or nursing, chair.

An antique cherry drop leaf table -- nice smaller size,

country style, and in great shape.  No drawer.

Sturdy wood "wings" for holding the leaves.

And the demi-lune table that I painted in August.

I kept it at home until I was happy with the finish on its top.

By the way, that left leg is not crooked.  Optical illusion.

There are a few real favorites of mine still waiting for their

forever homes, including this mahogany piecrust table:

It has the prettiest crotch veneer on its top.
And no, I'm not being naughty.

I've always loved tole trays on stands, used as

coffee or side tables.  This tray's old, with a Chinoiserie style image.

The stand would fit any size tray; it expands as needed.

I'm seriously enamored of this writing table/desk, below.

It's just so gorgeous and classic, and made by Southwood.

In fact, it's so high end that it's too high-falutin' to live with us,

and begged to be sold to a classier gang.  :-)

This pumpkin/squash tureen is kicking off my Fall offerings.

Now I need to find some more.  Gee, what a hardship!

Now the oddest thing we put in the booth on Sunday was this:

It's a wee little corner cabinet, painted an unfortunate

green and cream, and it replaces

the larger black one that used to hold so many of the "smalls."

That larger black one was not for sale, but . . .

someone bought it.  That's the antiques biz, folks.

Anyway, another dealer was moving her booth yesterday,

and didn't want the little green fellow, above,

so I got it for thirty bucks.

It's not my dream solution by any means, but it will do for now.

Happy hunting in your neck of the woods! -- Cass