Monday, July 27, 2015

Building Chawton Cottage, My Backyard Retreat




 Above you see Chawton as it appears today, but in the three years since it was built it has seen many changes.

 I started by collecting vintage elements for my garden house, I collected for 5 years ....  The main issue was having enough old windows, so though I had been collecting for so long, I knew I would need a huge stock to be able to puzzle piece them together for the sides.

One day a lady came into Treasures Antique Mall, where I work with a load of windows taken from an old miner's hotel in Eureka!!

"Eureka!!", I said, now I had enough windows to begin. You can see above how the basic structure went together.
 The pitch of the roof was determined by the pitch of the old gazebo spandrel I had found at Star Mill at least 10 years ago, I loved it, though I had no idea what I would someday use it for.


Of course the door and windows were framed to fit the ones I had found.

My grandchildren loved the process of seeing this go together, it was a little house after all, and they just knew it was for them.

This is my granddaughter Eva, she and I had to have a little talk about just whose little house it really was .... of course Grandmas' are very good at sharing.
 My husband wanted wafer board for the roof ... not a fan, but structurally it was necessary, so, I talked him into putting up faux bead board to face inside the cottage ....
 and topped it with the wafer board...


Having a son-in-law, Sam,  who had done construction was perfect, as he climbed up to help put on the roof.
This picture, though much later, shows how the windows fit together ... the craftsman windows with the large pane and the three small panes are some of those that came out of Eureka.



We built in a hinged ladder to service the loft that that takes up a third of the pitched ceiling.
 a mattress was put up on the platform to accommodate sleep overs, and brave little boy playtime too.
 ... then last of all I used decoupage to add the name of the cottage above the bowed top door.  I chose this name because I am a huge Jane Austen fan, a Janite, if you will.  She wrote her last three novels in a small house in Chawton, England that was owned by her brother.  She and her sister lived there and the common name of the place was Chawton Cottage.

The problem with the decoupaged cottage name is that it faded that first summer, so by the second summer, I found an old door way lentil and attached metal letters that spelled Chawton ... they eventually came off,   So this year I painted the letters on the door lentil.



I thought I would share some pictures of  how we've used  the garden house .,,, its been a booth at fleaology several times.

Its been a back drop for pictures for my blog as well.
 I had a luncheon there once and seated 10 ladies.
 After a fleaology set up, we had friends bring us Chinese for dinner .... and it made a perfect oasis in the midst of the madness that fleaology set up can be,



As you can see its perfectly charming when we are holding fleaology, and I always leave the door open and a fan on inside so that people can sit and chat, or share lunch.


 Its been a romantic get away for my married children, where they can get a moment alone.
 ... and when my elderly father-in-law lived with us, it gave him some alternate scenery, as he and my husband have a snack there after church.
 Once, in the middle of winter, (Note the fallen Chawton letters) Hubs and I trekked out there for a picnic, when I was finishing up a list of 365 good things to do in a year ... it was after Christmas and that 'picnic' was one of 5 remaining, 'to dos', at the time.
So this is Chawton Cottage today ... it has been entirely worth the work and money that went into it.  BTW, you might like to know that including the cost of the new lumber and materials, as well as what I paid for the antique elements, the cottage cost us a bit less than $1,000.00 to build.  I will forever be grateful to my DH (Darling Husband) for his willingness to work so hard to make this dream come true.

Saturday, July 25, 2015

Zinnia Antique Mall in Phoenix

I spent the week vacationing in Arizona with Mr P and two of my sons and their wives.  

I didn't get much time for junking, other than a few second hand stores, but I did get to spend some time at ...
an antique mall called Zinnia.  It was not surprising to see many of the same kinds of things we sell at Treasures. 
This booth with painted picture frames and a pennant banner looks like Fleaology. 
Loved the bold black and white stripes in this space. 
The painted mannequins made me smile. 
I loved this yard long picture frames filled with pictures of the same young man from about age 5 to twenty something. Unfortunately the water stains and high price were both off putting. 
I thought these candle sticks with balls were pretty cool. 
and then upstairs, in a corner, I found the home colony of mannequins ....
Then there's this display of chalk paint which just proves how Pinterest has homogenized trends across the country!! 

Thanks for coming along on this antique mall  tour!  I'm frankly not sure I'd bother with it in the future.  So if you know a better one in Phoenix that I can check out in the future, please let's know. 

Friday, July 17, 2015

Chawton Gets a Pennant Banner

Long time followers will recall the building of Chawton Cottage, my back yard retreat and party spot!  We started building it three summers ago!!  It's hard to believe it's been a part of my life that long! 
This week I got a call from a local TV station producer who wants to do a segment on 'She Sheds'! (KSL Studio 5. Watch for it in August!)   Christine Ishmeal of Vintage Yard Sale Utah (a super fun face book selling site, if you're local) had recommended my cottage. 

So I decided it was time to put one of my signature pennant banners in the cottage.  Given that Chawton Cottage is the name of Jane Austen's home where her final novels were written I decided to do a banner with her name. 

I gathered card stock, ribbon, lace, wooden letters, glass glitter, book pages and pinking sheers.  The pages are torn out of, 'Gasp', an old yellowed copy of one of Austen's novels. Emma, in this case. I watch for the old novels at garage sales and second hand stores.  I've crafted with them before. You may even recall my Pride and Prejudice paper mâché mannequin. 
Here it is hanging in place!  It was super time consuming, maybe 3 hours in all. But I love it!! So it's definitely worth the time!! 

I'll be posting about my experience with the filming sometime soon!  Thanks.  

Monday, July 13, 2015

Midsummer Fleaology

Last weekend we held our first outdoor flea of the year! 
Here are a few shots of my booth space  

Hubs and I came up with this industrial side table. 

We added wire mesh to the doors of this sweet cupboard and it sold!!

Here are a few of my 35 dealers!! dealers, this one is Lizzie! 
Darrel always has great old signs. 
This booth belongs to Rosemarie and her son Cole.  This is our tenth year and Rose has been selling with us for 8 of them.

This is cute Nikki who I work with at Treasures Antique Mall   
This is Pat!! 
My daughter-in-law Briahnna came and sold for another daughter-in-law, my partner, Nell, whose been under the weather of late! 
Here are the garden signs I made!
Here's Suzi and her goodies. 
Loved these journals made from old books. 
Here are Ginny and her brother selling their goods, her best seller was herbs she had started!!  

My friend Terry joined us for the first time!! 
Tami's booth was super fun!! 
April James of April James Interiors in Spanish Fork  joined us for the first time. She has amazing goods no matter where she sells!!
And this is Trish. She is the one who got me started. We shared a booth at an antique mall called Flamingo Road, almost twenty years ago. My part of the rent was something like $17 a month!    Oh my! 
 
She's been away from the business for a few years, so it's super fun to have her join us!!  
These cute girls have been shopping Fleaology from the beginning and have become good friends! Thanks Sherry and Margaret!! 
These cute former  Reclaimologists came by to find goodies and to do some catching up.  It was great to see you Amy and Denise! 
Katie of Second Hand goose also joined us for the first time!!  Love the goose, don't you!! 
... And since Payson hosts the Scottish Festival here in town the same day we do Fleaology, it's always fun to see men and women in Scottish dress, but this is a first for me!! 

After being rained out twice in May we loved the beautiful weather!!  The sale went well and everyone seemed to be having a great time!!   

Thanks for stopping by!!