Nurturing my Scandinavian Heritage

So recently I've been exploring my Scandinavian side. As it happens I am half Norwegian ... And we were recently called to serve a mission in Finland this fall . Mr P served a 2 year mission there in his youth, and is thrilled to be going back. 

So when I was selling these mushrooms at a recent vintage show and a customer mentioned that there had been red polka dotted mushrooms like that growing in her childhood home ...

Of course I was curious to know where that was!  Then she said Finland!  Her name is Stina!  I told her we were headed there in the fall, naturally we became instant friends and she invited us to a Finnish dinner!! 

I loved her decor!  

She made us piirakka. A kind of pie made with a bread crust filled with a sweet rice. It's served with a chopped egg and butter spread and was wonderful!!  

Note her cute fairy garden with the polka dot mushroom she made!  

Here we are at her house, her American raised husband's parents are on the far right. It was great to talk about Finnish life and culture, and what to expect when we live there. 

Then this past week Brittany of @houselarsbuilt on Instagram and a well known lifestyle blogger happened to come into the shop, and I recognized her. She does a lot with color and Scandinavian design. She lived in Denmark for 3 year and married a Dane. 

My Norwegian side gobbles it all up. 

These are my sweet Norwegian grandparents who died before I was born!  

I'm currently cruising in the Gulf of Mexico, writing this blog on a sandy beach off Roatan. 

And even down here we found that the art hanging just outside our state room is a photograph of a statue of the composer Sibelius, that Mr P had seen in person at a park in Helsinki. He may be the only person on board who actually knows the subject of this piece of art!! 

I'm looking forward to our time in Finland. I expect to love every minute, as I rediscover myself in the land of the midnight sun, the land where my father's line grew and thrived!  

Redoing Our Parlor Floor. .

Here we go!  Today I'm sharing a project that took most of our free time for a full week. 

 We decided to tear up our Victorian floral carpet to refinish the floor beneath.  This is our after picture, but there was blood, sweat and even tears in the process. 

We started on a Saturday, and planned to finish the day with the staining process 

Our house was built in 1894. In Utah the hardest native wood is fir.  So though we do have hardwood details in our house that were shipped from the east, such as an amazing mantel and stunning stair case, the floors were made of fir. 

Above we see the builders answer to the hardwood shortage. Fir tongue and groove flooring was laid and then around the outside of the room, the floor was false grained, decorative painting that imitated the grain of red oak. 

Here's a detail of the faux graining. 

The central portion was left untreated and was then covered with an area rug.  Here is the unfinished wood a hundred and twenty something years later. 

Everything went well for about 30 seconds.  That's how long it for the paint and top laquer in the border area to gum up the sanding band. We eventually figured out that if we let the gummy build up cool and harden we could laboriously break off bits. We thought we'd be done in a day. Nope. I started using chemical stripper, while he sanded ....

The faux graining included a coat of yellow paint with and orange/red layer that was 'combed' to allow some of the yellow to show through.   Stripping off those two coats of antique paint plus laquer was not as fun as it sounds. 

In fact it was a was a gummy mess. We ran out f time and had to take the sander back ....  With the floor in the midst of its makeover. 

On Monday I spent my entire day striping the rest of the border.   

After work on Wednesday Scott brought home the big sander again. Without the paint,  things went more smoothly. I used our hand belt sander around the edges of the room. We finished up at 11:00 Yawn!  

The next morning I got the floor stained and wiped before heading to work.  After work that day Mr P got two coats of  varathane applied. On Friday it cured, and then during Fleaology on Saturday he hauled the furniture back in. 

The floor certainly shows some battle scars ... But I love the dark walnut, because... 

 My father once repaired a truck for someone in trade for a semi full of rough cut black walnut lumber. He had it milled into tongue and groove paneling and used it for two walls and the ceiling of the great room of the big house which he was personally building!  That's the house I grew up in, and black walnut will forever remind me of my father. 

So all is well that ends well, right? 

That Wonder That Is Fleaology.

What fun!  

We just finished up another Fleaology with ...

so many talented dealers and 

so many lovely friends ... 

and friendships . 

Friendships forged over the years ... 

with such wonderful .... 

like minded people. 

I oddly forgot to take pictures ...

of my own booth space ...

even though the process clearing my garage ... 

in anticipation of living in Finland ....

for a year and a half ... 

lead to my best sale EVER! 

But there were so many great booths ... 

and such lovely goodies... 

mixed in with so many people I've come to love ...that it made  this sale somehow poignant ... 

And especially memorable as I celebrated ... 

my 62nd birthday ... 

What a delightful way ... 

to celebrate friendships 

and associations ... 

with great customers, 

many of whom have dipped their toes in vintage retailing ... 

at Fleaology, over the past eleven years... 

and who have in the process ... 

become talented ... 

retailers and crafters who have enriched my life ! 

I'd like to thank all of you for your support and friendship. Almost all of you have added good things to my life! 

Chicken Wire Cloches

My art group had so much fun yesterday, shaping cloches out of chicken wire. 

Shirley's had wow factor with an adorable clown head. 

She even wove rick  rack through the bottom. 

I used a half doll for this smaller cloche ... 

And an old door knob for my taller one. 

Here we have fun furniture knobs like those you can get at hobby lobby.  These were done by Karen and Cathy. 

 

Loved Cathy's sweet hang tag. 

Jann's even has pearls!  

Joanne added a small salt shaker shaped like a topiary, charming choice!! 

Jann will be selling a few of these fun decor cloches at Fleaology this Saturday. Hope to see you there. We're expecting fine weather!! 

Here's Joanne's cloche at home in service. Isn't it adorable?