Pillow Talk

 A couple of days before the 4th of July I decided I needed a new pillow. I have talked before about how little I sleep per night. This summer, for some reason, has been worse than usual. My 4 hour per night sleep routine has been even less. I blamed it on my pillow. So the Hubs and I were in OKC to eat. We were getting ready to head back home and Hubs said we should stop for my new pillow. I had not even thought of it, but thank goodness he did. We stopped at a small department type store that was close to where we were and I headed towards the "home" section to get my new pillow. But then I saw the huge sideboard/stepback cupboard and it stopped me in my tracks. 

 I looked around at the other furniture the store had for sale and spotted the price tag on most pieces. I could not find a price tag on the sideboard. Then upon closer examination, I started to think that the piece was actually a display model.....That was sitting right smack dab in the middle of the other furniture. A nice young salesman asked me if I needed any help. I told him I needed to know the price on the sideboard. He said it wasn't for sale, but was indeed a display piece. I had already thought, "Hmmmm...This store has about a million and a half dishes. Why would they NOT be using this piece to display some of them?"  So, I asked the nice young salesman to go and ask his manager how much the piece was. The nice young man (very polite I might add) assured me it was not for sale. I convinced him that if he wanted me to quit bugging him that he really should go and ask his manager. 

 While the polite young man was finding the manager, I pulled out my handy-dandy tape measure from my purse and began measuring the piece. It was 7 feet long. It was solid wood (NO MDF!!). It was already painted antique white and distressed. It came apart in two pieces, so it would be easier to move.  It was perfect!!  

 The nice young man came back to me and told me that I was right and it was indeed for sale. (I heard the angels singing.) I was ecstatic. I asked him how much. He had not thought to ask that question (!!!!?????!!!!!). So he went off again to find the manager (which I would later find out was actually the assistant manager). He came back and told me that it was either $330 or $350. The manager was gone and the assistant could not remember the price. I had already told myself that I would not go higher than $1200.00 Hahahahaha!!!  (Like I could afford that!!).  I told the polite young man that it was now officially SOLD, and that I would be glad to pay the full $350 and call it even. 

 The polite young man left and this time he just brought the assistant manager back with him! (He was catching on!!) I told her that without a doubt I wanted the piece and I would be glad to pay the entire $350.00 right then and there. About this time, my Hubs finally found me in the store. I told him I had just purchased the giant sideboard. He looked me in the eye and said, "Good".  Really. "Good".  Then "okay".  Really, just "Okay".  I said to him, "I was prepared to chain myself to this piece if you had said no. What made you say yes so easily?"  And his simple answer was, "It looks just like you. It looks like something you would love."  Ohhhhh emmmmm geeeeee!!!  See what being married for years does for a couple????  Then AFTER he had said "Good" and "okay" I told him the price. He too was astounded. Then the assistant manager told us the bad news. We could only buy it when the real manager was there. And he was off the next day. I was going to have to wait 36 hours before I could pay for, and take the piece home. 

I about croaked!! I made her write out two big signs that said SOLD with my name on them and tape them to the piece.  I asked her to go and call the manager at home and tell him I had bought it, but she would not do that! She did make sure the signs were taped down well and she assured me the piece would be fine. She pointed out that it had sat there for several days and no one else had even realized it was for sale. So I begrudgingly left hoping and praying it would still be there 36 hours later, waiting for me to come back! I finally did find the pillow section and got several new pillows too!! (And they have NOT helped my sleep yet, by the way!!) In the meantime, on the way home I was talking a mile a minute. Literally. I decided I would take out the buffet we had had for 30 years (and it was old when we got it!) and put the sideboard in its place. (The buffet is pictured in the second picture above from an old photo. Look how much more room the sideboard takes up!)  So, I have been playing around with the massive piece. Yes, it was still there 36 hours later when I showed up first thing that morning.  I have no doubt I will rearrange it a million times, but for now I have it styled for summer. Those pictures I will share later this week. The above picture is however a sneak peek. And that my friends is the story of how a person goes in to buy a bed pillow and comes out with a 7 foot long sideboard!!  

Venerate Vintage

Last week I was trying to use a patriotic quote each day on my IG account and FB account. I would put the quote with some picture I had previously taken. I found the quote you see below and knew instantly it would go well with a flag picture. Then while looking through my files for a flag picture, I came across my fireplace mantel from last year and knew one of those pictures would work. 

All that hullabaloo leads me to the point of the post: This long vintage piece of patriotic fabric I was gifted some 20 years ago. In our Kansas home, the front foyer was decorated in reds and blues and vintage flags and campaign buttons. One of my daughters had a best friend whose mother owned a cute little shop. 

 One day my daughter's friend brought me the long piece of fabric from her mother's stash. She assured me it was okay with her mother that I have it. I loved the piece, which I knew was old when I got it 20 years ago. I found out years later that the girls mother probably did not okay the gift I was given, but also probably never knew it was gone. I have loved it for 20 years. In our home in Kansas it was draped above the stairway window. (To which I cannot find a picture.) At our home here, I have used it several different ways.

 A few years ago, I used it to drape my mannequin-body 'Lola', dressing her up for the summer with the garland. I pinned it using an antique broach. 

 Lola sat in the upstairs hallway in front of a collage of patriotic pictures. It was a perfect place for Lola and her vintage banner. 

 Last year I used it to drape our 6 foot long mantel. I twisted and draped it until it looked natural like one might find on an old gazebo or podium. 

 The fabric, some type of vintage cotton, is a mix between a rough linen and a fine burlap. It is rather stiff and that makes it easy to drape. I have actually washed the piece before. (!!!!)

 It washed up just fine. Just like many old things, it is hardy and ready to serve for many more years. 

 There are some faded spots in it, but they were there when the fabric became mine and I think it just adds to the beauty of the piece. 

See how the piece wrinkles easily like a linen would? It makes it perfect for draping. 

 This year the vintage fabric served yet another purpose. One of my sons is engaged and his wedding date is the 4th of July...2015.  We set out to take some engagement pictures around our little town. I knew there was a place downtown that had an antique fence with a rock wall in front of it for sitting. I knew the vintage banner would be perfect to be subtly seen behind the 4th of July couple. And it was. 

The purpose of this long-winded story about a vintage piece of fabric? Chances are if you are reading this, you too are a lover of all things vintage. Use them. Use them in many ways. Use them all the time. It is not doing you any good boxed up and put away. Enjoy the vintage that is in your life.  

What do you have that you need to put to good use? 

tcerroC sI sdrawkcaB gnitirW nehW

 ˙pǝʇɐʌɐɹbbɐ ǝq oʇ puǝʇǝɹd oʇ ǝʞıן ʎǝɥʇ ɥbnoɥʇןɐ 'ʇı ǝʌoן ʎǝɥʇ ˙ʇxǝʇ dıןɟ buısn sʇuǝpnʇs ʎɯ oʇ buıɥʇǝɯos ʇuǝsǝɹd ı ɹɐǝʎ ʎɹǝʌǝ ˙ʎɐp sןooɟ ןıɹdɐ ʎddɐɥ

Don't worry. I won''t write the entire post that way. But there are fun things you can do on this April Fool's Day with text! When I was writing the questions for my students, it occurred to me that a post about my letterpress table would be a good one for today. After all, the words on it are all written backwards. 

If you have read my blog before, perhaps you have seen this table. It started out a little forlorn. I had been looking for a good table with a lip around the edge. I knew that I wanted to make a letterpress table and the lip would help keep the blocks in order. 

These are the letterpress blocks. They come in all shapes and sizes and fonts. Just like our many fonts today, there are also many sizes and fonts for letterpress blocks. The different colors on the block are from the ink that has been rolled over them. A lot of times, the red is there to stay (which is fine with me!). To clean these blocks, the printers (back in the day) had a little jug filled with gasoline. It had a mesh circle on top that would press down and a small amount of gasoline would come up through the mesh. The printer would soak his rag with the gasoline and use it on the blocks to keep them clean and gunk free. 

 My family has been in the newspaper and publishing business for almost a hundred years. (There IS a difference between newspapers and publishing by the way.) As a young girl I would see these letterpress blocks used all the time. I began collecting them at antique shows, long before Ebay. Then I collected them off Ebay. I used them for decorating fun, but I was just waiting on the perfect table. Finally, I had it and I poured out my bag(s) of letters one night and had fun. If you will notice, the letters are backwards. They are supposed to be. The word is laid out, the ink rolled on, the paper (or other) set on top and the weight rolled over the paper. Then when you pick up the print, your words are correct. Get it?  

You know the old idiom, "Mind your p's and q's"? Well now you understand what they meant. When building your words or lines, it is easy to naturally put the letter down as we know and see it. (I am the WORST at that!) Therefore the p's and q's could not be mixed!

 As you can see in the pictures, I set up names, places and things that are special to our family. I also put in special numbers. I laid them out and sat them on the table then gathered the extra letterpress blocks around them. There is TAYLOR3 (her birthday day) above. 

 Tim & Lori (above). Yes, I interchanged the fonts frequently. I had to because of the blocks I had. Plus it just makes it more fun. 

 Kelly.

 The SON from Ferguson. Sooners and Wucas. (Well I did Wucas for two reasons: 1. I was out of L's. 2. When my youngest son was little, he said his L's and W's. Therefore that made him Wuke Wucas. :)  Since I had the other letters for Lucas, I figured why not make it Wucas? 

 Yes, I even included our beloved pets. Howie. (We've got them ALL on the table!) 

I flipped the picture, so the words/letters were facing the camera. The arrows are just a sampling of the words and dates that are on there. I did not "arrow" them all. See what you can pick out! (Don't forget...dog is really God!!)

The same picture without the arrows. See how seamlessly the words and dates all blend together?  It's a great puzzle and conversation piece! 

 Notice the really big blocks, like the L and 1?  Aren't the fractions fun? 

 I also have every single type of punctuation in the big size. An ode to the English teacher in me! This could be a comma or an apostrophe, depending on how it was used. Notice I did not put all the filler letters and numbers in the same direction either. I just filled to fill! 

In this picture (in the lower left corner) and the big block in the middle, are advertising blocks. I have lots of old advertising blocks as well. Many of the advertising blocks are brass and can be shined up beautifully.

Believe it or not, I need to start another table. Since I did this one, we had two grandbabies, Leightyn and Behr. One of my sons is engaged as well, so we need to add Tiffani. I thought it would be fun to begin another table, instead of trying to redo the original. I have already begun to store up more letters, numbers and advertising. If you plan on collecting them, be aware, the letterpress blocks are on wood. There are some metal pieces as well, but those were used in linotype machines. I have a few of those as well, but they are the tiny filler pieces.  

Now you know everything you ever (or never!!) wanted to know about letterpress blocks and why the letters are always backwards. Don't you agree it was a great April Fools Day lesson? 

Here is the ugly little table that I got for $10 (along with another one).  

Here it is after I cleaned it up, painted it and made a cute little chalkboard table out of it. It would have been great to keep it just like that. 

But I had all these blocks that needed a permanent home.....

I added some very small casters. Mainly for the effect! 

And I ended up with the table where all the words are backwards! Now you know why! Have a great April Fools Day.  Or as I told my students.....¡ʎɐp sןooɟ ןıɹdɐ ʇɐǝɹb ɐ ǝʌɐɥ

Linking with:
Metamorphosis Monday
Wow Us Wednesday
The Scoop
Furniture Feature Friday

Window Peeping

 Clear back in September, I had traveled back to Hiawatha, Kansas, for the wedding of some friends. We only get back to Kansas (it is over 360 miles from where we now live)twice a year...at the most. Literally, on our drive back home after being there for two days, I saw on Facebook where one of my former students (now grown) was getting rid of all the old wooden windows from his house. 

He and his wife had bought one of the beautiful old homes in town, and they had updated all the old windows. His wife, bless her, knew better than to just dump all the windows and put a call out on FB for someone to come and get them. And there I was, headed AWAY from where those windows were! Just my luck. 

 But luck actually was on my side. Another friend lived just two doors away from my former student and I sent him up to his neighbor to retrieve a window. I told him exactly which window type I wanted (they had posted several kinds on FB). I specifically  wanted one that was 8 big panes, white on one side and brown on the other. I have such good friends. They gave me the exact window I wanted and my other friend stored it in his garage until Christmas when one of my sons went to Kansas for a visit and brought it back. 

 This window is huge and heavy. I plan to use it with the white facing out at times and of course change it around some and have the brown side facing out sometimes. For the time being, I have it propped on a chest in the living room, layered with an antique framed map. 

 When I originally staked claim to a window, I imagined it replacing the gold frame over the mantel on the gianormous mirror. But the window is so tall, that it actually extended about 3/4 of a pane beyond the giant mirror. So when looking at the mirror and window, it looked kind of weird when the mirror suddenly stopped at the top. Too bad it didn't work out though, because the mirror was creating a great reflection on the brown side of the window. Who knows, I might try it again sometime. 

 In the meantime, I love where it is and how it looks. I had the 1930's map framed about six years ago. Then about three years ago I hung the PEACE banner on it for Christmas. I started to take down the banner after Christmas that year, then decided that I liked it up there. After all, we truly do need PEACE all the time, not just Christmas. 

The window represents what I love about my home. It makes me think of that sweet student (now grown) that was one of my all-time favorites. It makes me think of his wise wife that knew the windows didn't belong in the landfill. It makes me think of one of my other favorite friends that walked up and got the window for me and stored it for four months. It makes me think of our wonderful years in Kansas. It makes me think of my son who hauled it all the way back for me and another son who moved it around for me every time I was trying it somewhere new. You can't get those memories from department store merchandise. ....Now I just need to get the giant wardrobe back down to Oklahoma that I bought (online) at a Hiawatha auction...in October!! (Yep, you guessed it...another friend is storing that for me!) 
Linked to:
Metamorphosis Monday
The Scoop
Wow Us Wednesday

Hey Y'all

 As I have written many times, I was born and raised in Oklahoma. "Hey y'all" was something we said a thousand times a day. So when I moved to northern-most Kansas and lived there for 17 years, I just took that greeting with me, never thinking twice about how it might sound to others. 

 I remember in high school our English teacher would have us say "Get ten men and send them anywhere." She would go over and over that with us, since most of us said, "Git tin min an' sind them anywhere(s)." She had her work cut out for herself trying to rope in our Okie drawl and twang. She told us that Kansas people have the perfect dialect. They don't have any accents and they enunciate their words perfectly. Well she had worked so hard with us on the "Get ten men and send them anywhere", that I never forgot that lesson. Nonetheless, when living in Kansas, I was still surprised when people would look at me with a funny look or a sly grin on their face when I would announce, "Hey ya'll" upon my arrival anywhere. 

 Remember when I showed you this collage wall that I did not plan out, but shopped the house  spontaneously one afternoon and arranged the wall? Well ever since I did that wall, I knew I needed to do something on the other side of the door to "even it out" (at least somewhat). 

 And because I had put gold accents on the left side, I wanted something gold to go on the right side as well. So one day while on the internet, I saw the print that said, "Hey ya'll" and I knew I had found the beginning of the right wall collage. (Here is the link to the print: http://www.etsy.com/shop/StephanieCreekmur?page=1). 

 I had an old frame that wasn't being used, so I spray painted it gold. I also had a white mat that wasn't being used, so I put that around the print. Then just because I was so anxious to get up the cute print, I put the (faux) matted print in the very gold frame and hung it up. If you look closely, you will see the mat is sitting on top of a piece of foam board that I used to back the entire project! 

 My intentions are to get the print framed professionally. Really. But I hung it up in September and have not taken it down since. I thought the gold frame and the gold letters were too much when I put them together and now they have grown on me completely. When I do get it framed (professionally) I might just get a gold frame! 

 But when you look at it (like above) I think it looks good. It kind of looks like a floating mat/print in a big frame. (I guess it looks like that, because it is!) 

 Since the "Hey y'all" was so Oklahoma (and/or Southern) to me, I looked around for other things to hang around it, that would match the print. (Like how my typography with letters and numbers worked together on the other side.) I realize no one else thinks about these things when they are in my house, but I know!! Once again shopped the house and came up with this Oklahoma flag that I kept under a glass dome. (It was originally a Christmas ornament.) I took a small white plate and painted the outside edge gold with Rub and Buff. I just glued the ornament to the plate.  The other plate is one my Hubs and I got in New Orleans when the two of us were on vacation there many years ago. (It had the gold rim, so it got the nod!) 

 Then this past September I was lucky enough to be honored by the State at a banquet for a teaching honor. At the banquet I was given several gifts and a certificate from the State of Oklahoma. The certificate was nondescript. It was just a run-of-the-mill certificate. (Plus I really never considered putting up a certificate about myself in our (not-really-formal) living room. But I really liked the folder the certificate came in. It was navy and gold and had the embossed seal. So I decided to use it! I got another old frame out and painted it black. I then used Rub and Buff on the inside edge to put some gold into it. I spray painted the green mat with a gold paint. The green and gold together makes it a more muted gold, which I was really happy about. 

 Then I just glued the folder (with the certificate still inside!) into the middle of the too-big mat. Once again I used white foam board behind the whole deal. You can see it a little around the edges of the folder. And once again, I thought I would leave that up until I came up with another picture to replace it. That was clear back in September and it still remains just like the day I nailed it up. 

 Only my mother has asked me about my unusual "picture" and of course she was as proud as could be when I told her what it really was. HA! (Notice the box and the clean laundry that needs to be taken upstairs in the reflection? Real life.) 

 We have noticed as we have (slowly) decorated this house that many of the things we decorate with, reflect our Oklahoma roots. It was unintentional, but must be (subliminally) because of living away from our state for so long. 

 Many of the rooms have Oklahoma items in them. Some times it might be pictures of the farm or the cattle, and sometimes it might be in a fabric that celebrates our Native American roots. So the fact that little collage ended up being an Oklahoma tribute is really not surprising. 

 What is surprising is how quickly it all came together once I saw and purchased the print. Soooo, because I shopped the house and used old frames (and did it elcheapo) the whole wall only cost me $20. Not bad. Not bad at all. 

 I really do intend to have the print framed professionally. And I really do intend to replace my certificate folder with some other Oklahoma picture or item. But until then, it stays as is. 

When I look at the two walls on each side of the front door, I like that they are both collage walls, but not the same. They both have gold, but in different ways. Alike, but different. By the way, I took the pics at dusk one day and I noticed in some the gold looked a little bright. It is not. All the gold is very similar in color and is an old muted gold. I have been looking for a similar table to go on the right side of the wall. If I find one it would be great. If I don't, I am fine with that too. Hey y'all, it's just evolving, a little at a time! 

Linking with:

Wow Us Wednesdays
Feathered Nest Friday
Funky Junk Interiors
Fabulously Creative Friday
Between Naps on the Porch
The Scoop