Vintage Market Filled Weekend

There were three vintage markets this past weekend that I wanted to hit.  I was only able to attend two of them, which isn't too bad, actually.  The three markets were: Hawthorne Hill Farm ("Farmhouse Chic" theme sounds right up my alley, doesn't it?), Na-Da Farm and the Elkhorn Antique Flea Market (the first of the 2012 season).

Not only was the weather sunny and warm, but my sister-in-law joined me for Na-Da on Saturday (which was their second day), so I had the perfect company to boot.  I was excited for this sale because I'd heard about it for over a year, and there were some well known vendors there I couldn't wait to meet!

Here are photos from our Saturday morning spent at Na-Da Farm:

Na-Da Farm by The Ironstone Nest

Na-Da Farm by The Ironstone Nest

Na-Da Farm by The Ironstone Nest

Jen's Junk Trunk by The Ironstone Nest

Jen's Junk Trunk by The Ironstone Nest

Jen's Junk Trunk by The Ironstone Nest

Fabby Chic by The Ironstone Nest

Hundt No More by The Ironstone Nest

There was definitely something for everyone at this sale!

Hundt No More by The Ironstone Nest

You can see the barn vendors buzzing around, putting the final touches on their displays

before the gates opened:

Na-Da Farm by The Ironstone Nest

Na-Da Farm by The Ironstone Nest

Na-Da Farm by The Ironstone Nest

Anne Marie of Na-Da Farm puts together some drool-worthy displays!  I felt like I was walking into a magazine shoot.

Na-Da Farm Bakery by The Ironstone Nest

Na-Da Farm by The Ironstone Nest

Na-Da Farm by The Ironstone Nest

The last 7 photos are photos of an area in the barn that was shared by some of my favorite people:  Tattered Tiques, Maple & Magnolia, Urban Farmgirl and A Sort of Fairytale.  These wonderful women are talented, kind, generous and all around fabulous.  Seriously.

Tattered Tiques, Maple & Magnolia, Urban Farmgirl & A Sort of Fairytale by The Ironstone Nest

Tattered Tiques, Maple & Magnolia, Urban Farmgirl & A Sort of Fairytale by The Ironstone Nest 

Tattered Tiques, Maple & Magnolia, Urban Farmgirl & A Sort of Fairytale by The Ironstone Nest 

Tattered Tiques, Maple & Magnolia, Urban Farmgirl & A Sort of Fairytale by The Ironstone Nest 

My sister-in-law couldn't get me out of their area.  I think I spent almost 45 minute combing over every inch, making sure I saw everything.  I was so bummed I wasn't able to make it on Friday.  I can only imagine the items I missed out on.

Tattered Tiques, Maple & Magnolia, Urban Farmgirl & A Sort of Fairytale by The Ironstone Nest 

Tattered Tiques, Maple & Magnolia, Urban Farmgirl & A Sort of Fairytale by The Ironstone Nest 

Then on Sunday morning, I got up before everyone else in the house and made my way to Elkhorn.  I knew it would be the last open air market I'd be able to attend for a while, so I talked myself into making the trip.  I was really glad I did.  Walking around in the warm morning sun for a couple of hours by myself gazing at all of the vintage goodies was just what this baby mama needed.  It was lovely.

I also got the chance to see some of my favorite vendors on Sunday, as well, like Jan from Gracie's Cottage, Apron Strings with Mom and Me, and Diane Passi.  I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Jan's stories about her trip to the week-long Brimfield Antique Show.  Someday I'll go.  I swear it!

Here's a little peek at some of the things I saw on Sunday at Elkhorn:

Kathy's Blooming Creations by The Ironstone Nest

MINI GARDENS!!!!!!!  Love!

Kathy's Blooming Creations by The Ironstone Nest

Kathy's Blooming Creations by The Ironstone Nest

Room 363 by The Ironstone Nest

I loved this cross.  Super creative.  I think I need to make one now.

I've been attracted to old wooden tool boxes for quite some time.  I'm drawn to them.

I don't own one yet, but I will when I find the perfect one.

And I'm completely kicking myself for not buying the off white wooden cubby in the photo below.  The vendors at this booth were too busy with "big sales" that I could not get their attention and I was impatient.  I had been walking around for 2 1/2 hours.  I was hot.  I was ready to leave.  Did I mention that I'm 9 months pregnant?  But I should have stuck around to buy it.  Bummer.

I could shop flea markets and barn sales every weekend and never tire of it.  Who's with me on that?

Thank you for reading!

XOXO
Laura

Farmhouse Chairs

It's been really nice not having to gear up for a sale this season.  It frees me up to catch up on projects I've been dying to do around our Nest.  I was originally set up to do the barn sale again this Spring, but I decided against it.  I think I'll wait until the Fall at this point to think about a sale.  In the meantime, it's project crunch time at our house!

Since we made our Farmhouse Table to seat 8 instead of the 6 that we used to seat, I've been dying to add 2 more chairs to the mix.  I wanted something different than 2 more ladderback chairs, just to change it up a bit.  I was originally thinking something along these lines:

Source: Compare Store Prices

But we had just reorganized and cleaned out our garage and I remembered that I had 4 vintage wood chairs out in the garage that I purchased from a retired antique dealer for $40 (for all 4).  I was saving them to refurbish them to sell at a show, but I thought why not use them for ourselves?  They're just sitting out there begging to be used, not to mention taking up valuable real estate in our already cramped garage.  Please don't call the show "Hoarders" on me!

So I decided to redo all 4 chairs to add to our table.  This meant doing away with the 2 ladderback captain's chairs we had, which was fine because the rush seat was coming undone on both of them and we'd already glued them a few times.  

So here is how the chairs looked once we pulled them from the dungeon garage:

We pulled the seats off and I got to painting them right away with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Pure White.  I then distressed them with a sanding block, per my usual practice, and decided to use water based poly on them instead of wax this time.  Big mistake!  The poly drew out the old wood stain at certain points on the chairs.  Yikes!

If this happens to you, don't panic.  Well, I mean, you can panic because it means you have to do another step at a time when you were just about to cross it off your "to do" list, but it can be fixed.  This has happened to me before.  All you have to do is get out your paint and brush again and dry brush on some more of your original paint where you think you need it.  If you're not sure what "dry brushing" is, Shaunna from Perfectly Imperfect has done a video tutorial for you, which you can watch here.  It's a very simple technique.

And here's how the chairs look now:

I covered all of the seats with new low loft batting and an old Bemis seamless grain sack (I washed the sack before cutting it up and once the seats were done I protected them with Scotch-Gard Fabric & Upholstery Spray).  I had just enough of the sack for all 4 seats.  I love it when that happens!

And to dress up the chairs a little, I ordered custom number decals from Leen the Graphics Queen to apply to the backs of the chairs.  She's my go-to gal for decals.  She's sweet, fast, and understands exactly what you want.

All of the numbers on the chairs mean something to us (no, they're not birthdays) so they make these chairs really extra special.

Now that we can seat 8 (woo hoo!), you're all invited to come over for dinner.  Well, 7 of you at a time, that is.  I mean, I'd like to sit with you too, you know?

My goal is to do a full dining room/kitchen reveal in the next week or two.  I'm currently making cafe curtains for the windows in the dining room and kitchen, so as soon as they're finished, I'll be sharing the full makeover with you!

Thanks for reading!


XOXO
Laura


Linking to:

The Shabby Nest
Liz Marie Blog
Be Different Act Normal
Funky Junk Interiors
Coastal Charm
Under the Table and Dreaming
Vintage Wanna Bee
Primitive and Proper
Not Just a Housewife

Chicken Crate Coffee Table

Having been inspired by the fabulous duo Kevin and Layla Palmer of The Lettered Cottage and the amazing porch transformation they did for Kevin's parents, which included a chicken crate, I set out to try to find one for our patio.  But every time I came across a chicken crate at a flea market or antique store, their price tag was more than I was willing to pay (most of them start at $50 and can go up to $140).  It's been on my shopping list for over a year now and I came across another one a few weeks ago and expected to be disappointed yet again when I looked at the price tag.  But I wasn't!  It was $25 and in really great shape, so I bought it without hesitation.

After a good cleaning with bleach and water (yuck - there were still a few feathers on it), an installation of casters (I found a set of 4 for $25 at the Kane County Flea Market), and a few coats of Thompson's Water Seal, it was ready to set out on our patio:

Here's a close up of the casters underneath:

And this was a delicious little snack we had for Mother's Day - lemonade and lemon tarts topped with strawberries served on the tray I redid last Easter:

Yesterday, I finally got around to planting outside.  I placed six 4" terra cotta pots (painted in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Old White and sanded until almost all of the paint was gone) planted with corsican mint, and citronella candles inside this fantastic galvanized tool tote I purchased from Diane Passi a couple of months ago.

Pay no attention to the patio that is in obvious need of repair.  Just pretend you don't see it, Mkay?  Okay.

I think the color combination of the crate, the tote and the mint goes nicely with our pallet sofa.

Oh man, were we excited to bring the sofa out this year and put it to good use!

Our new chicken crate coffee table is a perfect compliment to the sofa and a nice addition to our patio.  I'm so glad I held out until I found one at a reasonable price!

Thank you for reading!
XOXO
Laura

P.S. You're awesome!  Thank you for following along!

P.S.S. Please don't forget to "like" The Ironstone Nest on Facebook.  I post things on there that I don't share here and I wouldn't want you to miss something.

P.S.S.S.  The Ironstone Nest is now on Twitter.  I haven't said much yet.  But I might.  You never know.  And I've heard it's pretty cool when people follow you and "re-Tweet" your Tweet.  It's whole new language, that Twitter.

Linking to:

Chic on a Shoestring
The Creative Paige
The Shabby Nest
My Romantic Home
At the Picket Fence
The 36th Avenue
Be Different Act Normal
Funky Junk Interiors
Coastal Charm
Under the Table and Dreaming
Vintage Wanna Bee
Primitive and Proper
Not Just a Housewife

Buyer's Remorse

If you follow The Ironstone Nest on Facebook, then you know that I frequently post links to items I find that I admire.  Back in early April I shared a link to these beautiful distressed, pair of wood angel wings that I found at Decor Steals, and they are now hanging on the wall in our living room:

And they are HUGE and heavy.  They are 40" long, made of wood and covered in tin "feathers".

After initially hanging them, I decided they looked a little odd just sitting there all by themselves, so I was going to take them down and move them to another location.  But before I took them down, I held up a print that used to hang in my Nana's bedroom, thinking I would hang her print there instead.

I thought "hmm, they actually look nice together".  So I put on a coat of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Old White over the frame, we put a nail in between the wings and hung the picture smack dab in the center of the wings.

But after all that, I've decided the wings are definitely beautiful and would look excellent in the right room/setting, but not in our room.  In fact, it doesn't really match my personal taste at all.  (shrug shoulders)  Again, I can appreciate them, but they don't belong in our nest.

So back in the box they go.  Darnit all!  I hate when that happens.

Have you purchased anything lately that you later regretted bringing home?  If so, what was it?  I'd love to hear about it.

Thank you for reading!

XOXO

Laura