A Monumental Weekend
Have you ever had one of those weekends where each day is jammed packet with activity from start to finish?
This past weekend was like that. In 3 days (Friday counts), I met Tricia of The Purple Painted Lady, helped Marian of Miss Mustard Seed do a milk paint demo, and moved in to my first retail space at the Morgantown Market.
I know, right?!
So let's take each of these monumental events one at a time. (Actually, let's take the first two together because they all happened in conjunction with one another.)
A few weeks ago, Marian asked me if I would accompany her to Rochester, New York to help with a milk paint demonstration. I texted back about 30 heart faced emoji's to which she replied, "I'm assuming that's a yes?"
I was just about over the moon for the opportunity to work alongside of Marian for a day. She's a wealth of information and if you've ever had the pleasure to meet her, you know she's very easy to talk to. What I didn't realize was that the demo was for The Purple Painted Lady's Barn Sale Junk Jubilee. So, not only was I going to be helping Miss Mustard Seed herself, I was going to meet The Purple Painted Lady in the flesh.
Be still my little painted furniture heart!
Tricia's turf in upstate New York is absolutely beautiful. I felt like I was in Colorado on the drive up and we weren't too far from the Canadian border. Marian and I talked about starting our businesses, how we met our husbands, how we came to know the Lord, and the furniture field in general. I think I've built Marian up in my mind as a bit of a "celebrity" but at the end of the day, she's just a regular person like me. Now don't get me wrong, she's a very successful person who has built a fabulous brand that I have come to love and admire. But yeah...still a person.
We hit an antique store on the way (surprise, surprise) and I got some shopping tips. Marian helped me spot some ironstone pieces and she found a few goodies for her stash. I even found a cowbell!
Once we got set up at the Barn Sale, we milled around and hit a few other antique stands before the scheduled demo. I picked up some soft linen fabric remnants and have big plans to transform them into napkins or a table runner. I even found some ironstone cups which are perfect for mixing milk paint. They will make for pretty photos.
We got a chance to talk with Tricia and she couldn't have been nicer or more personable. She was making her way around the Barn Sale to make sure everyone had what they needed. Her property is absolutely gorgeous and it was incredibly generous of her to share her little slice of New York with her local community. (I met some Annie Sloan stockists from Texas and St. Louis as well, so there was quite a diverse crowd!)
Tricia's husband was also on hand and you could tell he was so proud of what his wife has accomplished with her business.
Once Marian began her demo's, there wasn't much for me to do. She knew exactly what she wanted to say and how long to talk. (After all, she has done a demo or two!) I just stayed out of the way and made sure that she had what she needed so she didn't need to think about anything else but milk paint.
Tricia and her wonderful staff made sure everything was ready to go including milk paint,
water, brushes
and a sweet banner.
After each demo, some folks stayed to chat with Marian about her business and I even received questions about milk paint in general. A chance to talk about milk paint? Yes please!
Marian signed books,
folks browsed the look books,
and I fell more in love with Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint...if that's possible.
After a long drive home, I took Sunday morning to myself and organized my life. Part of that involved finishing tagging the treasures I found with Marian and putting them in to my inventory. Then, my wonderful husband and I moved some of my pieces into my new booth at the Morgantown Market.
I can't tell you how fulfilling it is to have a space all to myself to decorate and fill with things I love and have painted. Every dealer I meet shares how much they love it there and how helpful Morgantown Market's owner, Stacy, is.
So here's my own little corner of the retail world. It's not very big, but I love it.
Let's take a tour, shall we?
This pine cabinet was redone in Chateau Grey Chalk Paint® by Annie Sloan. I finished it off with a Dark Soft Wax glaze and kept the original hardware.
To stage, I selected a few treasures.
Some chunky wooden candlesticks, an ironstone piece, a black metal bell,
an alabaster lamp and a wooden chicken,
and some letters spelling "H-O-M-E".
To top it all off, I used an old window sash and my cotton wreath to bring it all together.
Next to this piece, I have my Timbali display.
These beautiful pieces are sewn by women from Swaziland. The women who create Timbali Crafts are all volunteer cooks at community-based feeding centers (called Care Points ) throughout Swaziland. In case you have never heard of Swaziland, it's a small country within South Africa. It has the highest HIV/AIDS rate and lowest life expectancy in the world. In spite of their own personal hardships, the Timbali women help to feed more than 2500 children each day.
The money that the Timbali women make from sewing these beautiful creations goes a long way. In a country where 2/3 of the population lives on less a dollar a day, the amount the Timbali women earn per item is equal to a full day's wage for many jobs in Swaziland.
My church, Calvary Chapel Chester Springs, has adopted one of the Timbali care points and it's my absolute pleasure to help support them by carrying pillows, table runners, placemats, and bags of all sizes.
My Tricycle dresser that was featured on the Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint blog is sporting the table runners and placemats along with some boxwood wreaths and wooden spools.
I think that boxwoods are the prettiest color of green, don't you?
There are other treasures as well like this antique hand mirror and a 1940's copy of Wuthering Heights. (Where are my Bronte fans at?)
There are pops of fall too, like bunches of wheat inside of brown glass bottles.
And some pretty glass lanterns.
I also stenciled this banner.
This Edison record cabinet was a fun piece to work on. I'll do a separate post about it, but for my booth, I've staged it as a drink station.
Can't you picture storing your teas and coffees underneath and having a tray of cups on the top with a kettle or pitcher?
The ironstone pitcher and butter pats are courtesy of my shopping trip with Marian. The pewter tray fit perfectly inside, which I was super happy about.
And there you have it everyone. Come visit my space at the Morgantown Market to see my treasures in person. They're located at 2940 Main Street in Morgantown, PA 19543. I hope to have more exciting news to share with you soon, but for now, there's plenty on my plate and I'm so thankful.
