It's Not That Complicated!

It's pouring down rain outside, which makes it a great day to snuggle up in front of the fireplace with a comfy throw and watch a movie.  Since I'm at work, I guess that's not going to happen.  At least we can chat about movies!  I wanted to show some photos of homes that are from two of my favorite movies.  When I watch these movies, and yes, I have seen them so many times I could quote the lines from every actor of both movies, I catch myself looking in the background at all of the furniture, items on shelves, and things hanging on the walls.  Have you ever noticed "movie homes" and thought you could never have a home like that?  That is so not true.  I gain inspiration from those homes and search flea markets like Picker's Paradise Flea Market, and yard sales for pieces that are similar in style or feel.  I soooooo love the homes in the movies, "It's Complicated", with Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin and "Something's Gotta Give", starring Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson.  Check it out for yourself and see what I mean.

View 1- Kitchen

 

View 2 - Kitchen

 

 

 View 3 - Kitchen
Love the white(ish) dishware!

 

Living Room
I love the comfortable rustic feeling
this room gives.

 

 

 I couldn't post photos from this film without showing the incredible bakery that Meryl Streep owns in the movie!

 

 

Now - Something's Gotta Give 

 View 1 - Living Room

 

 

View 2 - Living Room

 

View 3 - Living Room 



 

View 1 - Dining Room

This room is what started my growing collection of aged, white plates and platters!

 

 View 2 - Dining Room

 

 

 

Master Bedroom

 

 

The next few photos I just ran across on the internet and they became my inspiration photos for my own living/dining room.

 

View 1 - Coastal Inspiration Room

I have to find a chandelier to paint this beautiful coral color!



 

View 2 - Coastal Inspiration Room

 

 

Ok - now for my living and dining space.  I am not a trained decorator, just a person who knows what she likes when she sees it.  I am very eclectic.  I love vintage, coastal, rustic, farmhouse and industrial and I love to travel.  I collect vintage cameras, alarm clocks, trophy cups, pyrex bowls, and hotel and restaurant tableware.  Therefore, my rooms are a combination of things I have collected on travels - such as sea shells, coral, and driftwood, vintage maps and numerous items scavenged from the corners and basements of flea markets across the south, as well as in Mexico.  These photos were taken with my camera phone so they are not of excellent quality.

 

Dining Area - Corner

 

 

View 1 - Living Room

 

View 2 - Living Room

 

Hopefully by now, you are feeling rich with creativity and inspiration or are thinking of that "movie home" that gives you that warm, cozy feeling.  Don't ever feel like you can't have that same feeling in your own home.  Now, crank up the dvd player, watch that movie, and then get out there and scour the flea markets, thrift stores and yard sales for those special pieces.  After all, HALF THE FUN IS IN THE FIND!  Til next time - see ya at Picker's Paradise Flea Market!



 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 







Very Distressing!

I love distressed furniture.  Actually, it doesn't even have to be furniture!  I like anything that has chippy, flaky, peeling, sanded, aged, or worn-looking paint and texture.  I have buying naturally distressed vintage furniture for years as well as distressing "less old" furniture to make it look like it came from an 1800's farmhouse in New England.  My heart skipped a beat after that vision!

Today's post includes a video of  #1 in a series of tutorials by Annie Sloan, who is known as the premier authority of distressing furniture with chalk paint and wax.  First I am posting photos that show various colors and styles of distressing, some through the beauty of natural aging, and some that are aged by human hands.  Either way, they are all gorgeous.

 

 

Hopefully you are now inspired and ready to attempt your own distressing technique.  Remember, it's just paint and if you don't like it - YOU CAN ALWAYS PAINT OVER IT!  Yay!  So, in a sense, it's failproof.   Watch the video below to see the tutorial by Annie Sloan.  If you still don't want to paint your own, come down to Picker's Paradise Flea Market and pick up a piece that has some age or has already been "pre-distressed". 

 

HAVE FUN AND BE CREATIVE!!!!!

 

 

 

Fun Storage Ideas

I have scrounged up (that's Southern for "gathered") some fun and very clever storage ideas!  Don't run to the store every time you need to contain your clutter, um, excuse me - your good stuff.  Go through your home and look at everyday items in a different way.  Ask yourself - what kind of container do I need; something tall, something to fit in a tight spot, something that hangs on the wall?  If nothing at home will suit your needs, scoot on over to Picker's Paradise Flea Market and see if we have something that will work.   I have posted the photos below to inspire your creativity and to help you see the unrecognized potential in these items you might ordinarily pass by.

 

 

 

 

The photo above was taken from the blog Just Something I Made, who has thoughtfully included the DIY instructions!  Hopefully now you are feeling creative and will begin on your own projects! I know we have TONS of vintage patterns for this project here at Picker's Paradise Flea Market.  Come by and say "Hey Ya'll!"

 

 

 

Junk Lighting Projects

After yesterday's sentimental post, I decided to make an effort to keep this post simple and fun.  I am in a phase where almost everything I see, my mind immediately turns it into a lighting project.  When I opened the shop this morning and started to walk the aisles here at Picker's Paradise Flea Market I saw a bundt pan and thought - "Hmmm, that would make an interesting pendant fixture"!  So . . . I have a compiled a few photos of very interesting fixture ideas. 

This photo is actually my kitchen.  When I found the three metal baskets at a flea market for $5 each there was a beam of light streaming from Heaven and a huge smile on my face!  Three pendant kits, some Edison bulbs, and an electrician later - instant character for my kitchen!  Don't you just love the vintage double desk I painted and repurposed into a kitchen island?  Oh well, that's a separate post on it's own!

The remainder of these photos are fun things I found while searching on my phone during commercials or otherwise boring tv shows.  Enjoy!

 

Fixture made from a recycled fan cover.

 

 

Kitchen utensil fixture

 

Fixture made from a bicycle wheel and jewelry chain.

This last photo is my absolute favorite!  I want to make one of these for my craft room.  It is made from bicycle chains.  I love the industrial look combined with the elegant design.

Check out our Pinterest boards which contain lots more DIY ideas and projects.  Until my next post . . . See ya at Picker's Paradise Flea Market

Small Junk, Big Memories

Why is it that when you lose a loved one, each piece of their so-called "junk" attaches itself to a memory of some kind?  I am a sentimental fool by nature so when I lost my Granny a couple of months ago, childhood memories began to flood back to my mind and my heart.  Things I hadn't thought about in years suddenly consumed my days and certainly the still of my evenings.

When walking through my home, it's easy to find these attachments in every room, every nook and cranny and inside the confines of closets.  It's easy for me to understand why some people love to meander through the aisles here at Picker's Paradise Flea Market picking up every little knick knack that they remember sitting on Grandma's coffee table.

When my Papaw passed away in 1994, I gained a sudden affection for a pair of his pinstriped carpenter overalls.  I don't have a photo of them but I do have a pair tucked inside a storage tote at the house.  I do however have his shaving cup and brush and a carpenter pencil sitting on a shelf in my craft room. 

My other Pap has since then passed as well and I got a small sampling of things inside a cookie tin.  Inside this tin were his sister's (my aunt's) workforce labor form, some old marbles, and a pair of old, rusty scissors that I am to assume belonged to my Pap during his school years. 

These are my great grandfather's pipes and pipe stand and yes - I have Prince Albert in a can and I know I need to let him out.  For the younger generation that do not understand that statement, it was customary for foolish boys to make prank phone calls by asking if "you have Prince Albert in a can" and when the person on the phone said "yes", the boys would say "well, you better let him out"!  Ashamedly, one of those foolish boys was my husband.

I come from a family that loved music.  Guitars, mandolins, and other instruments were played on a weekly basis at an open air amphitheater in our small town.  My Granny wrote songs constantly and had connections to some famous people and even wrote a song for a country singer named Gene Watson that became a number one hit.  I found a couple of old autographed photos and a letter while going through some memorabilia at my parents' house a few weeks ago.

 

The following photo shows the intensity of my Pap's love for music.  I remember him sitting on the edge of his bed, wearing his red and black checked flannel shirt listening to song after song of bluegrass and country music. 

 



Make sure you love your loved ones while you have the chance.  I am so thankful that I can look at a shave mug, a set of pipes, or some old autographed photos and remember so many wonderful times.  I think the thing that touched me most while digging through the envelopes of photos and unpublished pages of song lyrics was a card that I had given my Granny several years ago that said "I love you Gran" at the bottom and she had written in "We love you too".  So, here's to you Granny . . . 

 

 

Helen Imogene Warren

1931 - 2013









Junk Food for Gluttons

A Junky Mama in a Picker's Paradise.  That's me.  I love sifting through boxes and bins of everything from cabinet hardware to vintage brooches.  So . . . after almost 7 years in the photography world I was given the opportunity to move to a world of wood, rust, paint, and more.  After thinking about it (for one long second), I realized - I would get to create Pinterest boards, Facebook posts, vignettes of fabulous objects and topics of conversation with folks from far and wide.  Those that know me, will agree that I am the queen of conversation.  I never meet a stranger and love to hear stories of "when I was little", and "my grandpa used to . . . ".  So, here I am spending my weekdays as a manager at a local flea market in central Arkansas.

Though the term is still relatively new, I have been "repurposing" old and new items into something to suit my ever-changing whims for decades.  I can't hardly fathom the idea of running to The Container Store or Wal-Mart for an organizer or hanging thingy for items in my craft room.  What's the fun in that?  Not to mention - it looks just like the one Mrs. Neighbor or Miss Co-Worker might have.  No, I will take the rusty, broken thing in the corner of the clearance booth and it will work just fine once it has received a good dose of "creative eyeballing".

Although I have been junkin' and repurposing for years, I am new to the art of blogging.  I wanted to post some photographs that reflect my style and a couple of the pieces I love.  The photos show my craft room, which actually looks totally different at this very moment.  The first photo reflects my favorite piece of furniture - the orange kitchen cabinet, which contains the original dough board.  I found this piece in the lower level of one of my favorite places.  Forever Antiques, in Farmington, MO.  I had to make a special trip back to pick it up.  Every time I walk past that piece it makes me smile.

 

As I mentioned earlier, my craft room has changed - already.  The orange piece is now in my kitchen and the cubby-filled wooden piece in the photo below is now on top of the orange piece and holds my collection of brightly colored vintage Pyrex bowls and casserole dishes. 

 

 

My love of junk, bargains, flea market finds, vintage items, or whatever term you choose to use, has grown deep and wide over the years.  So, I guess a flea market is the best place for me to love what I do, and do what I love.  So until my next post - see ya at Picker's Paradise Flea Market.