Think owning an Antiques Shop in the Countryside is Easy??? Think again!

Primitives...I love them. Sometimes I love them so much that I can't bring myself to sell a wonderful piece that I've bought at an auction or from someone. I can't tell you how many times that has happened!

My dear hubby Charlie and I spent an good 4 months adding a tea room to our shop. The Pumpkin Seed Tea Room can seat 12 folks. 6 upstairs and 6 downstairs. I love the upstairs view of my shop below. There is a railing upstairs that allows for a full open view of the shop below. All of the tables are cherry stained squares of wood bolted onto old treadle sewing machine bases. The hanging lights over each table is from Lowes. They're silver heat lamps that you use to heat baby chicks or keep water pipes from freezing over. I just put in a 11 or 12 watt clear bulb. No heat, just a soft glow that's directed onto the cherry wood top. I bought silver galvanized rippled tin to hang around the room as a chair rail/wainscotting. Easy to wipe off!

We also added a customer restroom. I LOVE this addition more than anything! Whenever I had to (you know) I always had to sprint...no, make that more...like a locked knees gait...to our house to use the facilities. It's so cute. I found this really darlin' washstand with a drawer and 2 doors, to use as the sink cabinet. I'd had for years, a sweet little cast iron and white porcelain sink with tall back splash. I simply cut a hole in the top of the washstand, fixed the drawer so it wouldn't be able to open, popped the sink with pipes into it and presto...a primitive looking sweet old fashioned sink.

Now we're going to get to work on the old greenhouse that opens into my shop thru old glass paned doors that I bought for $10!!! I found 2 wrought iron table and chair sets to go inside the greenhouse for folks to eat at during cooler months. It gets soooo hot during summer. Charlie built the greenhouse the same time that he built my shop inside one side of his hay barn. He did this for me in 2001 after my 1st breast cancer surgery and chemo/radiation. I would sit on a flipped over bucket and s l o w l y paint each square on my newly poured/cured cement floor. Pumpkin Spice and Earth Brown are the colors on my checked floor. I plan on painting the greenhouse's cement floor the same colors.

Ta-Da! My First Blog!

I'm finally dragging myself into the world of computers. Oh, I know how to mindlessly search the internet for silly little things such as recipes, fall decorating, how to host a easy Halloween. (Is hosting any Halloween party, easy? I think not.) But I've always wanted to rant along with the rest of the bloggers I've chanced to read. Well, not rant exactly. But express myself.
So later, I'll try to have one of my sons help me with adding pictures to go with the words.
Don't know about the rest of you, but I'm literally panting for fall weather. I LOVE Fall! I love the smell of leaves burning, the sounds of neighbor children getting on that wonderful big yellow school bus, crows cawing in the depleted corn fields. I have a secret spot in the woods behind our house that produces an abundance of bittersweet. I gather it up every year and twist and bend it into garlands or bunches to hang from my mantel or our ceiling beams. Its fragrance is like a sweet, yet woodsy smell. It's the best air freshener that I've been able to get ahold of. Although, I do like throwing in a handful of cinnamon into a boiling pot of water for a couple of hours. Ah, bliss!