TELL CITY CHAIR FIND & ANNIVERSARY #41

SWEET TELL CITY ANDOVER CHAIRS

My sweet La Chaumière de Briarwood looks best when she is dressed for Autumn...  Just the style of our nearly 50 year old home ushers in a timeless look of simple beauty and charm.

Several years ago I found three antique/vintage Tell City Ladder Back Chairs at a local Oklahoma thrift store.  I desperately needed four and found another one up in Missouri (my late Momma and I made the four hour trip up north to get it and then back home again!)...  If I remember right I paid only $28.00 each for the first three...but then had to paid five times that for the fourth one.  Still a great deal as the chairs are now highly sought after and getting harder to find all the time!

Anything with the TELL CITY logo has gone up in price and I'm sure will continue to go up in years to come!

PAINTED BLACK

I love the way the chairs look in our breakfast room.  I painted them black and then heavily distressed them so the original maple stain color lightly shows through.

I've often wished I had two more chairs for extra seating...just haven't wanted to drop the cash!

Every once in a while I get online to just LOOK and SEE!  Incredibly I found another sweet chair like the four I already have on FB Marketplace (Oklahoma/local)!

Guess how much?

ORIGINAL MAPLE

The silly thing was only $20!

ORIGNAL AD ABOVE

The chair had been on Marketplace for 15 hours when I saw it...I couldn't believe it wasn't already SOLD!  I contacted the seller immediately and my Mr. AGPMan picked it up after work!

SCORE!

On a whim I decided to check eBay just to SEE if I could possibly find ONE MORE!

Well...I actually found TWO MORE...

But guess how much?

eBAY AD

A WHOPPING $600 for two...or $300 each!

I just very nearly GASPED out loud!

I knew the chairs were valuable...just not THAT valuable.  To be fair, I also found another one that was quite a bit less...but it had some damage to it!  They were all in Nebraska and even tho the hubby grew up there...we certainly weren't planning a trip north anytime soon.  Wouldn't have paid that much anyway!

I hope in the future to snag one more chair for an equally amazing price.

Sometimes great deals take patience!

A COUPLE YEARS AGO

Today is our 41st anniversary!  WHAT?

DINNER OUT LAST NIGHT

I can't believe it.  In case you forgot (or are new here OR haven't followed along in a bit...) Here is our wedding photo taken on September 8, 1978!

What's the secret to our success of living together and not killing each other for nearly 15,000 days?

(14,975 to be exact!)

Hmmmm...

MY BELOVED AND I

Love, Respect, Passion, Faith, Trust, Hope, Hard Work, Good Choices, Sound Financial Decisions, Great Kids, Fun, Date Night, Laughter, Good Health 

and

GOD!

Hope you are having an awesome Sunday.  After celebrating our marriage last night with a beautiful dinner out and breakfast this morning...we are doing some Fall planting and having homemade vegetable soup for a calm, quiet dinner.

Loving my simple life.

Love to you...

Rebecca

THINKIN' ABOUT HOME

GATHERINGS

For 27 years we have called our La Chaumière de Briarwood house, home.

REAL ESTATE PHOTO - 1992

She was a little over 20 years old back in July of 1992 when miraculously we scrapped together $3,500 for the down payment and our little family moved in. 

That seemed like a million dollars to us at the time.  Especially for a young couple with two little children.  We were just beginning to figure out if we spent more money than we earned we were destined for big trouble...

Over the years our home has changed a lot.  Back in 1992 the siding was still the original builder's grade color, a shade of dingy off white and it was desperately in need of a paint job.  Her shutters were brown.  Everything was faded, dusty and dirty and the exterior was in pretty bad shape.

Within a year we had changed the shutters and garage doors (ugh!) to a dark hunter green...a color popular in the early 90's.  We lived with that really bad choice until about 1999 (I have some close-up shots of the house at this time SOMEWHERE...would love it if they were lost forevahhhh!)...

SEPTEMBER 2007

In 1999 we finally resided the house and repainted her a light beige.  Her shutters were changed to a pale sage green and we purchased new front doors.  I love how our home looked at this time.  She still needed new garage doors, but with some strategic repairs they were kept fairly decent looking.

JULY 2019

Cheap paint is never a good option and we learned the hard way that if you don't buy quality paint you will pay a price for it.

The beige-siding-paint of ten to twenty years ago (we repainted once the same color!) had faded to a pale pinky-beige that reminded me of canned Rosarita Re-fried Beans.

Seriously.  Same color!

It was not pretty.  Trust me when I tell you it looks better in the photos than it was in person.

I hated it.

We also lost ALL of our euonymus plants that were in front of the left window to mites AND the large shrub/tree by the driveway as well.  After a complete infestation we removed them all...how the plants in the flowerbed where the bench is survived we don't know.  Probably just a different species...not sure.  We plan on replacing the pretty shrub by the driveway with something similiar...but I will never buy another euonymous plant again.  I'm tired of the struggle.

Anyway...

  SEPTEMBER 2019

Last summer we looked tirelessly for a new paint color for our home.  We drove around looking at so many houses in lots of different neighborhoods to just get an idea of what MIGHT look good with our brick color.  We did NOT want to go with another beige color!  But I did originally want to paint the house a soft, very light shade of maze (almost a cream-colored yellow).  Problem was...our neighbor's home next door is yellow.  Even though our shade would have been a lot different...it was just too much!  Two houses right next door to each other, both two-story, close in color, just seemed weird.

STILL LOVING OUR HOME

So...after much debate and a gathering of several test samples in an array of colors, we settled on this shade of paint from Sherwin Williams...

SVELTE SAGE  SW6164

The change has been overwhelming.

A HUGE DIFFERENCE!  The color isn't tooooo green-green...  Just a great shade that isn't too loud or harsh.  We both love it, but it is taking some time getting used to. I will like everything more when our shrubs and ornamental tree have been replaced.  Still looks kind of bare to me!

My Mr.AGPMan has done an amazing job doing the work himself.  Saved us about $10K-$12K.  Two-story houses are very expensive to paint and the quotes were staggering!!!  It's been very hot here in Oklahoma so he's had to wait for cooler temps to finish some of the trim work.  Totally understand why painters charge what they do!   

We love the new garage doors.  Hauling the old ones away brought us great JOY!  Fifty year old garage doors are heavy and are nothing like the new insulated doors you can buy today.

Fall will officially be here before long!  I celebrated my love for all things Autumn by reworking my wreath from last year and adding a bow of vintage black check gingham to the side.

In spite of the Oklahoma heat, a change of seasons is in the air and I love it...

Love to you~

Rebecca

~THOUGHTS ON A SUNDAY MORNING...Painting Our Upholstered Chairs~

CHAIR TO BE PAINTED

Our trusty A/C Unit bit the dust this weekend and even though it's never a good time to shuck out hard-earned money on something so expensive...we knew this day was coming.  My Mr. AGP Man was in the Air/Heat biz many years ago and knows the business very well...  He has babied the A/C along for a long, long time.  Yesterday we bid her good-bye and a brand new (hopefully more efficient!) until will soon take her place.  We've opted to have our very, very old furnace replaced as well (in 2020 it would have been 50 years old!).  While we wait for installation it's going to be insufferable around here.  We'll be sleeping at our daughter's because last night we were absolutely miserable...

AFTER ABOUT ONE COAT

Anyway...before all this happened with the A/C I had long before decided to take the plunge and CHALK PAINT my living room chairs (upholstered).  Yeah...I know!  SCARY!  I've had the chairs for 13 years and they were still in beautiful condition.  No rips, tears, sags, etc.  But...I had grown tired (very tired!) of the Savoy-style black and white print and had tossed about having them reupholstered for at least a couple of years.  The chairs are fabulous and except for the flounce (skirt) I still really love them.  So...after a ton of research and gobs of reading, I jumped right in!

I have two matching chairs and opted to do one at a time.  I had my guy haul them inside and put paint cloths down (I used old, but clean, moving blankets) to protect my floors.  Doing one at a time will better help me determine the final cost and just how much paint each chair needed to be completely done.

AFTER ABOUT THREE COATS

Here are some photos of where I am after three coats.  I'm certain they will need FIVE COATS of watered down chalk paint before they are ready to be lightly sanded and waxed.  My plan is to add a vintage French image to the top-back area.  Nothing big or floral...maybe an old ad or something like that.  We'll see.

 ORIGINAL SKIRT REMOVED

This is what the one chair I'm working on looks like after three coats.  Some places are still showing the Savoy print (flip side of cushion has yet to be done) and I suspect the chair will take at least another full day to dry before I can apply coat #4.

Opting to have the chair recovered ($400 quote on each one PLUS the fabric cost of $200 for each one!) made me sick.  I'd rather purchase new chairs.  So, opting to try the chalk paint was sort of a no-brainer for me!  I'll be out the cost of the paint if I absolutely hate the outcome...I figure it will take 1 1/2 quarts to do one chair.  About $50-$60.  

I'll also be out lots of labor.

LOTS OF LABOR.

The process is slow and slower.  But, I'd rather be out TIME vs. $$$$.

I'll share more pics later this week of how the chair came out!  OK?

Here's what I did!

I first cleaned the chair by giving it a thorough vacuum and then sprayed the entire thing with a good mist of water

Next I started with the paint.  I did NOT water it down.  I opted instead to dip my chalk brush (a must have!) into the paint and then the BRUSH TIP into a bowl of water.  The paint went on great and the first coat soaked right in.  That's what you want it to do.  You want the paint to penetrate the fabric vs. sitting on top of it. Lots of thin coats vs. thick ones!

I waited 24 hours between coats to give the paint a chance to dry.  The second coat covered a lot more of the Savoy print and the third even more.  Not all the coats are even so by the time I apply the fifth one I'm hoping I'll be done and the chair will be reading for a light sanding, wax and image transfer.

I used LOWE'S Valspar Chalky Paint in the colorway of Kid Glove only because I was too lazy to drive 15 miles away to buy Annie Sloan.  Kid Glove is a white color and I like it.  I've used it once before on a project and had good results (not a chair, but a dresser). It is $29, but it is three ounces short of a full quart.  So far I've used one container for the three coats!  I did a test run on a scrap of the Savoy fabric and I knew ahead of time it was going to take at least five coats.  Keep in my mind my chairs are good sized chairs.  Yours might take more or less.

I can't wait to show you the final reveal.  Hoping to have the one chair finished later this week.

~*~

Today I'm thanking God for two good hands, a good strong back, healing neck AND a house that right now feels super hot on the inside.  I'm trying my best to live my best life and be positive and grateful in all things.  I'm very aware some people do not have houses or even chairs to paint.

God is good.  

ALL THE TIME.

Blessings...

Rebecca

~THOUGHTS ON A SUNDAY MORNING...More Thankful Than Ever

My Mr. AGP Man and I had a wonderful day on Saturday.  Once a month we plan on a major garage sale, thrift store or estate sale jaunt around the Oklahoma City area and Saturday was such a day.  We got up early, forced down a bowl of shredded wheat (or a scrambled egg or two), made sure our Little-Miss-Mollie is safe and sound for a few hours and then we headed out the door.  We don't really have any specific route in which we travel.  Most times we wing it.  Just chase the TAG SALE SIGNS scattered along the way.  During the hot summer months they seem to be everywhere and I love that.

On this particular day our four-hour excursion away from our La Chaumière de Briarwood felt like a mini retreat in a way. We visited some sweet tag sales and lunched at a small diner before running into two longtime friends.  We chatted for a little bit, laughing how the years had flown by since we'd last seen one another.  I love old friends...the kind where you can just pick up a conversation that was left idle years before and continue on...

We wandered around one of the largest antique shoppes, but we each left with only a free donut in our hands.  Still fun.  Before heading home we stopped over at one of our gazillion thrift stores (Good Will) and found an amazing antique (Victorian Era) linen and lace skirt (petticoat) at for only $2.00.  It had originally been priced at $3.99, but all red tag items were half off making the already incredible find full of even more awesomeness!

I know my Mr. AGP Man must grow tired of hearing me squeal with delight when I discover a new, wonderful something-or-other.   But he never lets on.  I love that about him.  He's gentle, always kind and my biggest fan follower devotee.

We returned a few hours later with our SUV full of potential treasures.  I say POTENTIAL because I'm really never sure how something is going to turn out.  But I have faith in the process and learned a long time ago that in order to fill my creative heart to the brim and overflowing I must allow my finds to speak to me.  Sometimes the visions inside my head take longer to bloom than I would like for them to...but again...it's the practice I've grown accustomed to.

On Sunday afternoon I found myself leaning on the French-style door jamb my Mr. AGP Man installed several years ago, gazing out into his workshop (like I've done for man moons now), watching my guy move with ease inside the walls of his own personal work-haven. My heartstrings are tugged, I shake my head and only the single word, thankfulness, comes to mind.

And love.

I'm blessed to have a committed partner who has never left my side.  He's also my dearest friend.  The bonus is he loves to go junkin' with his wifey and that makes my heart sing.

Blessings~

Rebecca

~LOOKING AHEAD IN A NEW DIRECTION...~

I've always believed when one road ends, it's time to look ahead in a new direction.  As my hubby and I work on the last leg of our kitchen remodel, so comes the welcomed opportunity to return to creating, designing and decorating around the things I love.

Those things, too, have changed over the years.  Nothing truly stays the same for long, does it?

When I first started blogging it was all about my passion for painting cottage pink roses, my faith, selling my wares, the re-telling of precious tales about my Miss K (back in 2009 she was a wee girl of only seven), my Mr. AGPMan and the simple, sometimes complicated story of living our lives inside our La Chaumière de Briarwood...  Next month we will have called her home for 23 years~

As the years have pressed onward, so have we! Our lives are constantly evolving...new job in January 2014 for my hubby and with it came fresh opportunities to enjoy the things we've been blessed with.  I'm so grateful for a peaceful home, good friends and for over-the-top projects that are coming to an end.

Still...there are always things to do!  This morning as I surveyed my studio I realized she is in dire need of a facelift...  She needs to be de-floofed, cleaned up and returned to a more manageable space.  I continue to love all things vintage, I'm just working at achieving a bit more scaled back and refined look all across my home.  Our kitchen renovation has taken all of our focus for so long now and today I'm actually excited about paying some attention to the other rooms in our home...

This past weekend my Mr. AGPMan drove down to Dallas for the summer Wholesale Market.  Came back with wonderful ideas and tons of inspiration.  The talent behind the showrooms is simply incredible...  All the pictures I've shared with you (except the candles) are from one of my favorites...

Anyway...just wanted to say HELLO, catch you up on a few things and also say that LIFE IS STILL GOOD! 

Blessings and love to you...

An Old Plate Rack and Farmhouse Signs...~

We are counting the days down on our kitchen renovation and I am one happy girl!  Not to sound overly dramatic here (as if I could EVAH be THAT!), I'm tellin' you the truth when I say NEVAHHH EVAHHH again! Nope.  Nevahhhh.

Worked on this wall and my Mr. AGPMan finally got my plate rack hung.  I love this piece so much and have had it almost 20 years.  I snagged it at a Spiegel auction in Tennessee back in 1997.  I almost sold it a few times, but in the end I just could never let it go.  It fits perfectly on the wall beside the pantry and the entry into the kitchen.

Finished a bunch of Farmhouse style signs for my website and also the one you see above.  I decided to keep this one for myself!  Here are a few I uploaded today...

 

 I love the virtuous woman passage from Proverbs.  One of my favorite designs!

 

This Chocolat Lombart sign sold earlier today.  Simple and uncomplicated design transferred onto a vintage hand-cut arched sign.

This one was fun to do!  Lots of distressing and aged with a waxing cream!

Pushing towards our final reveal in August...that is IF our wood flooring comes in when it's supposed to and we can get it installed without any problem.  Since it was discontinued we had to hunt for a bit to track it down.  That means a better price, but we now have to find a reputable wood floor installer that we can trust...

Hope you are all well and had a wonderful day yesterday celebrating the men in  your lives!

Be back soon with more kitchen pics from our La Chaumière de Briarwood!

Love to you~

~DRESSED IN HER AUTUMN BEST~

~My La Chaumière de Briarwood - October 2014~

Fall is definitely in the air here in Oklahoma.  The leaves on the trees are changing color and there is a coolness to the morning that only comes once the summer sun melts into the horizon in the early evening hours.

I love Pumpkin Days.  They make my heart sing.

My favorite time of the year...

 ~La Chaumière de Briarwood - September 2007~

I finally got around to snapping a new picture of my  La Chaumière de Briarwood (at the top).  The fresh sod we laid late last year finally took hold about mid-May and it's grown lush and full.  The grass/sod you see in the 2007 photo died off when we removed three huge trees a couple of years ago.  Got tired of seeing only MUD so new sod was in order.   I changed our front door from white to a deep tan and next spring we plan on painting the outside siding in a complementary shade.  My flower boxes are empty because at almost fifteen years old they are literally rotting off the front of the house.  With our on-going kitchen remodel my Mr. AGPMan just hasn't had time to make new ones.  So...no pretty fleurs this year! (Drats)...

~La Chaumière de Briarwood - July 1992~

When we purchased our home twenty-two years ago it looked like the photo above.  I hated the two-toned garage doors and the light paint on the exterior.  The original door was in sad shape...overrun with wood ants and the pine tree (right) was ruining the foundation of the house.  The grass was pretty much non existent and what was there was mixed with a bunch of weeds.  Over the years we've done so much to transform the only home we've ever owned...  I love her more and more each year.

~My Mom's 80th Birthday Party~

Yesterday we celebrated my Mom's 80th birthday with a fun party full of family and friends...  I love this picture of us with the bright fresh sunflowers that graced the table~

Several of my vintage blue ball jars were used as vases and I love how they came out.  We went with a Fall theme for the party and everything looked very festive and fun!

Customized Favor Bags were handed out to guests.  They held pieces of our Mother's favorite See's Candy.  Bags were easy to make using a vintage image and a charming sunflower stamp.

Homemade fudge-filled chocolate cupcakes and homemade carrot cake cupcakes were topped with cream cheese icing.  Made 'cutting the cake' beyond simple and almost no mess!  

I'm getting ready to start my Christmas offerings for this year.  I can't believe the holidays are around the corner.  I'll be back later this week to share with you what's new...and old.

Blessings~

~HAPPY HARVEST DAYS...And So Much More~

 

HAPPY FALL, Peeps!

The official FIRST DAY of AUTUMN isn't until September 23rd, but who's counting, right?  I love the mild weather we've been having and so enjoy having cooler days.  I'm also eager to share new thoughts with you...that is, if any of my old readers are still around and care to tag along.

 

So many changes this year and many more to come.  

 

I still have my Booth at Serendipity Market (Edmond, OK) and loving it more than ever.

 

I still JUNK with a passion and suppose I always will.

 

And...when I FEEL like it, I add something new to my REBECCA VINTAGE - A Gathering Place website.

My home continues along a path of metamorphic change.

I'll be sharing more about it soon...especially our never-ending kitchen and downstairs renovation...

(Our Achilles Heel!)

The kitchen portion of it has been ongoing for way too long now and we are BEYOND sick of it.  We do have our new fridge, sink, window, faucet, etc.  All the plumbing, wiring is done (huge, huge job) and the walls are now textured and painted and doors trimmed out.

 

But, our cabinets came in and then were sent back because of damage, poor painting and glazing and missing parts.

(Silent Scream Goes Here!)

At this point we are moving towards Plan B on the cabinets.  We found a style we LOVE, but they are so OUT of our BUDGET (like THOUSANDS OVER!!!) that my hubby is going to custom make them.  Am I totally on board with this?  Ummm...NO!  He's already overworked (and underpaid!) and making custom cabinets will take months given his available time.  But, convincing a do-it-yourselfer to NOT do-it-himself will take a miracle.

The one thing he's opted NOT TO DO HIMESELF are the cabinets.  The company we chose dropped the ball (big time) and the quality was simply terrible.  They were expensive too...

(Totally bummed out!)

I'm sure my hubby's returning to school, his job loss in the middle of last year and the death of both of our fathers only eight weeks apart has played a huge part in the delay.  Not to mention landing a new job and getting settled into a new career... 

It's all been overwhelming.

My guy works a full time job and has done ALL the work alone.  That means only a couple of hours a night and Saturdays to work on everything...and little rest. :(

So...the beat (and work) goes on!!!  More pics to share with you soon!

For those of you who are wondering about my Miss K...  Well, she will be TWELVE in November and is no longer a wee little girl.  She'll pass me up in height this year (Boo!) and can no longer 'borrow' my cool shoes as her feet are bigger than mine.  I suspect she'll one day reach at least 5'8...she's going to be a tall girl.  She's grown up to be so precious~  Oh, and she LOVES her newly refashioned turquoise bedroom.

So, there you have it...where I am today.  Busy as ever and loving life so much.  I'm grateful for my health and so much more.

God is good.

All the time.

Blessings...