Occasionallly

When I need inspiration and when the funds allow, I try to go to my favorite antique/thrift shop and piddle for an hour, or as much time as the kids can handle. Yesterday I took the girls who tend to be more patient shoppers than the boy. I was really looking for old buttons and creative ways to display my items at the market. I came up empty on those but found the cute cabinet above which is a useful way to contain Kevin's massive pile of hats and it matches the old hand-me-down crocheted rug from one of the kids preschool teachers. They sit in the mudroom/enclosed back porch.

I also found these fun hooks and a black Windsor-like chair to go in the dining room.


I really like the fact that our house is old and informal, that I can find singular and often colorful pieces that fit right in with the mostly hand-me-down furniture. Some of my favorite things have come from my mother-in-law who has given us an old farm kitchen table that I use as a sideboard in the dining room, an old Victorian radio cabinet that had a top added to it and was used as Kevin's baby changing table, and the changing table for our three as well. She also gave us a very old treadle sewing machine that Kevin's great-grandma used, some old mission furninture and now that I think of it, so many other things.

Unfortunately, the trip also started me thinking about how I could possibly find a way to create a more suitable studio/table space in the house. I really need to be able to put the computer on a table, rather than my lap or the floor, and I'm hoping the same table could be a place for paperwork and jewelry making as I do these on the floor as well. An addition is not in the cards and so I'll have to get creative and find a corner to steal away as my own, preferably not in our bedroom where my stuff is currently spilling out all over.

On the flip side, an added perk from such a trip is usually some inspiration for new things. Here are some new bracelet styles for the market Saturday. I'm not sure if I can part with the greenish one, or maybe I just need to make another.