Cleaning antiques one way or another

I picked these flags up at an auction the other evening. They are very fragile........ so why are they spread out on my deck? They smell! VERY musty. I wouldn't normally recommend cleaning something like this, but these need air. And rain. And sunshine. I'm letting nature take it's course, and we'll see what happens!

Some of the antiques we buy are beyond "normal" cleaning techniques.

• Never use water on wood.
• Never use a water hose on wood furniture.
• Never lay fragile flags on a deck to get rained on.
• And sunned on.

(I am aware that "sunned" isn't a word. Work with me)

But some of the antiques we buy are beyond "normal" cleaning techniques.

(I am aware I'm repeating myself. Work with me)

Sometimes we use whatever technique will work. It's that, or throw the nasty, dirty, smelly "yuk, no one wants to touch that" item away.

Please don't judge us.

Country Life = West Virginia's Birthday

Yesterday was a big day here in West Virginia. It was our birthday. Not just any birthday either. Our 150th!

There will be celebrations all weekend, but the one that got the most attention around here was in Wheeling yesterday. Wheeling is the birthplace of West Virginia, and they pulled out all the stops to celebrate.

George went to Independence Hall at noon for some of the events. I was working then, and couldn't go with him. In the evening, Kevin and I went to Heritage Port on the bank of the Ohio River for a concert and fireworks. George couldn't go that because by evening, he was at work.

 

I realize you can't tell who is singing, so I'll tell you. That is the very talented Kathy Mattea, who hails from West Virginia. Before her, we enjoyed another big West Virginia talent,  Landau Eugene Murphy Jr., who won America's Got Talent a couple years ago. We really enjoyed the concert. And check out that cool curtain backdrop. Love it!

We West Virginian's are very proud of our state, and our heritage. Every WV student has a year of WV history in 8th grade, and our history is drilled in. We carry that with us the rest of our lives.

Facebook was alive with that pride yesterday. It did my heart good to see all the WV pride shining bright. My favorite two posts were from my own children....

From Jessica, who currently lives in VA.: 

There's a land of rolling mountains, where the sky is blue above. And though I may roam, I hurry home to those friendly hills I love.
Happy Birthday, West Virginia! 150 years young.

And from Kevin:

Proud to be a native son of the Mountain State on this historic day, 150 years strong. Montani Semper Liberi!

Kevin also wrote this on his facebook farm page:

 

Farming is hard anywhere, but especially so in West Virginia. We have hillsides so steep our legs are shorter on one side, blazing hot summers so humid you could wring the air, and winters so cold Jack Frost moves south. It can be a challenge, but on this historic day 150 years into statehood we would like to say Happy West Virginia Day! We are beyond blessed to achieve our lifelong dream of farming and to do it in the majestic, wild, and wonderful hills of West Virginia. Thank you everyone for supporting us!

Love my kids! Love my state!

Montani Semper Liberi!

Mountaineers are Always Free! 

A door no more - is that a sign?

When we replaced an old door, we kept it, and cut it up into 4 panels. The door was green on one side, and white on the other. I kept those colors, and then turned them into signs.

First the green side:

 

And then the white side:

 

 

 

 

 

That was all of that door, but I've got more door panels to work with.

Hmmm........



Long views of the shop

 

It's been awhile since I took "long view" pictures of the shop.

 

 

I tend to focus in on particular items, so I decided to stretch out a bit.

 

 

I didn't get it all, that's not an easy task!

 

 

But, I tried to get enough shots to get an overall feel for the shop.

 

 

These were all taken a few days ago, and things have changed already.

 

 

New treasures come in pretty much daily.

And, I'm happy to say, things go out daily as well.

 

I'll try to get more "long views" to show other areas from time to time.

 

We're constantly changing it up so to speak.

Rearranging is just part of the game.

 

The heavy part.

 

Thank goodness for those little plastic sliders

that make moving furniture on carpet a piece of cake!

 

So to speak.

A table with a unique feature

This table from a recent auction seems ordinary enough.........

But it has a unique feature...............

It rotates! It will turn all the way around.

Not sure why though. Our guess is for playing cards or some other game. But that may not be right because it's more end table size than card table size.

The legs were pretty distressed looking, but I liked that. I just cleaned them and put a wax sealer over the old varnish. The top was more scratched up than distressed, which made it rather ugly. A coat of black paint, some sandpaper and more wax solved that problem.

What do you think it was used for originally? Why the rotating top?