Damask Towels for Kitchen and Bath

Okay we brought to everyone mind these great little inventions from the past, things that we grew up with and took for granted. Now that we are “Big Girls” with homes of our own, we realize that Mom had some great ideas, why did we not follow her example? She was saving and Going Green with these 4 handy items long before it was fashionable. Okay you see now the usefulness of them but where do you find them? The big stores aren’t going to have them, certainly not a selection of any of them or the durable fabrics, the pretty details and best of all, made in the USA. Well here is the fun part. Visit your nearest antique and collectibles shop, find a dealer who specializes in vintage linens. They are not expensive, easy to find and fun to collect. One of my shops is just filled with linens from yesterday, I stock racks full of dresser scarves, tablecloths, shelves full of towels, baskets with hundreds of doilies. I am a “Linen Lady”. Completely hooked and in love wih the handwork of my mother’s and grandmother’s generations. I rescue, wash, iron , stitch and put up for adoption these little works of textile art. Damaged pieces are redesigned, maybe cut up made into new things, trims saved, pretty pieces framed as wall art but never ever thrown away till all uses are exhausted. Even worn-out old linen has a new life as the softest gentlest dustcloths ever. Handcrafted items are a direct link to the person whose hands toiled for hours creating these pieces made with love for her special family. Maybe you will want to try your hand at creating your future family heirlooms. What granddaughter wouldn’t love having her Gram’s apron?

Redesign Redecorate

The Ultimate Recycling……….
Making do or making “new” with what you have. An idea that has lasted down thru the generations. When I go shopping for home furnishings I am sorely disappointed with the quality and workmanship of what is available in the market place today. This new items will never be the antiques of tommorow. They seem to have a built-in short life time, not having the wearability or lasting quality of furnishings made in the previous centuries. The craftmanship, the details, the materials are all sorely lacking. Try to find a bookcase made of solid wood, ones that won’t warp over time with the weight of your favorite books, try to find one that has an actual wood back, almost impossible. Sorry, I don’t get the warm fuzzy feeling polishing a particle board or pressed wood piece of furniture. Look at the drawers, how they are constructed, will they last through 100’s of openings and closings? How about the hardware, which is the jewelry that highlights the style of the furniture, is it a fine brass or a horrible imitation? Buying new furniture is a very expensive purchase and should last. What special memory laden piece will your children or grandchildren be inheriting from you, to enjoy and think of all the special memories associated with that piece of furniture and you? Not much of our modern day belongings will ever make it to the next generation. Make in America? Sadly that is more and more impossible to find.

So here is my solution, it is called rescuing, redesigning and repurposing. Beautiful solid wood furniture, artfully designed and crafted accessories, all things which were designed and crafted with quality materials and creative workmanship, where special details mattered, the likes of which can’t be purchased today, need to be rescued. “They just don’t make them like that anymore” how many times have we heard that phrase and how true it is. Antique furniture and accessories which have “good bones” can be restored, redesigned and repurposed to live for another generation. Think of what a decorating impact a couple of special pieces can do for a room. Think of a beautiful sturdy walnut eastlake dresser , repurposed to hold a bathroom sink, it’s new life as a striking vanity. Or it could be reincarnated as a kitchen island with doors made from the drawer fronts for cabinets. A piece of antique furniture may have a worn finish, may need a little elbow grease to release it’s inner glow, add in a creative thought and you have the recipe for a heirloom that will withstand the test of time and have your kids fighting over when you move on over to the otherside. Nothing can imitate the warmth of real wood, the strength and the details of yesteryear, so go “Green” recycle, rescue and revitalize a beautiful old antique piece of a family’s history. Remember every little scratch or worn spot has a story of life’s events. Just like the little wrinkles around our eyes, we earned them , laughing and living, character and patina takes a lifetime to accomplish. Say no thanks to new made in China.

We have been having so much fun with our latest vintage finds. For Spring we are concentrating on "wearable" vintage from the 1960's. Inspired by the AMC television show "Mad Men" which is set in the 1960's at a Madison Ave. advertising firm. The show has won all kinds of awards for it's costumes, the clothes are fabulous, direct from the 60's fashion magazines and all are perfectly accessorized. This show has developed quite a cult following all over the country with "Mad Men" themed parties and events. So we decided to stage our own "Mad Men" cocktail party vintage fashion show. It will take place at our Burlington Inn Antiques shop located on Rt. 4 in the center of Burlington, Ct. It will take place on March 20th, 3-6 pm. We will have live models, 1960's refreshments, 60's music and lots of fashions and fun. From Jackie O inspired sophisticated fashions , to 60's femme fatales styles. Clothing, hats, gloves, purses, jewelry, shoes, and lingerie. Come join us for the fun and take home a vintage treasure to create your own signature style.

Victorian Black Bodice

Vintage and antique clothing from days gone by can be a fascinating subject to learn about and collect. One of the first places I explore when attending an estate sale is the attic. Peeking in old trunks, closets and cupboards I will discover precious memories tucked away. A piece of clothing, wrapped in old tissue, carefully stored away is a clue that this garment was something treasured by the owner and was most likely worn for a special occasion and had great sentimental value. Sometimes I really get lucky and find a note about the garment and what event it was worn for and if I am really lucky, I find an old photo of the owner in the garment. I am particularly intriqued by antique garments, I study the design, the techniques for construction, the fabric and the trims used. Ladies of the 1800s didn’t have a lot of clothing and each special piece which took a long time to create, and would have to serve them well, for a long peroid of time and for multiple purposes. Many of these saved pieces were for special events and a lot of love and details went into their design and construction. Victorian clothing was usually lined, had numerous fastenings inside the garment, they definetly would require assistance in getting in and out of the garments. One of the things I collect are antique bodices, these were worn with a basic long skirt. Each bodice is decorated with all kinds of trims, lace, piping, beading, ect. many of the trims could be removed so the bodice could be used as an everyday garment, or added to, to be dressed up for church , or black added for mourning. The beauty is in the details. Another special garment I love are antique baby items. These were made with the most love and creativity. Mostly beautifully embellished christening dresses, some have coats, slips, and hats included. The embroidery, the lace, the fabrics, these are little works of art, sometimes as fancy as a wedding gown. Along with the christening outfits, little everyday dresses, slips, nighties, all treasures in themselves.
These antique pieces are many times too fragile to even think of wearing but make excellent pieces to display in your decor and to study. The bone structure and size of these previous owners is very small compared to us today. Hang the items on pretty hangers to display on a wall, or dress an old dressmaker’s dummy if the garment’s fabric is strong enough for hanging. Shadow boxes with the item under glass is another idea. Just keep out of direct sunlight and in places were high humidity isn’t a problem. Never attempt to wash these antique pieces of clothing yourself, the weight of the garment wet could destroy delicate fabrics. Little cotton and muslin baby things can usually be gently laundered. When in doubt do nothing except air and shake out the dust. On garments I rescue that are in very poor shape with no hope of staying whole, I carefully detach the buttons and the trims to be used separately on other garments or for customers designing costumes or re-enactment clothing. Many a lace collar or other trims have ended up embellishing a newly created Civil War Dress.
Next of my favorite eras is the 1930s thru 1940s. I call it the glamour age. Beautifully designed evening clothes, and lingerie, and trousseau wear, are usually what I find tucked away. The designers of that era knew how to work with fabric, they would create designs that cling and flatter and drape the body beautifully. The tailoring details, darts, gores, linings, made the clothing fit perfectly and look custom made. Pre WWII , glamour was most important, staging a comeback after the Depression years, everyone wanted to look like their favorite screen idol. Study the old movies of the 40’s to educate your self in the styling and tailoring of the day. Many of the sweaters, skirts, suits and dresses are still very wearable today. During the war years there was a shortage of fabrics and trims, eveything manufactured was going into the war effort, gals got very creative in their wardrobes to look fashionable when their soldiers came home but they didn’t spend a fortune or suffer because of shortages. Necklaces were made from seeds, wedding gowns from parachute fabric, a simple work outfit would get instant glamour from adding little accessories for going out in the evening. Silk stockings disappeared during the war, there are stories of what “unspeakable” things a gal might do for a pair of silk stockings. It really is a fascinating study of American women’s ingenuity. She may be “Rosie the Riveter” by day but she was a femme fatale by night.
Next came the fabulous 50’s where everything was new, the war was over, soldiers had married and started families, everything was “Modern”. I call this the “June Cleaver” era after the “Leave it to Beaver ” TV show. Women wore fitted waist dresses, bright colorful fabrics with big skirts, and a coordinating apron of course. Watch the old classic shows on TV and you will see what I mean. Cotton “Pedal Pusher” pants, what we refer as Capris. Very feminine but modern. Growing up in the 1950’s I can still picture my Mom and her sisters’ clothing and remembering playing dressup with them. Many items from the 50’s are still around and very much in style. 1950’s jewelry and purses are great fun.
Coming of age in the 1960’s and 1970’s, the Bohemian and Hippie style was in. Notice how styles keep coming back, nothing is new in fashion just recyled and reinvented. That bohemian look is being designed for this decade. The fun of wearing vintage clothing is finding just the right piece. Whether it is a jacket or an accessory, you can create a fashion statement that is just your style. With vintage, less is more, 1 piece rather than a whole ensemble or outfit is better. As an accessory it makes a striking statement , but to completely dress vintage from head to toe is dressing more like in costume, so unless you are going to a theme party, use sparingly.

Collecting vintage clothing is a lot of fun and and an interesting way to learn history and look back at styles and trends, personalities and events in the world. It is a connection to the past and a way of reaching out and touching the women of generations back, learning what was important in their lives, the sentiments they cared about in how they dressed. Many current day designers use vintage clothing as their muse to spark their creativity for their new designs. You never have to worry about someone showing up wearing the same outfit, by accessorizing with vintage. You have developed your own individual style.
When shopping for wearable vintage clothing always take a tape measure, sizes on vintage labels are very different sizes from clothing sizes today, they tend to run much smaller than today. Look fabrics over, look closely at points of stress. Rips or tears in seams can be mended if there is extra fabric but thinning fabric can’t be repaired in other places. Check for stains, most set in ones are hard to remove, light soiling is no problem. Buttons, zippers ect. can always be replaced.
MY friend Sandy Michaud, owner of Vintage and Retro , who is a vintage clothing dealer and myself , owner of Lavender Path Antiques of Harwinton, Ct. are putting together a Vintage Clothing Trunk Show, bringing in pieces from both our collections for sale on Feb. 6th at the Burlington Inn Antiques shop, Spielmann Highway (rt 4) Burlington, Ct. . We will have clothing from the Victorian times upto 1980’s. Lots of wearable vintage including a special group of Paris fashions and American designer pieces, also featuring designer Bonnie Cashin. Refreshments, door prizes and a lot of fun for the vintage collector. Also vintage accessories, jewelry, lace trims, buttons ect. will be there. Time : 12pm to 4pm. Snow date following Sunday. Email me at carole@lavenderpathantiques.com for more info. We are also looking for new items for our collections.

White Painted Tea Table

From Shabby to Fabulous
In earlier articles I wrote about honoring the integrity of antiques, of not over restoring or changing the original finishes on antique furniture. In quality antiques, the original finish is a great part of the value and rarity of the item.
But what about the not so rare, valuable or just plain old good used furniture? With these types of items we definitely can get creative and have some fun. Painted furniture has been popular for a long time and can fit into many styles of decor. It was used in all the different eras as a way to dress up inexpensive woods, that finished in a traditional way had very little excitement or beauty because of a lack of grain or the ability to take on a hard high finish. Victorian Eastlake furniture many times was made of pine, painted in a base paint color that looked like walnut and then handpainted decorations of leaves and flowers were added to dress up the piece, this style was called “cottage furniture”, actually an early forerunner of the current “Shabby Chic” style which is so popular.
Whether you plan on doing an entire room of white painted furniture or just want to add a few pieces of painted furniture , here are some tips and ideas:

1. Find a piece of furniture that has the lines, shape, size and style that you want. Examine the piece carefully, make sure it is structurally sound, no cracks or spilts in the wood, legs, arms, seats, ect. or solid. Drawers work, doors aren’t warped and feet aren’t rotting. Minor repairs can be done if need be, but save the labor intensive stuff for the painting and decorating of the piece. There are many great places to find pieces of furniture to paint: flea markets, estate sales, tag sales, thrift stores, used furniture stores and roadside freebies.
2. Decide what type of finish will work best for your decorating scheme. Is this going to be an accent piece that will be totally different from what is already in the room? Or is this piece going to coordinate and blend in, in color or style with furnishings already in the room?

Assuming the piece you have rescued is already painted, use a putty knife to remove any loose paint, clean the piece with an all purpose cleaner to remove any grease, soil, ect. anything that will prevent the paint from adhering properly. Sometimes I will use 0000 steel wool with the cleaner to remove years of built up grime. Once the piece is clean and dry, any needed repairs or tightening up is done, you are ready to begin painting.

For a allover solid paint finish giving complete coverage for a look that looks like “new” your piece must be free of all bumps, dings, crackling old paint, old drips, blemishes, dents, anything that will prevent you getting a smooth surface. This requires sanding and filling of holes with wood putty or filler. Next after the surface is blemish free, apply a primer according to directions. After the primer is dry you can begin the painting process. My feeling is if you want a perfect like “new” finish, wouldn’t you be better off just purchasing a brand new piece of furniture, for the amount of work involved to get a piece totally blemish free?

If your piece has an old crackled finish and you wish to keep that aged look but just change the color or add color, skip the sanding, the priming steps, just make sure any loose paint is removed, leave the imperfections, (that’s what gives the piece it’s character and charm) using a brush working in one direction only, apply a light coat of paint to a small area, while the paint is still wet, you can experiment and with a rag wipe some of the paint off, allowing the remaining paint to seep into the cracks of the old finish. You are removing lightly a small amount of paint from the top flat surfaces. You can get creative and use a darker or different color for the cracks, wiping it away from the top flat surfaces. I have also used India black ink to color the cracks, wiping away the excess, allowing it to dry and then applying a top coat of light or white color paint which doesn’t cover the darker cracks completely. Doing this style of crackling, you have to work fast to wipe before the paint before it dries. You can apply more coats to achieve the look you desire. Remember to work in small areas, apply a light thin coat of paint or use a glaze, stop and wipe while wet, then move on. These is an aged crackle look, like broken eggshells. I use this look when the piece has the crackled or orange peel look already. To me it is not worth the work to sand it completely off or strip it, I just go with it.

A piece that is stained, should be cleaned, “roughed up” with steel wool or fine sand paper and a primer applied. A piece I just did, I used a combination primer/paint, it took 3 coats, going white over dark walnut stain, was maddening while I was doing it, keep finding spots that needed more coverage, but was worth it when the piece was finished. See photo. This piece is now for sale in our Collinsville Shop.

For the “Shabby Chic” look, there are several ways to achieve it. You can paint the pieces solid white covering the finish completely. It will require a couple of coats. If you are working with a piece that is stained, use steel wool to rough up the finish, then apply a primer or a combination primer/paint, this will require about 3 coats. After the piece is completely dry, you can enjoy it as it is or look at it as a blank canvas, to get creative by maybe hand painting a floral design in a focal point like the center back of a chair, a drawer front,, a center or a border around a table top. Timid about hand painting, use a stencil, or use decals (I have seen some great floral ones on Ebay) or decoupage some favorite pictures that are following a theme such as birds, flowers, ect. I have been saving some old magazines to cut up for decoupaging. I have plans for an old kidney shaped wooden vanity table that has a top that has seen better days, I plan to paint it all over with white paint and then on the top decoupage 1940’s ads of expensive perfumes that I have collected from vintage Vanity Fair and Architectural Digest magazines. After the ads are glued to the top of the vanity, I will cover the ads with a few coats of clear polyurethane to seal and protect the decorated top. Note: The vanity came out so good with the white paint, top looks like new, I didn’t do the decoupage look but left it just simply all white. This piece is also in our Collinsville shop now. Phot upon request.

Another “Shabby” look is to paint an all over base paint color and using goldleaf or gilt paint to highlight any embellishments or carvings or turnings on the piece. This gives it a “French” look, a little bit of gold adds some elegance. Here again you can experiment with wiping off or dulling the brightness of the gold. If the gold is too bright, too new looking, rubbing some bronzing powder or cigarette ashes into it while it is still wet will age it quickly. Contrasting or using an accent color paint can be used also on the embellishments or turnings also. If the piece has carvingsalong with the gold you can use black permanent marker in the crevices to create shadows, or black paint or India ink. Vary the pressure as you apply to make it look aged and somewhat worn off. Wipe some off for aging also. Remember all these techniques can be repainted if you don’t like the results till you get exactly the look you want. Like erasing your mistakes and starting fresh.

For a more primitive or aged look, if your new base coat is of a different color than the piece’s original paint color, you can use 0000 steel wool to “wear” off the new coat of paint on places where paint is normally worn off, ex. edges of tables, edges of the arms or rungs of chairs, seats of chairs, corners, tops of drawers, spots where wear is normal from use, rubbing off the top coat and having the different color under coat peeking through in these worn spots gives it an aged look by letting the different color show through. I had worked for a custom furniture maker and had learned aging techniques that would take brand new Shaker style furniture and make it look like an antique original. One style was to use a red or green base coat of milk paint and apply a new different paint color over it, ( blue over a red base was the most requested combination) After the 2 coats of the different color paint has dried, take steel wool and rub lightly over the seats of the chairs, the arms and chair rungs, all the spots of normal wear, to allow the different under color to be seen. After the desired aged effect was achieved, the item was polished with old fashioned butcher’s wax, no varnish, shellac or polyurethane was used. This is a great look for a active family, all the wear just adds to the charm of the piece.

The pleasure and advantage of painted furniture is that it works with a multitude of sins, blemishes, and wear and adding new wear areas will only add more character. It gives you the freedom to change colors and decorations so that a piece can be used in other settings and with other decorating themes. The best part of painting furniture, all mistakes can be painted over. We can rescue a cast-off and like Cinderella make it the “Belle of the Ball”.