Forgive me my followers, I have sinned... but I held out for as long as I could... As of today, I have Christmas in my booth. Those of you that know me personally, know I refuse to put up Christmas in my home until the day after Thanksgiving. While the rest of you are out shopping black Friday deals... I'm in my house - a whirling dervish of lights, greenery and vintage ornaments... Music blasting (Andy Williams and Bing Crosby are a must)... and I down an eggnog or two in a happily crazed manner that few will come around in a fear that they'll be put to work too... I.LOVE.CHRISTMAS. I'm pretty positive one of the first things I did when my husband came to my home was show him the wall of boxes in the garage that MUST.NOT.BE.TOUCHED. The garage is his to play in, but that wall... is sacred. It has boxes upon boxes of ornaments that I have been collecting for the past 45 years. Every piece holds a memory for me. My heart sings with Christmas past. I promise to write a blog with pictures from our home so you can feel my happiness and my husbands pain lol...
Back to today... I had to finish up the final touches of bringing Christmas to our booth. I head back to work tomorrow and Thursday is the Queen of Hearts Annual Holiday Open House. Years ago... like 14 or so... I used to do the Queen's main tree in Alpharetta and Marietta... there are historic homes in Roswell that have trees solely decorated with my ornaments. :) But I digress, today I put two trees into the booth... While both have vintage ornaments (gotta love shiny brights), one has a theme of birds, santa heads, bells and pine cones... What you wont find on either of those trees... is hobby lobby... our space isn't about the "Mart"... it's about lovingly treasured old pieces of holidays past.
We hope you will love our eclectic mix... the Santa heads make us laugh. They're meant to have a light bulb in them. They light up beautifully. We couldn't resist when we found them at the Alameda Flea Market in California a couple years ago. The white birds were from an estate sale in 2016. Someone had the same love of fat birdies that I do... I tried to pick out a few favorites and then ended up buying every bird in that house... My husband implores you to buy these... we already have one tree in our home dedicated to birds... he knows that if these don't go, I'll find room for another tree... which means another box in the garage on the wall of sacred things... Speaking of boxes in the garage... by the time I was done today I told my husband we're missing a few booth boxes... I know I don't have everything up that should be... so if you come this week... come again in a week or two... I know there are at least 150 ornaments that we haven't found yet...
Now we all know Christmas decor isn't just about your tree... it's about other small bits that you place around your home to make it warm and inviting... Such as candles, which we have plenty... Bill made a bunch of two and three light old barnwood votive holders that just add a bit of homey warmth to your mantle or side table. I've added a few of my obsessions as well... vintage deer figurines - I have a boat load that I place in my holiday scenes around the house... bookcases, tables, bathroom shelves... nothing escapes me...
This year I also went crazy on old green and red glass. From tiny little bottles, to old seltzer bottles... from Fenton hobnail pieces to salt and pepper shakers. Sometimes all you need is a splash of Christmas colors to add the holiday spirit to a corner of your room... or in my home... clear cut crystal... and old postcards... some of which I grabbed from my collection to put in the booth for your pleasure.
There's some new pieces in the booth that aren't necessarily holiday themed... We just finally allowed ourselves to part with them. Our piece de resistance is our triple effect gas heater... there's 17 pounds of nickle on this beauty. I see it going into a vintage themed home - put fairy lights in it and it would glow beautifully. We cleaned out the soot of years gone by. We were tempted to save it for our forever dream home we're planning on building in a few years... but we finally decided that we should make room for more pieces in today's home.
Another new piece is our basket chandelier. It had an ugly three pronged light fixture in it and I knew that it could be brought to current trends... We added the blingy chandelier to it and we love the juxtaposition of metal and crystal.
There's new - old art in the booth... chromatography and samplers.. with a few more to come in the next couple of weeks... We've sold a few big items off the wall and we can't wait to add some more art that is stashed in our home office.
I'm going to end this quick blog with a few other photos... check them out closely and see how many holiday pieces are in each... it's all about the vignettes... find your theme and run with it... we hope you find pieces that you'll treasure for many years like the owners before them did. That's the beauty of shopping antique... you keep these things alive in the hearts of many.
From our house to yours we hope you have a fabulous holiday season! Come check us out at the Queen of Hearts in Alpharetta... We're Crow on Broad Street... you'll find us as you pass Joyce's china. If you need the perfect platter you should... carefully... visit her booth too...
Forgive me my followers, I have sinned... but I held out for as long as I could... As of today, I have Christmas in my booth. Those of you that know me personally, know I refuse to put up Christmas in my home until the day after Thanksgiving. While the rest of you are out shopping black Friday deals... I'm in my house - a whirling dervish of lights, greenery and vintage ornaments... Music blasting (Andy Williams and Bing Crosby are a must)... and I down an eggnog or two in a happily crazed manner that few will come around in a fear that they'll be put to work too... I.LOVE.CHRISTMAS. I'm pretty positive one of the first things I did when my husband came to my home was show him the wall of boxes in the garage that MUST.NOT.BE.TOUCHED. The garage is his to play in, but that wall... is sacred. It has boxes upon boxes of ornaments that I have been collecting for the past 45 years. Every piece holds a memory for me. My heart sings with Christmas past. I promise to write a blog with pictures from our home so you can feel my happiness and my husbands pain lol...
Back to today... I had to finish up the final touches of bringing Christmas to our booth. I head back to work tomorrow and Thursday is the Queen of Hearts Annual Holiday Open House. Years ago... like 14 or so... I used to do the Queen's main tree in Alpharetta and Marietta... there are historic homes in Roswell that have trees solely decorated with my ornaments. :) But I digress, today I put two trees into the booth... While both have vintage ornaments (gotta love shiny brights), one has a theme of birds, santa heads, bells and pine cones... What you wont find on either of those trees... is hobby lobby... our space isn't about the "Mart"... it's about lovingly treasured old pieces of holidays past.
We hope you will love our eclectic mix... the Santa heads make us laugh. They're meant to have a light bulb in them. They light up beautifully. We couldn't resist when we found them at the Alameda Flea Market in California a couple years ago. The white birds were from an estate sale in 2016. Someone had the same love of fat birdies that I do... I tried to pick out a few favorites and then ended up buying every bird in that house... My husband implores you to buy these... we already have one tree in our home dedicated to birds... he knows that if these don't go, I'll find room for another tree... which means another box in the garage on the wall of sacred things... Speaking of boxes in the garage... by the time I was done today I told my husband we're missing a few booth boxes... I know I don't have everything up that should be... so if you come this week... come again in a week or two... I know there are at least 150 ornaments that we haven't found yet...
Now we all know Christmas decor isn't just about your tree... it's about other small bits that you place around your home to make it warm and inviting... Such as candles, which we have plenty... Bill made a bunch of two and three light old barnwood votive holders that just add a bit of homey warmth to your mantle or side table. I've added a few of my obsessions as well... vintage deer figurines - I have a boat load that I place in my holiday scenes around the house... bookcases, tables, bathroom shelves... nothing escapes me...
This year I also went crazy on old green and red glass. From tiny little bottles, to old seltzer bottles... from Fenton hobnail pieces to salt and pepper shakers. Sometimes all you need is a splash of Christmas colors to add the holiday spirit to a corner of your room... or in my home... clear cut crystal... and old postcards... some of which I grabbed from my collection to put in the booth for your pleasure.
There's some new pieces in the booth that aren't necessarily holiday themed... We just finally allowed ourselves to part with them. Our piece de resistance is our triple effect gas heater... there's 17 pounds of nickle on this beauty. I see it going into a vintage themed home - put fairy lights in it and it would glow beautifully. We cleaned out the soot of years gone by. We were tempted to save it for our forever dream home we're planning on building in a few years... but we finally decided that we should make room for more pieces in today's home.
Another new piece is our basket chandelier. It had an ugly three pronged light fixture in it and I knew that it could be brought to current trends... We added the blingy chandelier to it and we love the juxtaposition of metal and crystal.
There's new - old art in the booth... chromatography and samplers.. with a few more to come in the next couple of weeks... We've sold a few big items off the wall and we can't wait to add some more art that is stashed in our home office.
I'm going to end this quick blog with a few other photos... check them out closely and see how many holiday pieces are in each... it's all about the vignettes... find your theme and run with it... we hope you find pieces that you'll treasure for many years like the owners before them did. That's the beauty of shopping antique... you keep these things alive in the hearts of many.
From our house to yours we hope you have a fabulous holiday season! Come check us out at the Queen of Hearts in Alpharetta... We're Crow on Broad Street... you'll find us as you pass Joyce's china. If you need the perfect platter you should... carefully... visit her booth too...
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