My New Room At The Shop

ZootSuitMama is having a giveaway and I nearly missed it!  Well, maybe I already did, but just in case I didn't, I'm doing as requested and MENTIONING HER BLOG HERE.  Reading her blog today, I got the distinct impression that you only have to REALLY REALLY REALLY like something she owns and then she GIVES it to you, so . . .

ZootsuitMama, I want EVERYTHING in your kitchen!  Lol, jk, bnr (I know you know the first two abbreviations--the last one is "but not really".  As in, I'm actually not kidding about you giving me everything in your kitchen.  It can also be used thusly: "Wow, girlfriend, I just love that dress, bnr."  See, you can use it as secret code to give someone you dispise a backhanded bitchy compliment!).

Speaking of compliments, you may proceed to shower me with them after viewing my new room at the shop.  When I moved in on September 1, 2011 all I had for my jewelry were two display cases and a table and antique washstand to put them on located in a little alcove.  Four months later I moved into an actual room (with my rent going up accordingly) and put in more and more display cases and shelving.  When we renovated and reopened the second floor of the shop, vendors and glass experts Barry & Tom moved out of the sunroom and guess who moved in?  MOI!  Here's what it looks like as you enter:

Normally I wouldn't have put that beautiful round dark oak game table behind the Timex case but I just want to sell the darn thing, along with the big farm table.  You know, the one that I mistakenly bought at an auction because I THOUGHT I was bidding on a necklace.  There I sat, bidding away against one other person, and when the bidding reached $$$ he shook his head and I was pronounced winner of the . . . 6' long handmade farm table!  NOT the fabulous Austrian rhinestone necklace, which went up for bid right after I'd won the table.  Which I got for $5 as it turned out.  You see, when I go to auctions, I sometimes get a little too, shall we say, distracted and don't follow what's being bid on as closely as I should.  

That wasn't the first time it happened, either.

When you turn to the right you see the aforementioned table.  It's completely handmade.  The legs are removable but each slot and leg is numbered so the leg will only fit in one slot.  I didn't KNOW all this because I hadn't LISTENED to the description before it was auctioned because my attention was focused on you-know-what.  As I was loading it into the Santa Fe a man walked up and proceeded to inform me that this was a handmade, one-of-a-kind table, all about the legs, blah blah blah.  To me it looked like a beat-up dining table with a bad paint job so when I got it home I informed the husband that he had yet another project on his hands.  He just loves it when I do that.  To tell you the truth, I do like the table and the day I put it in the shop I had two people oohing and aahing over it.  At 6' long it's going to have to go into a big space, though.  The beautiful stained glass pieces aren't mine but since they're in my room and on consignment I will get a few dollars when and if they sell.  Don't they look incredible?

Turning to the left you see the jewelry showcase, a baker's rack full of non-jewelry items, the oak jewelry display case and table my brother-in-law John made for me, and a view of the backyard with the little carriage house.  The shop is located in the Old Towne Slidell Historical District and the building is over 100 years old, so of course they had to have a carriage house!  That peignoir set reminds me so much of one my mother wore when she'd slip out of the house at night and dance under the moon on the front lawn with her herd of Siamese cats.  We lived on top of a hill at that time so she did have privacy, but the neighbors who might've been able to see her were so weird they made her cavorting seem perfectly normal in comparison.

Speaking of Siamese cats . . .  The jewelry case holds many of the best jewelry pieces I have to offer, including several by Juliana and Weiss.  That's a Whiting & Davis gold mesh evening bag hanging in the back of the case.  The fleur de lis stained glass piece in Mardi Gras colors is fantastic, too.

As you can see, things are a bit crowded right now.  That table takes up A LOT of room!

Full-on view of the showcase with two sweet lamps for extra illumination.  The dove girl accent lamp is one of my favorite lamps.  Etienne Aigner 80's burgundy leather jacket, size 12.

And here's what you see when you go around the Timex carousel display case--the dark oak game table with casters.  It also has one leaf.  I bought this from my other bro-in-law, Mike and when his wife, Lowly Trooper Sister Sally, saw this picture she said she wished they hadn't gotten rid of it. Ha ha, Lowly Trooper, ha ha.  I recently picked up the pretty handpainted 3-way Gone With The Wind lamp.  Isn't it cool that I even have a (nonworking) fireplace in my new room?  Of course the mantle is all dressed up for Mardi Gras!!!

All the other rooms in our little shop are full of beautiful things, by the way, but of course I'm just a bit prejudiced on the sunroom.  By the way, I got that Timex case at an estate sale I went to in (get this) Hot Coffee, Mississippi!  Hot Coffee is literally a bump in the road--all that's there is a general store and a home across the street from it.  The contents of that store were what was for sale and there were some gorgeous old store display cases, the wood and glass type, as well as shelves and shelves full of 1,000's of general store-type things.  Way in the back with the pile of stuffed animals was this case.  It was dirty inside and out, and for some reason full of little pink rubber bands.  As you may have guessed, I had forced the husband to accompany me with the promise of him seeing all kinds of cool stuff, which of course he still had no interest in.  I also brought him because I was pretty sure there was going to be some piece of furniture that I'd need help getting in the car.  We didn't even know if the lights worked but when we got it home (and it JUST fit in the Santa Fe) the lights not only worked but the shelving carousel goes slowly round and round.  Hubby fixed it up and now it stands in a place of honor in the shop, plus it holds 80 of those little white boxes!

Hope you enjoyed this little tour of my new room!