Getting ready for Labor Day Antique Fair

We are working hard getting ready for the Rutherford Labor Day Street Fair. If you have not gone, it is unbelievable if you are an antique lover or if you just love a good deal. All of Park Ave in Rutherford is packed with 200 antique dealers up and down the avenue. Then at the Williams Center and now down a few side streets such as Glenn Road and Franklin Place, there are craft vendors. The surrounding houses in town all have spontaneous garage sales. The churches have white sales and the legion has a flea market. It is like the whole town is on sale. I have done this show for approx. 8 years. But there was a couple years in between when I did not sign up because I wanted to shop the town!
We have been working on some great pieces just for this show. We will be rolling out 7 new pieces. We have a 100 year old beautiful armoire that is painted an antique white with a linen wash and handpainted white roses. Truly one of a kind. We have a gorgeous 1938 art deco style vanity with mirror and bench painted a creamy white with crackled drawers and beautiful colors of burgundy painted throughout. We also have a highboy dresser painted a basic black. 2 small black pedestal tables, a tall white antique 2 level table and a large white french provincial table. We will also have plenty of other pieces to total 21. We have antique china pieces, handbags, linens, etc.
Hope you can stop by and see us. Check my website for more show info: www.handpaintedbycookie.com.

hermitage desk

We did this desk for demonstration last week at the hermitage show. I love the intricate design. The colors have an old feel. I try to use softer, heritage style, colors. We were happy that a young girl saw this at the Westwood show and got this for her room. How great that must be to have something like this as a kid.

lavender twin bed

We had this great twin bed with us at the antique show. It is the french provincial style. We painted it a very subtle lavender and added roses. Really sweet. One of our customers from the store came by to see us and bought the bed. I was very happy she made the trip and stopped by. I did not get a chance to talk to her much but I hope she enjoyed the show. I know she has a love for antiques as I do.

Westwood Antiques 8/24/08

It was a great show in Westwood. It was overcast which made the temperature very comfortable and a lot of people came out to the show. It is a great park in Westwood which makes for a comfortable day. We saw alot of old friends and were happy to see quite a few antique dealers we have not seen in a long time. There was a great variety of dealers at the show and it was hard for me not to go around and shop. I love the antique china, coffee pots, table cloths, all the older designs. The colors and patterns are very different from today's things.

antique chair

A customer brought in this large beautiful old chair that had belonged to her father. She did not want to part with it because it had sentimental value but it did need a face lift. She was very happy with the end result. Now she gets to still enjoy it and all the memories along with it.

happy pumpkins

Pumpkins, and more pumpkins. Still working on the fall. Looking forward to the changing leaves and cool breezes

black side table

This piece was painted a fresh black and small white flowers added. It did not stay in the store long and a customer asked us to paint a matching chair. Love this basic black look. It' very hot right now.

headboard

Just finished this headboard. It is solid wood, very heavy and was very colonial looking. I think the paint and artwork helped give it a different style. The customer wanted it painted similar to her bedspread.

Demonstration Hermitage

The promoter of the show asked us to demonstrate so we brought an old wood desk. I painted bunches of roses on it and handed out instructions. It came out very pretty. It was fun talking to the people while I was painting.

Hermitage craft show Aug 16

We did a craft show at the Hermitage which is an historic building and museum in Hohokus, NJ. It is set on beautiful grounds with lots of trees. The day could not have been nicer with lots of sun but the trees provided plenty of shade. We did a demonstration of hand painting along with other crafters that did candlemaking demonstrations, pottery and canvas painting. We also did a children's craft and painted seashells for the kids to decorate and take home with them. It was a real nice day.

Pumpkins

Can't believe it but it's that time of year again. Only a couple more weeks til September is officially here. I have been working on my autumn plaques and I am almost halfway done. I am looking forward to the changing leaves and cooler weather.

Lovely Lavender

We did this great piece for a customer. She had purchased this antique hutch in an antique store near her home. She wanted it a pale lavender. We found this beautiful soft color that we both loved. I think the color combination she chose is beautiful. We did not add the hardware yet. Of course it will be glass knobs.

Hall Tree

We did this great hall tree for friends of ours who are stained glass artists. We see them throughout the year at craft shows. They do wonderful work. They needed this piece for their spare room. We painted it an ash green. When you look at the finished product, you can see I added a black glaze for more depth and we also added a mirror. I think it is a stunning piece.

New finds

Over the past week we found some beautiful old pieces that need some TLC but will make a great addition to the store. We purchased a beautiful old desk/vanity. It needs some work but has beautiful hardware, which is all there, that is unusual. Hope to have this done before Christmas. We also purchased a large dresser with a dome shape top and it stands on legs. It is over 100 years old. This piece needs so much work! I am not sure when this will be ready but it is a beautiful old piece. We also got a tall dresser with incising from the 30's. This piece is in relativly good shape except it needs hardware. It is now painted a lime green. We definitely need to "refresh" that color.
We currently have turned out thoughts to Fall and painting pumpkin plaques and starting to think of the holidays. Can you believe it. But since we do everything by hand, we need to start now. With 90 degree weather it is hard to think of painting snowmen.

Record cabinet

We acquired this antique record cabinet. In great shape. The inside had alot of shelves which we thought was not usuable. We made a single shelf out of pieces of the smaller shelves we took out. We painted the whole thing white and added antique knobs that I got at auction. Love this piece.