A Sneaky Peek at My Sweet Clover Memorial Day Weekend Sale

I just wanted to share some snippets from my booth and hopefully tempt you to stop by and shop.

I hope to see you.  I'm working Saturday.

Sweet Clover

4051 Stanford Ct

Frederick, MD 21703

May 23,24,25  

10-5

More photos from all the vendors on their website here:  https://www.facebook.com/SweetCloverBarn

Lucketts Was Fabulous

I know I'm a little late with this update, but I was wiped out on Monday and still tired yesterday.
 It was a really good really wonderful kind of exhaustion though.
 It was my best sale ever!!!!

The weather made the Thursday/Friday set up challenging.  It had rained earlier in the week and the ground was soggy on Thursday.  A big thank you to Rita from The Pink Cottage who told me not to set up my tent.  She said that the rain would collect on the tent and that the weight of it would ruin the tent.  We put some things under tarps and decided to come with the other inventory on Friday.  What great advice that was!  The weather man was correct and on Thursday evening we had a heavy storm with wind.  When we arrived Friday there were bent and collapsed tents everywhere and the mud was suck your shoes off muck.

Kudos to Heather and the entire Lucketts team who rolled with the weather punches and made it work.  Hay arrived and was very effective on the puddles and they also provided plenty of help with loading, unloading, and in my case, help with changing my location to a drier spot.  Thank you.
We all agreed that our carpet of hay in our booths added to the charm of the event.

Friday the sun appeared and shined throughout the entire weekend.  I sold so much that with the exception of a few items I have to say that it was very close to a sell out.  When my husband and son arrived Sunday evening to pack me up they were very happy to see that there wasn't much to take home.

Garden items were a big seller.  I sold planters and fences and many pieces of garden furniture.
I think I could have sold these garden rockers ten times.

Vintage Garden Rocking Chairs

This next picture is the before. 

 I worked with them in pieces, which was the only way to make sure that all the joints had paint. 

 They were sanded, primed, painted, and then assembled. 
 I used Valspar exterior high gloss white made to be used on metal. 

 I had never used Valspar before and I have to say that it went on very smoothly.

Before of Garden Rocking Chairs

I sold my bentwood set too.

Vintage Bentwood Garden Set with Houndstooth Fabric

Everyone loved the houndstooth fabric.  We decided that it worked like a neutral.

Houndstooth Fabric and Contrasting Cording

I always mix new with old and I have to say that I also sold so many new items too.
The ever popular octopus and my crown for jewelry storage was popular too.
But I have to say that the giclee of the goat was the show stopper.
I had him hanging from my tent and his personality drew many customers into my booth.
I can't tell you how many people came back to buy him and were disappointed that he had sold.

Goat Giclee

I have to also give a big thank you and hug to my daughter, Sara, who always comes
 and helps me with the Saturday crowd.  I always appreciate her math skills and make sure
that she writes the tickets and that I wrap and chat.
You rock Sara.


And of course a huge thank you to all the customers who braved the mud and the parking difficulties.
I loved meeting all of you and hope to see you soon at our Sweet Clover Sales.


What I learned about setting a space in the mud:

If you set up your tent and rain is predicted, tarp the top of the tent so the rain will roll off
 and not collect in the spaces between the supports and collapse it.

I used furniture bed risers and put an old shutter---which I later sold---on top of the bed risers.  I used the surface of the raised shutter as a table and kept my stuff out of the mud.

THE BEST IDEA EVER was that I purchased MANY plastic cups and
dropped the legs of my furniture into the plastic cups.


I'm off to take another nap.

Kathy



We've added a sale this month at Sweet Clover

May 23-25
10-5

4051 Stanford Court, Frederick, MD
See what we'll have on the website here: https://www.facebook.com/SweetCloverBarn

My Patio Redo

I wanted to republish my patio post since I originally shared it at the end of summer
 and thought now would be more timely. 

 I also thought that it would go well with my other Spring porch and patio posts.

When we added the sun room to the back of the house, we not only created one of  my favorite spaces in my home, but we also gained an unexpected living area on the patio below.  Before the addition, we hardly used the brick patio.  It was very sunny and it seemed that I did nothing but sweat and pull weeds that sprouted up overnight in the cracks between the bricks.   I have to confess that the patio was the place where I'd paint my furniture in the warm months.  Those paint spot speckles on the bricks prove it is my workshop.  Eventually my sweet friend, Nancy, found some chinoiserie furniture for me and I decided to clean up that area. 

My Unexpected Space Under the Sun Room

The photos in this post were taken by C.M. Glover, the  New York photojournalist who did my photo shoot for Houzz.  She kindly came back to my house at a later date and took some more photos. 
 These photos were taken at dusk.  Below is a view from another angle.

Another Angle of the Area

This is the before picture, complete with my son's sports net pitch back and a trash can.

Before Back Yard

To give you some perspective about the space, you can access the back yard and patio from either side of the house.  If you come down the driveway, there's a path to the patio between the garage and the screened porch.

Path From Driveway to Patio

Or, you can enter from the kitchen side of the house and follow a different path to the back yard.

Path From Kitchen Porch to Patio

 C.M. suggested that before she returned, I should style the area as if I were hosting a party.  
I couldn't believe it when I went to Trader Joe's looking for flowers and found some 
in the exact colors of my cushions.

Styled Table

  

 Here's a closer look at the flowers.  Did you notice that I found a spot for those orange shutters?  I just couldn't part with them after I purchased them.  They hung around for a while in the garage, with everything else in my secret stash, but I knew I'd use them.  Their orange color was my inspiration for the space.  I still have a few more hanging around.  I'm hoping to pry them from my greedy little pack rat fingers and put them up for sale.

Table Setting With Chippy Shutter in Background

 You know how I love clocks and demijohns.  
They were perfect on the bar cart with some ferns from my garden.

Clock and Ferns in My Demijohn on the Bar Cart

I put candles in the candelabra I suspended from the pergola.  I even did place settings on my 

clock face table.  You can see that I really got into this styling. 

Under the Pergola

I had some faux cabbage leaf place mats to go under my cabbage dishes.  I paired them with some leopard print flatware and glasses--gotta get that animal print in somewhere.

All Ready to Eat---Where's the Food?

I thought the flowers looked especially nice as the sun was setting.

Building Fragment, Sphere, and Lambs Ear

Sweet Woodruff, Hosta, Lamb's Ear, Nandina, Ferns

 

Hosta, Dracena, Impatiens Along the Path

       I'm very happy with my surprise living space and guess what??   
The shade from the sun room also took care of the weed problem.  I still paint on the patio and the sun room offers me shade and protection from raindrops too.  

Kathy

I have to show you the "before" of the Chinoiserie settee and chairs.

 

Before the New Upholstery

If you missed my Home Tour Feature on Houzz, go here.

Kathy

Don't forget that this weekend is the annual  Lucketts Spring Market.
I'll be in the Main Entrance Field.  Please make sure you say hello.  I'd love to meet you.

Vintage Bentwood Garden Set

My husband purchased this bentwood garden set at an estate sale.  I don't have an image of the before cushions, but believe me they were 70's floral.  The set is very well constructed and manufactured by Bamtam Products. It definitely has some impressive curves.

BEFORE

I recovered the cushions in a mini houndstooth pattern.  I chose black contrasting cording.

Cushions with New Houndstooth Fabric and Contrasting Cording

I also sanded, primed and painted the set in high gloss white.
  It was a very tedious and time consuming project,  but I'm very happy with the result.

Vintage Bentwood/Rattan Garden Set

It's in three sections.  There's an arm chair with some brass filigree caps.

Bentwood Side Chair

The settee is in two pieces.

Two Sectioned Settee

Check out those curves.

Curvy Arm

To add some color and a touch of Spring, I added some fern pillows outlined with braid.

lFern Pillows

This set would be perfect on a screened porch.

I'm adding this set to my stash for the Lucketts Spring Market.
Are you coming?  It's not to be missed.


Kathy

My Car Guys

I've mentioned before that my husband likes vintage cars.  It seems that my son has also picked up that love.  They've been attending local cars shows together for several years now.  So, when my son needed a themed journal for his photography class, he decided that the dashboard photos he'd taken would be perfect.  I thought they were great photos too, and even though I'm not much of a car girl, I wanted to share the fabulous dashboards from many lovingly restored cars.  I thought they might inspire us all to take a ride with all the windows open or the top down now that it seems that Spring has finally arrived--maybe.

My son took all these photos at the Rockville Antique Car Show, 

The Hershey Car Show, and

at British Car Day.

FYI, he got an A on his dashboard journal.

So, who's ready for a ride?

Kathy