May 2023 – Karla's Cottage

June at Juju

By Karla Nathan / May 31, 2023

When I found this landscape, I knew it had to go behind my mosaic cottages. Even though the display was finished. I took it apart and redid it all, not just this shelf, but the whole cabinet. I had to distribute some of the things that had been on this shelf to the other levels so the painting wouldn’t be completely blocked.

Because I tend to layer so much that I block a lot. Like the mirror on the wall in this photo.

What mirror? Well the one I hung in December that no one has ever seen because it has had so much in front of it.

Since I am a stacker, piler, and layer-er, I am careful to have most price tags prominently displayed. People don’t have to risk causing an avalanche to get something down if it isn’t a price point they appreciate.

If I can do it, the tags are easy to find, but not right in your face.

Other times they are directly on the face. Ha, get it?

Seriously, I try not to overcrowd, but it ends up that way anyhow.

Ceiling to floor.

Speaking of ceilings, for summer, I have added butterflies to the entrance. They didn’t have quite enough umph, so I also hung frames around them.

My jewelry area got a makeover too.

Did I mention that I like to layer things? This is pretty full.

By piling so much on the furniture, shoppers miss those pieces. I’m trying to use larger tags on them to see if that helps. I’ll have to make one for this cool chair. I’ve had it in my breezeway for a year now, and really liked it, even though it doesn’t seem like my typical look, I thought it was cute there with a basket of rosemary on it.

Also not my style? Red, white, and blue.

Still, I found so many, many more things I really liked in those shades, that I once again, went overboard.

My plan was to do groupings in these tones and fill a small area. Before I knew it, I had so many pretty items that over filled a whole wall.

Plus, I threw in bags of marbles and of buttons to coordinate and make more splashes of color.

To be honest? I prefer neutrals with floral accents. But- ya gotta know your crowd. I think the shoppers there enjoy the mix. And I really do have fun putting it all together, no matter what colors I use.

And I ended up loving the final look. Maybe I am a red, white, and blue fan after all?

Patriotic and still Cottagey decor

By Karla Nathan / May 28, 2023

Red, white, and blue are not typically my colors. But this year, I wanted to play with them and use the tones with my own aesthetic.

Vintage wallpaper is one of my favorite things, so I whipped up a few flags from it. The large one is on foam core, the smaller ones on vintage book covers.

While I was at it, I used the scraps to make tags.

With roses, birds, and wallpaper, this color scheme made me pretty happy.

Also, I’ve always wanted to make one of these ribbon flags. I scoured my home and studio for red ribbon and lace, to find just enough to make this one. I thought I’d make smaller ones with the scraps, but there wasn’t much left over. Most of the trims are vintage, a couple of the reds are not. And the blue tulle is cut from a cute skirt that Sugarwings wore as a little kid.

The hanger is not a part of it, that is behind the piece. Sorry, should’ve hung it elsewhere for the photo. The ribbons are tied to nails pounded into a branch. I’m going to put a dot of glue on each knot to keep them in place.

This was such a fun project, I’d love to make another, but do not want to use brand new red ribbons. I might dye some vintage lace and use that. A soft, faded red would be nice, this a bit bright for me.

All of this stuff will be at Good Juju for First Fridays in June. I’ll show you some pictures once I get it all set up.

Missing our boy

Ryan

By Karla Nathan / May 24, 2023

Today marks three years since Ryan’s death and the last bloom is on the iris he planted for me. The first bloom came on Mothers Day this year.

The rose he surprised me with on a Mother’s Day is starting to bloom now.

And so is one gifted to us after he died.

These reminders mean so much more to me than a tombstone at a cemetery. We have sunset maple at a nearby arboretum and an oak tree planted for him in our yard too.

The oak still looks like a short bush, it hasn’t grown at all in three years. Rich wants to replace it, but it seems fitting to me. Ryan was a late bloomer himself.

There was wine in the teacups

celebrations, cottage, Food and Drink, friends, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / May 21, 2023

Last Tuesday evening, I hosted a Mother’s Day tea party. A friend recently lost her MIL, then right before the holiday, her own mom passed unexpectedly. As I planned a get together for her I realized that none of the guests’ moms were still alive.

I thought we should honor all of the lost mothers and asked for photos of the ladies.

Then I picked some flowers from my yard to tuck into tussie mussies.

The plan was to sit outside by the fire and order pizza.

But I wanted a real tea party style gathering, so I made food instead and set it out on the table with the pretty dishes.

This tiered stand from Hobby Lobby, years ago (they still have them) always comes in handy. On a daily basis, it holds fruit, but when company comes, the fruit goes in a bowl and this is used for serving food.

Earlier this month, I found a metal lamp base on a flea market dollar table. It made an ideal holder for a stack of salad plates.

My table is oak, and not the look I wanted for a spring, flowery party. But it’s also huge, and I don’t have tablecloths to fit it. So, I covered it in a painter’s drop cloth and layered these rosey placemats (50 cents from a garage sale this week) on top.

Focaccia bread isn’t exactly a tea party staple, but I baked it to look like a flower garden.

And how lucky were we to get a perfect spring evening? Just cool enough for a fire, but not so chilly that we’re had to be close to the fire for warmth. It was more for atmosphere.

The table was a generous and exceptional hand me down from my sis, Terry. And oh my. It is a dragon mosaic made from genuine stones and can feature either a fire or umbrella in the center.

We just love it. I call it my fire breathing dragon table.

And I love my friends. I’m glad we had a night together to honor our moms and to sip wine from teacups.
I think I’ll make this a tradition. You are never too old to miss your mommy.

Inside the cabinets I just repainted

cottage, Hearth Room, Kitchen remodel

By Karla Nathan / May 17, 2023

While cleaning and repainting my kitchen cabinets, I did mini redoes on the displays inside.

Three of them have glass doors. The very top shelves were where I kept pretty things rarely used.
That stuff had been up there for…well, a bit.

It all needed a dusting even though it was behind glass. And I came across things I didn’t even remember owning. Those got pulled out and will go to my booth to sell. Because if they hadn’t been touched in a decade, why do I need them?

My pretties got a little bit of a shuffle, a wiping, then a thinning out.

Except for these. Oh, yes, they got a cleaning off, but that’s it, then they went right back on display with no changes.

This is a partial set from my mom’s dishes. When she died, the whole set went to my Sissy, who shared them with Bobbie Sue and I. We each got two place settings.

All of the cabinets still look plenty full, even with the pruning I did. And I have more inventory to haul into Good Juju. Although, rose pattern china doesn’t seem to be a big draw there. I try to balance my foofy pretties with some more rustic items for that venue.

I’m liking that sort of combo in my house too.

See what I mean? This is on my mantel. Since we added the hearth room with the dark floors and stone wall, I’m using a lot more natural type elements and darker colors. I’m still all about the Light and Bright with roses, but I like the cabiney-cottagey feel too.

I repainted my kitchen cabinets

cottage, Kitchen remodel

By Karla Nathan / May 14, 2023

My kitchen cabinets were built by my son, and I love them. They are solid and will last forever. But they needed some TLC and I wanted a new look. The tops are now a brighter white and the bottoms are a mushroomy tone.

I also painted the underneath part as well as the window frame behind the stove to the same bright, white.

It feels so much cleaner and brighter. Notice how often I am using the word, brighter? That is what I was going for, and I am quite pleased that I got my bright results.

While I was at it, I took stuff out of the cabinets, cleaned and rearranged them, washed this curtain and the ones on the window, and soaked every glass knob in soapy vinegar water.

The pottery on top of the cabinets got a trip through the dishwasher while I was painting and was ready to put back up there as I finished up with my paint brush.

The walls of the recessed area around this bank of cabinets are painted a very pale blue. I was tempted to redo them too, in a more sea glass shade.

Since I am still dealing with post concussion syndrome, I decided to just tackle one job at a time. But I did take down everything on the wall, wash it, and slightly rearrange the pictures. And I’m still day dreaming of an ocean blue to slap up there later.

The paint I used was Behr latex satin. Since I have been the only person to paint these cabinets, I knew all of the products that were on them, and didn’t have to sand or prime. I’d previously used latex and a water based top coat, so I knew that my satin coat would adhere nicely. That saved time. And my Grandfairy was helpful too, Sugarwings took off all the hardware for me then put it back on when I was done.

Here is an older photo of the room. See, brighter! Another thing that helped was replacing our light bulbs with daylight LEDs. Although two chandeliers’ worth of brand new bulbs felt like a major renovation cost (dang, light bulbs aren’t cheap!), they made a huge difference.

Daylight bulbs versus soft white changed everything.

I saw cobwebs that I hadn’t noticed, my husband could do his morning crossword without reading glasses, and my cabinets looked dirty. I’m glad I got the new bulbs, even though they made me feel like I needed to repaint the room and started this whole production.

I’m pretty happy with the new BRIGHTER look.

A couple of coincidences

antiques/junking, wallpaper

By Karla Nathan / May 11, 2023

Isn’t this just lovely wallpaper? It is my all time favorite in years of collecting old papers.

Often, I come by the same patterns multiple times, but a few special designs are more rare and I do not see them around as much. This is one I have never come across again, and I save it only for important purposes. This treasure is way too wonderful to be a tag or a random craft. A pattern this beautiful is meant for lining a cabinet, or being in a treasured book for a friend.

At Juju on Friday, a shopper came in and asked if I had any wallpaper. Well, I do sell craft packs in my Boutique, but I haven’t been bringing that to the mall. I had started covering a wall in a different old paper for each season, then selling the pieces I took down after.

This customer was looking for a very specific one, not just something to craft with. She wanted the exact paper from her grandma’s home, and had searched everywhere, including online with Google’s reverse image. When she showed me her photo, I knew I could help!

I have to wonder what the odds are that of all the shops in Kansas City, or even in the Old West Bottoms, and the vast amount of dealers at them all, that we met and she was asking around for my favorite wallpaper of all time? That night, I cut two repeats off for her and she came back the next day to get it, promising me photos of the shadowbox she is making in her grandma’s memory.

Coincidences make me happy, and I used to collect them in a file. It’s been years since I wrote them down, though I am thinking I might start again. My favorite was that a friend was walking down the road, a quite few blocks from our house and saw a bundle of mail in the muddy ditch. He picked it up, saw it was ours and brought it over. Inside was a very big check we had been waiting for. This was the first time he’d decided to go for a walk there, the mail was muddy and not easy to spy. And it was found by someone who knew us.

A very lucky coincidence!

Last week when I went to the Sparks Flea Mkt, I bought a bag of junk jewels and inside I found a brooch with my buddy, Beth’s price tag on it from a previous sale. That gave me a huge smile!

Rich and Sugar’s first flea market

antiques/junking, dogs

By Karla Nathan / May 8, 2023

Last week was my favorite flea market, Sparks and White Cloud. It is a far cry from its heyday of the past, but I still love it. And I always fill my cart multiple times.

As well as refilling my junk jewel stash.

I see future bejeweled Christmas trees hiding in this pile of sparklies!

And for some strange reason, I purchased this entire tub of rubber doll parts.

I was picking through it to find vintage Christmas elf heads and the owner told me that I should buy the whole tub. Uhm, no thanks. Especially at $50. Well, his price kept dropping and my pile of elf heads kept growing.

He said he would throw in the tub, and I always need more clear tubs, who doesn’t? But wait, had he previously expected me to fill my pockets with faces? I had figured he was sending the tub too.

I have no idea what I’ll do with the hundreds of heads in this bucket of weirdness. But another dealer talked me into buying a pile of ugly dolls for only $2. I can possibly copy the John Travolta/Nic Cage FaceOff movie and put new faces on the bodies to create some cuter dolls.

I shall consider it a challenge, not a waste of space and twenty bucks.

For the first time, my husband came along to the flea market. He isn’t into vintage, but hey, he is into me and I just hit 65, so I guess he likes some vintage stuff.

It was Sugar’s birthday and the weather was exactly what you’d want when you describe a perfect spring day in Kansas. So we loaded up Sugar in the truck and the two of them wandered around while I shopped. While Rich took a cart full of purchases to the vehicle for me, I had that sweet dog.

She was so well behaved. I simply laid the leash across my shoulder so I had free hands to shop, and my pup stayed right at my hip the whole time.

We rewarded our birthday girl with a walk down by the Platte River in White Cloud. The only thing missing from making this an ideal adventure was a funnel cake, which I missed out on getting. As I was watching the river flow by, I thought it would be quite the spot for a picnic, and wished I’d picked up a treat to bring along.

Funnel cake or not, I sure enjoyed our outing. I ran into lots of other junker friends there and had conversations with sellers I’d been buying from for years. I didn’t convert Rich into an antique shopper, but he had fun. He was intrigued by the idea of “mantiques” but not enough to look at any. He mostly liked the word.

Sugar got tons of attention and many compliments on her behavior. Yep, a very good day.

A gifted shelf

Good JuJu, jewelry

By Karla Nathan / May 5, 2023

On my last post I was talking about trying get shoppers to notice that my furniture is also for sale at Good Juju. But not this piece!

It was a gift from my neighbor, Lily, who makes the aromatic candles. And it is ideal for my jewelry display!

Or so I hope. Last month I tried to market my sparklies from the new, smaller space and that TANKED. I’m always up for a shuffle or a redo to make the most of my displays, but honestly, it’s just a guessing game for me.

I will let you know how it goes.

I keep trying stuff to see what works

antiques/junking, Good JuJu

By Karla Nathan / May 2, 2023

This month I am trying something different in my Good Juju space. See all of the blue tags?

They border on obnoxious, huh? That is the point, I hope.

My booth is piled floor to ceiling with small things. And they do pretty good most of the time, I think people enjoy the treasure hunt. But I also think that they are so focused on the mountains of minis that they do not see the bigger picture.

That furniture underneath the massive stacks is for sale too! And I am done with my umbrellas, am ready for a new entryway display, so they are also gaudily tagged.

Sadly, I rarely sell furniture. Oh, a piece here and there, but usually small and extra inexpensive. (Not that I have anything high dollar anyway)

People probably don’t even notice the tables, shelves, and dressers. So, I tried to tag them in a way that made it obvious.

It certainly is a scramble when someone does buy a table, since there is a possible avalanche of goods on top of it. But, I am always happy to unload and redo. It’s like a timed design challenge, to reshuffle as fast as I can while shoppers are looking around.

I like my spot to have a different look each month, so I don’t want the same furniture there forever and I am constantly hauling things back and forth from home. Which is inefficient. I’d much rather sell some and find more pieces to fix up and redo.

Well, we will see, huh? This month is my one year anniversary at the venue, I am still trying new things. It’s also my birthday Friday while I’m there. My second Good Juju birthday weekend with post concussion season. (Not a tradition that I want to continue!)