Shhhh....I was stripping last night...

this awesome hutch.  Underneath the 7 layers of paint, scratched into the wood were the initials J. S. and the date 1908. Seeing that was worth the 7 plus hours it has taken to strip this piece! (an hour a layer, not bad!) 

 We found various hues of black, grey, gold, purple, blue and green underneath the white paint that graced its surface when we bought it. It sure has had many lives...maybe purple for a girl's bedroom? gold to snazz it up a bit for a more dressy look in the 70's? the grey was quite horrid so have no idea what that would have been!

The white layer was too damaged to leave as is but the piece had great hardware and we could see from the wood inside that it was solidly built and unique.

You will have to come to Barn Sale to see how it turned out! 

Might Be My Newest Favorite!

Check out these new items that might just be my new favorites...until my next hunt!

I took these pictures today and all will be available at the Barn Sale!

Chester County Beauty

I live in a beautiful part of the country! The hills undulate in the Fall with the colors of fire; reds, oranges, yellows and hues of purple. The colors are accompanied by all the usual suspects of Fall...the scent of burning leaves, the geese honking above as they make their journey southward, the stacked pumpkins and corn husks adorning houses celebrating the season.

How can one not be invigorated on a clear crisp Fall day? I walked outside this morning to see the sun as is began to brighten the awakening sky. A clear crisp wind had blown away the mugginess of the rain from the past few days to replace it with the freshness of a beautiful Fall day. Walking up to the barn and taking in all the sensations of this promising day reminded me of why I had chosen to highlight the beauty of this spectacular part of Pennsylvania that I live in for the first Barn Sale for Life's Patina...Chester County.

While driving through the countryside, hidden gems are tucked in along the way. It is often hard for me to keep my eyes on the road as I "rubber neck" to catch a passing barn, a hidden doorway, a stone wall or a bucolic farm.

 All of the sights are a remaining testament to the people that have been before us and carved this land into a productive way of life. Did they know know that their craftsmanship would be an enduring stamp of beauty upon the already natural beauty of the countryside?

Two artists will be highlighted at the Barn Show that have encapsulated this beauty of the surrounding area that Willowbrook Farm resides in. Both are friends and both are at different phases of their artistic journeys. All of the above pictures were taken by my good friend Julie Gerber. She has had a way with a camera since I first met her. She showed all of us up on our first "Girl's weekend," when her pictures of the beach caught scenes that we had never noticed; a sand dollar half buried on the beach with a rushing wave sweeping over it, sea grass swaying in the ocean air...you know what I am talking about. All of our pictures (some taken on those throw away cameras...this was before the digital days...and yes, I am that old) paled in comparison! The pictures of her children again contained that hidden mystique that is so hard to capture on a one dimensional piece of paper. Before long, she was being asked to be the group photographer for whatever group she was in at the time; partygoer, field trip chaperone, vacationer, etc. (I still think that it was because she made us all look good! She took the picture of me on my Blog while on vaction) All kidding aside...she is a true talent and will be showing and selling her work at the Barn Sale. 

The second artist is Cheryl Decker Sauder. Cheryl is an accomplished watercolor artist whose following quote pretty much encapsulates what she paints and how she feels about it. "Hopefully through my work, you will be able to sense the passion that I have for the countryside that surrounds me, its whimsy, breathless beauty and incredible architecture." She has shown her work at a multitude of Art Shows and she continues to display that passion for Chester County in the following "sneak peak"of her work.

American Classic

Big Bird

Winter

She has a stunning painting that she finished not long ago that will be the centerpiece of a Christmas vignette...but you will have to come visit the show to see it! 

Check back in to see how we have repurposed some Chester County artifacts into new items as well as to see what else we are highlighting from this beautiful area of the country!

Now go out and enjoy Fall in whatever part of the country that you live in...for it is fleeting!

Where Did the Name Come From?

Life's Patina...what does it mean and why did I decide to call my new venture that? I have gotten many reactions to the name...some of them hysterical in their content, some a little confused and some that totally understood it. All of the reactions have been appreciated and have made me think more clearly about my goals and what I would like to accomplish with this project. 

First of all, the definition of patina that most people think of, is the thin layer of brown or green corrosion that appears on copper or bronze over time. While I did have this definition in mind, the one that really applies to what I was thinking is the following: Patina is the sheen produced by age or use any antique surface.  

This is exemplified by this set of drawers that I found to use in my bedroom closet. I LOVE it with all of its imperfections...the fragments of old paint, the varying hues of color that the wood has taken on depending on where the oil of past hands have discolored it, and the old metal hardware. It's finish is certainly not perfect but it does have character! 

Take these old shutters that I had built into an entertainment center. The hardware is original but we did strip the layers of peeling old black paint off of the shutters to get down to the original layer of gray paint. We added a little primer and the patina was enhanced.

The room that this fireplace is located in was built in 1789. Sometime in the 1800's, this iron stove like piece was inserted into the original opening of the fire place, probably to create more heat. You can see where the black iron has been worn away by the fires over the years. No, it is not coated in a fresh coat of black paint but rather, we have left the markings that the past inhabitants have left on the house and that we will leave our mark on as well. 

Check out this Mill stone! How awesome is this, sitting on an old brick driveway with an uneven stone wall as it's back drop??? All of the materials, are simple but so beautiful in their form and function. 

 Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but in my eyes, these pieces are superb examples of objects that are enhanced by their obvious use over time. Their purposes have been many and some have been reinvented into new objects that will carry on their natural beauty in a different manner. All of them have developed a "patina" that has evolved over this passage of time. This patina is tied deeply to a history of the item. When I look at these objects, I see and almost feel, the past lives of the generations before me that day after day, used these items as a necessity.  Their craftsmanship is superb to have lasted these many years and their beauty has been enhanced by the wear and tear on the item.

That is how I came about using Patina in the name...now why did I link Life to Patina? We all know we have a changing of appearance as we age! Our mirrors, ( as well as our kids) do not let us forget about it. We all bemoan these physical changes of aging. A good friend wrote to me in a hysterical email that read like a dictionary page: 

1)"People who graduated from college in the 1980's are beginning to show the patina of age." 

 2) "I used to be able to run much faster; my legs feel like they are covered with a patina." 

Another email read: 

3)"You seem to be describing my face, it has an aged patina since "it" turned 40. I would be willing to sell "it" in the barn for cheap."

There were many others, but if I posted them all, I would never get to the end of my blog. ( although you would probably have to pick yourself up off the floor for laughing so hard, for that is what I had to do!) You guys know who you are, so thanks for the great belly laughs!

The patina that I am speaking about not only refers to our looks but our mindset. We might fight aging and all that it brings, but it comes never the less!  But in that aging, don't we all possess a wiseness, a wealth of experiences, an evolving of what becomes important in life...priorities, maybe? I think that Life has a patina that is created by all of these past experiences combined with the people and places that frequent our lives. Life itself creates a patina! 

(Just a side note...funny how the comments that I received that talked about the physical changes of patina were from the men!!)