The Stone Cottage Workshop: 2015

Friday, September 25, 2015

Still at it... and getting back to the blog

I cannot believe that it has been so long since my last blog post. Although I have been working very hard at the Stone Cottage Workshop, and posting on Facebook intermittently, my blogging just fell off the edge of the planet. Why? Well, I've opened two new shops... and a new workshop studio!

The Stone House Antique Center is still my number one place to sell my vintage goodness - classic fine linens, lace, painted furniture, silver.... I come in every Tuesday to open the store and greet customers, along with pricing and placing new merchandise, and work there other days of the week when they need me. But I found that some of the things I love, like the funkier linens, housewares and furniture from the 50's, 60's and 70's didn't sell well at Stone House. I think this is primarily because most of our clientele at Stone House are local residents from the Bucks County area, many of whom live in the wonderful old stone houses that grace the region. So I went looking for site #2 to host the midcentury stuff.

Enter "Stone Bungalow" at The People's Store, Lambertville, NJ! I just love my space on the second floor of the People's Store. I've now been here now since February, 2015. It's really a very small space, only about 8' across by 15' long, so I've had to really work hard at utilizing every inch for display.

Although it's small, the good news is that Lambertville is a very happenin' place, with festivals and special events most weekends. It's right on the Delaware, and is considered one of the prettiest towns in New Jersey. Great restaurants and fantastic coffee and ice cream here too! So now that I have that place up and running, what's left to do but... open space three!

This is "Stone Bungalow" #2- at New Hope Antiques Center. This is a new store that just opened up over the summer. It is located on Route 202 outside of New Hope just across from the New Hope Winery. This spot gave me an opportunity to continue to riff on the linens I love, painted furniture, and whatever else catches my fancy.

After opening this third shop, I now know that it's time to quit expanding and start sharpening my retailing skills. It's proven quite challenging to keep all three spaces stocked, fluffed and folded. But there is one last new space to talk about on my next blog post... it's where the Stone Cottage Workshop is creating a new studio space. This may be my favorite space of all.

As a linen dealer, I come across fabulous handkerchiefs, runners, and other small pieces which don't make the grade due to a minor imperfection. It is always such a bummer to find something with great color or lace that has not been treated with the respect it is due.

One great way to make use of less than perfect linens is to repurpose them as window treatments. When they are up on the window, your eye will focus on the overall effect and you will never see a minor imperfection.

This is a fast and easy project. I use spring tension rods and café clips - if you are like me you will find these at sales and flea markets. Here I clipped an Italian lace runner and vintage handkerchiefs to the clips - literally ten minutes from beginning to end.

For Christmas, I replaced the vintage hankies with a combination of Christmas handkerchiefs and one-off Christmas napkins.

This also works quite well to create a casual and colorful valance for neutral curtains. At the shop, I used vintage napkins to create valances over these wonderful lacy sheers.

These sheers are available for sale in my shop - I believe that I have a total of 8 individual curtains. I plan to offer a special bin with imperfects and singles at the Stone Cottage so that you can create this look quickly and easily, if you don't already have a stash on hand!