Bah, Hum-Blog!

I know that's what a lot of you are probably saying, if you even bother to check the Blog anymore... I'm Really Sorry!! Things got away from me a bit in the madness that is the Retail Christmas Season. I think maybe making all those wreaths zapped my Creative Mojo. Or maybe it was that if I heard one more Christmas Song I was going to throttle someone. The Good News is I'm fresh from a Christmas Getaway with my batteries fully recharged and ready to get back to work. Don't Worry, I'm not going to do anything Drastic like make a New Year's Resolution to Blog every day... even I know THAT'S not gonna happen.

Search & Rescue Mission

Urgent 911 Call last night from an Undisclosed South Shore Location!! Claudia and I hopped in the Salvage Chic van and got there JUST in time to resuscitate a fantastic amount of merchandise. Luckily the other paramedics at the scene were distracted by a Mass Casualty of Cut Glass, Green Depressionware and Horrible Lamps and we were able to focus on some of our favorite patients. Not all names are being released at this time but you can definitely count Pyrex, Fire-King, Jadeite, Coca-Cola, and Hoosier among the survivors. Visiting Hours at Salvage Chic are every day but Monday, from 11AM-5PM. Come check them out before they are all discharged!

A Tisket, A Tasket...

What do I do with this BASKET?


On Sunday nights after a busy weekend I like to reward myself with a little treat. Usually I just adopt something that's been haunting me at Salvage Chic but nothing was jumping out at me (did I just SAY THAT?!?) so Claudia & I headed over to a neighboring shop where I picked up this old market basket that was calling to me.

I had no idea what I was going to do with this basket and to make matters worse I came home to find Kenny COOKING DINNER so I had to spend time oohing and aahing over this miraculous event instead of running off and playing with my basket like I wanted to.

Finally the dishes were done and I was able to focus on my Decorating Dilemma. Really it seemed like this thing belonged in the pantry filled with foodstuffs or something but the last thing I need in there is another basket so I was racking my brain as I was folding laundry when AHA! I came upon the perfect use for it: TOWELS!


Poor Kenny was actually in the shower when I bustled in and started re-merchandising the bathroom. Luckily he is used to living with a Crazy Person so when I asked his opinion he ducked his head out and obliged; "Looks Good! Is that Safe?" What do you mean, I asked... "I don't know, I never had a metal basket full of towels on top of a marble slab on a radiator, I'm just asking!" Geez Louise, I think we'll live.

So since the pictures of my other bathroom were such a hit, here are a few shots of what I call Country-Industrial-Chic. I saw this framed print in a boutique catalog for a ridiculous amount of money. I thought it was so clever of me to find the print alone on eBay for $10 and ran off to Michael's with my 50% Off Framing coupon where much to my dismay, I paid MORE than if I had just ordered it from the catalog. We could probably have a whole other Blog about the Michael's 50% Off Framing Coupon Scam...


This old icebox is probably one of my Favorite Pieces Ever. When you live in a house with one closet you have to get creative and this piece is just PERFECT to hold the excess of toiletries I hoard because I can't resist milking those CVS Extrabucks, or as I like to call it, 'Ripping Off CVS'.


Last but not least Claudia and I are always finding cool random glasses but sometimes second-guess ourselves asking "Who would buy just ONE glass?" Ummm... ME!


Right now I know some of you are thinking... "She's so queer, I can't believe she doesn't have matchy-matchy red & white toothbrushes in there." I KNOW, RIGHT? I totally should. But sadly, pink & blue seems to be the only toothbrush color code other people in this house can understand. We all have our crosses to bear.

God Rest Ye, Merry Salvage Chicks

We are looking forward to a day off tomorrow after this week's Smashingly Successful Holiday Open House. MANY Thanks to all of you who attended, we hope you enjoyed the baked goodies Santa's Elves whipped up, and the little Salvage Chic tape measure/key chains seemed to be a Big Hit. We raffled off 2 $25 gift certificates which went to lucky winners Bruce Clark & Stacey Sullivan, Congratulations to them both! The raffle was fun and I think we'll be doing that more often.

Claudia and I started Decking the Halls right after Halloween and worked straight up until this weekend transforming the shop into a Winter Wonderland. We heard lots of kind comments from shoppers; I think our favorite was from a friend with a longtime antique-dealing family: "I've never SEEN so much Christmas in one place!" Neither have we, and the surprises are not over... we have much more Christmas stock waiting to be put out over the coming weeks. In fact, we'll be visiting an auction tomorrow night where we hear more Christmas Goodies are lurking! (What's that I said about a day off? I guess we never REALLY take one. But this is NIGHT, it doesn't count as working, does it?)

Special Thanks to Santa's elves Amy & Connie for their yummy baked goods, our other elf Amy who whipped up some crafty creations, my Mom Kath for hanging out & providing an extra set of hands all weekend, and of course to my business partner and 'Creative Soulmate' Claudia, without whom none of this would be possible. As we were decorating we kept asking each other "can you imagine doing this ALONE?" and then the conversation would inevitably turn to me probably wanting to slit my ankles and die a slow painful death. THANKS CLAUDIA!!

And since I can't resist leaving you with a giggle... another often heard comment this weekend: "Your House must be SO COOL! Does it look like this?" UMMM... No. As I pictured my dining room table, which still looks like THIS:

Poor Kenny! What's that old saying, the shoemaker's kids go without shoes... and Salvage Chick's house is always one holiday behind. And probably will be, until December 23rd, when I bring home the aluminum tree from the shop and plop it down in place of that big bowl of candy corn! Sorry Kenny...

Let Me Just Say...

That when your name is Christine and you've spent over 3 decades signing it... it's Wicked Hard to not write it instead of 'Christmas'. So if you find any tags in the shop that read "Vintage Christine" item... I'm SORRY!

Wanted: On 4 Counts of Criminal Nesting

I know what you're thinking; that I've been redecorating my home again and about to bore you with the details. Wrong! I'm too busy transforming Salvage Chic into a Winter Wonderland to do anything more than make the bed before I leave the house these days. Which I do, I swear! See, here's evidence to prove it!

So WHY, when I get home at night, does the bed look like THIS?!? Was my home invaded by some weird form of prowler who likes to roll around in other people's beds?

Wait a minute now, before I call the Police... let's just zoom in a little further... AHA! I see the distinct signs of a dog-shaped nest.

Further evidence - a hidden rawhide stash!

For ONCE, Duff is off the hook because (1) he has bad hips and this bed is too high for him to jump on and (2) he would NEVER leave rawhide unattended... looks like Izzy had quite the party for herself today, huh?

Do You Know Where You Are???

If your first thought was "You're in the Jungle, Baby!" then mark your calendar for the debut of the South Shore's most Rockin' Guns & Roses Tribute Band, "Dust & Bones", appearing Halloween Night at Basta's in Weymouth. For those of you wondering What Is She Talking About and Why is She Spamming us Blog Fans with an ad for a Headbanger's Ball??? I'll let you in on a little secret. Most of you know me as Salvage Chick, but I'm also... Mrs. Axl Rose. I know, I might as well invite the Paparazzi over for Thanksgiving Dinner, it's bad enough they found out where Salvage Chick lives when I had that yard sale, now I've disclosed that when Kenny sheds his IP-telephony Troubleshooting Clark Kent persona, he is a Rock & Roll Superhero! Axl will be appearing around 9:30 on Saturday at Basta's... the dog & the rice cooker are staying at home.


Oh and for all you ladies with their sights set on Axl, HANDS OFF! He's mine. And I'll be sporting fake tattoo sleeves so I'll be extra tough that night. Hope to see you there! The band is REALLY good and I'm not just saying that because I'm so relieved they're finally not playing in my basement anymore.

Greetings from the North Pole

Just a note to all you Vintage Christmas Fans, our Holiday Open House is just FOUR weekends away and the Sweatshop, I mean Back Room, is already in full swing with preparations!! Claudia and I have our glue guns unholstered and are already churning out the famous Salvage Chic Christmas Wreaths. Today's torrential downpour made me wish I was home baking so I whipped up this little something with just the Ingredients I had on hand. Jam-packed with vintage kitchen tools & cookie cutters, plus old recipes putting it just over-the-top with Baking Whimsy, This would be the Perfect Gift for the Baker on your List! (Photos never do these babies justice, you must come to the Open House to see for yourself!)


And now a few glimpses of what else we've already unearthed. If these photos excite you... you should see what ELSE we'll be hauling out of storage!! See you at the Open House, Nov 14 & 15 from 10AM-5PM.

Grossed Out

File this under SERIOUSLY?!?

I received this email from a kind Craigslist Shopper recently: "Youre stuff is gross and not very nice looking why would you resell that. And please stop the overposts, one link to your website is enough. We want to see private sellers not you."

Um, OK. So I sat here sitting on my hands for a few minutes trying not to type a 2-word response ending in YOU! or OFF! Or retaliating simply "Get a Life." I wondered if this poor soul would appreciate a lesson in the difference between YOUR and YOURE, and that usage of the latter does require an apostrophe. Also, Interrogative sentences generally end with a question mark.

Then of course, I remembered I AM running a business here and while the Blog Fans might appreciate my snarky yet cute sentiments, this person would not. SIGH. I couldn't just ignore them, so after much careful thought replied: "If it’s not your taste, it’s not your taste; no need to be insulting. In the future when you search furniture and the page opens up and you see search for: and in: there’s a drop down box to the right of in: where you can select Furniture By Owner so you don’t see ads from any dealers."

Wasn't that Professional of me? Meanwhile, I'm just glad so many of you share my same Gross Style of Decorating. In fact, I'm off to gross up some more merchandise right now!

The Hunt For Mr. October

Red Sox Playoff Season is upon us and its arrival brings to mind thoughts of Mr. October. No I'm not talking about Reggie Jackson, I'm talking about the Husband who is suddenly miraculously able to stay up until all hours of the night watching West Coast Playoff Games. Sure enough, Mr. October himself sent me an Instant Message this morning, requesting I stock up on some of his favorite beer. Hmph, I thought; Whatever Happened to Kenny "I'm just not myself if I don't get my 8 hours" Pearl? June Cleaver that I am, happily obliged him with a trip to the Packie... but not before I had cooked up an Evil Scheme to go along with tonight's Enchiladas.



I'm really not a Nagging Wife (we do all recognize Kenny is out making an actual living here, thereby allowing me to frolic in the playground known as Salvage Chic, right?) so I try not to give him 20,000 things to do around the house on his downtime. But I did have one item on the 'Kenny-do' list that frankly, I was sick of looking at.



He caught me by surprise coming home a bit early from his Rhode Island office tonight but luckily I had already begun preparations for my little skit. He was bee-lining for the powder room after his long commute when something in the living room caught his eye and stopped him dead in his tracks.



The word CRESTFALLEN can only describe the look on his face when he saw that his beloved TV had been cordoned off like a crime scene. Then his jaw dropped even further as he read the accompanying note: "OUT OF ORDER UNTIL BATHROOM TOWEL ROD IS HUNG."



About an hour later Kenny had just finished scarfing up his beloved Enchiladas (did I mention I HATE Mexican food?) when he asked if I wanted to go hang out in the Living Room. I casually reminded him that the TV was 'Broken' and just as I was wondering if he was going to remember that there are other televisions in the house he could watch the game on, he suddenly got busy!! Neither snow, sleet, dead of night nor a dead drill battery could deter him from getting this done.



I do believe I heard a few utterances of "The THINGS Someone will do for Blog Material..." in between curses coming from behind the bathroom door but soon enough he emerged victoriously to reveal, my New Towel Rod! (Or actually, my Chippy Vintage Towel Rod, you knew I wouldn't buy a new one, right?)



He had to hang it way up high because the bathroom is so narrow (remember the previous post about the 'Charm' of Antique Homes? Knees practically hitting the wall while using the toilet is one of them...)



Now I can only pray that the Red Sox actually win tonight... THANKS KENNY!!
And since I cleaned the bathroom today while I was playing Happy Housewife, I'll leave you with a few more glimpses of my own 'Powder Room Antiques":

I can't resist any Vintage Dog thing so this old sketch of dogs peeing on the wall was a Definite Keeper. (Note: If you are going to decorate with Vintage Toiletries, alert all family members that they probably shouldn't USE them... we had one small Baby Powder that Burns Incident.)



Continuing the Dog/Pee theme, imagine my delight when I stumbled upon an old Avon Perfume bottle shaped like a hydrant!



My mom stitched together this little skirt for me so I could Velcro it to the underside of the sink, hiding the pipes and providing storage for cleaning products, extra toilet paper etc.



And last but not least, this is from that Catalog Barn. Having 2 rolls is really handy so you never run out; and No, I don't read Real Simple in the bathroom... it just looks cooler than whatever geeky video game magazine Someone Else reads, that is hiding behind it!

Technical Difficulties

As we're all now painfully aware of, the Salvage Chic website was down for a few days this week. I first noticed it on Saturday night when I went online and got this giant "FORBIDDEN" message on my screen. My initial thought was "Ha Ha Kenny, very funny" as I figured he was playing a prank on me and blocking my laptop from going on the Internet. He had No Idea what I was talking about though so my next call was to the Hosting Company, Superpages. Where I found my account had been 'locked' due to an outstanding balance and they cheerfully informed me I could speak to the Billing Department on Monday at 8AM.

I spent the better part of Sunday fretting about what people were going to think when they logged on and saw THIS:

YOU ARE NOT AUTHORIZED TO VIEW THIS PAGE

Like, poor Jerry in Natick! His partner Wally is always playfully threatening to restrict him from my website... this could be a Relationship Breaker! And all my customers in the Corporate World, who will think that their employers wised up to the fact that they are wasting precious hours browsing my website on company time, when they should really be processing insurance claims or writing medical software code. One woman even emailed me to say she was going through withdrawal, she needed her daily Fix or the D.T.s were about to set in!!

So Monday rolled around and I hooked up with Nancy in Billing and we determined that the debit card that automatically paid the bill every month had expired hence the lock on the account. Only it wasn't a 'lock', they had actually DELETED the whole website. Seriously, it was like my whole existence over there had just evaporated. And this was only one month's payment missed, without even a phone call to see if maybe I wanted to provide them with a new form of payment before they annihilated my website. Nancy cheerfully forced me to sign a brand new contract and said there was a chance they could recover the data, as long as 72 hours hadn't transpired since they deleted it. We were now past the 48 hour mark.

I spent about 6 hours on the phone with Nancy on Monday, who had engaged the support of Technical Guy Jody, and they were very good about keeping me busy with Up-To-The-Minute Reports, such as "we are just waiting for Amber to get back from lunch to figure out why the Billing system is not synching with the Technical system so Jody can have the green light to try to restore your data." TICK-TOCK...

Finally around 4PM the website was (sort of) back online so I went off to an Auction with Claudia to try to forget about the whole sordid mess. Only to come home and find out it WASN'T entirely back online... SIGH. If you're still having problems accessing it a quick re-boot of your Router should do the trick, as it's probably cached the address of the old server that no longer has the data on it.

Now the kicker of it all is I had told Nancy "I have the $14.95 a month package" which she kindly set me back up with... but in the interim a rate hike took place so now I have less data storage & transfer bandwidth than I had, and I now have to upgrade to the $24.95 package to get back what I had. Hmmm, I wonder how many people they kicked off for being 1 day past due, in order to force them to sign a new contract at the higher rate. I smell a call to the Better Business Bureau in my future!

Word to the Wise: If you need a Website Host, don't go to Superpages; or as I know affectionately refer to them: SUCKYpages.

Yardsale Aftermath

So we had the Grand Yardsale Last Weekend and in case you couldn't tell from the lack of Blogging, it took me about a week to recover. I wish I didn't wait so long because it's not quite so fresh in my mind now but the day began at 7AM with me, Kenny and my mom Kath hauling everything out of the sheds. It took almost 2 hours to get everything loaded on & around the tables & furniture we had lined the driveway with the night before, which put us just in time for the scheduled start of 9AM. With fresh ones and quarters in our pockets Kath and I were eager to start selling, while Kenny went off to take a nap. (Seriously!)

Some of the more memorable highlights:

A guy tried to buy this crock that has my name & address on it. TWICE. I tried to explain to him that it wasn't old, I'm pretty sure my in-laws ordered it from L.L. Bean or something, and plus, it had my NAME and ADDRESS on it. I can only hope that he had poor vision and thought it was some valuable old piece of stoneware, and not that he is a psycho stalker.


People actually respected the start time and other than the Creepy Crock Buyer were refreshingly honest. I would not expect people uncovering what they think are Hidden Gems at a yard sale to bring them to the Seller and disclose their True Value. "Um, excuse me, I just wanted to point out that this is a piece of Fenton Milk Glass" I know it is, but Thanks... "and this is worth about 25-35 dollars" (in 1987... Out Loud I replied Then you are getting a GREAT DEAL for just 2 bucks!!) Sadly, he already had that piece in his collection and placed it back on the table.


Another Good Samaritan sidled up and told me that the glass insulators I was selling for $1 each could be worth $80-$90 each (THEN BUY THEM!!!) Sadly he too left them on the table. There actually are some insulators in rare colors or shapes that are worth several hundred dollars but these were run-of-the-mill and just make a nice paperweight or if you are really ambitious, you could turn it into a candle sconce like this:


All in all it was a really busy day but much like rabbits all that junk on the tables seemed to multiply so at 3PM we started saying everything half off which made a lot of it go away and then at 5 everything was FREE except for a few select items of furniture. I started trying to keep too much but then told myself to BE STRONG - it was time to clean the slate and seriously, I will have no problem finding more Vintage Thermoses.

And here we have it... the Aftermath! Or rather... the AFTER Photos of the shed. I knew I had some organization under all that mess! Oh, and the MATH turned out pretty good too... time to start filling the place up again!!

Save The Date: Saturday, Sept 26th... YARD SALE!

Mr. and Mrs. Salvage Chick request the honour of your presence at their home in Halifax MA on Saturday, September 26th, between the hours of 9AM and 4PM for what promises to be The Yard Sale of the Century.



OK, maybe not the Century, because I'm not sure I have quite as much stuff as I did at the last Gala Yard Sale Event in 2007. And I'm gonna have to stop pretending Kenny has anything to do with this, because when I warned him I was having a Yard Sale this weekend he started talking about how he completely stresses out over the Parking Situation when I have a Yard Sale. Have No Fear! I reminded him; Last Time the Halifax Police kindly gave me "No Parking This Side" signs to put on one side of the street. But still, if anyone knows of a good All-Day Lord of the Rings Marathon on Saturday or maybe a convention for people who Hate George W. Bush and prefer Macs over PCs, we might want to send him there to get him out of our hair.



Back to the Yard Sale! Claudia and I have been stockpiling boxes of items for this yard sale for months now. She has graciously volunteered to work at the shop on Saturday so I can have this sale On Location at my house, in close proximity to The Shed Where Furniture Goes to Die. You know how I am always blogging about trying to clean This Shed out? Well, there are actually 3 of them, and a Garage... it's time for a Clean Sweep!!



And before you go thinking "if you can't sell it at the shop, why would I want to buy it?" LOTS of these items have never even made it to the shop. Or we just have WAY to many of the same item (Thermos, anyone?) And as for those afraid of "eBay Duds"... I honestly don't have time to research everything. At my last Yard Sale, nobody bought this little Haunted House & Witch Doll I had marked $5. I put it away in my Halloween bin; when I pulled it out the next Fall, I had a little more time on my hands and looked it up. Woah! A Rare 1970's Girl's World Emerald the Enchanting Witch!! I listed it on eBay and the auction ended at $465!!

Even though you might not find a Treasure QUITE that rare, I hope to see you there.
Route 106 Halifax, between the Country Club & the Car Wash (300 Block of Plymouth St.)

PS. All That was just ONE SHED! I wonder what's behind THIS Door??

CLEAN-OUT at the Sleepy Beggar Tavern!

Check out all of these Goodies just waiting to be loaded into the Jeep for transport to Salvage Chic! Fresh from a Clean-Out in Halifax at the home of a woman with the most amazing, ecelectic taste ever...



OK, so it was MY house, LOL. People always ask me "How can you bear to PART with this stuff?" and my standard answer is that It's Easy; when I get to be surrounded by everything in the shop all week, at home I'm finding I like things more stream-lined and uncluttered. Generally when I find something I HAVE to adopt, I make myself give something up so my house doesn't start to look like... Salvage Chic.

My Husband was on vacation today and mentioned the temperature's about to drop so we might want to load up on Firewood for the woodstove. I told him he could put it in this big wood box where I normally hide the Recycling Bins in our Carriage House and then while I was clearing it out realized that the whole Glorified Shed you walk through to get into our house was Gnarly with spider webs, dust and (!!!) mildew so that spurned a few hours of work with the Shop Vac and Murphy's Oil Soap.

Now, before you go thinking "Gag Me, Martha Stewart, as you unveil another wing of your sprawling estate" let me point out that Antique Homes, while they have lots of charm and lend themselves well to decorating in the Salvage Chic style, they also lack modern amenities like Closets. And Level Floors, or Level ANYTHING. And Windows That Don't Need a Stick to Prop Them Open. This c1833 House was built before Electricity; or Plumbing, so we have all sorts of weird retrofits going on. If you're still impressed, email me; my next-door-neighbor's c1808 home has been on the market for about 3 years and the price just dropped... AGAIN.

Back to the Regularly-Scheduled-Blog! If you go way-way-way back to the Beginning of the Blog you'll find the story of how Jack swindled me into storing some church pews for him and Lo-and-Behold, the Sleepy Beggar Tavern was born. So-named because we set up the pews with tables between them and a certain Hound named Izzy literally fell asleep while begging the first time we ate out there. My friend Karen who used to own My Favorite Place in Hanover was kind enough to make me this sign:



And now here it is, in all its Freshly Uncluttered Glory:





This old menu I got from Yard Sale Buddy when he cleaned out the old Hosea's Restaurant in Pembroke. Come to think of it, most of the accents in this room I got from Yard Sale Buddy... I think I was supposed to sell them for him but they kind of 'landed' here for a while (SHHHHH!)



This sign came from Brimfield, I think I paid $35 for it when I was out there in May. Notice the hours 7PM - 12PM? I think they meant 12AM.



Scored this old glass hanging lamp from a guy on the Cape that gave it to me for ONE DOLLAR just to tick off Yard Sale Buddy who was trying to haggle a little too much



One of my favorite finds ever; Kenny and I were at our Neighbor's yard sale back when we lived in West Roxbury. I said "I love that old workbench they're using as a table for the yard sale." He said I should ask if it was for sale, to which I replied "DON'T BE SILLY! No one would sell THAT!" Later that night I found it for FREE on the curb while out walking the dog.



The Wood freshly stacked in the Bin that inspired today's Project



And finally, this fun Old Mousetrap with a little Mouse made out of dough, that I got from Claudia. And WAIT, what's THAT? A giant BUG? Didn't I JUST CLEAN this place?!? SIGH...

Too Much of a Good Thing?

Here's one from the "Is it TOO Salvage Chic?" File. A couple of weeks ago I bought this ultra-shabby sideboard from one of my Supply Guys. Normally I don't go for Art Deco but something about it appealed to me in a Homely Stray Dog kind of way and he practically PAID me to take it, so how could I say No. Now mind you, This Guy's Venue is really dimly lit and I have been known to make some regretful purchases there so after I left it to pick up later, I immediately started with the "WHY did I BUY That?!? WHO besides ME is going to LIKE That? Then promptly forgot all about it (DENIAL!) until a week or so later I went back to see what new stock he had... and was hit Smack in the Face with This Vision:



It was kind of like waking up in the morning after having one drink too many and recollecting fuzzily "I did WHAT?" (at least, from what my friends tell me; this has never really happened to me... Hi Dad!) So anyway I packed my purchase into the Jeep somewhat remorsefully and headed back to Halifax. Where, as it turns out, I happen to have a dining room trimmed out in Colonial Teal. 8 doorways and 2 windows worth. The period colors came with the house and it's too daunting a task to paint them so I just decorate around them. And re-decorate, and re-decorate... (in case you hadn't noticed).

So what do you think, LOVE it or HATE it? And is there really such a thing as TOO Salvage Chic?