Maud's Cabinet

Meant-to-be - - -those 3 words sing to me from time to time.  It's like the goosebumps you get when you know something is just right.  And so it was a couple of weeks ago I was perusing a semi-local auction site and noticed a few online as well as in-house auction listings.  Honestly, though, I travel to farm auctions for a reason.  I love the outdoors.  Barns and old farmhouses- - - yes, please!  To be amongst those of all different walks of life:  antique dealers, farmers, Mennonites and the Amish are the most frequent people I meet up with at auctions. Conversations are rich.  Usually there is a good deal of history at farm auctions.  On lucky days, the actual farmhouse is up for auction, so the doors are flung open and all are invited inside to browse.  I have to admit, those are my favorite.  How many wavy-glass-paned kitchen windows have I stared through over the years that face either rolling fields of cattle, or flat fields of corn or wheat; all very picturesque!

So to buy items online that are from the farm, well, that seems almost sacrilegious.  I can't touch, feel or absorb the item other than through a picture.  Sure, I can get an idea of a piece, but not ever the full scope.

However, after pondering a few items over a week ago, I bid and purchased some great farm primitives.  I picked them up at the auction company nearly an hour's drive from my house.  Though the drive was on 3 different major highways, there was some country to admire, so it sort of evened out in the end.

And I found this most delightful Mishawaka advertising box.  I applied oil to the box and the original wood tone came to life:

And here it is at Big Creek Antique Mall when it was finished:

It's not a bad gig, really.  Bid from the comfort of home. I could almost get used to this in between my auction travels.

When I perused the site the first time, I skipped ahead to auctions ending in the future and fell in love, and I mean LOVE, with a piece best described as a make-do.  These are the auction company's pictures:

The description said that the cabinet was 6' tall and approximately 4'4" wide.  I have no concept of numeral measurements.  I just don't.  Yea, I know a few 6' tall people.  And 4'4" wide should fit in the back of my hubby's Dodge Ram.  I showed the pictures to my other half and he said it looked great and it would fit fine in the Ram.  I asked him again a few days later and he responded the same.  Wednesday night was the auction finale and I asked him one more time before I bid.  All was well on his end so I bid and won the purchase price.  To say I was ecstatic is an understatement.  I live for this stuff.  I love hunting for the unusual and this fit the bill.  Pick-up was yesterday out on a farm outside Odessa, Missouri.

Cool.  Another drive to the country:

Hubby had the day off and we planned on driving out in both vehicles since the drawers were full of contents that had to be transported in my van.  We arrived to a gorgeous plot of land with a farm pond and barn right next to the parking area.  I paid my invoice and headed to the basement where this glorious piece of furniture was located.  After laying eyes on it, we were both overcome.  It's massive.  And heavier than we ever imagined.

Thankfully, the basement was a walk-out and had a garage door, so we could pull back in and load.  It took us at least an hour or so to get the drawers pulled out.  They were so heavy with tools, screws and everything under the sun.  We finally got those loaded in the van.  These pictures really don't show the magnitude of the drawers, but it gives you an idea.  I also purchased the 3 wood sawhorses for $4.  :)  Deal, right?  My poor van was weighted down low.

We put all the seats down in the back to accommodate everything.

Then it came time to load the biggest thing my husband and I have ever purchased and moved ourselves.  I think it may be heavier than the large stainless steel drum front load dryer that I insisted we save money from having it delivered so we bought it and moved it to the second level ourselves.  Yes, I think it was heavier than that!

It took 3 manly-men to get the cabinet in the bed of the Ram.  We decided since this was so massive, it'd be better to drop it off at the storage unit at the lake so it wouldn't take up garage room here at home, so we drove down to the cottage and grabbed the keys and headed to the storage unit.  Except when we got there, the cabinet had wedged itself between the two wheel wells and wouldn't budge.  The Eagles Club is across the street and I nearly ran over and played a damsel in distress hoping some good old southern gentlemen could help us.  But my strong hubby jumped up in the bed and we did a push-pull maneuver and after awhile it started moving.  I may or may not have whooped out loud and said, "Praise Jesus!" and had a little church moment in the parking lot of the storage units.

Once we got the cabinet on the ground, I really could look at it and admire everything.  It's the most beautiful piece we have ever purchased for the business.  The drawers all need some level of work.  Each is filled to the brim with thingamajigs and thingamabobs.  I have to start there and get everything separated into piles before moving on to the cabinet, itself, which will require the white paint being stripped and some wood repair.  We did find some great items, though.  I have a handful of glass door knobs and cabinet knobs that are headed to the dishwasher and some great 1800's door hardware.  We also found this great handle:

And these items:

Oh, and if you think being an antique dealer is glamorous, it's not.  Richard found a bird skeleton in one of the drawers that I had in the van.  Ew.

This is just the tip of the iceberg.

The cabinet, though, is the real story:

That's my superman husband after getting the cabinet off the truck.  :)

Everything needs some work before making it store-worthy.

The story about the cabinet itself is the meant-to-be moment.

One of the daughters at the house walked up to me and asked if I was going to refinish the piece and we started talking.  Turns out, her father died 23 years ago.  He never threw anything away.  Ever.  She looked over at her sister and said, "Wasn't that piece from Maud's house in Independence?"  I about fell over.  Maud.  (Dancing Bumblebee Cottage is the cottage of Maud and Claude, perfect, right?)  Her sister said yes.  Apparently their father had 3 aunts who never married and had a family.  When each passed away, their father inherited everything from their homes.  And, after moving to the country in the house we were standing in, he befriended a lady down the road who also had no family so when she died, he was willed the contents of her home, too.  She said her mother stayed on at the home after their father died until she was 95 years old.  She passed away last August.  She said they had been busy getting the house ready for sale and it's taken quite a while to get to this point.

I asked, "So when Maud passed away, he moved this cabinet from Independence, Missouri to this place?"  And they said yes.  Well, if someone moved this cabinet once, we could do it now and we did.  It's a lovely piece and one I can't wait to get in the shop!

At the end of the day as we walked out of the cottage to head back to the city, we were treated to a lovely Ozarks sunset underneath our arbor:

Yesterday was a good day.

Swiftly Moving Summer

I say this every year:  summer is flying by!  Why, just last weekend was the 4th of July and after the 4th it seems like within a twinkle, summer is gone.  It hasn't seemed like much of a summer here on the home front.  With the remodeling of our guest cottage (painting, flooring, crown moulding etc), 2 months have escaped with just one boat ride the entire season thus far and a whole lot of meetings with several general contractors, roofers and heating/cooling guys and have I mentioned how much electrical and plumbing we've done to the old guest cottage?

Of course this means I haven't been active in the auction circuit because, frankly, between time and money, auctions have had to hit the bottom of the totem pole.  I had hoped to go to an auction last week but that didn't work out.  There's one tomorrow but the weather doesn't look fantastic, but perhaps we'll try anyway because our booth has done well in the past 2 months!  Selling means we need to replenish and selling also means money in the pocket to replenish!  It's an addiction, I tell you!  Buy to sell to buy to sell to buy. . .  :)  It's a delicious addiction, I must say!

With that said, though, I haven't been away from vintage and antiques.  I spent nearly 2 months at the cottages and during that time we have purchased furniture and other odds and ends for the guest cottage by shopping in our storage unit (Ha!) and going to a few antique shops in Missouri.

Here are pictures from the last 2 months:

Looking through the kitchen window in Delavan Cottage to our Moonlight Cocktail Cottage next door.  We were way behind in leaf duty and my lovely husband worked an entire day wrangling the leaves so we could hire Stan to push them in the back 40 with his Bobcat!  :)

This is our cottage and after driving down one afternoon, I had to sit in the car to finish the "Happy" song!  I love this view and XM!  :)

The rest of the pictures are from the guest cottage named Delavan Cottage.  We purchased the vintage farm table and mis-matched chairs last Fall in Columbia, MO.  I love how they fit into the space perfectly.

I wanted a vintage table to go between these 2 chairs.  We found this sweet table in Lincoln, MO and underneath the writing says, "Wedding Gift 1941."  Isn't that fun?  The vintage Hunting and Fishing book was purchased at an antique shop in Walworth, WI.

The Motor Court sign is hung above the bedroom door.  The Old Man and the Sea picture was purchased in Wisconsin.

Not sure if I mentioned this, but Delavan Cottage is named after Lake Delavan, WI where my Dad spent his summers.  So collecting vintage Wisconsin pennants has become a passion.

We don't have many yet, but the newer ones are being placed on the ceiling of the screened-in front porch.

We drove up to Illinois to pick up my parents' bedroom set.  Since my mother passed away in 2009, my father has moved his bedroom downstairs and wasn't using this set any longer.  While it's probably not the most beautiful set in the world, it reminds me of my parents in a lovely way.  This set has been there since the day I was born and I felt it was the perfect set for Delavan Cottage!

My father loves boating and has decorated his home in a nautical theme in places.  He sent us home with 2 of the 3 ships for the mantle.  While out antiquing, we found the additional ship on the left hand side.  The large framed original painting was found in Lincoln and the adorable vintage lamp on the mantle was found in Columbia.

The lamp has a burlap shade.  All the rage of burlap has come around once again!

The bedroom had new carpet installed and then my parents' bedroom set went in.

We found the handmade vintage pond sailboat in Columbia, as well. My handy husband built the stand.  I have lots of luck shopping the antique shops there!

I picked up the vintage wood skis in Warsaw last Fall.

The large original painting was found last Fall and was originally slated to be the centerpiece of the mantle, but it fits in the bedroom much better!

I purchased the vintage camping awning lights on eBay two years ago to use next door, but never found a way to hang them.  They fit into the screened porch perfectly!

We purchased a new shed to put on this property.  It's become the "wood shop" and will be used to refinish primitive antiques and it's the go-to place to work on projects.  My husband is very, very excited!

We painted the shed at Moonlight Cocktail Cottage Betsy Ross House Blue a few years back, which is an historical paint color so with the blue left over our vintage rocker got a fresh coat of paint as did the 2 adirondack chairs for Delavan Cottage's front porch.

Our vintage motel chairs got a fresh coat of yellow paint, but they're not quite finished.  I ran out of paint!  :)  I love the color, though! Do you see the heart shutter on the tree?  A cottage a few doors down several years ago was getting a remodel and we found the shutters in the burn pile, so we rescued them!  :)  I may not be a dumpster diver, but down here in the Missouri sticks, I'm a stealth burn pile picker!  Haha!

This is the last picture before the construction crew arrives next week!  We're getting a new roof, new soffits and venting, drywall in the bathroom along with a built-in closet.  The kitchen will get a new pantry (yay!) and a double sink.  The front two windows are also going to be replaced.  I'm very excited!  My husband will be building railings for both doors out of vintage oars!  :)

After all that, then we can plan on landscaping.  It's really coming together and it's a great place to relax for our friends and family.  And I'm not going to lie, my husband and I have been spending some down time catching up on movies we missed on the big screen! After all, with all the work we've done, relaxing, at this point, is pretty high on that totem pole right next to auctions!

I'm Back! :)

A 10-day vacation morphed into a nearly 3-week vacation!  Yay!  Because the giant big-box pharmacy that my husband works for has a store in Clinton, MO, he was able to pick up some hours and commute to and from the lake cottage.I have now had my fill and am happy to be back home.Even though we spent a good deal of time at the cottage, much of it was filled with finishing up the work around the place that typically we work on in the Spring.But because of the weather and other factors, we were behind on nearly every aspect.

R worked on the logs and painted the front of the cottage.We planted lots of new perennials in the garden.We antiqued.I read, he relaxed.We replaced the guest room bed and bought a recliner for the living room.There were lots of rainy days in between so in all the time we were down there, we only boated 3 times and he never took out the jet ski. That's one for the books.

I didn't take too many pictures.  We've had the lake cottage since 2005, so like a child, each year sees less and less photography.  But I did manage a few shots that I'll share:

R is punching in the directions to Hermann, Missouri.  We went to Stone Hill Winery for lunch and wine!  :)

This was taken on the way to the winery.  Can you believe this is Missouri?

I'm lazy and shot photos from the car as you can tell from the deceased bugs on the windshield!  Here we were leaving the winery.

On the way back, we went through Bay, Missouri.  Such a pretty area with lots of hills and church steeples.  I must go back with my better camera and spend some time!

This was before Edie's second boat ride.  Her first boat ride consisted of water with lots of wakes, wind and tons of boaters.  She was not impressed.  Here, she doesn't look impressed with the idea of trying boating once more.

But the weather!  Zero-percent chance of storms and calm water; it was the perfect day!

First we got gas at Hiawatha Beach where we saw the PO PO because there was a fugitive in the lake area and he was being hunted down!  :) *awesome*

Look at all that horsepower!  :)  *vroom*vroom!

Here we are waiting for Daddy to bring us lunch from Big Dick's Halfway Inn which is 29 1/2 miles from where we dock. While waiting, I started seeing clouds over the horizon that were looking a tad threatening and then we heard thunder!  Thunder!

From the boat damage we experienced with a horrendous storm in 2011 seen here:  2011 Boat Damage , we were slightly concerned!  We put the food away and punched the boat to try and get home except it wasn't looking well according to the radar:

We were able to duck into someone's dock while it stormed like crazy!  :)

Thank goodness for Captain Morgan!  ;)  He always takes pictures like he's still in the military.  Ha-ha!

Luckily Edie handled this with bravery.  Of course we were in a very sheltered cove, so the wind wasn't creating huge waves like in 2011.

Finally, when it was just sprinkling, we decided to try the drive back and came upon this.  Fortunately, right after I took the picture, the clouds stopped dropping!  Whew!

I had time to do some sewing.  This was the only item I documented: a bunting for our bike display:

Now we're back home and Edie has one more intermediate training class before graduation and we take a summer break! She loves her rides in the car!

I went to an auction last Saturday and my great-uncle's auction in Illinois was last Saturday, as well, so I'll blog about that coming up!