vintage train case – April Coker, Author

Workin’ Wednesday: Booth Sprucin’

Today was a good day to do some rearranging of the booth at Uniques & Antiques antique mall where my sister Sharon and I share a booth.

I had gone through all my Christmas things in preparation for a garage sale last week so I had a few things pulled to put in the booth. Today seemed like a good day to add and subtract some items.

Here are some photos of the results of my booth sprucing.

I have a small Christmas tree that I use to display hanging items any season of the year, but finally it’s time to decorate it for Christmas. I hung several vintage Santa mugs as well as two of my rag garlands, some felt owls Sharon made, and a few other items. I added that vintage elf light to watch over everything!

Next to the tree I hung a huge vintage wall tapestry like my grandmother used to have on her living room wall. Actually I think the picture on it was different but I love the majestic elk or deer it depicts.

Here is another view of the tapestry. The colors are very vivid. I made the banner which spans across it, saying “Vintage.” There is also a vintage metal stool which had a torn vinyl cushion which I recovered in burlap and added a rag skirt. The stool spins.

I also added a tiny green suitcase and filled it with doilies and old Christmas decorating magazines, along with some small Christmas toy items.

Why, that’s a very interesting-looking book. Wonder who wrote it? Oh! It’s me! Yours truly! I’m the author! And you could have your very own copy. Just leave me a comment and I will get back with you!

One day I was just sittin’ and thinkin’ and noticed that I had left this little train case sitting on my little red stool. It occurred to me that I could make a little patriotic side table by affixing the case to the table and stamping stars on the case. Plus it has storage room inside!

Thanks for stopping by! If you are interested in any of these items, we are located in Uniques & Antiques in Mineola, Texas.

Tell Melissa I sent you!

XOXO

AT HOME MONDAY. . .organizing those files. . .

Though I pride myself on my organizational skills, it seems my kitchen counter mysteriously and spontaneously accumulates piles and piles of stuff. Where does it COME from? (I have my suspicions.) In an effort to corral the endless trail of papers, mail, keys, change, pens, pencils, I placed a pretty tray on the countertop. Of course, somebody had to then clean out the tray periodically or it became a mountain itself. And, of course, it did. Did I really mean to create yet another chore for myself?

I guess I actually thought the piles of paper would magically sort themselves into “keep,” “pay,” and “toss” stacks, but for some reason that never happened. When the pile of paper threatened to take over my kitchen I finally relented and separated the mess. Although it didn’t take as long as I had anticipated, I thought there had to be a better way to “git-r-done.”

My file cabinet is in the back of the house in a bedroom often occupied by my grown daughter when she comes home on weekends (that is another decorating issue), making filing even more inconvenient, which of course, gave me an excuse NOT to deal with the paper pile. But one day a light bulb went off in my head and I realized that I had the solution to filing, at least, right under my nose!

I collect vintage suitcases and train cases, and I just happened to have an empty train case I had recently purchased at Canton’s First Monday Trade Days. (That is another blog post, or two, or three!) I suddenly realized that file folders would fit into that little train case, and I could set it in my living room–just off the kitchen–as a decorative way to temporarily file papers until they could be

assimilated into my larger file cabinet!

The train case: I love the two-tone leather! It only set me back $20, too!

Receipts and other papers stop here before being shredded or transferred to the “big” file cabinet at the end of the year. It is so convenient to file papers when I finish paying bills now!

I haven’t gotten around to typing up nice labels yet, and I would like to get some

new patterned folders, but for now, this works! How do you tackle your paper clutter?