Mattie's Pig Table

Over 100 years ago in April 1912, in a horse buggy in the rain near the Red River in North Texas, a Justice of the Peace married Mattie Pfaff and Will Savage.

The new couple moved to Oklahoma to farm some land with another young couple, Will's cousin and the cousin's wife.

Will's father gave him a hog for the farm. Wedding gifts were  far more practical back then!

On the Oklahoma farm, Mattie and Will had their own bedroom, but little furnishings. They had one bed, one wardrobe (free-standing closet) for their clothes, and a coal oil lamp.

Mattie didn't complain about their hard-scrabble life on the farm, but she did complain that she had nowhere to put her coal oil lamp when it was burning. The wardrobe was "...too high and the floor was too low..." she told Will.

So, when his hog had a litter of pigs, love-struck Will traded one of his piglets to a neighbor for a little three-legged table.

The table was just right for sitting next to the bed to hold Mattie's coal oil lamp.

"Our pig table", as Mattie called it, was used and loved for the many decades of Mattie and Will's life-long marriage.

Finally the table fell to pieces and was put in a shed where my mother-in-law Jessie (one of Mattie and Will's 12 children) found it one day. With her mother's permission Jessie rescued it, put it back together, and used it for a few more decades.

One day I saw the wobbly old table in my mother-in-law's shed and heard the Pig Table story. I offered to fix it up. 

 

Wild Bill (who is Mattie and Will's grandson and is named for Will) put the table back together as sturdy as the day it was made.

 

It was up to me to "pretty" her up...

I used homemade chalk paint made with Behr's 'paint and primer' in my favorite color, Swiss Coffee. 

 

 

I added a pig silhouette to the top and plan to stencil

 

Mattie's Pig Table - 1912

 

around the pig silhouette.

 

 

 

Now that you've seen the final result,

I have to show you my sad first attempt at fixin' up the table...

 

 

Yeah, go ahead and laugh!

 

As my 3-year-old grandson Ben would say:

 

"How sad, Grammy, how sad!"

 

Everyone says aging furniture is so easy...well...

 

"NAILED IT!"

And, I don't know why mod podge turns out so well for others, but mine yellowed and showed all the edges of the cut-out and looked like crap.

I quickly repainted it (even over the classy-yellowed-mod-podged-pig) with my homemade chalk paint.

The pig silhouette still showed through the paint, so I used this paint writer stuff from Hobby Lobby to blacken in the pig silhouette.

I plan to add the words and the 1912 date to the top, then it's going to have to stay this way until I learn how to do the aging and add words and pictures and crap to furniture.

Hopefully it won't take me another decade to figure it out!

For now, it's in the entry hall -- next to the bench under the chalkboard. Yeah, that's right. I need to learn how to print on chalkboards too. That's another "Nailed It" job!

I should be ashamed to show you that.

I'm sharing all the good and bad of this over at the following parties:

http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com

http://nominimalisthere.blogspot.com

http://missmustardseed.com

http://www.frommyfrontporchtoyours.com

Wedding Bells

Our youngest (30-something) daughter Jaimee got married in Las Vegas earlier this month.

The chapel at Viva Las Vegas Weddings was surprisingly tasteful. I say "surprisingly" because Elvis was getting into a pink Cadillac outside when we arrived!

Jaimee's 4-year old daughter Lily is a bit flamboyant (an understatement)  and VERY particular about what she wears.

When Lily was told she would be the junior bridesmaid, she told her mother right away that she would need "click" shoes. Then she spent the months leading up to the wedding putting together her attire and telling everyone "we're getting married!"

Lily's favorite color is purple, and her favorite style is "princess". Here's the dress she picked out...

 She was lovely in it! I can't wait to show you when I get copies of the pictures.

And it turns out she's thrifty too. Now that the wedding is over, she told her mother she will wear it for Halloween too! My kind of girl.

Vintage Cabinet

Last year, I bought this old vintage cabinet from

a shop downtown called The Interior Store.

 

I love their back room...

 where you can sell furniture you don't want...

and buy someone else's stuff!

I loved this cabinet when it was down in the

consignment room of Carol's shop,

but it just hasn't seemed to fit in around our house. 

It seemed like the yellowish brown color would fit in with our distressed kitchen cabinets...

But, the little vintage cabinet is a little too yellow.

 

I'm thinking of painting the cabinet,

or moving it to another room.

 

I want to hang the old rusty sign above it

when it finally finds a place in the house.

 

Got any ideas of what color would make

the little cabinet fit in better?

 

I think our walls need a darker color too,

just haven't decided what would look good

with the kitchen cabinets... 

 

I'd love to hear your ideas!

New Shoes and The 75 Cent Dress

Remember our newest grand-girl Livvie Lu
who was born 5 months ago?

Her mama got her some new shoes recently.

 

I thought they were so cute,

I stole her pictures to show them to you...

Pink poka dots are a girl's best friend, right?

I knew you'd agree!

 

Livvie will attend her first wedding this week.

 

Mama ordered her a new dress,

which still hasn't arrived yet.

 

While at a yard sale recently, I spotted

this brand new dress for sale for 75 cents.

 

I washed it on delicate, pressed the ties in
the back a little, and told Livvie's mama  
"no worries"

 

I think the 75 cent dress will do.

 

And, just wait 'til you see the purple dress

Livvie's cousin Lily, the flower girl, will wear!

 

 

Use Or Lose

I said a few posts back that I haven't been able to find

a place for the 3-Tiered Tray from Pottery Barn.

 

Not what I was expecting when I bought it,

but trying to live with it.

 

Then I saw the same tray used in a coffee bar
at Stone Gable's blog.

 

So, Eureka! I can copy cat like crazy!

Yes. 

 

I do need to rewrite the chalkboard and hang it.

 

I'm at a loss after my "Happy 4th" rendition.

 

Not everyone can be an artist.

  

It took a lot out of me to do that one!

 

 

 

If you want to check out the original, here's her link:

 

http://www.stonegableblog.com/2012/06/coffee-bar.html

 



Love And Hate

When I returned from my trip to Illinois last month, I brought back this old tattered gray drawer thingy, which I bought at the flea market.

While it was love at first sight for me, not so much for Wild Bill.

 

 

The first time I saw it, I said "Oh My"

 

Wild Bill said the same thing, but not in a good way!

 

His was more of a "Oh...My!"

 

Is it that men cannot see the beauty in a little shabbiness?

 

Someone please explain?

 

 

 

Joining these parties this week...where people with better taste than Wild Bill will surely share my opinion:

 

 

http://www.astrollthrulife.net

 

http://www.savvysouthernstyle.net

 

http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com

 

http://www.frommyfrontporchtoyours.com

 

 

 



Decision Made

My last post asked for opinions on bar stools. I want to thank everyone who gave their advice. It was really helpful.

Despite all three of my daughters saying return them, I did decide to keep them.

 

Here are all 3 stools at the kitchen counter.

Everyone who responded agreed the stools don't look as nice as the ones in the catalog and on-line. The quality is just not the same.

 

Freddy and Petunia commented that the company might have changed manufacturers to get a better price. I agree with her.

 

Other comments that helped me decide to keep them came from bloggers who pointed out they will probably get distressed after a while anyway, and it probably wouldn't be worth the effort to return them. Agree!

When I looked at the return policy of the store it did

seem a real hassle to return them.

 

This taught me to only order ONE of something in the future. Then, only if I think the quality is good, will I buy any others.

 

So, I'm taking the advice to live with them for a while. Then if I still want more distressing, I'm going to distress them by sanding down the seats to get rid of the black paint and wiping them down with dark wood stain, especially the silver feet (yuck)!

 

Sharon at Elizabeth and Co gave me a tip she uses:

 

"If it doesn't WOW you, move on!"

(Don't keep going back to look at them)

 

Advice I will use in the future as this always get me in trouble.

Among others, Irene said she liked the mix of the new stools with the old looking distressed cabinets. And, Butterfly and Bungalow pointed out the 'masculine' stools worked with the 'feminine' Country French kitchen. I wish she'd stopped there!

 

She went on to send me a link to Crate & Barrel's vintage style bar stool that she bought...

 

Perfect!

 

 

If I could go back to the start, these are what I would order.

 

But, I'm going to make the others work.

Believe me when I say -- no one paid me for this post. Only expressing an opinion and hoping it will help someone else avoid a costly mistake in the future.

I'm sharing this advice at:

http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com

 

Need Your Opinion

Here's a question, please help!

I really need some advice quick...

I spent a year trying to decide if the Restoration Hardware's Toledo vintage bar stools in distressed black would look good with our aged kitchen cabinets.

There's a little black in the granite counter, and there's a black tone in the stain used to age down the cabinets.

But...the stools don't look distressed to me like the catalog shows.

Also, they have silver caps on the legs, which isn't what the advertisements show. I think it makes them look too new.

 Here's a close up of the stool. The seat is supposed to look like wood with a black stain. This seat is so black you can't see the wood.

Since none of the stores carry this color for display, I could only see the finish in the catalog and on the Internet. This is not what I expected.

We ordered 3 stools when they went on sale last week. They arrived by UPS on Wednesday night. We opened 1 box, but left the other 2 unopened in case we decide to return them.

What do you think ladies?

Return or keep?

Please leave a comment with your opinion.

Here's the catalog picture. The distressed black is on the bottom left:

http://catalogs.restorationhardware.com/spring/WebProject.asp?CodeId=7.7.1.5&BookCode=spr13flx&SectionIndex=0&PageIndex=276



sharing at:
http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com

Let Freedom Ring

 

 

I come from a family of veterans. I don't think I've ever shared on this blog the fact that I am one.

Being a very patriotic bunch, we all served during periods of war.

My great-grandfather, Ami, served in the Calvary on the Union side in the civil war and lost a finger from bayonet wounds.

My uncle Sperry was a POW in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp during WWII. His little brother (my father) lied about his age (16) to go to war to find and save him.

My two older brothers and I all volunteered for service during the Viet Nam War. Both brothers served in the war zone while I served in the Philippines at an Air Force base that provided support to the war effort.

Luckily for me, I joined the Air Force in 1969, just when they decided to let women attend Air Traffic Control School. There were just a few of us at first. Nobody expected us to make it, but we did.

When I look back, it's really surprising how shocked men were that women could handle the job!

I was the first female Air Traffic Controller to be stationed in Southeast Asia during the war, and the first female to work in a Radar Approach Control.

As an Air Traffic Controller, I was able to talk my way into many exciting adventures to familiarize myself with what the pilot was experiencing.

So, though I love to decorate with whimsy using the red, white and blue... and chickens and other barnyard friends... I do not take our liberty and independence for granted.

On this July 4th, I give thanks to those who gave their lives to protect our freedom. God bless America and the current men and women who serve.


Join me at these parties and celebrate July:

http://thepolohouse.blogspot.com  (Favorites On The First)

http://elizabethandco.blogspot.com

http://astrollthrulife.net

http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com

http://frommyporchtoyours.com

http://savvysouthernstyle.net

http://alderberryhill.com

http://betweennapsontheporch.net

http://thebrambleberrycottage.blogspot.com