Furniture Fair Today!

The sun is shining, there is a soft sea breeze blowing, the temps have cooled off, and it's a perfect time to discover a new place. Come to Stanwood and visit the famous fair this weekend, and stop by Poppyseeds on State route 532... we've brought the big tent and filled it up with fabulous goodies at killer prices. Including the white Piano Bar. You don't want to miss this!




There's a parade on Main Street Saturday morning at 11 AM - come for the fun, then stop in and see us afterwards! We're here until Sunday afternoon....

I Spy.....

We went to Mill Creek on Saturday, to visit Cindy's shop Haley's Cottage. Previous incarnations of this beautiful home decor emporium have been in Snohomish and Bellevue Square, and now it's located in Mill Creek Town Center, at 1502 Main Street.

While we were in the store, I spied this sweet cherub wearing one of my Junk Queen Crowns! Cindy bought quite a few things from us at Farm Chicks, and they are now available in her store.... the drum lampshade with the ruffled ribbon trim, a few lamps with music sheet collage shades.... what fun to see them here, awaiting a new home!

Isn't she charming?!

We went there to scope out the parking lot... no, no highjinks after dark are planned, no junk raids or dumpster diving! Cindy will be hosting a French Flea Market event in September, and we are participating in it. We wanted to get a look at the parking lot so Bob could plan his assault with the trailer for load-in on the morning of the event. We are talking a VERY early morning load in, so being prepared is important for his state of mind. Please plan on attending the Clock Tower French Flea Market on September 12 from 10 AM to 8 PM. Click the link in the sidebar, which will take you right to Cindy's blog for more info!

Pointing You In the Right Direction....

Hey kids, mark your calendars... Sand Point is coming up in a month!

Does this look interesting? Make ya' wanna' check it out? Good!
I was contacted by Dennis Eros to create a new blog design for the Sand Point Antique & Design Market. I took it a bit further and created a whole new brand image for it... whaddya' think?

(And, ah, Bob will testify to the fact that halfway through the graphics, I let out a laugh. I was looking at the various hands from vintage ads I had chosen to use in the design, and suddenly realized the pun: Sand POINT Market. Get it?! Took me awhile!) I think the heat is gettin' to me, but I'm not complaining....

Check out the blog and all of the great info & resources in the sidebar. More to come! You can even grab a blog button to help promote Seattle's own show. C'mon, let's all make this the best it can be.....

Fair Game!

Join Retreat at Poppyseeds in Stanwood for a Furniture Fair!

We figured since the Stanwood-Camano Fair is running from July 31 to August 2, we needed to do something BIG... so here it is, folks! We'll haul our big tent to the Poppyseeds parking lot, set it up, and fill it with the FABULOUS one of a kind furniture that only we can bring you. For three days only - Friday, Saturday, and Sunday - you can shop Designer Direct!

It's easy to get here: Located between Marysville and Mt. Vernon. Exit 212 from I-5, East onto Hwy 532 and 6 miles East to Stanwood. Poppyseeds is located at 26915-98th Drive NW Stanwood, Washington, on the right side of Hwy. 532 next to John L. Scott Realty (and just past Starbucks!) 360.629.73339

JUNK!!!!!!!

We are a crazy bunch, are we not? Who but we junkers becomes irrationally excited over finding a garage or barn or warehouse filled to the brim with old, rusty, crusty, musty stuff? Stuff that someone else discarded as useless.... yet to us, it's raw materials for new creations, or additions to a collection, or pure inspiration. We see the endless possibility in it, where others saw only the end of its original use. (We are SUCH visionaries, my friends!)

Junk hanging from the rafters, junk piled on the floor, junk tumbling out of crates and boxes and bins...

Junk covered with grime and dust and dirt and grease.... ahhhhh. As they say, one man's trash is another man's treasure.

A pile of old broken clay pots can become an arrangement that is a work of art, or a mosaic, or a million other things. All it takes is inspiration and a willingness to step outside of the catalog or box store. ;0)

Junky old fence and stone column. Brought to life in a garden with a bounty of roses. Sigh. I love this life...... don't you?!!!

The Sea Queen

I made a few crowns in a new style for the BarnHouse show, using silver wire and seashells to evoke a beachy, summer mood that complimented our theme for the show. Tresa and her daughter visited us in our space on Saturday, and bought a few of them.Thursday, I received this sweet email from them:

Hi, Bob & Deb!
Bought 2 of your precious crowns at the BarnHouse and just had to share these pics - this is Seanna (pronounced Sea Anna) She just turned 4 and loves anything and everything mermaid. Her twin brother, Caleb, calls her the Mermaid Highness.

Thanks again - we can't wait to take our treasures to the beach for more pics.

Hugs,

Tresa and Seanna Collins

Tresa also sent along some photos of 'Her Mermaid Highness', modeling her very own Sea Queen tiara. I think we can safely say that this particular little princess is worthy of her title! What adorable poses!

Tresa, thank you SO much for sharing your sweet girl with us. It is a joy to see our creations being loved and enjoyed. (And I'm betting Seanna loves the pink polka dot parasol from Aleta as much as she loves the tiara from us!)

Summer at the Beach

We are now featuring our summer theme, Beach Cottage Retreat, in our room at Poppyseeds.

If you have a party coming up this summer, we have some terrific decor ideas - like using old Scrabble game boards as placemats and Scrabble tiles as placemarkers! (People LOVED that at the show last weekend). You'll find vintage papers and old books to create invitations and banners, as well.

Whether you live near the water on a lake, river, ocean, or stream, or even in a high-rise mid-town apartment, you can surround yourself with the carefree style of a beach cottage all year long. These lighthearted colors and styles make every day a vacation...

From American Country style or Swedish Traditional to Cottage Chic, crisp white with accents of red and blue are a classic look at any time of year. Visit Poppyseeds in Stanwood, Washington to see these products from Retreat.

Next up for us is the late August Sand Point Antique & Design Market in Seattle, and a September Paris Flea Market in Mill Creek. Stay tuned for more info soon... we'll have some lovely fall seasonal decor styles in store for you!

Barn People!

I made a slideshow to share more of the amazing visions from last weekend's BarnHouse Flea Market...

For more beautiful photos of the show, visit these fabulous blogs:
Shabby Scraps
Mimi Charmante
Bella Shabby
BarnHouse Boys
Robin

Retreat Collections: Beach Cottage Retreat

Our theme for the BarnHouse Flea Market was 'Beach Cottage Retreat', and so we gathered materials, designed & created furnishings & decor accessories to inspire you to relive your summer vacation every day in your home. Now, that being said, I'm not advocating that you 'theme' your home decor like we theme a booth display in our 'over the top' fashion! But just as a jar of shells gathered on a beach will remind you of a wonderful trip, a table or chair or cabinet or lamp that expresses the cool, calm, relaxing feel of being in a beach cottage can bring peace to your soul and functional beauty to your rooms all year round. That is what all of our seasonal collections are designed to do.

Bob outdid himself with one of a kind designed tables, cabinets, and hall trees (which he calls 'Butler's Tables' but I have never seen a Butler anywhere around here....), plus reconditioned dressers, and chairs. Our pre-show photos of each design show the incredible details he puts into every piece:

We do have people at shows who see a table in our space, haul their hubby over, and say something along the lines of 'Oh, we can do that, it's just a door'. They could put some legs on a door, sure. What we know those people miss is that it's the attention to detail, quality of construction, and use of antique, vintage, and reclaimed materials paired with impeccable finishes that make Bob's furniture stand out above the rest: That table is, indeed, a vintage door. It's also a fabulously carved set of Eastlake legs that were missing parts and have been re-milled, plus some 1920's clamshell moulding with original paint to add depth and balance to the table's scale, all combined with excellent construction to last a lifetime. It's not a thrift shop find slapped with paint and glaze! He's a cabinet & furniture maker extraordinaire, and I just love seeing the amazing things he designs and creates. Judging from the responses at shows, so does everyone else!

Our home decor accesories, like signs, lamps, wall pegracks, chalkboards, and more, all coordinate with each of our color schemes and seasonal themes, so that even if you can't fit a table into your room or budget, (or car!), you can take a bit of our Retreat home with you.

And at shows, it all comes together to create a magical setting that transports you to another place and a favorite memory, where all you have to do is sit back & relax. Welcome to our Beach Cottage Retreat! More photos of our space next time.

The Retreat Estate @ BarnHouse

Oh, I have SO much to share with you about the BarnHouse Flea Market Show! It was FABulous! But since Jermonne already posted about this on the BarnHouse Boys blog, I felt I had to play catch-up and share some photos of our tent first. Take a gander at the 'tent' we created that was our home away from home for the past four days...

Inflatable air mattresses for the bed (inside an alcove with drapes and a mosquito net canopy) and the lounging sofa, both piled with pillows. The silver metal 'thing' is a small antique Middle Eastern heater - you put in candles or charcoals and it warms up chilly mornings.

You can barely see it in this shot, but I had a sign hanging on the center front post, telling people what this was and why we did it, and that they could certainly peek in and take photos - but please don't enter the tent if we weren't there.

Welllllllll.... they didn't see that sign, maybe. Or they didn't read it. Or care. Because there were several 'parties' held in our tent in our absence! I saw lots of people walking around in there during the show. Then I walked in Saturday afternoon to grab a sandwich, and the pillows from the beds were strewn about, the chairs were all moved, and the cookies in the cooky bowl were even gone!!! Bob walked in on a lovely elderly couple, sitting in the adirondack chairs resting. They asked him if he didn't think that this was a perfect little rest stop that they show had thoughtfully provided!!! He just smiled and said yes, and patiently waited for them to leave before he had his sandwich. Funny! One of the dealers suggested that I get some wire fencing to close off the entry next time we do this.... might be an idea.
Brilliant Bob found a way to hook the chandelier up to a battery charger and make it work, so every night we had about an hour of delicious light! We also had some smalll sconces in the sleeping alcove that were powered by taplights.
The tent, also known as 'The Taj Mahal', 'The Tent Mahal', and 'The Retreat Estate', from the outside. It's 20X20. Yes, it's overkill, I know. But I'm a 'Go Big or Go Home' kind of gal. And I truly truly thought that Cindy of Tarte was gonna' come in with all her creative guns blazing, and I wanted to at least be IN on the competition. I didn't know we were gonna' SWEEP it!!!!

Dear sweet Robin of Bird Tweets took photos of the tent for over an hour.... I just can hardly wait to see them. She is an incredibly talented girl with stamina and energy that is enviable. She began photographing during setup on Friday, and didn't stop until long after the show ended on Saturday.... Robin, thank you for your kindness and time and generosity.
We invited Joe & Jermonne to have dinner with us on Thursday night, before the other campers & dealers arrived. Bob prepared a marvelous repast and we had a lovely time visiting with the guys. These are such genuine, generous, talented men.... we are blessed to call them friends. Thank you, gentlemen, for being such an inspiration to so many people!

More photos and updates from the VERY wonderful BarnHouse Flea Market show to come... it's a day of 're-entry' here on the farm.

The Countdown Begins...

It's loading day! Time to pack up all of our fabulous goodies for the trip South to the BarnHouse Boys Farm. Over 20 of the best dealers from the Northwest have been invited to participate in the Flea Market show this weekend, and we are SO thrilled to be among them. We've got a great story for you this time, one to make your summer vacation last all year long! Plus, we have designed an amazing GLampsite that we are entering in the BarnHouse Dealers 'Tent Decorating' Competition... this ain't no 'tent', and I really can't say more. There are spies. ;0)

Visit the BHBoy's Blog for more information, directions (and there's a road closure, so you'll need these to get there!), a complete list of dealers, and more... we hope to see you there!

Inspiration & Evolution

Hi guys, it's Bob... thought you might like to see how a discarded piece of furniture turns into something special here at Retreat! This 60's cabinet/server, above, is one of the items we got from Beth Evans-Ramos earlier in the week. Deb & I stood and looked at it, trying to figure out how to make it into something with a more current look AND fit in with the theme we will have for you at BarnHouse next weekend. It took us a bit, but some spirited discussion and a serendipitous movement of the flag in our yard inspired us. And between the two of us, we finally came up with a game plan (it's fun when that happens!)... here's what we did:

Added a new top, made from some old T&G siding (also from Beth), and some moulding to trim it.
Made the legs a bit shorter, to remove the tapered ends. Added finials as feet.
Took the door and drawers and enhanced the 'board' effect. I deepened existing grooves and added a few to the drawers, to make this look like we had assembled it from miscellaneous parts. Added some old ceramic knobs, too. Then Deb did her magic with paintbrushes (using some paint that Beth was discarding!), and the result is..... (drum roll, please).....
Something that you, we, and Beth find it hard to believe is the same piece we started with!!! Pretty cool, huh?! Deb said we needed to share the story of its transformation because it looks like a brand new piece by Lane Furniture or something...but I disagree. I think our stuff is much more interesting than anything by Lane. Thanks, Beth, for providing the raw materials that became this one of a kind piece of furniture for someone to love!
Oh, and this beauty has friends! Lots more 'pieces with personality' for your home or summer beach house will be in our space at the BarnHouse Flea Market next Saturday.... right in the center of the barn, under the awning. Come see us!