Thompson Family-Life

one of those once-in-a-lifetime finds

I'm not sure why it takes me so long to share some things on this blog, goodness. It's been about six months since I found this amazing piece in Amsterdam at the Noordermarkt, a local flea market there. It was definitely one of those double-takes... but instead of it being a handsome man spotted across a crowded room, it was a large (around 46 inches wide), vintage, incredibly unique emboidery just bursting with handmade love. Definitely love at first sight.

I knew it when I saw it that A) it's too good to be true, so it must cost too much and B) Ethan's never going to let me bring that giant thing home with us on the plane (it was stretched around a wooden frame), not to mention we had more traveling to do (to Belgium) and we'd have to lug it around with us on trains, etc.

So I snapped a few pics and met back up with Ethan, but I couldn't get it out of my head.

I told Ethan about it and said I wanted to go see how much it was, and I brought him with me so that he could see it. When I asked the seller how much, I clenched up waiting for the inevitably outrageous price and heard "$20". A look must have come across my face that made him think I thought that was too high (which I didn't, obviously!), so he quickly said, "ok, $15."

Trying to keep my game-face on (and not doing a very good job, I'm sure.. never take me with you to buy a car), I walked quickly over to Ethan and told him. He gave it a look-over and I knew he was thinking "this thing is too big, and it's wrapped around a wooden frame, so it can't be folded down... and..." 

I told the seller we had traveled from the States and was worried about transporting it back and he was like "well, you could always take it off the frame.."

BINGO. I was all over that. Before I knew it, I was the proud owner of this lovely thing and I convinced Ethan it would be no biggie to get it off that frame. He being the good husband he is, went along with it with no complaints and even tracked down the tools we needed to pry the piece from the frame. It came off easily and I was able to fold it up and easily take it home with me.

I have no idea if this is an original piece or if it was made from a mass-produced pattern, BUT, my guess is that it's an original piece. It seems too freeform and unique and LARGE. I can't imagine this came as part of a craft kit of something. It's definitely European, so maybe my European readers might have an idea?

I absolutely love the mix of appliquéd fabrics, patterns and felt, and the sketch-like handstitching. Most of all, I adore the very expressive looks on the children's faces.

It really needs to be cleaned, but I just don't know how to go about doing that. Part of me doesn't want to mess with it, and I wouldn't clean it myself. I was going to iron it, but don't want to set any of the dirt. All in all, the condition doesn't bother me, I'm just so glad it was salvaged. I have no idea how old it is. Can anyone take a guess? I'm going to stretch it around either a pre-made canvas, or buy some stretcher bars and put it together myself. We have an amazing art supply store in Atlanta that sells many different sizes and shapes of premade canvases, so I'm going to bring it with me to see if it fits any. Then I need to find the perfect place to hang it.

Do you have any experience with cleaning vintage embroideries/canvas? Any tips?

Have you ever found something so unique and amazing while traveling that you just couldn't resist bringing it home?

Amsterdam Street Eye Candy & a Home Makeover

You guys, sorry for the lack of posting! It's been a crazy week. I think I'm still getting used to our new overly-scheduled life with school back in session and soccer schedules for both boys, and golf lessons for Cooper. (I know all you parents out there are shaking your heads.) The house has been a bit upside-down this week as well because the painters came (yay!)! They *just* finished and we officially have a very WHITE house. Yes.

And I *finally* have my white kitchen! (tears!) We now need to paint our vintage hutch that sits in the kichen (I can't decide if I'm going with peach or mustard), paint the tile backsplash and I need to design some decals for the tiles. I have ideas for those and I'm dying to get those designed & ordered. 

We've always done our own painting (minus the bathrooms that we had renovated) but we decided that painting the kitchen cabinets, two rooms and a hallway merited hiring someone. Boy, I'm glad we did. I feel spoiled! They did a fantastic job. (phew. You just never know when you hire someone.) I did have to get all annoying and ask them to do three coats (they thought 2 was enough.) We've always done 3 coats! What about you? 

After living in this house for so long, our walls have probably been painted 3 times over to go along with my ever fickle tastes. I never thought I'd be into white walls, but after seeing so many beautiful homes over the past few years on design blogs and elsewhere with white walls - and now that most of our walls are white, I'm definitely seeing why those spaces work so well. The rooms have such a calm feel to them. I now understand why Scandinavians love white so much. 

Not to mention, we needed white so badly if only to brighten up our cave-like home.

I've been Craigslisting a lot of decor, donating some, taking some to a consignment store in my attempt to edit, edit, edit what we have. I want to carefully decorate a space that isn't full of clutter while still displaying our vintage collections in a way that is aesthetically pleasing (and doesn't just make me look like a hoarder!) I LOVE the white mostly because I can be more daring with color in our decor. 

Mostly, I'm looking forward to eliminating as much BLUE as I can in this house. I naturally gravitate towards vintage blues (not to mention vintage blue florals!) - aqua, turquoise, minty blues, etc. I feel like I've relied too heavily on those in the past. They've kind of been a crutch. My goal now is to really streamline our color palette throughout the house, leaning more towards warm tones, like peach, coral, yellows, tangerine orange, chartreuse and vintage greens.

So that is where I am.

And that officially has NOTHING to do with the photos in this post! Believe it or not, my Amsterdam posts are coming to a close! I have one more Amsterdam post and one or two Belgium posts and that's it. :*( Sad face. I miss Europe so much when I do these posts, but at the same time, I'm glad I can revel in the memories.

These photos were taken on random street corners all over Amsterdam. It's such a beautiful, beautiful city. My favs: Miffy chocolates, a vintage wooden candle holder (?) collection in someone's window, kitschy wooden tulip and windmill souvenirs and beautiful flowers everywhere.

Now, I must get back to Campbell who has our first case of pink eye for the school year. Fun times. (Although, I have to admit, I look forward to sick days solely for the kiddo snuggles. : )

HEMA love

You didn't think I was done with my Netherlands/Belgium posts did you? ; )

So, I knew we had to visit a HEMA while over there. I'd seen people post about it on a few Dutch blogs and it looked like a place that any design lover would like. Kind of like our Target! But even better.

It did not disappoint. I walked around like a crazy woman with my camera taking pics. Can you imagine doing that in Target? (Well, I guess that wouldn't be so crazy.) And everything was so cheap! My favorite departments were the school supplies, craft supplies and, of course, the bikes. (I think the strap that holds down your soccer ball on the back of your bike seemed so charmingly European. Cooper would love that.) I am kicking myself for not buying one of those clocks.

I did bring home some things. I'll share those soon.

See more posts about our trip to the Netherlands and Belgium here.

Amstel Bikeride & visit to Ouderkerk aan de Amstel - Netherlands

After our bike ride to the Miffy shop, we walked a few shops down and got some food at a little Italian deli to take with us on our ride along Amstel River. While we were at a brew pub a day or two earlier, we ended up chatting with an American couple living in Amsterdam, and they recommend we ride our bikes along the Amstel. So we did! It was a beautiful ride. It was lovely to get out of the city and see all of the country homes and experience a slower pace. It is absolutely *gorgeous* in the country and we were truly impressed with the beautiful homes along the river. So dreamy.

We heard there were a few windmills along the ride, and you can't visit the Netherlands and not see a windmill! We parked our bikes in front of the first one and had a little picnic. The food was amazing. I took the opportunity to take a couple dolly pics. The area was so idyllic - straight out of a storybook!

We ended up in Ouderkerk ann de Amstel, such a sweet little town. It was in the middle of the day and we saw the kids let out of school and ride their bikes (of course) home. It's hard not to imagine raising your kids in such a beautiful place. We walked around, found a geocache, got a cup of coffee and rode our bikes home. It was such a memorable day. Even that time I wiped out on a gravel road. Yeh, that was awesome. (Did I mention there was a tour bus sitting right where it happened? Yeh, that.)

See more posts about our trip to the Netherlands and Belgium here.

The Loot! Shopping in the Netherlands & Belgium: The Book Edition

I finally started photographing my shopping purchases from our trip! I don't know why, but the idea of photographing everything has felt daunting! But here we go. I thought I'd start with some of my most prized purchases - vintage books. I found some at the IJ Hallen flea market, one I found at a thrift store in Delft, but most I found at a thrift store in Antwerp!

I can't really pick favorites because I was pretty thrilled at everything I found, but these comic books are pretty fantastic.

And the gnome books! I noticed there was never a lack of gnomes in the Netherlands. Gnome (♥) Love Forever!

I'm going to show you the insides of all of these books, but I'll save this one for Christmas this year.

Pam is pretty groovy, isn't she?

And you don't often find cute books featuring little boys, but how about this little lad? I dig his turtle neck...

This one I'm most proud of.. the illustrations inside are a-ma-zing.

This little redhead is too cute! And check out his red overalls adorned with a little blue apple! 

The books were published mostly through the 70's up through '80, '81. I'll share more specific details about the books in future posts. 

The fabrics you see in the background are a few samples of what I purchased at that fabulous vintage fabric booth at the Noordermarkt.

Sometimes I don't know what I'm doing collecting all of these books. I just love childrens' books. Especially from this era. The illustrations make me so, so happy! Collecting makes me really happy. But it's something I struggle with from time to time. Just filling my home with these collections. Taking up space (although books are a great thing to collect, they don't take up a lot of space!). I wonder, who will appreciate these things when I'm gone? I wonder if my boys will appreciate them as something I loved, or maybe their significant others will be into them.

But then I think, sometimes it's just enough to have them, knowing that I might have "saved" them. I can appreciate them in my home, flip through them from time to time, share them with with my boys, and with you. And that is really enough for me. It makes it really worth it.

How do you feel about collecting things? Do you have lots of collections? Or keep them to a meaningful few?

See more posts about our trip here.