Yesterday’s visit to the Country Living Fair was efficient, to say the least. I know from past experience that it’s best to get there before the 10 am opening. I arrived about 45 minutes or so before the gates opened, bought my ticket, and then I scrolled through Instagram on my phone while waiting.
(Why didn’t I get the entire truck in this photo??)
I am also pretty familiar by now with who is there and where their booths are. Of course, there are changes every year, but the majority of the vendors come back every year. By this point, I know exactly where I want to start. There are a lot of exhibitors, by the way.
I didn’t take very many pictures. I was ‘on the move’ and wanted to get in and out within a couple of hours.
Anyway, once the gates were opened, I walked to my favorite starting point and took it from there. I ran into the Editor, Rachel Hardage Barrett, who I met a few years back. She was buying a vintage oil painting of a ship. Beautiful.
I was scouting vintage garden items. There were a lot of them but, as I find true with most items at the Fair, the prices were just too high. This is a big event, the vendors have a ready-made audience, and they price accordingly. That isn’t a criticism, as much as it’s a fact. I know there is a lot involved with selling anywhere; travel, setup, all the expenses that go into buying and selling, and prices are marked up accordingly.
So, nothing on the garden front. However, I did buy a gardening hat and it’s the best one I’ve ever seen – fits beautifully, and it’s a pale aqua to boot.
The Fair gets really crowded, especially on the weekend. That’s why I go early. But it got crowded very quickly yesterday, which makes visiting vendors more difficult. It’s increasingly hard to walk down the aisles or maneuver into a specific booth. That’s why I was out of there in two hours. It just isn’t my thing to be in a crowd for any length of time in which I can hardly move and have to maneuver around people who are blocking aisles. I get impatient and it tires me out.
I visited one booth where two ladies sell vintage items. They have an Airstream that they use for travel and they set it up right beside their booth. They also had a mini-Airstream that was a cooler!
It was here that I discovered my big find of the day. I wasn’t even looking for it, which makes it all the more delightful.
Back story: I’ve been pricing a made-to-order butcher block top for the kitchen island. Ever since Don put a hot pot on the top, promptly removing the paint, we’ve been thinking about what to do about the surface. Yes, I could have repainted it, but the cream colored paint always chips and it’s hard to keep clean. Don thought tile would be a good idea, which I immediately nixed as we have tile countertops in the kitchen and my dream is to get rid of them someday. A butcher block top that fits the dimensions of the island would run from about $390 to well over $400, unless I got one from IKEA, but then I’d have to find someone who could cut it to fit and the whole thing made my head spin. I almost ordered the least expensive top several times, but something made me hold off.
Then I saw this vintage bread board. It’s old and weathered and quite large. Eyeballing it, I was pretty sure it would work. I knew it wouldn’t cover the entire island but that, to me, would make it all the more striking. After hemming and hawing, I bit the bullet and bought it. It was $85.00. One of the ladies told me that she has some vintage boards at home and she uses olive oil on them.
This is the way it looked when I bought it – I took this picture as I was on my way to the car and texted it to Don. Already gorgeous at this point.
When I got home, I cleaned and disinfected it. Then I grabbed the olive oil. Two coats later, this is what we have:
The color of the board changes with the light, so I’ll probably post another photo soon.
Sigh. I really love it. Don does, too. (And it nicely covers up the evidence of Don’s ‘hot pot episode.’)
And $85 instead of $400? Much better!
The only other thing I purchased was this tin; cake tin? bread tin? It’s incredibly rusty, inside and out, and I have no idea what I’m going to do with it, but I’m drawn to that shade of green and to the hand painted and chippy flowers. Oh, and that glass knob, as well.
If you haven’t been to the Fair and you get the opportunity, you should go. It’s an experience: lots of interesting vendors, workshops, speakers and it’s on a gorgeous site at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds in Rhinebeck, NY. Country Living does a bang-up job – it’s lovely.
I bought this bouquet from a local farmer via my favorite natural food store. Peonies, allium, foxglove – how could it get any better?
Ah, the sun just came out. Since Sunday, Monday and Tuesday will be filled with rain, I’m going to enjoy my gardens and the birds and the porch today.
Edited to add: What the heck? Now it’s going to rain a bit this morning. That wasn’t on the weather forecast when I got up this morning!
Happy Saturday.
I love the breadboard and the tin! I’m with you on the crowd thing, too, so I admire you for even venturing into the chaos. I’m sure I’d think of a reason not to go…and then be sorry I didn’t.
This spring weather has me at a near depressed state! If we don’t get some sustained sunshine soon, I’m going to scream! All I want to do is stay in my jammies, light the fire, and goof around on the internet. So, nothing creative is happening here at present…poop! Guess I’ll go get some bread dough going.
It got cloudy suddenly and rain was in the forecast. Now it’s sunny and no rain. What the ????
p.s. THAT TRUCK!
Want.
If you don’t mind, I’d like to suggest using mineral oil on your cutting boards as it doesn’t go rancid. Just a thought. I use it all the time. Love the look of your board on the table.
I’ve seen both pro and con re olive oil, but I think I’ll take your advice and buy some mineral oil. Thanks, Dot!
Yes, mineral oil is what the pro’s use. Sometimes it’s just called ‘cutting board oil’.
I bought some today, washed the breadboard with a bit of Dawn, let it dry, then I added two coats of mineral oil for cutting boards. Looks lovely.
Sounds good. To disinfect it after use, cut a lemon in half and sprinkle one half liberally with coarse or flaked salt and use that to scrub the board. Brush the excess salt and lemon bits off with a damp paper towel. (The salt and acid will kill any bacteria.) Just a tip from the chefs in cooking school.
We probably won’t use it for cutting, we’ll use one of our other boards. Because it’s so pretty….
I’m with you about crowds. I love your island. I have a cutting board that I use for hot pans to protect our dining room table. I have forgotten about needing to oil it though. Oh, well.
I have a much smaller modern one that I’ve never oiled, either!
It looks so nice with the wood “Squirt” crate at the end of the table top; matchy-matchy in the best way.
I spied ‘Squirt’ because that’s a happy memory for me. When I was a little kid and we’d visit one of my aunties, she’d make cocktails and serve them in what are now considered to be vintage cups (handle-less cups [tumblers, but shorter, maybe 8 oz]; I was thinking tin but they must have been aluminum; the cold liquid would make them frosty; you see repros of these cups today on certain shopping sites). Although the adults got a ‘highball’, we kids would get Squirt on crushed ice in those same special cups as the grownups. These cups were each in a different color, pretty jewel tones, like one a bright magenta, another emerald-green; one was yellow-gold; I think one was purple. Would have been early 1960s but Auntie’d had them awhile. I just thought the cups were the cat’s meow. And I can just ‘see’ that green bottle of Squirt; it was such a refreshing drink out of the bottle. I guess they might still make it but I haven’t drunk soda like that in years. The old ads would show the green bottle and the Little Squirt cartoon character with the blonde swirl of hair.
Remember when Nabisco Saltines would come in a big box tin? Those were the days…
I actually bought that crate because it has Vernors on the other side and that’s the ginger ale I grew up with – bottled and made in Detroit MI. My dad loved Squirt, though, so I love that both of those names are on the crate. I do remember the tins that the saltines came in!
Such fun; I love these stories…
…but grieving now for beautiful England; London under siege. As I went about my mundane stuff of life on Saturday, I had no idea about the carnage; I wasn’t looking at headlines, so was clueless. Have been up at this hour with the ice-pack-on-the-neck thing, trying to get more informed with the online news, but can’t keep looking at the photos/video of the attacks; too upsetting, tears spilling out of my eyes. Poor, dear, innocent people just enjoying city night life, and now that night life is loss of life. As you said the other day, it’s as if the world has gone mad.
Heartbreaking and senseless. Insanity.
xo
The bread board is perfect and I would have bought it as well. The price was reasonable and if you and Don love it, then it’s worth it. Never buy anything you aren’t 100% sure about, go with your gut!
Maybe use the tin for more flowers?!
There’s always a reason I hesitate for a long time – even if I don’t know it at the time!
The breadboard looks great and is a good solution for your problem as well!
The tin is cute and i love your bouquet of flowers.They seem perfect for your cottage,as if they had come in from the garden for a visit!
Have a wonderful day!
I know! It’s as if I picked them myself, even though I didn’t.
The breadboard is gorgeous. Another distinctive detail in the cottage! You do have an eye, Claudia! The event we were going to attend today was unexpectedly cancelled at the last minute, last night by email. It will be rescheduled, but meanwhile, I have a free unplanned day. What to do what to do…
I hope you’ve had fun on your unplanned day, Wendy!
I keep saying I’m going to the Country Living Fair when it’s in Atlanta, but haven’t made it yet. It comes here in the fall. Love the bread board and it’s perfect for the island. I love the look of old wood, can’t be duplicated. The cute cake tin or whatever it is , cute!! You know I love greens and blues and of course my pinks! Off to see Sara and Scout today, it’s been a couple of weeks and I need some Mama/Grandma hugs!
I hope you’ve had a good time with your grandchildren today, Linda!
I love your purchases and I am reminded to put mineral oil on my shopping list. Enjoy your weekend. Our weather is looking lovely until Monday. xo Laura
I’ve re-oiled the breadboard – this time with mineral oil, and now I’m going to oil my regular cutting boards.
Claudia, if you scroll back through recent Susan Branch posts…pretty darn recent…she did one on oiling her wood tabletop (kitchen table) and she even oils her wooden spoons (and wooden pot handles; maybe even her kitchen counters?). All the good tips here and remembering that post of hers are reminding me I need to do some of my own ‘oiling’!
Yes, I remember her writing about that. I bought mineral oil today. It’s been oiled and it looks great!
I love seeing your ‘finds’!! You’ve got a great knack for knowing what’s going to be right for your home and that bread board is PERFECT for your home. And it’s curious indeed to know what that special green pot was used for (I’m particularly intrigued with the glass knob). Thank you for posting some photos; some of the fair looked like it wasn’t on grass but asphalt and, whoa, I bet that ‘water’ in the mini airstream is much needed as the day gets progressively warmer/humid, no?
Nothing on the docket here today except to have my husband get me to the post office because no one has picked up the mail from our post office boxes for six days (and he’s not familiar with the routine; one time I had him pick up the mail, and he didn’t lock the boxes afterward; unfortunately, at this location, there have been past incidents of mail theft, so I decided this has to be a joint task today, and I need to move around, try to turn my head a little and not get all ‘stove up’ any worse than I am; ‘stove up’ being an expression my papa would use sometimes). There’s a handicapable-access (I don’t like the word ‘handicapped’) where I can walk carefully/slowly and I’ll have my husband access the boxes which are situated somewhat high for my height even on a good day. Small town, so I was able to talk to my favorite p.o. clerk, he knows I was in an accident and is bundling my mail/parcels this week, tucking things safely away for me, with no complaints about anything stacking up. I’m not enjoying riding in a car; every bump hurts. And I find I keep looking-looking, eyes scanning, for the bad guy who crashed my car on Monday, so I’m going to have to get over that VERY fast. I talked to my doctor’s RN yesterday and she, in her past (twice, like me, 20 years apart for her, 40 for me) having been rear-ended hard and also with a totalled vehicle, said that it took her awhile the second time to even GET in a car again and that she couldn’t stop herself, for awhile, from nervously OCD-style checking her rearview mirror while driving, so afraid somebody was going to hit her again from behind. I’m on the alert to overcome these challenges. I am not letting that bad guy ‘win’ by stealing any portion of my wellbeing another minute!
Gosh I hope the rain stopped so you can enjoy your sunny day, Claudia! I hear much about the copious amounts of rain in the Northeast this year.
By the way, in your photos today, my eye instantly picked out that lovely vase of flowers. If the day gets dark outside, just enjoy the color and variety of that ‘slice of outdoors’/nature in the pretty bouquet!
I’m pretty sure the green piece is a cake tin. I can’t swear to it, but it sure looks like one.
It never rained! Such an odd morning, but whatever they thought was headed our way never arrived. Tomorrow? Yes. But today is lovely. We’ve had tons of rain this year and we’re headed for even more over the next week or two.
Take it easy after your trip to the post office, Vicki!
It does seem like a cake tin, where you’d pull off the lid by the decorative knob. I LOVE IT. I am into tins of any kind; I collect a lot of small tins, especially tea tins or old spice tins. Have ‘way too many; but like, oh swoon, I have one of my aunt’s from probably the 1930s(?) and it’s larger, like 8×10, so unmarred with no dents or scratches in that same lovely green as your new cake one but the images on my tin, which isn’t octagonal but more like a rectangular box with a scroll shape, are antebellum ladies in long gowns under those beautiful oak trees (long oak avenues) draped with Spanish moss; have wondered what the tin may have once contained…
So glad you got in a nice afternoon.
Wanted to restate how much fun it’s been to watch Don in the promos/clips for “Escape to Margaritaville”. He’s dancing right along with everybody; does he have a ukelele/singing solo? A lot of sites on the web are showing the little clips and I’ve come upon some more indepth articles where Jimmy is interviewed, talking about the musical’s beginnings/inception/creation. All very interesting. He seems to have some good people behind the whole thing.
I want to go see the musical BADLY as I do LOVE Jimmy Buffett and his music …plus, of course, it would be such a whoop of delight to see Don up there on stage. Tickets ain’t cheap and my prob is the driving distance (and leaving the senior-aged doggie for too long) but I’ll keep working on it; might be a pipe dream now because of my neck, though; will just have to see. If we go all that way (bit of a distance from where I live north of L.A.), I’d want to make it count and see some things in SD and La Jolla because I haven’t been there for many years (for instance, I’ve never been to Balboa Island). Anyway, I love the ‘escapism’ element of the musical and then add in all that bright color and music, what a great de-stressor…and we all need to find our ways in these days to de-stress, that’s for sure.
When would Don find out if he’s going to the musical’s next stop? He probably can’t get a haircut til then!
He has a couple of solos, I think. He’s always vague about this stuff, but he sings and plays the ukulele in at least two numbers.
I have no idea when he’ll find out – the additional city visits are in October.
But then I’m thinking, if it was a cake tin (it’s not a pedestal cake plate), how would they get the cake out of the tin, especially if frosted? Slice it from where it sits in the tin? Hmmmm…a mystery…but it’ll have a new life with you, so you’ve gotta let us know how you’ll eventually use it, Claudia! It may have had more than one ‘re-purposing” over the years.
I think it would be on a plate that sat inside the tin. Or maybe it was for cookies?
That wood looks fantastic after your hard work. And it looks so nice on your island. I so envy this fair being close to where you live. I don’t think they ever make it to our neck of the woods. Beautiful bouquet too, to me the more varied the flowers the better. I’m pushing my husband to add more cutting flowers to our gardens. Soft gentle rain all day so far here in SE Wisconsin. I have lots I want to do but it’s the kind of day that makes you just want to slow down and read, knit, whatever. The older I get, the more I appreciate these kinds of days!
I think they have the fair in Rhinebeck and Atlanta. Maybe one other city? But that’s it.
Enjoy your nicely slow day, Kay.
Wow wow wow!
I love the bread board. That looks fantastic. I have a love for mixing dark and light woods. I just LOVE it! And just a perfect solution.
The green pot. I swear you and I were
separated at birth. That has endless potential. I know you will put that to good use.
I love going to Fairs. I know most stuff is priced high but how can you put a price on someone’s labor? That’s tough.
You did good. Enjoy the rest of the day and take a peak into your kitchen and smile.
Monica👍
I’m still not sure what to do with it but it was so inexpensive, I couldn’t pass it up. Any ideas, Monica?
Just re-oiled the breadboard, did some dishes, and am inside after doing a lot of work outside. All good.
My first thought was to put flowers, live or dried, or a plant. But of course the lid would have to lay close by. Another thought is to use it in the office to place odds & ends, arts and crafts. I would use it just about anywhere. If you put some type of liner in it you could use it for fruit or whatever. Endless possibilities. I know you will put it to good use, even as decor.
I’m just going to let it hang out for a while until I get inspired!
I love all of your photos, Claudia. A perfect spring day. Our rain showers have been a bit unpredictable as well, and so we roll with it. Still not wet enough for our garden which my husband waters every couple of days. We actually need a good heavy soaking rain instead of these whimpy rains. That being said, it seems as though the lawn needs mowing constantly!
We’ve sort of had nothing BUT heavy soaking rains! I wish I could send you some! This is that time of the year when the lawn seems to grow by leaps and bounds in less than a week.
Love, love your vintage bread board! How perfect. You know Susan Branch has a post all about how she cleans and treats her wooden kitchen items. I do think she uses mineral oil.
I am drawn to that color of green on your cake tin too! That glass knob would have finished it for me. Enjoy, Claudia!
I know! The glass knob was just too perfect!
You did a great job with that vintage bread board. Glad you had a good time at the fair.
Marilyn
I did, Marilyn! The breadboard was a delightful surprise find!
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your butcher block. Like the contrast to the island. Great find!!
Judy
Thanks, Judy! I love it, too. It breaks up all the white rather nicely!
OMG! Great eye on the island top! Beautiful. Thanks for the trip though the fair. Fun.
You’re welcome! I have to say I’m thrilled with the breadboard. Even better than I’d hoped it would be!
I figured that fair would be crowded and over-priced, but I’m sure it’s fun to take it all in – and then like you said, leave within a couple of hours. Saw the breadboard on IG – amazing how it’s a perfect fit. Looks great on your white island.
Thanks, Melanie! The Fair is really well done and it’s worth it. Plus, there’s lots of design inspiration everywhere you turn.
I don’t think I would have ever heard of these fairs if it weren’t for blogging. I am like you, huge crowds are irritating for me although I am as guilty as the next for lingering and not being attentive to those around me. You nailed it on the prices…so many many customers and most wanting to go home with SoMeThInG!!! Love the wood board for your island. It’s perfect.
Trying to catch up on yard work all around, too. I’ve done nothing here in the city and I have to get moving if I want to escape to the lake again. And that’s all I want to do lately. I buy flowers and mulch and then I sit, relax and look at it! I sort of like the rain so I have an excuse to prolong the work. What is happening to me??!!
Have a great week.
Jane
You’re relaxing! And that’s a good thing!
cutting board looks divine Claudia!
Thank you! I really love it!
LOVE Love Love the breadboard on your island – it is perfect!
Thank you, Karen!