What I Bought at the Country Living Fair

Yesterday I wrote about my Country Living Fair experience. It grew quite long, so I decided to do a separate post on my Country Living Fair purchases.

Much of the merchandise at these fairs is pretty pricey. Constant Companion Nancy and I enjoy the thrill of the hunt for bargains. Here is what I found.

Our first purchase–a pair of old clock faces. We thought these were just beautiful, and we each had to have a pair. Can’t really say what we’ll use them for, but hopefully something amazing!

I have to admit, looking at this box now, I can’t quite capture the feeling I had when I first saw it. Maybe it was the lighting? Or the other items in the booth? I’m not quite sure what so enraptured me by it. But this is a before picture. In a minute you’ll see the after–it’s much better, I promise(!). You see how dark the lid and handle are? That’s years of grime, which a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser allowed me to wipe off nicely.

I really love old tins and this cake tin from about the 1890s caught my attention. The price was right, so it came home with me 🙂

Here are my finds, cleaned up and posing with my rosemary topiary (Rita at Panapoly guessed it right!). You can see how much cleaner the lid to my box is after a good scrubbing with the Magic Eraser. I also gave it a good rub down with some Howard’s Feed ‘N Wax, which brought out the color of the wood and moisturized the bottom of the box, which had dried out considerably. The tin received a mineral oil rub down to enhance and protect.

The box now sits on the floor next to our couch in the family room and contains the twenty-five-some-odd remotes it takes to operate our television. The rosemary graces my foyer dresser and makes me smile every time I enter the house. It was the one item I knew I wanted to purchase at the fair this year. Not sure what’s going to happen with the cake tin…

This photo is a little teaser. A while back I bought an old chest for $5.00. I hemmed and hawed over what color/style to paint it and finally settled on my frequently-used “Pottery Barn” technique.

In the next few days I’ll show you some before and afters. I have to say, I’m pretty pleased with how the whole project turned out.

You might also be interested in this post about my day at the fair:

 

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