Help For Your Thingies!

As a ROOMIE, you know how important it is to be surrounded by THINGIES. We all feel a pull to gather whatever THINGIES tug at our hearts for one reason or another. Maybe it reminds us of dear relatives, or a moment that made our past special. And yes, you know you can count on the monthly openings at Room With A Past to find your THINGIES, but now--what to do with all the lovely THINGIES in your home?

We've got an easy tip that requires just one finger! CALL US! Who better than the "Queen of ROOMIES" to lend you a hand? Owner Susan Goodman has been putting roomfuls of THINGIES together in eye-catching, organized displays for years, and she shows no signs of stopping any time soon! She listens to your needs and can (with what seems like magic) organize your furniture and collectibles to fit your style in a jiffy! Prices start at $75.00, depending on size or how many collections there are.

(Photos from August issue of Romantic Homes Magazine)

You can call to contact Susan at (925) 933-1903. Give us a ring to get help with your THINGIES today!

Did We Mention We Got A Mention?

One of our loyal customers, Fenima, discovered us about 6 months ago and kindly asked if she could take some pictures to post on her brand new blog Vintage Therapy. We were thrilled to say "YES", and now we're happy to say "Thank you" as well! As I recall, she and her husband came in and ended up buying a little something for one of her own little ones, in addition to some great items for herself!

We also want to thank the very talented Tara Campell, at Real Life Decorating & More

who has Room With A Past listed under her favorite resources! Her blog is all about "providing trends, ideas, resources, local events & MORE." We noticed her most recent post points the way to some fabulous savings on fabrics. Check out her great eye for color and easy DIY projects!

And a third mention came from Bonnie at Interiors By Design,

who was astonished by our great prices! She not only fell in love with our monthly sales, she posted a picture of how one of her finds is being used in her home! So often we are only privy to the beginning and middle of a decorating story. It was a real treat for us to hear about a happy ending.

Do you have a happy ending you'd like to share about something you've purchased at one of our monthly sales? Please contact us! We'd love to know all about it!

Before And After

We've gotta have vision, time and bristles to spare when we're ready to perform some magic on the finds we've collected between our sales!


Before


After




We're down on our knees and up on our toes. A ladder to get a boost up is a must too!

Before

Before



And ta-da!



After


After


But our work's not done when the paint dries. Now it's time for a little muscle, hammers & lots of nails and a sense of color & placement to pull it all together!


From scattered treasures:




To organized pleasures:


It's almost time to turn on the lamps and open the door! We hope you can join us for our opening this month on July 16, 17, 18, & 19th, when we Escape To Treasure Island! Until then, we'll be behind the closed curtain, getting ready for our "next act"!
(You can sign up HERE to receive our monthly email announcement here to keep you up on all the news

Did We Mention That We Got A Mention?

Please excuse my faux paus of forgetting to be vocally thankful to Jill Mitchell of "Le Trip", a noteworthy site that gives visitors (novice and not-so) tips and insider info on getting what they want out of their trip to France. She stopped by the shop in May, and added us as one of the best places to visit when you're NOT in France! But when you are planning a trip, please check out her blog. Lodging? History? Shopping? Fashion? A Flea Market (I'm getting giddy just at the thought!) perhaps? It's almost like she's right there, knowledgeably pointing out spots on your flimsy paper map and then re-folding it for you too! You can check out her calender of buying tours for the French vintage buff. As she states, "Visiting France with Le Trip is an experience we hope will give you memories to cherish for a life time."

Vintage Thingies Thursday ~ Patriotic Old School

Who doesn't love red, white & blue? We've met lots of people that collect Americana and display it year-round, not just in July. Here are a few things from our June opening that you might have seen:


Love the tea-time teapot, red-handled "cake separator", vintage blue-checked apron and enamel pots!


Vintage pot holders, wood knife holder, and see that card with the happy homemaker on it? That is a product from the 40's called "Mend-Its". If you get a hole in one of your pots, you can use the two metal disks to plug it up! Now that's thrifty American ingenuity to make you proud! Hope you have a safe & happy Fourth of July!

Have a hankerin' for more vintage goodies? You can see more vintage items every Thursday at Colorado Lady's blog.

Flea Market Finds

You need this book. Why? Your first clue is: you look around your house and find it hard to find a flat surface to fold your laundry. Did you say "Yes"?

Yeah, we heard you. Don't be ashamed my fellow Roomie. It's only an outward sign that your brain has lots of ideas! Now it's time to go "Jefferson" with those ideas and move on up to the next stage of actually DOING something with them.

This book takes "old hat" and makes it new again!

You already know where to find the goods if you're in need. (Hey--we've got these old windows in the shop right now!)

And these look really familiar too!

But if you've already got linens, trays, furniture, china (yes, keep going)....

or a collection of unusually cool stuff

that you want to utilize in a completely new way for a one-of-a-kind look that will knock your friend's (or your own) socks off

then YOU, my true blue Roomie friend, NEED this book! There are 160 pages waiting to help you turn your finds into something fabulous. Not only are there are TONS of projects, but clear instructions on HOW to transform them.

Get green and use that fireplace screen!

See this garden border made of chipped china plates? This is something I've always wanted to do myself.

But if I found some busted-up plates, this would be the next project on my list:

You'll be a fan soon enough!

On a scale of 1-4 (one for each chamber of my DIY heart) this soft-cover book gets a four! Priced at $19.95, it's a FIND in itself!

Flea Market Finds: Instant Ideas & Weekend Wonders. Published by Leisure Arts (http://www.leisurearts.com/) ISBN:1-57486-246-4

Home & Garden Tour D'Jour

What most means HOME to you? Is it who is in your home? Is it the happy times spent there surrounded by things you love? Maybe a little patch of dirt you can call a GARDEN? This month we focus on all these things during our opening dates from Thursday June 11 - June 14th.

Don't expect to find the things you might see on some of the other Home & Garden Tours going on around the county this time of year. Don't look for cookie-cutter modern furniture arraigned in tightly grounded groupings or expansive yards planted with exotic specimens.

What you will find is a meandering path amongst unique, quirky, one-of-a-kind items you want, maybe something you need, but surely something that will make you SMILE, or have you REMEMBER what is it that makes your house a HOME where you'll want to spend your time.