Shopping at SuzAnna's...........

If you've followed me for a while you may well recall the early days when SuzAnna's Antiques in Raleigh, North Carolina, was just the small yellow building in the center of the above picture.  Later, the white painted barn board addition was added on the left allowing more dealer spaces............and of course a lot more treasure to sigh over and want to bring home! 

Now I just know you've spotted yet another addition on the right side....................

..............almost ready to open, this new section with high walls and windows letting in the the Carolina blue sky and bright sunshine, will house even more dealers. 

For sale here will be beautiful antiques, furniture, shabby chic and vintage finds, home decor, chandeliers and lamps, artwork, garden pretties, jewelery, collectibles, linens and so much more.

Looking through the door I'm getting really excited because on the right hand side will be my booth, well not just mine, even more fun is that I'm sharing it with my wonderful friend Vanessa!  Maybe you followed Vanessa's former blog Vanilla Lavender which she put on hold earlier this year due to other commitments in her busy life.  Now she's ready to join me in a little 'shopkeeping' because together we feel we can bring lots of beautiful items together to enhance your home..........and at fair prices which will not break your decorating budget.

We always treasure hunt together, we love many of the same things, and we enjoy creating vignettes for simple living in smaller spaces, which is the way we live.  

We favor European farmhouse, vintage, shabby chic, and French country inspired decor......yes, a Brit and a Brazilian can accomplish these looks, and we will be more than happy to help you decorate your home with meaningful treasures.

We should be up and running as soon as the interior space is completed, most likely by next week.  If you live in the area we hope you'll stop by to see what we, and all the other great dealers, as well as fabulous owners Susie and Jenny, offer at SuzAnna's Antiques..............and, if you are on a road trip from somewhere else and plan to stop in Raleigh, do let me know so we can be at the shop to meet you.

Shopkeeping...............

Are you familiar with the saying "England is a nation of shopkeepers"?  It's one of Napoleon Bonaparte's quotations.  Only a Frenchman would notice something like that, perhaps because they have a billion little family run shops everywhere too, from Paris to Provence!

Kitchen shop in Aix-en-Provence - 2008

Yes, in England, as long ago as I can remember..............the English loved opening little shops selling everything from Earl Grey tea and scones fresh from the oven (everyone loves a teashop), to prim and proper school uniforms (which I had to wear!), all very British!  Even today, neighborhood shops struggle to keep going in the shadow of behemoth chain stores.

Shops are often in historic buildings such as these timbered 15th century Elizabethan ones in the beautiful river town of Dartmouth in Devon................

Kitchen shop in Teignmouth, Devon - 2009

........or even smaller trading spaces where it's necessary to display goods outside on the pavement.....

  
............because there's so much piled up inside.  My favorites - stacks of creamy white china!

Some English shopkeepers still live above the shop..................this is one of my favorites with bowed windows making it feel quite Dickensian.  They sell a little of this and a bit of that.  It's in the Devon resort town of Teignmouth where my cousin and her family live.

Here, whiling away a hour or so around the harbor at low tide in pretty Polperro, Cornwall a few years ago.....

................I found a shop that could only be in England, and it was for sale.  Wonder if anyone has since bought it and opened up to sell something very small!

If you're wondering why I'm "talking shop"..........come back tomorrow and I'll share some fun news with you!

Sprucing up the cottage...............

Today, despite this Labor Day holiday, I'm up early and I will be laboring, getting the cottage ready for good clean fun.  Well not actually fun.............more like just clean, as in new paint.  Yes, it's time again to clear off the porch, cut down the vines climbing up the posts - this breaks my heart as the jasmines have grown so well and looked so healthy this Summer despite the heat - shear off those gigantic hydrangeas, and give major haircuts to other larger shrubs in the front beds.  The area is looking sad and bare but I'm looking on the positive side. Perhaps all this barbering will rejuvenate the older plants, some fried to a crisp during this broiling Summer, give me a chance to amend the soil this Autumn, and hope for fresh new bloom next Spring.  The overgrown, blowzy, English garden look is history for a few years!  I'm telling myself it's all part of the push toward 'simplicity' both inside and outside the cottage..................

...................and as if that's not enough upheaval scheduled for the next two weeks, there's more!  Inside is getting a makeover too as tomorrow my painter will start removing the texture on the living room, kitchen, and entry hall ceilings, a messy job but it will look so much better once done.  Then he'll be painting the living room to lighten and freshen - changing the five year old pale sage 'Moselle' to Valspar's 'Bistro White'. 

I'm to be banned from the kitchen for a couple of days while it's wrapped in plastic - perhaps I'll have more time to blog and get caught up with you all.  I do know that we'll be heading to our favorite restaurants if we need nourishment!  I apologize for my lack of comments these past few weeks, I've been looking at your blog posts, but had little time to write most days.........life has been hectic all Summer, and it won't be slowing down for a while by looks of it!