A History Lesson

Today we had a history lesson and we thought we'd share it with you. We were 30 minutes away from home in Tiffin, OH. Now, we've been in Tiffin before, however, we never had a clue that St. Paul's Church on Madison Street, has quite a famous story:





St. Paul's Methodist has gift from Edison

By Pat Ledwedge
Staff Writer of the Advertiser Tribune December 10, 2000

St Paul's United Methodist Church in Tiffin is the first public building in the United States to have electricity.
(I'm butting in here - did you read that - the FIRST public building in the US....)
In fact, it was the first public building in the world to be wired for electricity during construction in 1884. Thomas Edison heard about the church and the daring, forward-thinking move of incorporating electrical service and presented the church with a beautiful brass chandelier which lights the church today. This was only five years after Edison had invented the incandescent bulb.

The city of Tiffin was the first in Ohio to have an electric power plant and only the third in the country.
(Hey - me again...here is a picture of the chandelier that we took today - sorry it's so dark - honestly I did have the flash on......isn't it something though???)

From The Seneca-Advertiser:

Dec. 20, 1883 ... "The Electric Light - The main wires for the electric light are up and a number of business houses and residences are already wired for the new light. Up to the present time, the Company has upward of 50 applications for the light, making in all about 400 lights. The new Methodist Church was wired the first of the week and will be the first church lighted with electric light in the world. Singular as this statement may seem, yet it is said to be true, by those who are well informed on the subject."
Jan. 3, 1884 ... "Mr. Thomas Edison of New York, the great electrician, is expected to be here the latter part of this week, to witness the starting of the electric light machinery."
Jan.10, 1884 ... "The electric light - On Thursday evening, the new M.E. Church was lighted with the new electric light as a test, and proved satisfactory in every respect. On Saturday evening the church and J.M. Greiner's saloon were lighted and on Sunday evening, the church was brilliantly lighted, on the occasion of its dedication. Since then, the two hotels and numerous other business houses have been lighted with the light, and as fast as the supply wire can be put in, the light will be turned on to various others. The praise the new light is receiving is of the highest and there is no doubt of its success. The light is a very brilliant and steady one, pleasant to read by and one of the most perfect lights we have ever seen."
The St. Paul's of today is a beautiful, traditional-looking place of worship. The pipe organ sits majestically at the front of the church, the stain-glass windows bearing names that would sound familiar to Tiffinites are bright and clean, the woodwork is warm and charming and above the congregation hangs a beautiful, highly polished, brass filigree chandelier, right from the hands of Thomas A. Edison.



Hope you've enjoyed our trivia for today - isn't it amazing when you live so close to things you never knew existed? We'd like to thank the Graham family of Tiffin for telling us about their church's wonderful history!!

**By the way - you can click on the pictures for a bigger and better view!!

More Ways to Freshen Your Space

Here we go again - we've got three more ways today to freshen your space this spring - check it out:

4. ADD GREENS
This is our favorite way to tie a display together. First - ivy pots of fern - heavenly! We have sold so many of these - they are just perfect to sit on a table, put in a cabinet or bookshelf - anywhere you need to see green! In this picture on the left, we put a book under the fern to give it the height it needed for the lamp and to get it a different height than the teapot.






Here is the place that we have a lot of fun - above cupboards, entertainment centers, hutches, anything with height - we just love to add greens. It's a great place to bring in things that are happening down below up to the top. It makes the eye move around the room (we'll talk about this when we get to pictures).

Here we have Heather's kitchen. Instead of just adding greens and some twigs, Karrie took some red cockscomb flowers to bring the red accents Heather chose for her kitchen. It is absolutely gorgeous when you walk in and ties everything together!




This is Karrie's dining room - notice how there is a lot of greenery that breaks up the blue of the room. Putting a lamp on top of a hutch is a great way to bring lighting to a room & add interest. Back to the ivy, notice how it is placed in an asymmetrical way - the ivy hangs lower on the one side than the other. Visually it is pleasing to the eye.


Here is an example of the greens in a container, and not placed around the display. Imagine how boring it would be without that green coming out of the basket!



5. Furniture Placement As a designer, I have to say this is key to a good looking room. Either using what you have in the room - or finding new pieces in another room - if it works - is great! Now, just to be clear, it is annoying to me when I watch all these HGTV shows where they look around the whole house and find things in every room to put into the living room to make a wonderful looking room......does anyone, other than myself and Karrie think "What in the world does the rest of the house look like now??" Many times I will swap a chair in the living room for one in the bedroom, or an accent table in the dining room for one in the hallway. Just a little change like this makes a difference. With the wonders of Internet, there are several websites these days that offer free room planners. one of our favorites is from Home and Living. Insert your dimensions and have fun!


6. RE-UPHOLSTER There are inexpensive ways to change a piece of furniture, but sometimes it can be pricey! If you absolutely love the piece, it is well worth it. Depending on how big the piece of furniture is, it can cost as much for the fabric as the fee of the upholsterer! There are many places to find some inexpensive fabrics. We especially love J's Home Decor and More in Norwalk. She has all of the discontinued fabrics from Norwalk Furniture - all at $4 - dreamy isn't it?!! Considering that fabrics can be anywhere from $16 (very low end) up to $80+......you do the math!!

A couple of weeks ago we got our Country Living magazine and loved how they took a basic Queen Ann chair and gave it a major face lift. Click on Country Living and see just how they did this chair for $53 (I think it could go less than this with some fabulous $4 fabric though!!)

How to Freshen Up Your Space

Tomorrow night we will have our "10 Top Things to Freshen Up Your Space" class. We thought we'd share some of those things this week with you all. Here's 1-3:

1. PAINT
By far, paint is one of the best ways to freshen up your space. Not only does it involve a new color on those walls that will completely change the look of a room - BUT you know that you'll be able to put a new perspective on you furniture and accessories when you put it all back (sometimes this involves new furniture and accessories however!!) Visit Benjamin Moore and see all of the new colors, and their wonderful website that helps you in your decision making. Click on "For Your Home" and see all the cool examples they have of every room in your home. What we really love is that you can upload your own picture of the room you are working on and you can see what it will look like in a different color - cool!!



2. CHANGE PATTERNS/TEXTURES
If you need something quicker and cleaner than a paint job - changing the fabric on your pillows, adding or taking away quilt or throws to a chair or sofa, even changing the window treatments can give a tired room a fresh outlook! Don't forget runners - they are an easy way to go from winter to spring too!!

Here we have one of our chairs in the store with some of the new pillow we just got in. We LOVE it when our new runners come in - trading in those darker colors from fall and winter in for these great spring and summer patterns!!



Swapping out a darker paisley pillow for some peach and coral pillows that compliment the chair in the corner gives a lighter look.



















This checked chair was cute as it was - but it really pops when the bold quilt is put on it.









Mixing the patterns and paying attention to the beaded detail on the envelope pillow, and the scalloped edge of the floral pillow really make this bench stand out.










3.CHANGE OR ADD LIGHTING
Sometimes our lamps get outdated before we are ready to give them up!! Take a quick look at your lamps. Keep your eye out for the new trends to see if your lamp is still classic, right in style or retro(and we aren't talking the cool retro, if you know what I mean!!)Check out some of these beauties on Ebay



This one here for example - if this is what you have to work with (unless you have a very unusual home), well you might want to sell it - as I'm writing this blog it is at $9.95 and there is a bid - - -???? Go figure!!


One easy way to give your old lamp an update is to swap out it's shade for a new one that will give it a much needed update! Even if your lamp is not outdated - it is fun to change the shade for a clean/lighter look in the spring and summer, and a darker shade for the winter.

Treasure Hunt

So.....all this talk about the Round Top in Texas the past month has not only made us jealous, it has made us itching to go junkin'....so Sunday my daughter and I had to run an errand, and it just so happened to go through Elmore and we just had to stop at Once Upon a Thyme and the 5 & 10 - shucks!!










We picked up some fun things there - she is taking Collectibles in 4-H and found two dog figurines - very cute, some salt and pepper shakers and a little dog plate - very sweet. I was so excited to find this runner! I have wanted a vintage runner for my dining room, however the colors are not jiving with the white ones I always come across!! This was perfect, and I was all too happy to take it home. I found some tin trays that need cleaned up for serving lemonade and tea this summer on the "veranda" and some picture frames with some vintage ladies in them (I'll have to snap their picture for you later - as they are not here to take a picture of). Yesterday Mom and I went to another antique store and junk barn. Here I got the best deal of all - I found these "old master's" pictures - the frames are awesome and I can't decide where to hang them. Go ahead- - - guess how much???? Try $7 for the four of them - isn't it crazy??!! The thrill of the hunt!!


















While we were there we were looking at this old wicker chair - it was in great condition, in need of new upholstery, but really fun!! (might have to go back for that one!)How about the first picture up there - look at that old door!! It still had the winding doorbell on it - and it worked - how fun would that be?? We are looking for an old door for mom's new bathroom - we had a great laugh when we thought of using that door (of course we would have put some privacy glass in) and of the door bell going off - and breaking because all of the grandkids would be messing with it all the time!! Last of all - is the ironstone gravy boat - I kept on coming back to this and had to bring it home with me. I don't have a lot of ironstone at all - can't even say that I have or want a collection - but this sang to me!

It's time to have a treasure hunt of your own - get out there and see what you can use in your home! Our big thing at the Summer Kitchen is bringing those antique and junk finds into your home. You'll have an eclectic look that no big box store can give you. It looks as if you've had things for years - when it could be seconds!! Most importantly, it is a fabulous and fun way to recycle - use what is already here!!

Make your heart sing!

What a view this morning as I looked out my kitchen window - even in overcast, cloudy skies this picture truly makes your heart sing doesn't it?? Not only is the forsythia and grape hyacinths out - there are buds on the trees everywhere (finally - the wait was agonizing!!)

The service berry trees are going to pop soon - as well as the dogwoods. The Lilly of the valley are coming up, and even my hollyhocks are greening up - ready for some needed cleaning up - ahhhhh spring is REALLY here now!





Things have been pretty crazy around here - as if you couldn't guess by the lack of posts!! Of course - tax time is over - hallelujah!! The sale has started with a big bang and we just finished our Decorator's Dialog over at Color Haven today. What a fun day that was! The Summer Kitchen Girls, as well as Joe Wasserman from Bella Cosa Floral Studio, Jill Otermat, from Jill Otermat Professional Faux Finishes, Jeanie Zunk from A Variety of Shades, and Shirley Whittaker from Re-Create Interiors all gathered in John and Brenda Haven's Benjamin Moore paint store to inspire customers with choosing paint colors and solving decorating dilemmas. It was a success - we had quite a few people in and are looking forward to doing it again next year!!

Wanted to mention the Caldrea special - I forgot to say something about it in the last post - For every purchase of Caldrea product you'll receive a free Caldrea french pop-up sponge. We are also giving away a bucket of Caldrea for


"Clean Sweep" month - you know, to help the task along....so, stop into the store to sign up - or comment on the blog to enter - now through the end of the month, and we'll put you in the drawing!!

Clean Sweep Sale

It's unbelievably that time again - time for our annual Clean Sweep Sale at The Summer Kitchen!
We are again taking 10-30% off select items in the store - here's the breakdown:
10% off
Lamps & pottery
20% off
Pictures, mirrors & clocks
30% off
Wreaths, arrangements & purses
Hurry in - the sale is April 15th-30th - there's two weeks only and the sale will be gone!!

Feelin' Fungi

Guess what finally came? Our mushroom prints - aren't they the coolest? They are the perfect size to put in a small spot by themselves, or to group together. Six different pictures are available - here are our three favorites! Ceramic mushrooms are on their way - can't wait - we'll have lots of fun with fungi this spring!!

OUI!

I can't tell you how much drool we had to clean up after getting a trade magazine this week. This picture stopped us right in our tracks. Isn't it fabulous? The article was talking about how French inspired furniture is becoming more popular, and that we'd be seeing more of it at the markets. "The lure of French design reigns again with exquisite period detail and an air of opulent elegance. Modern infusions provide wit and warmth (think animal and geometric prints), juxtaposed with lavish antique reproductions..."
I'll have to tell you this is as far as we got in the article, because we had to go back to the front page to look at this French chest. What do we love? The color, the distressed look, the shape and size.....there's nothing that we hate about it - other than the fact that it isn't in our homes!!

*Sigh*


Here's a lovely take on a library chair.....





.....and here's a beautiful reproduction of an 18th century French mirror. I have heard for two years now that gold will be making a comeback and we've been looking - we are starting to see it slowly sneak it's way back into the silver leaf and mirrored world!


Au Revoir!

Happy Birthday Doris!

In honor of Doris Day's birthday we've picked out this clip from The Glass Bottom Boat that will make you laugh! Doris (Jennifer Nelson) has just brought a cake over to her boss' - and love interest's home because he loves banana cream cake. While she is waiting for him, she is trying to find some paper and runs into Julius (Dom Delouise). What more can I say.....

The 1957 Spaghetti Harvest

Now, you know I can't go and pull an April Fools Joke on you all, that wouldn't be nice now would it? However, we can take delight in this fun prank on April 1, 1957 to the unsuspecting British audience by the BBC.
To learn more about this fun story, go right here to Spaghetti Harvest and run the video yourself! Happy April!