Laundry Room Chandelier & The Old Gate

Ello!
Ya know how when you change one thing in a room, you're prompted to change the whole room?  That's what happened to me a few weeks ago in the laundry room.  I found a light fixture on the ground at the Rose Bowl Flea Market and couldn't wait to take down the old one and install the new one.  There wasn't much to change in my really small laundry, but it inspired me to change other stuff in other rooms, so I did literally nonstop. 

Here's the old laundry chandelier pretty much the same as I found it about 10 years ago -

Here's the one I'm lovin today - quite a difference I'd say. Ooops, took the photo before I added a really old long pull chain -

So this change started some more rethinking around the house and I pretty much went thru every room and closet movin out all the things that are on my long list of things I walk by and say 'this has to go.'   I try to remove things the first time I say that but I don't, I wait till I absolutely can't stand it anymore, why? I don't know.

Then I hit my stash in the storage, yard, and garage and I made HUGE decisions on everything I have been storing, hoarding, and saving to repair, paint, part out or whatever - and I decided to let go of tons - so we're loading up and letting go.  That is big for me, really big.  So here we go... all that plus the Chandeliers and lighting that we are creating today and love love love -

That started a couple of weeks ago, and we've been working our buttinskys off everyday preparing, loading up the trailer and and we're almost completely ready - and it feels so good.  I've been on a thrifting shopping spree for so many years now that my style has somewhat changed and all the GREAT stuff I won't be using anymore is going to the Flea Market on the beach this Sunday.

As you can imagine we're beat up, I messed up my shoulder lifting things I shouldn't have, like cement statues and pots { dummy me } and I've been popping pain pills because I just didn't want to stop.

We're almost done and ready to go - Sunday 4 am.

Couldn't help but snap a photo of my favorite little gate while taking a much needed break with Mr Beachy and a Costco chicken.

 

BEACH HOUSE WEDDING UPDATE

Jennifer & Ryan have set the date June 26, 2010!  Last Saturday afternoon I got my first treasured moment being Mother of the Bride when Jen and I went wedding gown shopping. As unbelievable  as it sounds - we both knew the very first dress she tried on was the one.  Can you believe it?  She tried on several more so we could be ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE, and we were - it's perfect for her and her dream wedding, and she looks amazing in it.

She's so happy and so am I.

See you at the Flea Market - you'll find us beach side...

Later -

Flea Marketing for the Beach House Wedding

Good Monday -

Whooooo - I am havin a real hard time getting into the swing of things this Monday morn - I feel like we partied hard all weekend.  You know, partied hard - where you stay awake much later than usual, talking and laughing hysterically over shooters and Mudslides and a few various other cocktails with two other people you love dearly.

 My brother and sister IL live in Palm Springs { a desert resort a couple of hours away } and they're downsizing so we had an all day garage sale Saturday, stayed up late partying hard and then did it again all day Sunday.

 Having a garage sale is a kind of partying too, chit chatting with hundreds of people, being in a good mood and entertaining them while you hope they just haul something away.  You connect with your neighbors and get to know them - I think they feel it's much less invasive to hang out at someones home outside and so neighbors tend to stay and hang out.   My sister IL and I can go in and out of deep personal conversations and then jump into small talk with other people with no problem, almost automatically.  We're very talented that way, and we're always aware of where the husbands are, too.

Anyhow, our 2-hour trip down there took about 5 hours cuz we shopped and thrifted our way there.  I'm on the hunt for serving things for Showers and parties that are in the near future - and of course Jen's wedding.  I got lucky at garage and estate sales - people are giving great deals to get rid of stuff, and make a few bucks as we get closer to the holidays.    I do, however,  really feel for the cottage shop owners who are all singing the blues in a big way and are on their last leg.  More and more stores are closing the doors and some towns looked abandoned all together - it was weird and sad.

I found the coffee pot first - in great condition along with the big ironstone platter, the bread box and the canvas bag at an estate sale and and got the rest at Goodwills and Salvations along the way.    I'm sticking to enamelware, ironstone, white and silver serving pieces and old china.

Love that French Ice Bucket and hammered aluminum pitcher -

Love this coffee pot - country at the beach -

Enamelware - I've gathered up a few large pieces and I love em -

This 3 tier server reminds me of a little cafe -

Haven't a clue what to do with this old canvas bag - it's pretty big with a drawstring and I love the vintage lettering -

Scored 2 rolls of striped wall paper - I use them for gift wrap, a pair of shoes that I can actually wear because I'm giving in to lower heels -

And this is a shot I got of the the Sunrise in Palm Springs -

New coffee pot looks right at home to me -

I'm joining the "I'm a Flea Marketer Party" - check it out 

http://fleamarketstylemag.blogspot.com/2009/10/join-im-flea-marketeer-party.html

Rainy Day & Dinner For Two - By the TV

Good day this rain day -


The sound of rain on my bedroom window awning is the most welcome sound in my sleep.  I was so happy to hear it at about 4 am, and when morning hit I got right up opened the front door and watched the rain from the porch with my Tea.  I'm off coffee right now - so I'm drinking lots my old fave Constant Comment and my new fave Mango Chamomile. When it rains I can breathe and see much more clearly, and everything looks so much better wet and clean, even weeds.  My grass was lovin it too - free water.

So when most say a rainy day gets them wanting to be all cozy with a good book and a fireplace fire - not me, I get energetic and gung ho.  I love the big chill.


This little house of mine is so 1940's California Cottage - we have a long driveway to a detached garage, so the garage is in the backyard and we have completely converted it to a working Studio for our Chandeliers - and that's where Mr Beachy works - about 20 steps from the back door.

So while Mr B was out in the studio most of the day this is what I got accomplished today, and listed on ebay - this Flying Vintage Cherub made of white capiz shells -

And this 2-Arm Vintage Beaded Sconce -

Then I heard those dreaded words coming in the back door "What's for dinner?"  Dinnertime has changed considerably around here since the kids moved out although I didn't much care for those words from them either.  I don't know why, I just cringed even though I made dinner every night and emjoyed it, the chaos, the mess, everything about it - I just hated that question.  It's so much easier now that it's just the two of us most of the time, once we had corn for dinner.  Just corn.


But tonite, it was Pizza on the coffee table in front of the TV.  

no planning 

no fuss

no table setup 

no mess

I love Topanga Pizza.

Tomorrow we're heading out of town to Palm Springs for a few days - and I plan on thrifting all the way there.  Have a great weekend, hope the rain stays around for a while...

Jen's Wedding Update:

We're Doing Save the Date Cards

~*~*~

Blogged to join this outdoor party - check out all the great ideas

asoutherndaydreamer

and this Tablescape party - great Fall inspiration

betweennapsontheporch

Beach House Chandeliers & A Cozy White Family Room

Hi -
I've missed you - we've been so jam packed the last few weeks I got totally caught up in life and chaos - I was going to say a welcome change from my normal routine, but lately like for  months now, nothing seems normal.

For weeks we had family in town for a wedding so we got to hang out and catch up with aunts uncles and cousins that we never get to see, and it was great. It was really hot, so we spent as much time at the beach as possible actually a lot of time walking back and forth and eating. As the lovely aunties get older they just love to talk about everyone - they've all been married to Mr Beachys family for over 50 years and boy do they have the scoop.

 

Then, I was contacted by a blogger who found my blog and wanted to buy some chandeliers for her cafes up the coast - variations of this one, so I marathon beaded and crystaled and got the order out and she was happy so we were thrilled.  This design is our signature style and my favorite so there's always at least one available -This ones available for sale now -

So I spent some time trying to figure out how to make it easier to buy on the blog, got the 'buy it now' and 'paypal' banners just have to get them in the right place. In the meantime if you would like to buy something or inquire about something you see on my blog you can email me here.

This is a great Vintage Porch Chandelier with a French Crown at the top - For Sale

Then this computer started to act up - so it was off to the Apple store to spend a few hours with a genius at the bar - 3 times and it's still not right.  I lost my email accounts, bookmarks, photos, records, data, and lots of other stuff that I don't even know about yet.  Don't even get me started.  You have no idea, well there's probably alot of you that have been in this mess.  Would love to buy a new laptop, but instead I bought more ram and a stick.  MmmHmm Who's stupid?  It's a good $$$ decision - Jen's Beach Wedding is just around the corner approaching quickly. Very quickly.




Thought I'd invite you into the Family Room to hang with us...I'll whip up some margaritas with chips and salsa -

 
Wintertime we light a fire every single night.  I collect vintage beach art and I was so happy to find the painting on the mantle last month at the Rose Bowl Flea Market.  The hydrangeas are one of my fave lights and the lantern on the brick - that's going to be a Chandelier soon.

 

These Bookcases hold nearly everything - magazines, bills, stationary, tapes, and now wedding magazines, photos, ideas, stuff, stuff, and more stuff.  Bottom left - all our old albums from the 60's & 70's - just can't part with them.

 

 

Found this Rose piece garage saling today - I'm not sure what it's for but I think it would be great to sit on the Fireplace or anywhere - it's For Sale 

We've been invited out to dinner tonite with friends so I gotta get goin - 

Blogging to join the party with Cindy at My Romantic Home

I hope

Enjoy Sunday -

Surfing Malibu from Cloud 9, Tony & Sunset Flight

Happy Day Everyone -

Last Friday night we took a sunset flight over the city, valley,  beach & up the coast.   It was unusually cloudy in some places - but even the tops of the clouds are spectacular from the sky.  That's a small plane you say - yep, it is. Seats 4 and you're almost touching shoulders.  

When my son Tony, was really young he started a lifelong fascination with airplanes, cars, and pretty much anything that moved him around.  He knew going to the market with me meant he would be adding a sleek shiny new plane to his fleet and while I never knew one from the other or what he already had - he did, down to the color of the stripes and decals.  He would flip through the packages like he knew what he was looking for and always found one that delighted him for the rest of shopping and the rest of the day. He always carried a little plane {race car in the other hand} around and he - he'd squint one eye and flew those little planes around looking thru the windshield at eye level and he was a happy kid.  I knew one day he'd do it for real, and when he did I told him that when he turned one of his dreams into a reality - one of my dreams came true too.  I am so proud of him.

I've flown many times with him, sometimes just around, sometimes up to Santa Barbara for lunch and a little shopping, but this was my first sunset flight.  We took off from Van Nuys and I started snapping photos - I love the way there's one house lit in the photo - I'd love to give this photo to those people.  

As we headed towards Santa Monica you could see the clouds socked in - the marine layer.  There were snippets of clear skies, but the sun was starting to set and well, I didn't let my nerves show - I have 100% confidence in my Pilot.

The skies opened up when we got to Malibu - this stretch of beach houses is Malibu Colony - and above that is the Cross Creek Shopping Market.

This is another stretch of beach houses - they're all fabulous, ain't a bad one in the bunch.

This is Tony, my son the Pilot.

Love this - that's PCH, cross creek shopping, and the Malibu Pier at the top. That's the Adamson House in the center of the photo - the 1st original Malibu Beach House.  It's an amazing home, now maintained by the city - magnificent views and grounds from every angle - especially when it's loaded with surfers.

This is approaching Paradise Cove - the beach at Magic Hour.

We were at the most perfect spot when I got the sunset - I got lucky with this timing...that's for sure.

We flew around for a while, then traveled over Malibu Canyon to the valley and headed back to the airport.

We went around the airport one more time -

Then had a perfect landing on one six right.

It's my greatest pleasure that both my son Tony, and my daughter Jennifer are good, kind, considerate, patient, compassionate, loving, generous people - and that they continue to make me proud every single day in everything they do.

Blogged to join

http://barbarajacksier.blogspot.com/2009/09/waterside-wednesday-cold-season.html#comment-form

                                  and

http://waterywednesday.blogspot.com/2009/09/watery-wednesday-54.html