Of Blind Dates and Antique Shows

Sometimes doing antique shows is like going on a blind date: you know generally what to expect, but you won't know the specifics until the evening's over. Well, this weekend's Kane probably won't get invited home to meet Mom, but we did get a wonderful dinner out of our time together.

Christmas was a strong seller, but not the traditional stuff. It was the funky homemade stars and wacky '60s ornaments that were snapped up, plus a bunch of the DIY stuff we'd tied up in florists bags. Ephemera in general was a strong seller.

Small furniture, anything funky and everything upholstered were also popular this weekend. For example, these two French Provincial chairs went home just hours after we bought them.

Larger furniture, however, mostly came back with us, including this beautiful dresser with its fabulous original finish. We had lots of lookers and even some measurers, just not many takers.

But as I mentioned, we did have a fabulous dinner. Our tremendous hosts, the Boyds, were having a Halloween party -- this is just one of three buffets! There were trick or treaters (at the door), dancing (mostly just the girls), candles (everywhere) and '70s rock trivia "contests" (mostly just the guys). Plus lots of laughter and good company -- who could ask for a better way to spend Halloween?

Coming home with some furniture means less painting time this week and extra time for projects, which is never a bad thing. We'll get more Christmas ready, maybe some jewelry, and a couple of surprises, plus a fresh round of smalls and small furniture. Make sure Grayslake is on your calendar for next weekend. We don't want to start advertising in the "Personals." xo