The Big Cheese

Suzanne Eblen

Owner, The Old Lucketts Store

Meet Suzanne, the owner of our little empire!  Suzanne and her husband Pat started The Old Lucketts Store fifteen years ago when they purchased our building, which at the time was a dilapidated run-down wreck.  They had a vision, though, and started the renovations even though many said they should just tear it down.  It had been a store and post office for over a century, with the oldest part being built just after the Civil War.  A huge addition was added around 1900, and the Lucketts family inhabited the top two floors until the 1950's or 60's. It had been vacant for a decade when Sooz and Pat purchased the property.  Wisteria branches wound their way all through it and there were layers of trash and debris several feet thick which Sooz and her best bud, Amy, carted all out by hand. 

Once the work was finished, Suzanne (who was nine months pregnant at the time!) opened the shop with about 30 dealers.  The business has been growing ever since through a combination of hard, hard work and her innate business sense.  A reporter once called Suzanne  a "supernova", and that's probably my favorite description of her.  She has endless energy and enthusiasm, is extremely generous, and is above all hard-working. Her drive comes from her passion for the unusual, the fun, the funky, ... and always wanting to do her best.   We love her to bits, and I am so proud to call her my friend <3

Double, Double, Toil & Trouble!

Halloween!  We love Halloween!  No other holiday blends as seemlessly with our antiques. Jennifer, one of our very talented dealers, makes magic at Halloween. A tongue-in-cheek amputated mannequin foot, fitted with a vintage shoe, is displayed with vintage bottles.   

Glittery skulls propped on candlesticks...

Crows with hats!

Crows with black and white plates and numbered bottles.

The Berry Scary Martini recipe is from Martha Stewart.

One of my favorite things to do for Halloween decorating is to pull out my antiques and use them!  Antiques give your decorations a more believable spookiness - much spookier I think than store bought party store decorations.  I usually grab an old table from the basement (I have tons of projects down there!) - I get silver candleabra and light the candles (make sure you don't leave those unattended!), prop up some old photographs of my ancestors, a skull, some old books and put just a touch of artificial spider webbing over the whole scene.  The secret to that stuff is to pull, pull, pull it, until it's very thin and well...spider webby.  I also started collecting old science lab stuff - beakers, test tubes, etc.  I like the "mad scientist" theme.  A spooky CD and a fog machine....and you have the scariest house on the block!

Wishing you a very scary Halloween! - Lisa

Fall Decorating Inspiration

Can it really be October already?! It's been so hot that it really hasn't felt like fall yet, but they're calling for cooler weather this weekend and I have to say... I'm ready!!  I love fall - sweaters and  apple cider, autumn colors, a simmering pot of stew, mums and pumpkins, and best of all - cool, crisp mornings with that special warm sunlight that only exists this time of year.  Fall decorating is a favorite, too, and this weekend's Design House gave me lots of inspiration...

Corn stalks and mums frame the gate leading to a farm table in the barn pass-thru.

Pumpkins are a common fall decoration - but try some of the more unusual varieties.  Heider's Farm Market (just down the road from us: www.heidersfarmmarket.com) has lots of interesting pumpkins including this beauty!  The turquoise fire pots, while not a traditional fall color,  look great with the orange of the pumpkin.

Another very unusual pumpkin! Love it's grizzled look...

White pumpkins have become common and are widely available.  Here it's lying on it's side in a dried wreath.

Black painted Windsor chairs and a farm table with mums, pumpkins (another variety, still!), bunched tablecloth in autumn hues and a wicker basket. The gold chandelier is an unexpected touch of glam!

Gothic style dining chairs and a zinc top table. Don't you love the wisteria vine?

It doesn't have to be complicated...an urn and a mum... so beautiful in it's simplicity.  Hope you have a splendid autumn weekend...come see us at the Design House if you get the chance! Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, October 1, 2, & 3....10 am til 5 pm all three days.

-Lisa

Amy's Chile Mole'

This time of year always brings out the "nesting" mom in me.  Last Monday I found myself at home with a rare day off from the shop.  It was a perfect fall day and as I was cleaning, organizing, and doing laundry, I got a hankering to have a big old pot of something on the stove for my peeps when they got home from work and school.  I decided to make a chili I'm pretty good at.  I kind of created the recipe over several years of trying this and that.  The key ingredient is the cacao, it makes the chili rich and savory like a Mexican mole' sauce.  This time I thought I'd write it all down "officially" and share it with you.  So here it is.

(It ended up being very much appreciated by my son and husband and was the perfect compliment to monday night football!)

Amy's Chili Mole'

1 lg. onion chopped

3 lg. cloves of garlic minced

1-2 lbs of lean ground beef

1 packet taco seasoning

two 28 oz cans diced tomato

2 cans kidney beans

1 -2 tbsp. chili powder (depending on how spicey you like it)

1tbsp. "cocoa chile blend" (McCormick) (spice section) if you can't find this, don't freak out. Just put in more reg. chili powder & more cacao

1 tsp. cumin

1 tbsp. Ghirardelli 100% cacao unsweetened chocolate for baking (Cacao chips come in a bag in the baking section)

1 tsp. salt

In medium stew pot saute onion and garlic in olive oil.  Add ground beef and brown.  Drain beef  and add packet of taco seasoning (follow directions on seasoning packet). Continue cooking beef until taco seasoning is all cooked in.  Add tomatos, beans, and spices and cacao chips.  Stir well.  Simmer on low for 30 minutes.  Garnish with sharp cheddar cheese, sour cream, chopped cilantro, and corn chips!

-Amy

Change is good...

We had a meeting this morning to discuss our plans for the Lucketts Spring Antique Market ,which most of you know is held every year in May.  This year, we're making some big changes!  The whole event will be held on our property - not the Community Center grounds as in previous years.  We had to make this change because the Community Center is closing for renovations and would not be available. Also, Suzanne asked me to take over the planning of the Fair (her Baby)! Wow!  What an honor - do I feel pressure, Nope!  Cool as a cucumber - okay, well I just hope I can live up to the job she has done. So what's involved here?....we need to put up fences, (somewhere?!), map out the area, get tents, temporary electric (what?!), t-shirts, staff of 22 people (we have 8!!), permits, writing new contracts, newspapers (I want 4,5,7,9 news crews!), figure out parking, wristbands, 2 entrances... and move the iron field.  My personal goal is to get 30 more new vendors - so beat feat the streets looking for them, send out press packets, flowers, make signs, porta pottys (lots), furniture loading location, look for some new food vendors (Karen wants sweet potato fries!- What is she talking about?)  Okay now after writing it all down - hummmmm?

I decided to start with the food vendors, and here's what I found after 3 1/2 hours:  I googled food trucks, food carts, concession carts, concessionaires, mobile food, roach coach, and after all that I learned...I can buy a concession truck for around $6,000 and have it brought to me by Friday!

Other than that, I leave you with a question...how many Hot Dog vendors can Virginia have??? Seriously! I'm never eating another one.

Thank God the Fair's in May!

<3  Heather

September 2010 Design House Sneak Peek

This month's Design House is stunning!  Love these sparkly crown pillows, and the frames within a frame.

Amy and Sooz painted some of the rooms with beautiful new colors and they picked up some great upholstery, too.

So many interesting textures in this bookshelf vignette...

Industrial pieces can blend with any look.

Wreath made of sheet music!

Loads of accessories - awesome vintage elephant bookends.

The Design House is open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday - September 3rd, 4th, and 5th.  10am - 5pm all three days.  Hope you can make it!

Fox 5 at Lucketts

Wow! What a morning!There's always something going on at Lucketts...but this morning took that to a whole new level!  I got to the shop early to work on my "space", and a truck driver with a trailer arrived.  He was delivering a load that Suzanne bought at auction and he said he was told to be here by 9:15 for the tv shoot.  "What tv shoot?!!" It was 8:45 and no one was around but me!  Fox 5 was coming to Lucketts to film a live spot on the Lucketts Fair, and they were going to interview Suzanne about antiques.  I started to panic because I had just thrown my hair into a ponytail, no makeup - and if Sooz didn't show I did NOT want to do this interview!!  Luckily, she arrived shortly after, and Henry and the guys started unloading the trailer.  Anne, one of our awesome worker girls started artfully arranging the furniture to look "un-arranged".

Now for most,  that would be enough chaos for one morning but in addition to that we had the firemen collecting for muscular dystrophy, a road crew trimming trees and chipping them, police and community center board members.  We had to ask the road crew to stop work for the broadcast because the noise was unbearable!  In true Lucketts style, the whole staff pitched in and got the job done.  Suzanne is sponsoring an exchange student, Kabir, from India and he pitched in, too.  Welcome to our crazy corner of the world, Kabir!

Suzanne did a fantastic job in the interview...cool as a cucumber!  My favorite moment was when Holly Morris, the Fox 5 reporter asked Sooz where she buys her antiques, and Suzanne replied, "If I told you, I'd have to kill you".  Hilarious! Five minutes after the piece aired, the pink chairs sold by phone to someone who had seen the report.  Just another day at Lucketts....

Healthy Ground Turkey Stuffed Peppers

We're trying to eat better at the Shop and here at our house, too.  It's not always easy, but I've found that just making good choices most of the time makes a big difference. Tonight I made Stuffed Green Peppers with ground turkey.  I've found that ground turkey can be tricky to use because it can be much blander than ground beef.  You really have to jazz it up with spices and lots of flavor, and this recipe fills the bill.  If you have picky folks in your house you can top this with a slice of fresh mozzarella and stick it under the broiler for a couple of minutes 'til it gets melty and golden!  Everybody in my house loved this one.  My husband said, "Wow, that was ground turkey?!".

Ingredients:

4 bell peppers (green,red,yellow or orange)

1 pound ground turkey

2 tbsp. olive oil

one medium onion, chopped

one large or 2 small garlic cloves, minced

one 8 oz can tomato sauce

one cup leftover cooked rice, any kind (I used leftover Spanish rice tonight - and I do like the color that it gives the dish)

one teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon oregano

slices fresh mozzarella (optional)

Get out a large pot, a large skillet, and a 13 x 9 casserole dish.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Fill the large pot with water and get it boiling.

Cut the peppers in half and remove the seeds and the tops.  Blanch the peppers for a minute or two, remove from the water with tongs and drain them.

In the large skillet, heat the oil over high heat.  Add the onion and garlic and cook for 4 minutes.  Add the ground turkey and cook for another 4-5 minutes until no longer pink.  Remove from heat and drain.  Add the rice, salt, pepper and oregano and half the tomato sauce.

Stuff the peppers with the meat mixture and place them in the casserole. Spoon the rest of the tomato sauce over each pepper. Cover with foil and place in the oven for about 30 minutes.  If adding the optional cheese, place it on each pepper, turn the oven to broil and cook another 5 minutes until golden and bubbly.

Serves 4

- Lisa

Chalkboard Wall

I'm always trying to get organized.  It's against my nature, really, but that doesn't stop me from trying (and trying, and trying!).  I have this weird little partition wall in my kitchen, and one day I got the crazy idea to paint it with chalkboard paint.  I got out the ladder, taped up the wall and got started.  If you haven't tried chalkboard paint yet, it's super easy to use.  I sanded the wall lightly first, then followed the directions right on the can.  It took two coats and the hardest part of the project was resisting the temptation to write on the wall in the three days it takes for it to cure!  But once the three days were up and the wall got writing on it, I loved the result!

I have a grocery list, a schedule for the week, sometimes a menu (when I'm having a good week!), and other little reminders.  My teenage kids and their friends love to sign the wall and their notes are fun to read, too.  If you try this project, don't panic when you get to the stage when it's finished and you have to wait for it to cure. The wall looks like a giant, black hole until you get some writing on it.  Also, make sure you follow all the directions on the can. You have to cover the whole surface with chalk dust before writing on it the first time.  I almost never follow directions, but I did this time and I'm glad that I did...and the best part is that it really has helped me to be a little more organized!

 -Lisa

August 2010 Design House Sneak Peek

Here's a sneak peak at this month's Design House...

There's lots more to see, so come check it out Friday, Saturday and Sunday August 6, 7, & 8.  We'll be open all three days from 10am til 5pm...and don't forget the Dance Party at the Design House pool!  It's Saturday night from seven-ish til whenever-ish.  Wear your suit and get your dance on!

Beauty and the Beast

The Beauty.  Our favorite new drink is called a Caesar, or Bloody Caesar. My neighbors from Canada made us this drink, and we fell in love with it.   We decided to call it a "Bloggy Caesar" because we were drinking it while our amazing graphic designer, Alicia, was teaching us how to use our new, **exciting** blog!   The drink is basically a Bloody Mary, only substitute "Clamato" (which is a delicious concoction but you don't want to hear the ingredients) for the tomato juice.










We staged this photo above, called "The Beauty" , but if you want to see the reality - here is "The Beast" :

This is how the Design House really looks!  (between shows, that is) What's that old saying "Creative minds are rarely tidy"?!  That definitely applies to us.  Here  is the recipe for The Bloggy Caesar below.

The Bloggy Caesar

• 1 1/2 oz vodka
• 4 oz Clamato (in the juice aisle next to the tomato juice and V-8)
• 2 dashes Worcestershire
• dash Tabasco
• celery salt
• lime wedge
• pepper
• celery stalk
• Rub lime wedge over rim of glass.  Press  the glass into a dish of celery salt.  Mix remaining ingredients and pour over ice.  Add a celery stalk & DRINK UP!

Here is Suzanne - working hard on the BLOG!! (and after one or two Bloggy Caesars)

...and here is Alicia sportin' her fancy new tattoo that Suzanne & Amy picked up for her at the LA Gift Show:

We LOVE her, and she's not really this bad-ass.  This picture above is "The Beast", but  here's "The Beauty" :

Thanks, Alicia! We love our new blog!

The Hunt

Always always being on the hunt for new stuff for our customers….sometimes gets tricky.. Where haven't we been? What is new? What haven’t we tried?… so this spring Amy and I headed out to Round  Top Texas…that was an interesting experience, but to sell as we like to, the prices are a bit high and the shipping a bit tricky.. So what else can we do..? This summer we headed to Los Angeles to the gift show.. Thinking this would be the place where fresh ideas start, we couldn’t go wrong. Day one we flew to LA and basically by noon Pacific time we had flown from the east coast, and already covered a third of the show… this was definitely not looking good … we had covered an entire floor of the convention center … each placed one or two orders and not seen anything that even remotely inspired us…we were slightly worried, but we were staying in a super cool hotel,(Hotel Figueroa) and figured we would at least have a blast in LA. 

Day two,  we start the day with the greatest breakfast ever from the Pantry, a small diner that has never stopped serving food 24 hours a day since 1924.. They say the door has no key and they have never been without a least one customer…I just love stuff like this its so awesome…

Anyhoo we decide to head back to the show and hope for better luck on this day.  The section we arrive in today is what they call cash and carry which means you get to carry all of  your purchases around with you all day… well, I don’t know how many of you have ever met me and Amy, but when we go shopping we’re not playing around. When we love it, we buy everything…. So it was like a cartoon of two insane people shopping because there was tons of cool stuff for us to bring back home to Virginia and spice up the next Design House.

We also met extremely cool people from all over the world involved in the Fair Trade industry. Fair Trade is basically when people are trying to help people from all different regions of the world who are impoverished, and can be helped by being able to sell their products to people like us. We met a rug maker from Afghanistan, who demonstrated the process of making a wool rug.. It took 6 hours to make one  3x5 rug and the process was insanely tedious.. Fluffing wool with sticks… piling it into a giant pile ..

Sprinkling it with boiling water… then rolling the pile with his feet for hours in a bamboo mat… all for an insanely small amount of money.. They then told us that most of the money goes to trying to get the rugs out of the country as the Taliban won’t let  the Afghan people trade with anybody , so they kill the delivery guys.. This really drove home for me how difficult it really must be for them to function.

Anyway it was super educational, we met amazing people from Nepal, Columbia, and places all around the world, and were able to buy cool stuff, and help people out...so it was a great experience.

As we were relaxing by the pool that evening, going over our amazing day, some guys were setting up speakers… we asked what was going on, and they told us there was a party for the people attending the gift show…sweeeeeet!!!!!

The next thing we knew, there was the best DJ, the coolest bongo players.. And everybody was dancing… including the Afghany rug roller!!! How great is that…So now we are inspired to be more conscientious buyers, to try to be helpful to some people less fortunate than ourselves… and to have an awesome pool/dance party!!!!

So next Saturday night we shall have a super fun… after hours dance party at the pool of the Design House! What a great way to spend a nice summer night.. Cool people good music and fun dancing.. This will be an after hours (meaning the stores will be closed, so we can all have fun..party.. Join us if you like Sat 8-7, around 7:00.

Watch this space

Your favorite store…now also your favorite blog for design inspiration!  With the re-launch of our website comes an opportunity to create a new Lucketts Store blog.  We’ll feature new items at Lucketts, design tips, before-and-after redecorating and hilarious stories from the shop and our lives. This is gonna’ be fun!