LuckettStories - Da Bomb

We've had such an insane amount of funny and crazy stories over the years that it doesn't even make sense. We've been told many times that we need our own sitcom or at least to write this stuff down somewhere. So we're going to start now - we're gonna dig deep and bring to you all of the most ridiculous ones we can remember. So here we go with our first weekly post from our collection of LuckettStories!

Da Bomb 

Thursday night was always my auction night, my husband would take the kids and I was completely free for the entire evening. I would head to Cochran's Auction and spend every minute of the evening alongside the auctioneer, so I wouldn't miss anything that might fall through the cracks. Every bowl, bottle, antique toy and anything else I could afford with that certain "look," I bought. This particular evening there were lots of toys - kiddie microscopes, biology sets, and some old fashioned chemistry sets with pretty bottles and really cool labels. As always I bought it all, boxed it up, threw it in my rusty old van and headed home. The next morning I hastily threw all these boxes on the ground to make room for my kids car seats, and ran them up to their A.M preschool. After returning home, I tossed the boxes back into the van and headed to my store, My Wits End, that's just up the road from Lucketts.
That day I spent unpacking my newfound treasures, cleaning them up, pricing them, and artfully displaying them throughout my little shop. Proud at my productive days work, I could finally head home.

A day or two had passed when a customer came in and showed a keen interest in the old chemistry set, much to my delight. He asked, "Do you know what you have here ma'am?" Excited by his tone, I figured I might have finally found something worth a lot of $. "No," I said, "but I love the shape of the bottles and the pretty labels, I think it's probably from the 1940's or 50's." "Yes, your probably right about the time frame, but this bottle here is [blah blah acid] and over time it oxidizes and becomes very volatile...like a bomb. I'm a bomb squad guy from Fairfax County and this bottle could explode from the slightest vibration, even as slight as someone opening or closing your front door." Freaked out and realizing how much I had already carelessly thrown the bottle around, I asked what I should do. "We're going to need to call in the bomb squad and have them detonate the bottle."


Seriously, I wish I could make this stuff up, but here's what happened next... We gently left the shop (making sure to put up the closed sign) and called the bomb squad, who also freaked out. They quickly brought out their entire detonation unit, had a man in full bomb squad armor bring out the bottle, and detonated it in a local field! In the process they closed off route 15 for almost the entire evening and earned my unknown little shop a spot on the 6 o'clock news.

Lessons learned? Pay attention in chemistry class OR only buy pretty bottles that are empty, cause 15 minutes of fame is highly overrated.

A Timely mention

We were super-psyched last week when we got a call from a woman in New York who tipped us off that one of our finds had made it to a farm outside Pittsburgh, PA, and then all the way into the front page article in the New York Times Home section on Thursday, June 9th!

The article was called The Decorated Shed, and it featured the story of a couple who bought a farm in Pennsylvania as a weekend retreat.  After many years of growing crops and donating them to local food banks, they decided it was time to redecorate the farm (that's where we come in).  Designer Lisa Dagnal purchased one of our marble side tables at our shop in Virginia and decorated Esther Dormer's bedroom.  A scan of the front page of the article and of our mention (see caption for picture #6) are shown below.

This article was featured on the front cover of the New York Times Home section on June 9th, 2011.



I know you probably can't read it, but the picture on the bottom right is a picture of our marble top table's new home.  The caption reads "the marble-top side table is from the Old Lucketts Store in Leesburg, VA".

A special thank you shout out to my sister Amy and her other half, Dave, for running out to the newsstand in the pouring rain and snapping up a copy and mailing it to me the next day!  <3

Boredom and a Blank Wall

The shop was a little quiet Sunday morning.  There would have been a lot to do, except that Heather is an early riser and gets to the shop two hours before it opens, which means the shop is already swept, the music is on, and everything has been given a once (or twice) over already by the time I get there.

Today's project involved sprucing up the entryway.  Our dear friend Ted passed away last month and he used to occupy the front room.  As his last few items are being sold, we were left with a blank wall.  We really wanted to hang the water buffalo head - it's beautiful and eye catching, except the water buffalo literally took a nose dive earlier this week, and did a job on his nose, so he wouldn't work.  So, we decided to have some fun and pick things out from around the shop.  Here are the results...

The main focus of the wall is a piece by Alice & Jay which is an art piece made of found metal objects.  This one includes a framed teapot with wire "tea" spilling out.



We picked a few round elements like this tin flower-petal mirror, a round distressed tin piece and antique wooden architectural pieces.

Here's a closeup of some of the uniquely shaped tin pieces we used and one of the round architectural elements.

This piece of tin looks like a snowflake to me.  And with the weather we've been having, I'll gladly welcome a snowflake in June.

Here's the final wall.  We added the word CREATE in tin.  Of course we ran out of the letter "E" so we improvised with some upside down 3s.  It was also kind of wonky standing on a ladder perched on stairs so the letters weren't perfectly in a row --- but hey, that's part of the fun.  The grey piece to the left of the artwork is actually a chalkboard!  It looks like a chandelier crystal to me and I thought the unique shape worked well with the other pieces.

A case of boredom cured!  Thanks for looking.

June isn't just for hydrangeas...

Photo: Van Chaplin for Southern Living

Thumbing through some June issues of my favorite magazines, I saw one common theme - everyone is featuring hydrangeas, again.  Yes, they're beautiful, and yes, I love them.  But when I started to look through an issue of a magazine that shall remain nameless, I saw a picture that I loved, and then... the rocky path looked familiar, and then the hydrangeas spilling out over the wooden crate started to look familiar too.  I ran to my stack of back issues and saw the same pictures in two old issues, cropped slightly differently, but the same photos.  I'm well aware that magazines reuse content, but I thought we could feature some other flowers for June, besides hydrangeas. Any time I think flowers or garden style, I think of one of our dealers, Mary Lou, who is always using flowers for her signature garden style.



Large elements like shutters, garden tables, benches, and doors, like the oversized "chippy" example here, are some of Mary Lou's signature pieces.  She greens up the room with urns filled with topiaries and ivy.

Mary Lou adds pops of color to her vignettes, like these red and yellow poppies.

Here's a garden bench Mary Lou had made from a headboard and foot board --- perfect for relaxing in the garden.

I love this worn shutter.  These are always reasonably priced in Mary Lou's room and pavilion outside.  The large size quickly adds a lot of character to a space.  And hooray - more bright floral touches!

Here's an oversized potting table.  Mary Lou loves painted furniture as well.



More of Mary Lou's style.  This garden table is on sale for $179 this week.

Mary Lou makes wonderful handmade wreaths.  This one looks great against this lavender door. 
(and they smell great too)

And wait several weeks...those hydrangeas that are blooming now in Mary Lou's garden will be dried, bundled, and available at the shop!  Discover Mary Lou's finds on the second floor of the shop or outside in her pavilion.

Spring Market 2011 - Even More Pics

Here are a few more shots of the 2011 Spring Market I just found sitting on my computer.  We had a beautiful weekend.  Thanks for joining us.  Enjoy!



Check out our fence around the entrance gate, so creative!  Instead of rope or ugly orange fence, we used colorful vintage bicycles fastened together.

 

I love how the natural light bounced off all of these beads in these fantastic bracelets from Findings at Summerhouse.

 

The birds living in this house must be so happy to live among all of these grape crushing barrels and these vintage French wine bottles.



Beautiful wooden table with classic urns.

 

Here was our eating area - the before.  The tables were adorned with rosemary topiaries and sea shells. 



A pile of great metal finds, including a metal top trunk.



This tent was stocked full of eye-popping vintage textiles.

I call this one the "happy dresser" just because it's so springy and cheerful.

The Beekeeper's Cottage had this huge bed in their tent.  I wonder how many people wanted to fall back on this one after a day's worth of shopping.

Mason jars full of vintage buttons -- only a few dollars each!

This piece had such great bones!

Our little trailer was decked out, complete with grill and a pink flamingo.  The admission to peek inside of this retro camper was only a smile.

Fresh Off the Wagon - 06.02.11

Lots of neat items arrived this week in time for weekend shopping.  I noticed a theme this week --- a lot of our dealers seemed to be bringing in oversized pieces.  To keep myself interested (and because I wanted to see what the Merriam-Webster thesaurus had to say about the word "large"), I decided to focus our Fresh Off the Wagon feature on our website on some of the larger pieces.  My dimension requirements for this week's blog post: all items had to have at least one dimension 5 feet or larger.  To get a peek of other new items this week, visit our website.

Anne brought in this substantial two piece pine cabinet.  She recently added shelves for extra storage. The cool rattan ball thingys (yes that's a technical term) can be decorative, or you can easily wire them and create unique light fixture.   Oh, and this one is 6 feet 10 inches high!

I love, love, love this gargantuan mirror framed in vintage tin.  It's 5 feet wide and over 7 feet tall.  Better pick this one up on a Thursday, Saturday or Sunday when we have extra hands to help you load it - it's in Pete's space on the third floor - yikes!

Pat brought in a massive industrial table made out of wood with metal legs.  This baby is 6 feet long.

Amy has a rustic king-size reclaimed wood coffee table with neat-o bolts in her space.  It's a whopping 67 inches wide!

Who doesn't love a good farm table?  This tin-topped monster is 7 feet wide.

This grand library sofa table with feed sack top under glass is 5 feet wide

At 74 inches wide, this mammoth sized chest of drawers offers tons of storage. 

And finally, here is a jumbo brass bed.  I didn't measure it, but I figure a twin bed must be at least 5 feet long, right?

Thanks for indulging my goofy post.  Speaking of indulging, if you haven't seen Ted's recipe for fried green tomatoes that I posted earlier this week, please do.  You have to try them this summer. 

Best of NoVA 2011

The Old Lucketts Store was named "Best Antiques Shop" in the June issue of Northern Virginia Magazine's Best of NoVA issue.

We are so ecstatic and thrilled with the honor.  Thank you!

Fried Green Tomatoes

We'll be featuring some family recipes on our blog in memory of our friend and fellow dealer, Ted Busch, who recently passed away.  Ted was quite the chef, although he'd say that "I just like to cook."  Ted had been working on a cookbook at the time of his death, and we'd like to honor his memory by sharing some of his recipes here.  We've also tossed around the idea of sharing them in the shop as well.

Here was Ted's version of this summertime favorite.  It makes a great side dish or serve as an appetizer.

To start, pick and wash 4-5 green tomatoes.  Slice them up.  I find about a quarter inch slices cook well.

For the Batter:
1 and 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 egg
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 table spoon Worcester sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 can of your favorite beer


Mix all of these together and let rest for about an hour



I found a great easy dip to serve with my fried green tomatoes. 

I use a store bought horseradish dip mixed with finely chopped red pepper, about 2 tablespoons and 1/2 teaspoon course ground black pepper.  Mix well and then refrigerate for a few hours.

*  A note about frying green tomatoes.  Have you ever had the problem of all the crust falling off your tomatoes while still in the pan? I found the solution, dredge your tomato slices with rice flour before you dip them in the batter. The rice flour acts as a bonding agent between the raw tomato and the batter.

In a large frying pan get about 1 inch of oil heated up to medium high.
First dredge your slices in the rice flour then dip in your batter then into the hot oil, about 3 minutes per side. Check for done with a fork.
Let cool down on a paper towel and serve warm with the dip.

In Memory of Ted Busch



Ted took this picture of an angel while in Italy in 2009.



The Lucketts Store lost a great friend and one of our fellow vendors, Ted Busch, Thursday night.  He was taken from us suddenly, but his memory will live on.

Ted worked at the shop and had a space for many years.  He is best known as the "Silver Guy" who dazzled everyone with his collections and displays of wonderful pieces of silver.  We recently featured some pictures from his personal collection on our blog here.  I remember his eyes lighting up when we talked about working on that post.  He was so eager to impart his knowledge and share pictures of some of his favorite pieces. 



Aside from silver, Ted also specialized in iron pieces, concrete garden ornaments, and had a great eye for unique furniture pieces.  He loved collecting and displaying old photographs. Ted was always excited to share his knowledge of antiques, quickly stepping in to answer customer questions ---- What would you call this?  How old is it? How do I care for it? ---- when I'd give him the "um, Ted, help me out here" look.  Ted grew up in his family's bakery and was quite the chef and baker.  He was always willing to bring a wonderful treat to share on Sundays when we worked together.  I will always remember his generosity, knowledge, and great stories.

Ted we lost a great friend and you will be dearly missed.



Karen, who also has a space at the shop, posted some words about Ted on her blog, The Graphics Fairy.  To read her post, please click here.

More Pics from the 2011 Market...

The second installment of Spring Market pictures shared by our friends...enjoy!

My Mother's Pearls shared this picture.  I smile every time I see it.

Creature Gorgeous blogged about scoring this 10' long farm table with a 1940s base and 12" wide vintage planks (probably flooring) for $495 



Tina F. wished she had bought this for her kitchen.



Rachel from Southern Exposure found this cool metal box.



Vintage furniture goes modern. Photo courtesy of the Creature Gorgeous blog

Check out these cool old bottles.  Photo courtesy of photographer Tina Flohr. 



We'll keep the pictures coming.  I've been having so much fun looking at everyone else's photos that I haven't even downloaded the pics from my camera yet!