Monday, July 20, 2009

The Retreat Estate @ BarnHouse

Oh, I have SO much to share with you about the BarnHouse Flea Market Show! It was FABulous! But since Jermonne already posted about this on the BarnHouse Boys blog, I felt I had to play catch-up and share some photos of our tent first. Take a gander at the 'tent' we created that was our home away from home for the past four days...

Inflatable air mattresses for the bed (inside an alcove with drapes and a mosquito net canopy) and the lounging sofa, both piled with pillows. The silver metal 'thing' is a small antique Middle Eastern heater - you put in candles or charcoals and it warms up chilly mornings.

You can barely see it in this shot, but I had a sign hanging on the center front post, telling people what this was and why we did it, and that they could certainly peek in and take photos - but please don't enter the tent if we weren't there.

Welllllllll
.... they didn't see that sign, maybe. Or they didn't read it. Or care. Because there were several 'parties' held in our tent in our absence! I saw lots of people walking around in there during the show. Then I walked in Saturday afternoon to grab a sandwich, and the pillows from the beds were strewn about, the chairs were all moved, and the cookies in the cooky bowl were even gone!!! Bob walked in on a lovely elderly couple, sitting in the adirondack chairs resting. They asked him if he didn't think that this was a perfect little rest stop that they show had thoughtfully provided!!! He just smiled and said yes, and patiently waited for them to leave before he had his sandwich. Funny! One of the dealers suggested that I get some wire fencing to close off the entry next time we do this.... might be an idea.
Brilliant Bob found a way to hook the chandelier up to a battery charger and make it work, so every night we had about an hour of delicious light! We also had some smalll sconces in the sleeping alcove that were powered by taplights.
The tent, also known as 'The Taj Mahal', 'The Tent Mahal', and 'The Retreat Estate', from the outside. It's 20X20. Yes, it's overkill, I know. But I'm a 'Go Big or Go Home' kind of gal. And I truly truly thought that Cindy of Tarte was gonna' come in with all her creative guns blazing, and I wanted to at least be IN on the competition. I didn't know we were gonna' SWEEP it!!!!

Dear sweet Robin of Bird Tweets took photos of the tent for over an hour.... I just can hardly wait to see them. She is an incredibly talented girl with stamina and energy that is enviable. She began photographing during setup on Friday, and didn't stop until long after the show ended on Saturday.... Robin, thank you for your kindness and time and generosity.
We invited Joe & Jermonne to have dinner with us on Thursday night, before the other campers & dealers arrived. Bob prepared a marvelous repast and we had a lovely time visiting with the guys. These are such genuine, generous, talented men.... we are blessed to call them friends. Thank you, gentlemen, for being such an inspiration to so many people!

More photos and updates from the VERY wonderful BarnHouse Flea Market show to come... it's a day of 're-entry' here on the farm.