Ciao, Adios, Au Revoir, Farewell....

As each year comes to an end I tend to reflect on what the previous months have taught me and look forward to what a new year will bring. This new year will definitely be a change for me. Through much prayer and consideration (and evenings of my sweet husband listening to my ramblings) I have decided to bid farewell to The Old Oak Cottage. The time that I have spent at the cottage have been a dream come true for me and it has proved to be the most exhilarating, exhausting fun and back breaking work that I have ever done. Time has become a precious commodity for me right now as I look forward to my oldest son graduating from high school and my youngest son with 2 years of high school left. As most of you bloggers/moms know...we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to be everything to everyone....I do realize that I honestly cannot be everything to everyone but it became aware to me to take a step back and regroup...

Marci will continue with the cottage and has an expansion underway already....Watch for exciting things to be happening on the beautiful property that the cottage sits on. We had discussed earlier in the year of adding some new, beautiful, "different" items to the Cottage inventory so be on the lookout for cool things to come.

I will continue to blog and may even try to "facebook" myself to keep up with you guys!!! I thank each and every one of you for your sweet smile as you entered the cottage and your encouragement throughout the last 2 1/2 years!!!

Many blessings to you,

Mandy

12 Days of Christmas Specials

Starting December 9th, the cottage will feature a special "super sale" item each day until December 24th.

That is 12 Cottage business days of super specials! We will also be having a drawing for prizes each day - each customer will be a winner (as all our customers are). Plus, each $10 you spend will give you an additional chance to trade in your prize, and try again for that day's "Grand Prize".

If you are on our email list, check each morning for the announcement of that days' super sale item. OR check our facebook page each day, or call, or just stop by. The special of the day may be that perfect last minute gift for someone . . . or for yourself!

Stop in to visit, draw for a prize and have a cup of coffee.

The Cottage Chicks,

Marci & Mandy

"Small Business Saturday" Sale

The Christmas Season is upon us and to kick off the shopping frenzy we would like to invite you to our "Small Business Saturday" Sale this Saturday November 27. Come join us for some Christmas shopping fun. Take a look at our specials...

All Fall Decor 50 % Off

Caswell Massey Soaps and Lotions 50 % Off

Tyler Candles 25 % Off

All Bethany Lowe Decorations 25 % Off

Victorian Mirrors 20 % Off

All Christmas Ornaments 20 % Off

All Poo-Pourri and Karoma Car Aromatherapy 20 % Off

And

Our Christmas Stocking Stuffer Special:

All regular priced items that you can stuff into our Christmas Stocking will be 20 % Off!!!

How much fun is that???

We will be Closed Thursday (Thanksgiving Day) and Friday to enjoy some time with our families.

Hope to see you on Saturday!!!

The Cottage Chicks,

Mandy and Marci

Fun Festival and Glitter Houses

O, tis the season of busyness!!! Our community of Huffman has a Fall Fun Festival every year and this year we decided to have a small booth to show off a few of our pretties. As luck would have it....a cool front decided to come through the night before and Saturday morning we had leftover drizzle. It rained for about the first 3 hours which made set-up a little difficult to say the least. Then it became breezy and quite cool....It was a great day though...thanks for all the festival goers that stopped by to say hello and to oohhh and aahhh. The booth was small compared to our huge ole thing we have at the Round Top Antiques Week...but just perfect for a one day festival....

Back at the Cottage...I wanted to share our precious little Putz and Glitter Houses...these pictures are for you Debbie!!! The first picture is of our vintage putz houses...They are just precious and look so wonderful under our glass domes...or just set up as a little village like we have them here...

We also have some new little glitter houses that really make your holiday decorations sparkle!!!

Come on by the Cottage for your holiday decoration needs and/or wants!!! As always...coffee and cookies are waiting for you.

Oh Yeah...just for you...we will be open until 6pm on Thursday and Friday throughout the holiday season.

Turkey Day is right around the corner...I love dressing with cranberry sauce...what's your favorite dish on the Thanksgiving table?

The Cottage Chicks,

Mandy and Marci

Christmas Open House

We had such a great time this weekend at our Christmas Open House and Antiques on the Lawn. Thanks to everyone who came out to see us. We still have some fabulous Fall and Christmas items to help make your home festive this season. Some of our favorites this year are our Glittered Nativities and Feather Trees.

This weekend on Saturday, November 13 we will be set up at The Huffman Fun Festival. Come on over and see our great items for Christmas gifts.

Can you believe the season is upon us??? ENJOY the season and always remember the reason we celebrate Christmas...The birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

God Bless You and Yours,

Mandy and Marci

The Cottage Chicks

Christmas Open House

and

Antiques on the Lawn

We are scurrying around the Cottage, once more, preparing for our Christmas Open House and Antiques on the Lawn Show coming up this weekend. The Cottage will be closed Tuesday, Wednesday and part of Thursday. We will open Thursday at 4pm and Friday at 10am. Then join us Saturday at 9 am for our Antiques on the Lawn Show. It is going to turn cooler and it looks like we are going to be blessed with wonderful weather. Come see our FAB. U. LOUS! Christmas items just waiting to make your home beautiful this season!!

Can't wait to see you!!!

The Cottage Chicks

Mandy and Marci

Fall is in the Air . . .

Fall is in the air . . . . .well, not necessarily here in southeast texas, but it IS HERE at the cottage. Pictured below are some of the great fall/Thanksgiving items we have on display:


We also have a great fall landscape oil painting:





And a couple turkey platters:


We are also stock full of items that we brought back from Round Top:




This is a great old radio cabinet that Mandy distressed and added old sheet music to where the speaker used to be. It opens up in three places! Top, drop front, and lower door drops down too.
Come check out all our special items on display . . . . they won't be there long as we will start preparing for our Christmas Open House in another week.

Which reminds me: The Cottage will be closed from Monday, November 1st through Thursday in preparation for our annual Christmas Open House and Antiques on the Lawn. Mark your calendars for Saturday, November 6th at 9:00 am. Sneak preview coming soon . . . .

Ready for the Ball

We picked up these chairs a while back...Marci gave in after I said over and over again that I loved them....Honestly...they were pretty sad!!! The fabric, not only being extremely retro, was quite worn...to threads...with no padding....faded....I know...you are saying "what were YOU thinking?" But...

I think they turned out "oh so chic" with their drop cloth dress and their new shabby, white washed make up on the frame....yes...these girls are ready for the ball now!!!

We are getting ready for our Christmas Open House Weekend coming up the first weekend in November...mark your calendars...more info to come soon!!!

Enjoy our fabulous weather here in South Texas...I personally will be glad when the ragweed starts to settle down then my nose can get back to normal...whatever normal is!!!

The Cottage Chicks

Mandy and Marci

Another Week...Poof!!!!

Yes, we are back from The Round Top Antiques Week where we set up at LaBahia. We had a fantastic time!!! It was 900 degrees on set up day but after that a cool front come through and the weather was PER.FECT.!!!! Here is a little slide show of our booth. Of course, it morphed and changed throughout the week as pretties were sold and new ones were moved in....

Here is me and my honey, Troy, in the "outhouse" at the Junk Gypsy Prom. The Prom is the greatest people watching you will ever do!!!!

The John Evans Band is always entertaining.....

Marci and I, along with our strapping, furniture lugging husbands, started transforming the cottage once again...We moved in some pieces that we have kept hidden for a little while :-)

Come on by and see us...Now that it is a little cooler the coffee will be brewing!!!

The Cottage Chicks

Mandy and Marci

Final Clearance, Final Pack Up and Away we go . . .

This weekend, September 17th and 18th, is the last of our summer clearance sale. Tons of items are marked 50 % off including all our beach theme items and florals.

We have also put out some great new fall items.

We will be packing up on Wednesday and heading out for "Round Top Antique Week". We will be closed at the cottage from Thursday September 23rd to October 2nd. We hope you will come see us at La Bahia Antique Show between Brenham and Round Top. Click the link below for information and directions.

http://labahiaantiques.com/

Did You Know?

Did you know that it was 50 million degrees outside today? Marci and I were at the Cottage today along with Marci's husband Jim...We were all working like busy little bees ALL day long and, as Jim put it, "I am whooped". I told Jim this was just the first of the whoopings as we are getting ready for our week at The Round Top Antiques Week coming up Sept. 24 - Oct. 2. You can read all about that here. We will be set up at LaBahia...Marci was busy pricing our goodies, measuring furniture for us to graph out our booth before we go and answering all of mine and Jim's questions...

:-)...Jim was busy packing one of our trailers with the great furniture and smalls that are ready to go and I was stripping (furniture, but it was hot enough to remove clothes), sanding, sealing and painting....Here are some of the things packed back in the garage waiting for their final toner or sealer or just stamp of approval...

Yesterday Marci and I spent the day shopping and found quite a few treasures that will have to be picked up soon, but, we were able to bring a truck load back...Here's a couple of pieces...one obviously needs a little attention...We are thinking this iron chair should be an oh so cute pink...oh yes, I am seeing it!!!

At our Dog Days of Summer Sale we sold a cabinet that hung above this buffet...Marci suggested hanging the screen here to display our cute little magnets...PERFECT!!

And the magnets are just so cute...made from small tiles...we have birds, nests, roses and even the Eiffel Tower!!! They come in a set of four...

Remember that shutter I was working on...Well it worked great as a display for our Cutest Dog Contest. We had the tiny clothes pins and clipped our pics of the CUTEST dogs on there. How cute is this?

We will keep you posted on our progress for Round Top. As for me...I need a shower!!! NOW!!!

The Cottage Chicks

Mandy and Marci

We Have a Winner!!!

Thanks to everyone who came out for our Dog Days of Summer Sale on Saturday. It was a great day!!! The weather was sooo nice..still a bit warm, but less humidity and a great breeze. The voting for our Cutest Dog Contest was very successful and almost half the votes went to Abbey.

She is rather cute...don't ya think!!!

We are now starting to get REALLY geared up for Round Top...Lot's of projects in the works along with lots of prayers for good weather to get them finished...We will keep you posted!!!

Mandy and Marci

The Cottage Chicks

Reminder: Dog Days Sale this Saturday, Sept. 4th

We are having a great time planning for our upcoming Dog Days of Summer Sale. It is going to be our biggest clearance event ever! There will be more sale items then ever before, as well as more half-price items than ever before!

We have been continuing to receive entrants into our "Cutest Dog Contest". We would like you to meet:
Lola
Miss Reba
AND: Miss Abby
Enter your pup by Thursday, September 2nd, 5:00 pm. You could win a $100 Gift Certificate! Just email or bring in his/her picture with name.

Voting will take place during the Sale Saturday. There will also be door prizes, hidden prizes, and refreshments (have you ever had Chex Puppy Chow?).

We hope to see you there. While there, please sign up for our mailing list if you haven't already. Also, customers on our cottage email list even receive special offers occasionally; so let us know if you would like to be added to that as well. We do not and will not share your information with anyone else.

Until then,

Marci & Mandy

CUTEST DOG CONTEST

Meet our first two entrants in the cutest dog contest:

This is Piper

This is Ozzie
Remember to enter your dog by bringing in or emailing his picture by the end of Thursday, September 2nd. You could win a $100 Gift Certificate.

Read the previous post for more details about our Dog Days of Summer Sale.

Thanks,

Marci

DOG DAYS OF SUMMER PARTY (SALE)

I hate to reveal my naivete', but until relocating to the Houston area from Montana, I really had no idea what "dog days of summer" was. Up there, we totally looked forward to the three weeks of summer we got! Sure, sometimes it hit 100 degrees, but those days were for celebration - floating the river or going to the lake.

This year, however, I finally get it! It has been SO hot for SO long that you just feel like you can't take it anymore. It is very much the same feeling I got up north when I was "house bound" for months due to snow and ice. I felt then, as I do now, that I had to do SOMETHING or plan SOMETHING to get me out of my doldrums! Thus, Mandy and I would like to announce:

The Old Oak Cottage's Dog Days of Summer Party (Sale), Saturday, September 4th. Sure it's a sale - we want to lure you to come see us. But actually, its a party to help us through these last days (I hope) of summer.

To kick of the festivities, we are having a "Cutest Dog Contest" and encourage you to bring in a picture of your pup, along with his name, to the cottage by September 2nd. You may also email us your entries. Customers will vote the day of the sale. Owner of the winning entry will receive a $100 Gift Certificate!!!

There will also be door prizes, hidden prizes, dog bone cookies and puppy chow. Let us know if you have any other great dog theme recipe ideas to share. To top it all off, we plan to have one "doggone" good sale. (Sorry, I couldn't help it). This is what we plan to have on SALE:

- 50% off all beach theme items

- 50% off all spring and summer florals

- 30% off select pieces of furniture and decor

- table of 50% off items

Please come see us during this special event, and help us say GOOD RIDDANCE to summer!

Till then,

Marci and Mandy

Just Go With Your Gut

You know....sometimes there is just this feeling you get...maybe I should...hmmm??? Then you decide you are just having an OCD moment, you're out of control, being ridiculous over some "stuff"...then... it happens...you should have just gone with your gut!!!

It was time for the Cottage to have a little face lift...past due actually...we knew when we purchased the cottage that it needed a roof but, buying a beautiful armoire and some pretties to go with it was waaayyy more fun....

Since Marci organized the garage so beautifully while I was on vacation we had taken some pieces of furniture in there to work on... out of the heat, sun and occassional rain drops...

I took the contractor into the garage and asked, "Should I cover any of my furniture pieces with a tarp in case something falls from the rafters?"

He answered..."NOOOO, you should be fine."

I kept thinking...hmmm..maybe I should go up there and cover some things up...then I would think...oh stop it, you are just being silly.....

uuuhhhuummm....

and...

and...

and...

So enter...

The ole trusty garage vac...Troy thought I should just blow everything off with the compressor but I was a little nervous about creating a horrific dust storm which would cause me to have a doubly horrific allergy attack which would make for a triple horrific cranky cottage chick...I chose to vacuum it up...

Look at how pretty she looks with her new "do"!!!

The Old Oak Cottage is a little dear that was built in 1930 and she still sported her 1930's original wood shingles under the other 30 yr old shingles that were put on top...she feels so much lighter now...and she just looks soooo good!!! Love this house!!!

Come by for a cookie sometime and chit chat a while...I will stop vacuuming and looovvvee to come in and visit... :-)

Mandy

In the works...

I think I am developing ADD...I simply cannot concentrate on one project at a time...I am still working on the dresser and small curio...I was opening the garage and going to begin to work on them when I saw this shutter door out of the corner of my eye...

Of course, it looked MUCH worse than this!!! I slapped that door on top of a table and went to sanding all the chippy grey paint off until I got to this color...can you say FAB. U. LOUS? Uumm...Here is the top of the door...It was kind of fun to knock these out with a big ole hammer...they were half way out anyway...

I will let you know when I get this baby finished...I am thinking chicken wire on the top...hhhhmmmm, the possibilities...

I did actually finish a project!!! We bought this set of black chairs some time ago...They had bright, pink, nasty, fabric on the seats. Now, you guys know us cottage chicks like us some pink but, these were just down right U.G.L.Y. Anyway...I recovered them in this beige linen...aaahhhh so much better!!

I paired the chairs with our wonderful french door table which, by the way, is 30% off right now!!!

If you live in the Houston area are you sweating yet??? The heat index was supposed to be 110 degrees today!! I assure you... it has been!!!

Ready for Fall

Mandy