Gearing Up.

I'm still here, if you can believe it!

I have been so swamped at the store lately its crazy- and I am entirely excited to say this weekend I will be partaking in the Fancy Flea in Lakeland, Florida. It was mentioned in Flea Market Style Magazine as being one of Florida's top two Flea Markets. Its held twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall- and this is my first time so I am excited and nervous and not really knowing what to expect of it all but mostly excited. 

Subsequently all of my attentions have been on the store and the show, so my house is a total wreck. Im pretty sure my neighbors think Im a compulsive buyer who gets terrible buyers remorse and returns everything, the way things go in and out here!

Regardless, all of this moving in and out has really made me focus on our living room which has never been all that great to begin with. In our old flat, our furniture fit really well. Since moving to our home (and larger living room) it made everything look sparse and dry.

So the other day I was surfing through Craigs List when I saw IT- and it was love at first sight.

Mr. Major and I are going out this Sunday to pick her up! And of course now that I have seen this piece all I can think about is all of the coordinating pieces I have to find now and how the rest of the room is going to flow.

On Tuesday I was in St.Pete when I stumbled across a small antique store so much like mine it was crazy! So I was browsing around and nearly passed out when I saw these amazing Vintage Letters! So on Sunday when we are picking up our new Coffee Table... I might sneak over and see if I can snag one or two for my living room wall!

Here are a few sites I'm taking inspiration from for our new living room. I am really loving the industrial decor thats really in style right now, but I want to lean more towards the industrial Farm side of things which seems a little more inviting and a little less cold then some of the stuff out there. 

Are you in love yet? I know its not everyone style but this is certainly speakin' to me and Im lovin it!

I hope everything is well in your world!

A Face to a Name.

Since finding the 1913 Deed to our home so many more questions have come to light and have yet to be answered- but I think the one questions that are most resounding throughout my mind is; Who was Mollie Evers and why did she purchase our home? 

Womens rights in the early 1900s were still limited- especially so as a married woman. So how could a woman purchase a home in only her name despite the fact that she was married- and had been for nearly 17 years? I knew the chances of me finding out information specifically about her were slim but we still had to try. It seemed like we some how owed it to her- to our home. 

Mollie married Jasper Evers in 1896 at the age of 22. Jasper Evers had been previously married, had several children and widowed before he married Mollie at the ripe age of 45. He was the third eldest son of thirteen children born of John Ross Evers & Bethel May Hair. 

Jasper Evers Managed the local Farmers Market and was noted as a prominent business man as well as being very active within his community. 

I was entirely awestruck when I came across this picture of Mollie, dated 1901. 

Pictured 2nd from the Right Standing

(touched up) 

She was apparently one of the first members of the Thimble Club! And while the scanned picture isn't the best quality, she was quite pretty. 

The Thimble club was known for being ' a group of civic-minded women in the village, who wished to work together for the promotion of community welfare. When a loved one passed away in the community these ladies put on a dinner for the family and friends of the deceased. They visited elderly homes, hosted parties and packed food baskets for shut-ins.

Apart from this intriguing bit of information I couldn't find much more. He husband died 15 years after she purchased our home, and she never married again or had children. She passed away in 1973 at the age of 99. 

Having got this far, I am so entirely pleased with the information I have received. It is so much more then I ever expected to find. And sitting here thinking about the rich history of our home I cant help but smile at the fact that history does repeat itself. Nearly Ninety Six years later another woman purchased the big white house on the corner Johnson street. 

I can still remember the first time I saw our home, before even setting foot inside I knew we had to get it. I remember thinking I had never been so sure of anything in my entire life. I like to think that it had a little something to do with Mollie.

Imagine That.

The entirety of this week Mr. Major and I have been driving out to the Tampa courthouse to get more information on our Little 1900's house. When we first started looking through old deeds we just kept hitting dead ends. So we decided to take a gamble and try searching through tax rolls instead, it wasn't too long after that we started getting some big hits on information.

During the early 1930's the house was listed as 'Unknown' ownership, which most likely meant the house was abandoned during the great depression like so many other homes during that time. During the 1940's it was listed as state property before being purchased from the Avery's during the 50's. 

So we pushed on even further, through the deeds and tax rolls until we came across a deed from 1913 with a legal description that matched our house. So we pulled up a copy of the deed and were stunned to see a Mrs. Mollie Evers had purchased the home outright for the sum of $200 dollars. Oddly enough her husbands name wasn't listed anywhere on the form- and after doing some research on her we found that she was married at the time she purchased this house. The Evers family is a particularly large founding family in Plant City, and after more research we found that she had married into the Evers family by her spouse Jasper Evers. 

" Local legend says that Henry B. Plant never came to Plant City, Florida, the town named for him. That may be true; however, he played a significant role in the development of the city. In the mid-1880s, he extended his South Florida Railroad through Plant City, providing a means for growth and prosperity. Plant City was incorporated in 1885 in Hillsborough County. The original community settlement, known as Shiloh, was north of the current town center. A walk through historic Shiloh Cemetery is a walk through the history of Plant City, with granite markers dating as far back as 1841. There you will find the names of the founding families: Branch, Collins, Cone, Evers, Howell, Hancock, Hawthorne, Knight, Merrin, Wilder, and Wheeler ". - Excerpt from Images of America Plant City, Florida

How very ironic that just a few short months ago I wrote a blog about the very cemetery that my previous owners were lain to rest in.

As we continued to read the deed, we now had a new name to put to the house. The person who sold the house to Mollie Evers was listed as Albert W. Gilchrist. Immediately my head is spinning! Theres a road up the street from us called Gilchrist St- and the park just one road over from us is called Gilchrist park. Surely this was more then a coincidence. 

After visiting with the archives and talking with them we found out that Albert W. Gilchrist played a major part in the development of Washington Park (our subdivision) as well as the Historic District of Plant City. He attended West Point College, and later became a Real estate dealer before settling in Punta Gorda, Florida to become an orange grower. During his life time he owned over 2,000 properties throughout the State of Florida for developing. He served in the Florida Militia before leaving to be in the Spanish American War after which he was elected to be in the Florida House of Representatives before stepping down in 1905. Four years later he was elected Governor of Florida before retiring in 1913. 

While Mr. Major and I are fairly certain he never lived in our home, the fact that it was owned and developed by him is still entirely extraordinary. Finding a deed older then this one is entirely rare and we will still continue on searching- but even if nothing turns up I am still blown away by everything we have already discovered. 

Whats the Hold Up?

Since opening the store, its been a constant struggle to find time to do all of the things I need to do. Since the  shop is open 5 days a week, I take my other two days to cram in shopping for us as well as shopping for the store, working on Our Little 1900's house many renovation projects, and all of the handmade projects that make Used to Bees the wonderful place it is. Balance is key in all of this which is most likely why I find myself so entirely scatter brained lately. 

Yesterday I greeted my day off bright and early and ready to do some work on a vintage room screen we had purchased a few weeks ago. Stepping out on to the car port I was faced with a disorganized mess. Well, this simply wouldn't do to work in. So, I spent the next hour cleaning and organizing the car port. When I was ready to begin work I stepped up onto the back porch / laundry cemetery and realized this space too needed cleaning badly. This room is screened in on one side and windowed in on another, with no screen door to keep the bugs out it can get pretty filthy. 

So I began organizing and decided that since I was organizing I might as well move the washer and dryer out to the curb since we will be getting new- working ones soon. After moving them off the back porch I realized how entirely dirty the carpeting was and since I have never liked carpeting- and never really understood why the previous owners would carpet outside I tore up the carpeting and spikes. 

Under it all a half painted and crackled floor appeared and since I was already this far, I decided to paint the floor a nice shade of gray. 

Once the paint was dry I realized how much extra space I had now that the washer and dryer were gone. So I moved all of my power tools and paints onto the back porch and set up a neat organized work space. Of course by this time it was getting dark outside and the car port and back porch were looking better then they have ever looked. 

Only trouble is, I can't recall what I came outside for in the first place? :)   

Oh bother. 

Not too Shabby.

I recently stumbled across a show on HGTV called Cash and Cari. Needless to say I was totally excited just watching the commercials for the show. It really is a fabulous show- and a total perk that there is someone out there who does what I do and is entirely successful at it! If your in need of great ideas and inspiration- seriously check this show out! 

{ Click here for more info }

So after watching this past weekends episode and seeing how she used vintage wall paper to add appeal to a sideboard table she recovered from a shed got me to thinking about a recent piece I picked up for the store. It was entirely run down and filthy as you can see... (this was a PG picture I took! The other side was much worse).

Since It had tons of paint drips I stripped it down to the wood.

Sanded it until it was smooth...

Repainted it white and using some reprinted vintage shelf liner I added a little extra flare to this piece. 

So, there you have it! One wallpaper inspired furniture piece. I hope you are all doing well!