The Tacoma Home and Garden Show Part 3

Although plants were not the main focus of the Tacoma Home and Garden Show, there was still much to love about this event.  Yes, there are a lot of  home improvement-related displays but this year, the hot tubs seemed to occupy less  floor space and I even considered buying a couple "My Pillows." 

The Vintage market consists of all local vendors and this year they really brought their A game.  I was especially taken  with the vintage wedding themed display by The Urban Gardener

I seriously considered buying two of these floral baskets.  I remember two like these that lived in the turn-of-the century church I attended as a lad back in the Victorian era.  They were usually pressed into service for weddings and funerals.  Fortunately, The Urban Gardener is not far from my house and maybe they didn't sell.

A clever touch!

Speaking of local vintage treasures, thews two plaster ornaments came from the interior of the local Scottish Rite Masonic Temple whose demolition I showed in posts earlier this year.  Second Use, the salvage company displaying these also had, on display pictures of the wood floors and beams being salvaged from the building.  They reported that all the wood had been sold for reuse locally.

This lady may have come home with me.  Thanks, Kristi, for the chocolate kisses you added to the bag.

Brandy's Attic had this piano bar on display.  

Mr. Big Mouth

I remember doing research using one of these. For anyone too young to identify it, this is a card catalog or rather the piece of furniture housing the actual 3x5 cards.  Think of it as an old-fashioned google home page.

 Once a paper was hand written in pencil on paper and edited several times, this device was used to create a typewritten copy.  I never owned my own electric typewriter.  In high school, I went to my eldest sister's house to use hers and in college, a housemate had a machine very much like this one with the cartridge that could be changed between ribbon and correction tape.  No erasing!  Would wonders never cease.

These macrame beads made me laugh out loud.  Did you also do Macrame in the 70's?  If not,  how did you hang your plants?

 I'm very sorry that I don't remember the creator of these adorable and very shiny snow people made using antique bottles.

New to the Pacific Northwest this year is The Rose Gardener. Owner Wendy Tilley has moved here from Atlanta and her husband, Ryan, will be following her as soon as he's finished installing the rose garden at the President Carter Library. She'll also have a space at the Northwest Flower and Garden Orgy (as my friend Alison has named it) next week. There were lots of useful items that are also available online.

These lightweight pots are covered with the same Vinyl wrap that they use on vehicles. 

Bionic gloves.

Barnel pruners made in Portland, OR.  These felt wonderful.

Rusty Birds are always coming up with fun new designs

and finding creative ways to use existing ones. 

These rusty spheres can be opened to allow each half to be planted and then rejoined to make green spheres.  Every garden needs a few succulent balls, right?

Stone Steel & Heart 

It was a delight to see Marcus Harper GlassWorks at the Tacoma show.  I'd first seen his work at Sorticulture.  Marcus is a marvelously talented glass fuser who has my admiration for pushing fusing in fun new directions. 

Katie Dean's colorful linoleum block prints are all so wonderful that it was hard to choose a favorite.  Fortunately, one can buy them as cards and mat and frame a whole wall full.

Urbansoule's "Ultra modern livingwares"  made me stop in my tracks.   Check out more great stuff on their website!

As Tim Wistrom's  site says, "People may not know his name but they know his paintings."   If you've been in this area for a while, you'll probably recognize some of Mr. Wistrom's surrealistic, often northwest-themed work.  For me, seeing his work at the show was like unexpectedly meeting an old friend.  This one was new to me.

Happy weekend all!