The Ghosts of Aunts Past

Confession here...

I have been a little short on project completion lately.  I have a few things started but somehow this long, cold, SNOWY, winter has worn me down and I just don't have anything quite ready to share.

So, I thought I'd share a couple of my favorite pieces from my home.  Most are family pieces or have a story attached, all speak to my decor style - accessorize with vintage, decorate with classic.

First up, this pair of end tables.  These were my great, great Aunt Dean's and spent most of their life in Cranston RI.  Aunt Dean was 99 1/2 when she died...she lived a very full life.  She was married 3 times but didn't have any children so when she passed away my Grandmother inherited her belongings.  

This chair was also Aunt Dean's but it came from her cottage in Maine.  I spent summers with my Great-Grandmother on Sennebec Pond in Union and Aunt Dean's cottage was next to my grandmothers so we spent a lot of time with her.  She had the best attic at the cottage that my brother & I spent most rainy days hiding out exploring all of the goodies in her attic...old furniture, very old golf clubs, games...it was great!

My Great Uncle Scotty sitting in the chair.  This photo is fom the late 1960's/early 1970's

Reupholstered and sitting in my living room...this chair always gets compliments from my guests

The chair was reupholstered & spent close to 20 years in my grandparents guest apartment suite.  I loved sitting in it, having my morning coffee and taking in the view of the coast of Maine...they had such a spectacular view that spanned the coast from Camden to Castine.

This piece I scored at an estate sale a couple of years ago (you can read about it here).  The house was just MAGNIFICENT...and I found this piece hiding in a room on the 3rd floor way in the back.  It was the 2nd day of the sale so much of the furniture had already been sold.  It took some charming to get some help to bring it down the stairs & load it in my car.  It's a Lane cedar chest so I think it's a piece that was really intended for a bedroom but it's just perfect for my dining room.

My Great-Aunt Hilda lived right up the road from Aunt Dean & my Great-Grandmother's cottages.  She had traveled the world and lived in many places over the course of her life.  When I was a kid she had moved back to Appleton Maine and was living in the house she grew up in...a house that was significantly larger & more modern than the cabin she grew up in but it was still the same house in it's core.  She had also been married 3 times and did not have any children so again my grandmother lucked out with some beautiful pieces.  Many many years after Aunt Hilda had passed away I randomly found a picture on the wall of an antique shop of Aunt Hilda and shared that story here.

Behind this lady (who is not my Aunt) a Sheraton Desk is peaking out...to the right is my Grandmother, to the left is my Grandfather.  This was taken in Aunt Hilda's house in the early 1960's

Today it sits in another corner of my living room.  It's so great to have the
extra storage

Looking from my dining room into my living room you can get a better view of my mixing old with more modern
comfortable pieces that make for a livable space

Another one of my favorite pieces from my grandmother was this french influenced mirror.  She had this hanging in her home for so many years & I always loved it but I'm not entirely sure where she got it.  Likely some fun hidden antique store.

And here are 3 of the lovely ladies who lived with some of my favorite things for many many years.  Aunt Hilda is on the left, my Great-Grandmother is in the center and Aunt Dean is on the right.

I love that in so many corners of my home their spirits live on.  Not only do they bring familial comfort to my home but they also bring a uniqueness that speaks to my personal style.

sharing this week on:

Between Naps on the Porch, The Dedicated House, Savvy Southern Style, Coastal Charm, Cozy Little House, The Cottage Market, The Charm of Home, French Country Cottage, Mod Vintage Life, Jennifer Rizzo, Artsy Chicks Rule, Elizabeth & Co, Our Home Away From Home, TheShabbyCreekCottage

Red Transferware = Love

Last weekend I headed off to Maine to see some of my very favorite folks and spend the day syphoning  inspiration from one of my most creative pals Kate from Scissors, Spatula’s & Sneakers.  I had started a “scrapbook” to chronicle some of the fun moments of my 2012 travel.  Now, I am not at all a scrapper but all the pretty papers and adornments really call to me.  My pal is a huge scrapper and really does amazing things so I decided her house would be a great place to try to figure out how to put together the free form pages I had started.  I really just cut 6” x 8” pages and decided to stick some of my favorite photos that representing each trip…nothing complicated just a fun memory book.

So we had a wonderful afternoon catching up & gluing things on paper...fun!

On my way home as I often do I took the “road less travelled” (aka Route 1) and headed south to see what new amusement I could find along the way.

Columbary House
1286 US Route 1, Cape Neddick ME

Well, in Cape Neddick Maine my car just happened to pull into a parking lot for Columbary House Antiques.  Now, I have passed by this place I can’t even tell you how many times and have never noticed it.  I have no idea why I not only noticed it but decided to stop on Sunday, it was literally a last minute decision to take the turn (luckily there was no one behind me on the road) but let me tell you I am so glad I did!

How great is this to re-purpose old windows?  I'm thinking this would be so great
on the built-in's in my bathroom.

Red transfer ware is in my heart but wow I love this display of blue

As I mentioned in my Plan B Rowley post from last spring (see it here) I am always on the lookout for Colonial Burslem Woods Red transfer ware.  This was my great-grandmother’s everyday china pattern.  I grew up eating many, many yummy meals on it and still all these years later love it.  She made the absolute best homemade donuts…and let me tell you fresh fried homemade donuts is the absolute best scent to wake up to!  My brother could polish off a dozen in one sitting when we were kids.

Some of my red transfer ware pieces

Anyway back to Columbary House, there are 2 buildings – the front and more serious antiques house and the back building that has wonderful vintage items of all sorts.  It was in the back building that I made my real score.

And these babies were just waiting for me to find them on the bottom shelf below the wrap desk...luckily eagle eye
spotted them right away

So excited!  It’s not often I see my pattern and even less frequent I see it priced affordably!

There are 2 styles of Burslem Woods Colonial pattern one that is a lighter weight china and one that is more of a hotel/restaurant china heavy weight.

Most of my collection is the lighter weight...notice the serving bowl though....it's the heavy weight :-(

Early on when buying I made a mistake in not paying attention and picking up the heavier weight when I really prefer the lighter weight.  So, now that I’m paying attention it seems the lighter weight is so much harder to find and particularly hard to find without chips or crazing!

While both of these pieces are Woods Burslem they are not both Colonial pattern,...that's ok I'm good with a
little mixing and matching until I find a Colonial sugar bowl

Needless to say, this was a perfect start to my 2013..I’m hoping it’s a sign that this is going to be a wonderful year with unexpected beautiful things where I least expect them


Linking back with Mod Mix Monday, Savvy Southern Style, The Charm of Home, Jennifer Rizzo, Between Naps on the Porch

Local DC Goodness - Miss Pixie

Ok, so with all of the wonderful pics I’m seeing on everyone else’s blogs in the last couple of weeks I am feeling extremely negligent in my Christmas decorating this year so far.  And since I’m such a slacker I’ll share a little more of my DC adventures today.

While looking for some local DC Christmas shopping opportunities I came upon a vintage shop called Miss Pixie (thanks to my good friend Yelp)…well with that name you know I had to put it on my must see list!
The pictures on Yelp show a pink storefront with black & white awnings…oh yeah….but, not exactly what I found when I arrived.

Miss Pixies
1626 14th St NW, Washington DC

 

Other than a drastically different exterior I was so not disappointed by what I found on the interior.  Such cool things!

How fab are these lanterns!

This was cast iron so was heavier than it looks...would look
so nice in my front entry....

And I came at just the right time of year.  Miss Pixie does Christmas right!  I have absolutely never seen such a collection of vintage Christmas bulbs (aka Shiny Brites).

Biggest regret of my DC trip...not buying up all of these!

And where else are you going to see a blue feathered tree on one side of the store and a pink balsam tree on the other side?

This brings Dr Seuss to mind for some reason :)

I've been looking for one of these this year...a bit
tacky but tacky in a chic kind of way

Did you check out the dresser I painted for my office/project room (if not you can see it here)?  Well, I am super proud of it now…Miss Pixie had this one exactly like it (different color paint) with a $150 price tag on it.  How cool is that…mine cost less than $20 (for paint)!

I love that this was priced at $150 and my exact duplicate cost me $20
in paint & materials.  

No question I picked wisely for my local DC stop…there was so much inspiration here.

Farm table perfection!

I walked away with so many ideas…and a list of other cool shops in the area that Miss Pixie generously shares with any customer with a keen eye to the stack sitting on the counter.  I'm all ready for my next DC adventure!

Local Goodness - Grace Sales Co

So, today Christmas shopping begins for me.  Small Business Saturday is so much more my pace than the craziness of Black Friday…and I get to support my local communities businesses as a bonus.

I have decided that this year I am going to do my best to do at least 80% of my gift buying from small businesses (Etsy & Ebay count as small businesses since the transactions are from individual sellersJ).  Wouldn’t it be great for all of our communities if you all could join me in this mission?

So in honor of Small Business Saturday I thought I would share this post that I wrote a few months ago and never actually got it posted. Grace Sales Co has such wonderful quirky things I often wander in when I am in the neighborhood and today this will be my first stop.

Grace Sales Co
185 Pleasant St., Marblehead MA

Sometimes in the place & time you least expect it, you meet the nicest people.  This was the case when after a lovely day of meandering through Marblehead with a wonderful friend I decided on one more stop before heading home. 

My wonderful friend Leslie had mentioned she had missed out on a fab bookcase from Harvard University that was for sale at a fun little antique shop called Grace Sales Co just down the street.  She contemplated just a little too long and someone scooped it up just before her….I call that “just not meant to be”.

Love, love, love these orange wood stools!  They look like something
my friend Leslie would also love.

I have been to Grace Sales Co several times and this is another one of those places where I always see something unusual that I (or one of my friends) just have to have. 

Isn't this blue tufted sofa from Grace Sales window just fab?
Looks very Doris Day in Pillow Talk.
photo source

When I first moved to Marblehead this shop was an interior design shop that had just the most fabulous windows.  I had never visited the shop when the decorator had it but did make regular drive-by’s just to see the windows – they were always so colorful with lots of classic pattern fabrics and chic furniture pieces displayed.  Loved them!

This was one of a pair...wouldn't these just be magnificent in grey?

I’m not exactly sure when the decorator vacated and Grace Sales Co. moved in but I do know Grace hadn’t been open very long the first time I went in.  She has such great things that I have returned many times and usually with friends and we’ve all purchased something.  

photo source

I find this isn’t a shop where I just can’t live without everything in it but there are always a few really cool things I lust over.  And really isn’t that all it takes?

photo source

So on this particular Saturday I stopped in with very little on my list of wants/needs but was in need of seeing what new items were in the shop. 

What a great way to bring a pop of color to a room

While browsing in the back room I happened to strike up a conversation with a woman who was in the middle of checking out a vanity that her teenage daughter was admiring.  Her daughter really, really wanted it but she couldn’t figure out exactly how she wanted to update it.  I suggested Annie Sloan chalk paint and perhaps doing an accent color on some of the edges to make it pop as well as some new hardware (or painting the existing in a fun color).

Some teenage girl in Marblehead has fab taste...this is now a part
of her bedroom.  She loved the lines.

We ended up having so much fun imagining what this piece could be she bought it and was heading out to get some paint to start her project.

Sure hope it looks as fabulous in pink as it does in this original form.

I purchased these a bit ago and love everything about them!

This will soon be hung in my dining room.  I love both transfer ware
and commemorative plates so this just had to come home with me!

So today, I head back to Grace Sales Co to see what interesting finds she has for Small Business Saturday.  Wish me luck on my quest to find all of the goodies my family & friends desire at all of the lovely shops locally owned & operated.

One Last Bit of Fun in Amish Country - Country French Collection

On my last sweltering day in Lancaster I was assessing what I had missed and what I really wanted to be sure I saw before heading out of town.  Since we had the 5pm curfew the previous day thought a quick swing by Route 272 Adamstown was on the agenda…just to be sure I hadn’t missed anything really, really, really good.  I’d really hate to think I missed the boat because of an early close time.

So, with this thought I did a quick detour on my way home and hit a couple more of the shops along Route 272.  The good news is that we hit most of the high points with our stops the prior day.  The bad news is that we hit the most of high points with our stops the prior day. 

Country French Collection
2887 N Reading Road (Rt 272)
Adamstown, PA

The one exception was Country French Collection – this shop is in a renovated old barn and is just beautifully perfect for French Country style furnishings and accessories. 

The walls of this barn were so incredible!  Such character!

Upon entering I was greeted by the owner who was one of the most lovely ladies I have met in quite a while.  She was originally from Iowa but had lived quite the glamorous life as a model in New York many, many years ago.  She ended up in a corporate job and after years of corporate America ultimately decided to walk away and start this French Country business 20+ years ago.

The owner told me she used to import this copper ware from
Europe and did very well with both inventory and sales.  These
days her inventory has dried up so she is forced to import it from
China.  She even has several Chinese customers who purchase
from her and resell it!

The furnishings she sells are beautiful and truthfully have a beautiful price tag as well…sometimes just admiring beauty is enough right?

This antique coal stove is almost
a work of art with such a
beautiful design.  All I could think
of was...it must weight 5 tons!

And her shop style is very singularly focused on French Country so if this is not your look you might want to just stop to admire the beauty of the renovated barn (it really is a beautiful structure!).

Can you say French Country...

I tend to like to mix styles (however, I wouldn't necessarily say eclectic) so a little French country is just lovely in my world.

Such a beautiful bistro table...the colors are so wonderful
and it has a beautiful patina from its age

This ended up being the perfect stop to wrap up a perfectly lovely visit to Amish country.  Fairly appropriate my visit ended up in a fabulous barn isn’t it.

Amish Country Antiquing Continued - Mad Hatter Antiques

After Adams Antique Mall since we were in “Antiques Capital USA” (Adamstown PA) we continued on to see what more we could squeeze in before everything closed at 5 pm.  I don’t know that I have ever been somewhere where literally all shops close up at 5pm and everyone goes home to their family, Sounds nice in a way doesn’t it…

Mad Hatter Antique Mall
61 Willow Street (corner of Rt 272)
Adamstown, PA

Anyway, our next stop was Mad Hatter Antique Mall.  Mad Hatter is located in a former hat factory, and it has that high ceiling, industrious look of a former factory.  I love that these old buildings are not only surviving but thriving with new businesses bringing life into them. 

Oh my, such fun fabulous lamps!

We spent quite a bit of time at Mad Hatter – there was soooo much to look at and such interesting things.  I can safely say they have the widest array of mid-century modern that I have seen……..anywhere.  So many things that we recognized from our childhood, it was fun, fun, fun! 

Vintage Blue Aluminum Christmas Tree...
how awesome is this?

So many colorful glasses...and jelly jar glasses too!  

Nothings better than percolator brewed coffee!  Every shape
and size was here at Mad Hatter.

The girls having 1950's hair fun
I think they were practicing for
the hair styling dream sequence
in Grease

Many (like 20) years ago I purchased a set of 1960’s Hazel Atlas Glass Co Capri Blue Dot high ball glasses at an antique store in Richmond Virginia.  I just loved the color and at the time my everyday dishes were plain white so the aqua blue glasses looked so nice on the table with them. 

Hazel Atlas Capri Blue Dot Old Fashioned
Hi Ball tumbler..I had to have them!
photo courtesy of tias.com

Over the years and through many moves most of these glasses had broken but I still have a couple.  In the last couple of years I have purchased a few additional pieces in this pattern as I have found it and I have to say I still love it.  Mad Hatter had a 4 rocks sized tumblers…I had to have them J.

Although most of the antique malls do strive for their own “personality” not all are distinguishable from another.  Mad Hatter is not only distinguishable but truly memorable for their fun wares and colorful groupings.  We could have spent hours if they had been open later than 5pm…on second thought, perhaps it’s a good thing it wasn’t.

This is the third fabulous vintage stove
I have seen for sale in the last couple of months.
I'm dreaming of having a kitchen big enough
for this!

Saved by the bell on this piece...if I
had only had a bit longer to contemplate
where I would put this it might just have made
it in my car...