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...

Amish Country Antiquing - Adamstown Antiques

I have needed an official vacation for a while now…one of those vacations where nothing is planned and there is no stress what-so-ever.  I try to get at least one in during the summer since it’s such a short season here but this summer has been busy and tough to find a place in the schedule where it would work…finally I just blocked the time and have been off all week. 

It’s been wonderful but has been packed…that’s ok, I don’t do “nothing is planned” well anyway.

  

My vacation started with a short trip to Lancaster PA with some excellent friends.  Not planned on my part but I was happy to accept the invitation to join them for a few days and see the sights of Amish country as well as a few other fun things.

Adams Antique Mall
2400 N Reading Road (Rt 272)
Adamstown, PA
photo courtesy of google images

 We spent one very hot afternoon hitting the antique shops in Adamstown…Route 272 is packed with every kind of vintage shop you can imagine from mid-century to primitives to French country…it’s all there (and at every price range).

It took an impressive amount of restraint
(on my friend's part) for this to remain in PA

Our first stop was at the AdamsAntique Mall and we instantly knew we were in the right place with the most wonderful industrial looking pieces in front of the shop. 

it took an impressive amount of restraint (on
my part) for this to remain in PA...second guessing
that now though 

There was a momentary hesitation on our part when we walked through the front door and was faced with row upon row of locked glass cases.

An amazing array of jewelry - talk about self restraint...
would have been harder if it wasn't all behind glass though

We quickly by-passed these and found tons of open booths with wonderful things to browse.  While I understand why shops install these glass cases there is just something very unwelcoming about looking through glass.  I want to see things up close and be able to touch it if I want to (understanding the “you break it, you buy it” rule).

It has truly been a very long time since I have seen
so much depression glass as I saw in the many
shops we visited in PA...so pretty!

Lot's & lot's of vintage Christmas goodies

Loved this piece but it had been "refinished"
and had lost a bit of that rustic charm that
many of these kinds of things have

 This place is huge with more than something for everyone and a fantastic respite from the July heat we were feeling last week.  Even my friend’s husband (who by the way, hates anything “old”) had a fun time rummaging and walked away with some way cool old record albums. 

I ended up picking up the most wonderful pictures….not everyone saw the fun in these that I do but they will learn to enjoy them on future visits to my house (since they are going to be hung in my guest room).

Michael Berry whimsical prints...I don't care I say fun,
fun, fun!

Beautiful piece of wrought iron I am going to hang with
some bone china pin tray's in my dining room.  Friends
husband thought it looked like a large trivet...kinda does
but so much prettier!

The If At 1st You Don't Succeed Bedroom

It’s been 4 years since I signed my life away and tied my financial future to Bank of America for the next 30 years (well not BAC exactly but you know how it goes with banks and the buying and selling of mortgages).  My appointment with the lawyers was mid-day so that left me hours after signing to hang out at my new house and start the process of moving out of 1972.  So I immediately headed over and the very first project I took on was the master bedroom.  There were 2 major problems that needed fixing before I could spend one night in my new house and the master bedroom was one of them (the bathroom was the other). 

The master had some old very dingy wallpaper that had violets all over it on the walls and purple (lilac) ruffley curtains on the windows as well as a bluish/greenish/dirtish wall to wall carpet on the floor.

 

Mrs Johnson's Master Bedroom - she slept in this room
for over 60 years...I'm thinking she liked purple

I was told that there were hardwoods under that carpet so you know what the destiny of that carpet was…but first I wanted to take care of the walls & ceiling – no sense in pulling the carpet up until I had all of my painting done.

So, with all kinds of horror stories of removing wallpaper from my fellow home projecters fresh in my mind, every tool I could find at Lowes in my hands and with great trepidation I started on removing the paper. To my surprise it came right down – no tools, no wallpaper remover chemicals, no cursing…peeled right off the wall in strips.  Lucky or what?

This is my master the day I signed on that fateful
dotted line...It's hard to see the violets in this photo
so yo will just have to trust me...they are there and not
very appealing (to me).

Now, if you haven’t already figured out from my One Room Down post I’m a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to paint color. But I also was very limited on time to assess, analyze, contemplate, etc. I had exactly 3 weeks before I had to be out of my apartment and into this house and had to not only finish this bedroom but also a total bathroom redo.

So with no time I selected a pinkish/peachish color paint, put it on the walls and hoped for the best.  It was a California Paint color called Peach Breeze so it wasn’t too pink…definitely had peach undertones but when I got it all finished I definitely had a pink room.  Not exactly what I was going for but it was pretty and I’d make it work with brown curtains & bed accessories to try to make it a little less “Barbie lives here”.

The Barbie version of my master bedroom...a perfectly lovely color
but really not for me.

So, 3+ years later and with a long list of house projects done (so I feel I can justify redoing a perfectly good room) I am so done with the pink…time to repaint! This time I went far more neutral with a Benjamin Moore color…Butterfly Kisses….don’t you just love that name for a bedroom color? I didn't want boring beige but did want neutral – I think this color is perfect and it really has a great read on the walls.

Finished Bedroom..light, airy, neutral but definitely not
boring beige

With this paint color the brown curtains & bed accessories now were a bit too neutral so off I went in search of some color. I was going to try my hand at making drapes but when I figured out it was going to cost me $600+ in materials alone and since I am really not a seamstress I decided that really wasn’t a great plan.

One of the guys who works for me in my corporate life mentioned that Pier One had some great options at really great prices. He was right and I found just the perfect drapes…not exactly what I had in mind when I first went looking but I absolutely love these (and they are lined)!

My Master now...hopefully I will sleep many more nights
here...maybe not 60+ years though. 

I now almost wish I hadn’t waited 3+ years for the redo but definitely love the finished product now.

Plan B part 2 - Pallian & Company

Last winter on my way home from my family Christmas I decided to take “the scenic route”…from Portland ME Route 1 toward Boston…unthinkable in the summer months with all of the tourist (or better know as "people from away") traffic but in late December perfect opportunity for aimless meandering along the coast of Maine.

My initial plan was to head toward the infamous Maine Diner in Wells ME for breakfast and see what I trouble I could find along the way.  Given it was just after Christmas I knew it was just a matter of time until a big sale sign called my name….and it didn’t take long. 

Pallian & Company

2049 Post Road Wells ME

Pallian & Company in Wells was my first stop. Not only had I never been to this shop I had never even noticed it on this stretch of Route 1…a very non-descript building…so I really have no idea why I made the U-turn to check it out….but I am soooo glad I did.  This place is cottage chic at its greatest!

This is my favorite of all of the rooms at Pallian...beautiful
sea greens/blues are everywhere!

 

So, on my Plan B excursion a couple of weeks ago with by best girlfriend Kate from Scissors, Spatula’s & Sneakers I just knew I had to take her to Pallian & Company. Just as expected she was drooling as much (well almost) as I was over their gorgeous wares.

Love, love, love Pine Cone Hill linens!  So pretty & so
comfortable

They had these in 2 sizes...oh how I debated...I
have almost convinced myself to go back for
them...It's more than a possibility...

Does this look familiar?  It does to me....it looks an awful
lot like the blue plate I bought in Calabash NC last year...
see More Calabash Design...

Growing up on the coast of Maine sea inspired decorative items are like home to me.  I love the array of beautiful & chic beachy items in this shop. I could literally take everything home with me.

Many years ago I stumbled upon a documentary on PBS
about Cuba and all of the old American cars they have
and treasure in Cuba - owners actually park them in their
homes at night and make parts/fluids to keep them
running...Ever since I have wanted to visit Cuba.  I
imagine it to be like walking into 1954...This display of
all things Cuba stopped me in my tracks!

So chic, so simple...love it!

Another Successful Plan B Excursion...The Old House Parts Company

Ever since I moved back to New England several years ago my BFF and I have an annual tradition of going strawberry picking the weekend on or around the 4^th of July.  And this year was no different, after much back and forth trying to find something that worked for both of our schedules we agreed to meet up a couple of Saturdays ago.  I had already planned my week of meals around the strawberry shortcake I was going to make (i.e. I didn’t have to make anything any since I would have shortcake for every meal lol).

Well, for the first time in forever the fields were CLOSED FOR THE SEASON even before the 4^th of July.  Can you believe it…apparently it was a very good year and unfortunately for us a very early year.  Guess its back to real meals for me this week….

So, as often happens with us….we moved on to plan B.  After my excursion to Mason Brothers Architectural Salvage in Essex Junction VT, where I just fell in love with house parts I had added some other local architectural salvage shops to my hit list.  One of these The Old House Parts Company immediately came to mind as a great plan B.  It was just down the road from the strawberry farm and I’ve just been dying to check this place out. 

The Old House Parts Company
1 Trackside Dr., Kennebunk ME

The Old House Parts Company is in Kennebunk Maine…the center of large magnificent Victorian houses (and the Bush compound) so there is certainly an abundance of inspiration and inventory for The Old House Parts Company….and we were definitely not disappointed.

We were lucky and were able to tour the Wedding Cake House
 (a private residence) in Kennebunk a couple of years ago on one of
our "plan B" excursions.

Almost before we even got out of the car we were oogling over the fantastic array of vintage pedestal sinks & claw foot tubs…nothing beats a long soak in a claw foot bathtub full of bubbles.

The Old House Parts Company is a huge building and is packed full!  I don’t think we had ever seen so many doors or windows…anywhere.  They were from all eras, in all shapes and sizes 

and all just fantastic!

Can't you just imagine all of the fabulous
things you could do with this window?

Could there be any more of an obvious
sign that this place was for me? (for
those who don't know..KP are my initials)

And I know I have never seen so many pieces of salvaged hardware in one place, if you are looking for doorknobs, hinges, key plates, etc. this is the place for you.  No rusty nails here.

Just one of 3 huge displays of knobs

A utilitarian item with such artistic beauty

There were so many fun things at The Old House Parts Company – not just building materials but industrial decorative items as well. 

Isn't this just a fantastic idea for a
mason jar?  I can just see it in a little cottage
by the sea

Re-purposing of those old not so nice
floral vases and extra glass pieces.  They
are garden stakes!

Take the wheels off, add shelves and hang it on the wall...
that's what they did at The Old House Parts Co. 

It took every bit of self control not to bring this home with
me...I just couldn't decide what I would use it for. But
I am still dreaming about it so I may just have to go
back...

The Old House Parts Company is definitely going on to my list of “must see again’s”!!

This is what actually made it into the car & home with BFF...
isn't it just fantastic?  It's fairly large so we think it must
have been on a scooter/motorbike of some sort...,maybe
milk or newspaper delivery?  It's now perfect for scrapbooking
supplies...yes those are all letter stickers!