Fall Back In Time...at Circa

A couple of weeks ago I shared my visit to The Pine Cone Hill Outlet (you can see my visit here) in the Berkshires but if you read my blog at any regularity you know by now I’m not driving 3 hours each way and not doing a little more exploring when I’m there.

And it was such a beautiful day fall for wandering…

My other great find that day was Circa….when I spotted a parking spot out front just waiting for me I knew it was fate.

Located right next to a wonderful coffee shop Circa is the end unit

Old brick building with high ceilings and filled with mid-century goodness, what more could anyone want?

The woman working there was the owner’s mother and she was super friendly…no question she loved her daughter and the store she had opened…small business customer service at its best!

Don't you just adore the color of these?

And how much fun are these?  Did you know orange was
Frank Sinatra's favorite color?  Yep, it was.

This lounger was about 3 feet wide and was upholstered in kind of a
beigey shaggy fabric...so 1970's Elvis

Now, my style isn’t necessarily mid-century modern but I am a firm believer in buying what you really love regardless of style and it will somehow come together.  Can you say eclectic?  I don’t think my style is necessarily eclectic in the true sense but I definitely am not married to one style, I buy what I really love and it somehow comes together.

I did end up finding 2 fun things….

My old clock that I bought ages ago at Ballard Design had stopped keeping time.  Probably just needs a new clock mechanism but I just haven’t seemed to get around to fixing it.  I still love it but maybe it’s time to try on a new look for a bit.

Old Clock...10 years old

New Clock...maybe 50 or 60 years old

I found this inspiration photo on Pinterest a while back and have been looking ever since for the perfect ladder for my laundry room.  

I love this idea...I am so stealing it!
photo source

Isn't this great?  So many possibilities!

I love the patina on this vintage ladder....but it would
be so fab in a fun color

Now I just have to decide…paint or not to paint?

Any thoughts on which way I should go with this?  It has such great patina but there are so many fun colors out there if I go the painting route.

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...

Mission Nobleboro Antique Exchange

The first time I visited Nobleboro Antique Exchange it was because I had been sent on a mission.  My grandmother, who if you’ve been reading this blog you know loved antiquing or as she called it “junking”, had been ill and not able to get around like she used to but had read about Nobleboro Antique Exchange and was dying to know all about it.  She didn’t feel like she could manage the cavernous expanse of this shop – 3 floors and room after room.  She was probably right but sure did enjoy sending me to get the skinny.

Well, this weekend I was in Maine for my class reunion.  I can’t believe so many years have passed since I have seen most of these folks – I was the girl who left my hometown and never really returned (except for Christmas and occasional summer visits of course).   It was so nice to see everyone and hear the good, the bad, and the ugly of everyone’s life stories. 

And since I was in the area I of course could not pass by the opportunity to stop by some of my favorite old haunts. 

104 Atlantic Highway (RT 1)
Nobleboro ME

Nobleboro Antique Exchange is on Atlantic Highway (Route 1) in Nobleboro Maine.  The first time I visited it was pretty much a normal antique shop with many vendors renting out booths - great variety of goods and something for everyone.  In the intervening years it has evolved into more – they still have the same variety of goods everything from Victorian antiques to mid-century kitsch but now they offer restoration/repair services, jewelry repair, custom framing, etc. as well as some more modern decorative items. 

A nice selection of Tiffany items fill one whole case!

The front room is rented out by Sweet Woodruff and is stocked with lovely pillows, painted furniture and garden collectibles that includes a family of garden ducks.  I loved everything in this room and am totally going to copy the yellow dresser they had for sale!

Love this color!  I am definitely using this in
one of my rooms!

Wouldn't these just look divine in my
garden...

The downstairs hasn’t changed as much from the first time I visited with booths filled with kitschy “antiques” and collectibles.  So fun!  If you are looking to replicate that 1950’s chrome & Pyrex look this is your place.

One of my other grandmothers had a similar table
when I was  kid...her house looked a little like 1953
but she liked it.

These make me think of my Aunt Hilda who
had a vintage radio in her kitchen and I have wonderful
memories of "Mr Sandman" playing on it when I was a kid.

Upstairs has become less about more of the same and more about a reading room with vintage books as well as a nice collection of vintage magazine ads.  Last year, I bought a really cool Max Factor ad to hang in my bathroom.  Now I just have to get around to framing it.

Such cool vintage ads for any purpose you can imagine

British Royal Family Commerative Cups

They have massively expanded their vintage jewelry selection with a large part of the cash wrap area filled with all the bling a girl could ask for.

One other notable addition is the large room in the middle that is dedicated to restoration, framing, jewelry and clock repair.  It appears that if you break it they can definitely fix it.

Nobleboro Antiques holds a special place in my heart as I will always recall recounting what I found the first time I visited with my grandmother and how excited she was to hear of all the treasures it had.  I have since been able to share this spot with my Aunt who enjoys it as much as I do.

Blueberry Flats - I lasted 1/2 day raking
blueberries when I was a kid...way too
much work for too little yield for me!
Love the decorative feeling of these though...

Provence Cottage Antiques

Last year I came upon a fabulous pillow in a magazine that was decorated with vintage baubles of all sorts.  It of course made me stop immediately so I could study it and figure out just how to replicate it.  Well, I had a several pieces of slightly flawed (missing stones, bent pins, etc) old jewelry that I had been saving for just such a project but not enough of just the right thing to fill a whole pillow. So for months I have been on the lookout for nice inexpensive pieces that I could add to my collection of “broken bling” and create my own fabulous pillow (soon to be seen in an upcoming post). 

Sneak Peak....

In my search for the perfect bling at the perfect bargain price I happened upon a lovely little shop that specializes in cottage style vintage items in…you guessed it…Wells Maine.  Provence Cottage Antiques sits behind a sweet little grey house with a white picket fence on Route 1.  

Provence Cottage Antiques
752 Post Rd (Rt 1) Wells, ME

When we visited Provence Cottage last year the porch and the front rooms of the house were open, filled with interesting pieces and what I remember most was the truly splendid vintage chandeliers hanging everywhere.  There were also 2 back buildings full of fun cottage style items, one mostly gardeny type things the other just fun decorative vintage items.

The Garden items....dislayed outside

This year Provence Cottage was another stop on our 4^th of July extravaganza…still great stuff but much smaller this year.  The front house was not open at all nor was the first building that had the gardeny things last year so it was just the far rear building…less stuff, still well worth the stop! 

Last year I found a few slightly damaged jewels priced right for my pillow but still not enough to complete the project…this year I found exactly what I needed to finish it off along with so many other things. 

No, as much as I wanted to I didn't purchase the
whole tray full....now that's restraint!

Now this is a “ladies who lunch” kind of shop but if you love vintage linens, clothing, jewelry, books, teacups, etc this is your place!  There was a vintage 1960’s dress on a dress form next to the front door…so Mad Men…if it was my size you had better believe it would have been in a bag in my car!  I’ve been contemplating having a Mad Men themed party and it would have been just the perfect thing..not meant to be this time though.

Always up for an antiquing adventure...now that we
have her husband convinced not every antique is
old & smelly.  The Mad Men dress is the aqua one
to the left behind Kate.

There were several of these chenille bedspreads that just made me think of spending summers at my great-grandmother’s cottage on Sennebec Pond.  I hated these spreads when I was a kid because it was so hard to make my bed neatly, they were constantly wrinkled, uneven or just not laying right.  Now I definitely have fond memories but then if I had known any curse words I would definitely have used them!



Do you remember these spreads?  My grand-
mother had them in an aqua color.

Provence Cottage Antiques is really one of those places where I can always find something to accessorize with…either myself or my house.

You Win Some....You Lose Some

I have never really understood the “get there early or don’t bother” mentality that many folks approach estate sales with.  My feeling has always been if it’s meant for me it will still be there when I arrive at a  reasonable hour (i.e. after 9 am) and if that happens to be on the second day of a sale so be it.  I can’t tell you how many dealers I have spoken with who won’t even consider “wasting their time” on a sale if it’s the second day.

Yesterday morning I had a lot to do and really only a few hours to do it in so it was fortuitous there were 2 estate sales within just a few miles of my home.  The first one was in a lovely little neighborhood in Marblehead and by first glance this had all of the potential to be a great sale.  In a nice neighborhood, charming house, and the Craig’s List ad described it as “3 floors - packed - antiques - collectibles - dining set, bedroom sets - tons of clothes - full garage”.  It was a second day sale but good possibilities, right?

Well, this is just a sample of what I found at this sale:

And more and more of the same…along with perhaps some of the rudest people I have ever encountered at an estate sale picking through the “treasures”.  I really should have paid closer attention to that “tons of clothes” part of the ad.  It was a very quick stop and not a particularly pleasant one.

The next sale on my short list was maybe 2 miles away in Swampscott and was also a second day sale.  It was on one of the streets in Swampscott that has some truly magnificent houses but also has some very average homes.  It really could have gone either way.  Well luckily the gods were shining down and feeling bad for sending me to the earlier clothes sale and this was my prize.

This was such an incredible house – I really had a hard time focusing on the items for sale because I was too busy drooling over all of the phenomenal architecture.  It was 3 floors (plus huge semi-finished basement) of pure spectacularism, this house went on forever.

Formal Dining Room - love the paneled walls!

Library - wall-to-wall book cases behind me.  Gorgeous
woods

Master Bedroom - I personally love that
the drapes match the wallpaper.  Not sure you
can tell that here - but trust me fab!

That was the upside, the downside was the sale really was pretty picked over but clearly I really did not mind at all.  It’s about the journey, right?

Such a beautiful built in cabinet in the
upstairs hall.  Incredible workmanship!

I did find one treasure in one of the very last rooms in the back on the third floor.  I love the Mad Men feeling of this cabinet and am hoping it will finish out my dining room. 

It is cedar lined and has shelves inside so I’m thinking it will be perfect to put my grandmother’s table linens in.

The second day sale was a mixed bag for finding treasures this weekend but it was worth it just to have the opportunity to meander through the Swampscott house.