Cleaning House

Grandma was a hoarder, Mum was a thrower-outer, I was the kid who hides "treasures" under her bed. 

My mum didn't like to have "stuff" around. She grew up in Grandmas house, which at best was a well packed away museum.

Unlike my mother, I'm the sort of person who feels comfortable with things around & I have a pretty steady collection of antiques to prove it.

Finding things hidden in the closets of my little apartment is great fun...but to smile & say "Oh! " then put it back...seems stupid.

These are all from my own home 

& will be in the shop starting tomorrow

Providing I don't chicken out on parting with any of these... 

What have you parted with? 

Did you regret selling it or were you happy just having it in the first place?

Where Toy Train Parts & Sewing Books Combine

For any of you that follow my Instagram, this may look sorta familiar to you, I found another one. 

Last Saturday, while rummaging through the dollar box, I found this model train transformer. Simple black & cream with a neat art deco font.

It weighs a ton & has sharp edges that easily tear through bags to smash unsuspecting toes. The two of us did that dance four times before I learned my lesson.

After the final pain rage subsided, I thought "Why in the world...?!" 

Then the vintage sewing books started to act drunk & all fall down. 

Problem solved! 

***

I was pretty terrified to "upcycle" but it turned out well...how about you? 

Have you had good luck with repurposing?

Thrifted Thursday. The Pair of Purple Rugs

I started working at the Antique store when I was 15. Being a teenager I didn't care a bit about the old dusty things I was selling...

but cared a whole lot about my boss' sons

So I treated it as a job & measured a good weekend by smiles & flirts instead of old things with stories to tell. Needless to say, I didn't buy much

These two purple area rugs were something I couldn't pass up though.

These sisters, seem to have nothing in common but their colors.

(and here is where my adult historian storytelling heart is mad at my teenage self) There was a third full sized rug, that combined the two of these different themes, that I passed on. 

At antique stores, flea markets & yard sales I always keep an eye out, but I've yet to find it. I can only imagine where that gem ended up

Dreamy window. Curlicues. Window box full of colorful blooms. 

Vases filled with colorful blooms. A chandelier. Magic flower filled smoke billows.

The cats (at home) were hellbent on shredding these two, so instead of letting them sit in the closet for another 3 years, why not make my work cubicle (...ahem mansion) a bit less work-y!

And now! 

Puppy in a cubicle...tail wagging

Which one do you like better Victorian Scenes or Arabian Dreams?

Cleopatra Bones is having trouble deciding

Move In Ready

Hello there, Dolls! I hope your weekend was great & that transitioning into Monday wasn't nearly as "Ugh" as it was for me! Although, last week at work we got a delivery of cubicles so I get to move into mine today. 

Normally, people don't get too jazzed about moving from a desk by a window with a glorious view of trees & a river...buuut these cubicles are nearly mansion sized & I'm increasing my storage by about 3 times.

Little victories in the workplace. 

Anyways, weekends are for hunting, here's a little snippet

Some treasures from the weekend. Autumn floral scene brooch. Hunter green gloves. Leaf shaped seed pearl brooch. Rin Tin Tin German Shepherd game.

& a Mary Houghton's religious birthday book from Christmas 1880.

Thrifted Thursday...Record Dancers

Aren't these two so cute? 

Printed on thick double sided cardstock and sitting on a gourd shaped brass stand, a couple is dancing endlessly. A swatch of fabric is gathered to make her skirt 3-D and whether or not she knows how big her bottom half looks...

This is the sorta thing that I can imagine being in most peoples homes, at least homes with romantic young ladies. 

That said, I have yet to find anything about our cardboard couple & since there aren't any markings or writing on either side, it was a frustrating search.

Based on her Marcel Wave...& his tuxedo with the spats and the white gloves I'm going with late teens/early 20's.

The other thing that stumped me was I'm not sure exactly how fast they were supposed to be dancing, from the front they look ready to Waltz all night, but when you flip it over...

She looks like she's ready to call it a night. That or she's tired of his wandering gaze? What exactly is he looking at?

So I experimented. First up, was a 78 RPM single of Judy Garland singing "Somewhere Over The Rainbow". Which, I know that song wasn't produced or even sung until decades later, but the speed of 78 RPM (rotations per minute) was the standard speed until the 1950's, so this would've been the speed they'd be dancing to.

After World War II, technology had improved and the 33 1/2 Long Play (LP) record came about. The 33 1/2 RPM spun slower so I picked "This is Tommy Dorsey and his Clambake Seven". I shit you not. Mr. Dorsey thought that was a good title to put on a record for all the world to see. Haha

The song is "Sailing at Midnight" sung by Leslie Burke. 

So in short, I should have picked a better mix of songs,

 but that said, which do you like better? 

Thrifted Thursday

I wanted to try something new here. A weekly theme all about something I bought that's either vintage or antique that is currently lending its beauty to my house....Welcome to Thrifting Thursday!

I thought of this, because firstly, I love writing on this little blog, but often get overwhelmed by all the stuff I could say which usually leaves saying nothing at all. & Secondly, I can get a bit...hoardy. 

As in, I frequently get asked when the museum is opening. So here's free admission for you dolls!

Books! 

The books, in the way books tend to be, fill every room. They hide about in the shadows until they feel at home then they get up & fill nearly every flat surface. They attack like ants...only with more substance & beauty.

Some suitcases & a chair with gorgeous details.

Books, suitcases & chairs with caning so delicate they usually just end up as plant stands

That's about 90 percent of my house. No, I'm only kidding...about the chairs.

The suitcases (and the trunks) are a real problem. I moved in with Mr. Acorns with 7. He said no more. Three years later, he's given up on them & we've  near quadrupled our stacks of them. 

The bottom trunk was the start of it all. I found it in my parents attic filled with college papers from an aunt. I navigated it down the creaky stairs & filled it with all the treasures a 10 year old could possess. I was in heaven!

So, there you are! Feel free to join in,  I'd love to see your thrifted gold!

Wordless Wednesday...A Peek into 1866

A Haunting

Sometimes it's hard to come to reason why things happen the way they do. For me & mine 2013 has been riddled with news that's hard to take. I've been just sorta floating along taking it, but these past few weeks have been hard. It's like I had hit my limit of sadness & just shut down. 

I'd flown to Kansas in a tornado & instead of trying to get home I just wanted to crawl under the house & leave the shiny red shoes just where they were. Which is what I did.

I found this transferred image of a person in a Victorian album. 
Something about someone taking all the photographs from this book, only to have one picture be left behind permanently on the opposite page...it's haunting and fantastic. A fleeting moment in time, hoped to be forever remembered by a photo. 

It reminded me of the Victorian post mortem photos that got a pretty big thrill earlier this year in the news. Can you imagine having photography be so new & expensive that the only photo you have of your loved one was one where he or she was dead?

Now, photos are everywhere. We have the luxury of taking so many pictures of ourselves & our loved ones that we can discard hundreds of "bad" ones & in only minutes.  

Anyways, clearly the person above was alive just getting a portrait. I've never seen a post mortem photo in real life, but it's interesting to think about how people mourn.

I included this really poor quality shot of another Victorian album,
 just for it's stunning detail. 

I hope you are all well & happy.
-Kait

Weekend Hours

Some things are created 

just to blow minds. 

Barely worn leather pumps. 

Navy blue.

Triangle cut details.

Aaand....

Not my size.

Maybe they will fit one of you lovelies 

Last Day

Merry Christmas!

Day 18

Today my studio looked like this. Madly in love. 

Nature makes for such happy people. 

{p.s. the two on the left are already in my etsy shop, the blue beauty is on its way, but I'm not pushing}

Day 12

Meet Jinglebell. He's most likely the distant cousin of your Elf on the Shelf, although he doesn't talk much so I can't be sure. He enjoys long soaks in the Jadeite teacup, pretzel sticks, and sneaking up on the cats to spook them. 

Born in Japan by the company Yuletide of Japan in the late 1950s and 60's, these cute little guys are called "knee-hugger elves". If you could time travel (or if you lived thru the 60's & 70's, you would see these little creepers hanging right alongside the tinsel....and creepy some of them really were!

  

A Tub Full of Silverware

A plastic tub that is, but still, full of old, disgustingly dingy, silverware.

My uncle found it below the stairs in the basement (at Grandmas) & had no idea who'd owned any of the mismatched pieces. (Seriously Grandma?) I doubt any are family pieces, and considering for sabout 40 years she took in exchange Students, Boarders & troubled kids, I think they must just be a mix of some of the secrets that house has to tell.

I know I don't have to tell you how my head has been reeling with sinarios and situations....I guess I'll get out the silver polish and load up google :)

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An Evening in June

Antique lace, sunset and a Hitchcock cat. That is all.

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Trash and treasures

just some victor records on a stone wall

lovely

it's all in the details

little fairy flowers

I found this Victor Victrola Record binder sitting outside the shop when I came in today. Just like this; I wondered briefly as the shutter snapped, if someone had placed it like this to take some pictures, or if it was placed there, forgotten, and the breeze had blown it open.

The record in the sleeve is called "Carry me back to Old Virginny" A song that was written by James Bland, a well known African American composer in the 1800's. The song tells the trouble many slaves faced as they were freed, as they had little safety or family aside from life on the plantation that they had left. A modified version of this song was used as Virginia's state song, until 1997 when it was deemed too racially offensive.

This is the version on the record, http://youtu.be/Y1GWRDL7PTs

The Smell of Summer

As hard I try, I can't believe it's really Memorial Day weekend. Weeks pass by, yet they feel like days. I'm still stuck in mid April!

Yet, the two Christmas cactus, who wanted nothing to do with us in winter, when we needed them most, have started to bloom. Profusely!

Well, who am I to argue with nature?

I bought these peonies, unopened, yesterday while at the market. We sidetracked to a park bench to watch the world go by, which they didn't like too much. By the time we meandered home and put them in water, they opened to have a dash of fuchia in the center. Joyous surprise!

The blue glass is something I got at the Antique shop years ago. There were four of these blue and two more in green glass, and even though they were way out of my college student budget I didn't hesitate to scoop them up...who needs car insurance anyways? They were, at one point part of a window; the edges still have a chalky hardened adhesive on them.
You can see the two a bit better here

xo

Working hardly

view from the desk

peaceful scents sitting in a woven bit of heaven



gold shoes and a hungry kitty

To be honest, I had been working...but there was a lull and it's beautiful out! I love Saturdays surrounded by antiques. And the kitty is the semi famous Ali Hannah Rose.



Rain & An Old Factory

nature reclaiming

raindrops on ivy

creeping up the walls

a view from above

It was gloomy and wet here today, I might have let it get to me if not for stumbling upon a new restaurant, NU Cafe. Excellent food, great beer and a cool ambiance? What's better than that?!

What else have the bricks of this old factory held besides rain drenched ivy?

"The rain began again. It fell heavily, easily, with no meaning or intention

but the fulfillment of its own nature, which was to fall and fall."
-Helen Garner 

Curtains are up! They may have taken me over a year, and may or may not be crooked, but they are up! Picture me wobling around between two bar stools with an old fashioned crank hand drill teetering in my nervous grip, basically the very thing your mother would kill you if she caught you doing.

The curtains are a $ 3 thrift store find, and I love how the lace changes along the bottom to a curvy row of roses. The glass 'pins' or curtain tiebacks are opalescent rosettes and look identical to those produced by the Sandwich Glass Company. Although I doubt they are due to the fact they were $ 10 each, they are still gorgeous and catch the light in magical ways.