Everything old...

My love of vintage things came from my dad.  As a kid I loved to listen to my dad tell me stories about New York City in the 1930's and 40's, the places he and his brothers used to explore and the crazy things they used to do that we would never let our children do today.  Things like riding the subways and jumping on to the back of trolly cars, stealing pies from the pie shops and selling fake raffle tickets to earn a little cash.  My dad was a scrappy little hooligan, but with a heart of gold.  

Dad loves to hold on to things, so I was surprised when he called me up saying that he wanted to sell some of his fishing reels.  These reels were still in the original boxes, most never used, and were made in the 1940's.  The biggest of the reels was a Penn 16/0 Senator reel.  It was the same sized one that was used in the movie Jaws.  I've never seen a reel that size!

To sell it I had to take all of the line off the spool.  One and a half miles worth of string- not even exaggerating...

My boss is renovating her mother's townhome and this lovely piece was sitting on the back porch.  It is a hard wood and from Oklahoma vintage 1890's.  When she asked if I'd like to have it I jumped at the chance.  It now sits on our little back atrium patio and holds all of my gardening supplies.  I adore this little piece...

As I get older I think more about the things I am thankful that my parents passed on to me.  I love that I have such a deep appreciaton for the beauty of old things and that these pieces are used to create this little home that means so much to us. 

The keeper of memories...

When my parents bought their last house the previous owner had left a lot of personal things behind.  They had passed away, and the children didn't want a lot of what had been left if it didn't have monetary value.  A few of those items were the deceased diplomas.  He was a very accomplished man- graduated from the Virginia Military Academy and a chemical engineering degree from Rice University aka The Harvard of the South.  He went on to become the Vice President of Exxon.

I am now the keeper of these memories.  The diplomas are beautiful with hand written signatures and printed on beautiful vellum and sheepskins...

I'm thinking of framing them.  Sounds silly, I know, but they seem more like art to me than "just diplomas"....

Adding character...

Let me just start this off by saying, Wow.  Seriously, it was so eye opening to me that I am not the only one in this type of family situation.  You look at other families and have no idea what is going on with them or that they might be experiencing the pain I've felt.  Some of you mentioned that I would get a phone call, and you were right- just as soon as that family member boarded the plane my phone rang.  I told them that I was hurt and I just couldn't do it anymore.  I don't think they get it or understand why I feel the way I do, but that is not my problem.  My feelings are valid and I am going to protect myself.
Thank you for the beautiful comments and well wishes- that meant so much to me.

Now on to some decorating stuff- because, hello!- fluffy fun ;)

Our fireplace started out as a mantel only deal.  Originally when the house was built the fireplace didn't have a mantel.  They were going for an authentic English fireplace- sans mantel.

If you follow me on Instagram all of my pictures are taken with a tilt.  This is because I cannot take a straight picture for the life of me!  This one is PROOF of that...

I had some chunky corbels that I had used in the last house over the bathroom window with a shelf...

If you are wanting some corbels like this, visit The Weathered Woodshop on Etsy.  These are not old corbels, but they are chunky, chippy and the shop owner is fabulous to work with.

We also used some of the vintage wood salvage I found on our last Roundtop trip to give the dining room window a little visual interest.  I knew I wasn't going to put curtains in this room, so a bit of chippy wood at the top of the window was perfect.

Thanks to Dorie from Tuesdays with Dorie, I had the chance to add one of her son's lovely range hoods to our kitchen.  It is by far my most favourite piece of vintage chippy character in our entire home...

Lamps made from old balusters are my favourite in our bedroom...

I'm still tweaking and adding bits to our tiny tudor to give it a bit of character and interest.  I'm planning another trip to Roundtop in the next few weeks for antique week, so I will be scouring the stands for wood salvage.  

I probably should get my tetanus vaccination updated before then...

Chairish...

I was recently contacted by Chairish to create a design board around one of their accent chairs.  Chairish is a company that buys and sells lovely furniture and decor pieces.  It's so easy to list on their site, and then they handle all of the pesky details like payment and shipping.  Go here to read their FAQ's for sellers, or browse through the beautiful pieces they are selling.

I chose this Mid-Century Swedish Modern chair as the focal piece for the design...

Y'all know I am more of a neutral girl, but this green is very soothing to me, and since it's a "natural" colour in nature I decided to go with it.  I figured it would work well if paired with some more industrial pieces along with a few pops of red...

Every room needs a comfy sofa, and this one looks like you could just sink into it!

I am a sucker for signage.  I love this one with it's faded print that almost has a hint of brass to it...

 I love the diamond pattern on this rug.   Anything with a touch of black to it is good in my book!

Industrial lockers- these are perfect for any type of storage.  I love the patina of this piece...

Chairish also has wallpaper!  I love the idea of throwing in an accent wall in something fun like this navy blue fox print...

Industrial lamps are my very fav.  I love the nod to film in this one, and since it's designed to be in a living room (at least in my head!) I think it's perfect.  I would pair it with a nubby linen shade or black shade...

I love using pieces for television consoles that aren't made to be television consoles, like this lovely butcher block.  Because of it's long and narrow shape it would be perfect for mounting a large flat screen television over it.  I can just picture large baskets and piles of books on that bottom shelf...

Well, if there is going to be a flat screen television in the room you might need somewhere to store all of the dvd's...

I can't let the room go without a nod to my beloved doxies.  I like how the red in this piece picks up on the colour of the industrial sign.  Pairing industrial with softer pieces keeps the design from looking like you live in a warehouse.  Although if you do live in a warehouse I think that is super cool!

I love using pieces that look like art, but double as storage.  Living in a small house you learn to get every bit of space where you can.  These are lovely...

If you are in the market to buy or sell some furniture pieces, give Chairish a try.  If you are looking for great design ideas be sure to check out their blog! 

Doorknobs and broomsticks...

Let me begin by saying that I will not be doing anything crafty with a broomstick in this post.  I just liked how it sounded with doorknobs, kind of a throwback to bedknobs and broomsticks.  Yes, I'm hokey like that.

Travis and I love to add bits of vintage to our home, and one of the easiest ways to do that is with the door hardware.  These knobs work best with dummy doors, but we do have working sets on our library doors- although those are reproduction knobs which have the correct modern day hardware and dimensions for today's doors.  The other knobs?  Not so much.  There is quite a bit of finagling and rigging that goes into installing the older knobs.

These are our kitchen pantry doors...

Last weekend we visited one of my favourite shops in Houston for old hardware- Adkins Architectural Supply.  We found these beauties to add to the dummy doors in Sara's lounge room...

I love the chippy paint on the plates and there is even a hint of pink in them.  Travis picked out the glass knobs and they are lovely with their clear glass and starburst pattern deep in the center.  Part of my love of these pieces is imagining the doors they opened and closed and the lives that were lived in those homes.  They are heavy and sometimes ornate, but so simple in their beauty and design- kind of how I envision life back then.

First we had to remove the old hardware.  Ugh to ugly unpainted circles on doors...although it does look a bit like a face...

A bit of chalk paint added.  That's the lovely thing about that paint- you just pop it on, give it a bit of wax and Ta-Da!  Blending.  It's a good thing...

Then it was time to add a bit of hardware to attach the new knob with.  These are dummy doors, so it wasn't necessary to have all the working hardware.   We used elevator bolts.  No idea why they are called that.  Lowe's carries them.  Not sure if they actually carry elevators as well...

Then it's time to pop on the pretty back plate and position it where you want it.  I swear over the years Travis and I have developed a secret language of "over a smidge", "up a smoodge", "back over to the left a scosh"  Yeah.  Old love.

A simple and fun way to add a bit of vintage charm to doors that are only there to look pretty ;)

Junk Hippy Roadshow...

Come out and see Little Cottage Designs as well as A Vintage State of Mind at the Junk Hippy Roadshow in Rosenberg, Texas this Saturday!  I will be selling painted pieces as well as unique vintage finds.  Stop by and say Hi!

Need vs. Want...

I try to justify the things I purchase with my "need vs. want" litmus test.  Then I follow it up with the

1.  do I love it?

and

2.  do I need it?

questions.

Sometimes you see something that brings back a very specific memory of your childhood and you just have to file it under the need category.

Today I was perusing Miss Mustard Seed's on line store and spotted this...

Via Miss Mustard Seed

It's an antique German squeeze box.  Better known as the accordion.  My dad was born in 1928 and grew up in the Bronx, very poor, and the son of a bridge painter.   It was 1935 and my grandfather didn't have much to give his boys, but he did value music and knew that was a skill his kids needed to learn.  He went to a pawn shop and bought a secondhand Honer accordion.  It was a simple two octave instrument with twelve buttons on one side.  Shortly after my dad found himself standing in front of the New York School of Music on 3rd Avenue in the Bronx- accordion in hand.

The lessons were 10 cents a class, and it was there that my dad learned how to read music and play chords.  He told me that the first day he walked up to the place there was a group of guys in front of the store looking at the old sign out front.  Wind was causing the sign to sway back and forth- making a loud squeaking sound.  There was much debate as to what key the sign was squeaking in.  My dad wondered if they were seriously that musically geeky or just trying to impress a young kid.

When my grandparents had anyone over they would tell the boys to grab the accordion and play a waltz.  They would also get my dad to sing.  He has an amazing voice and I swear he can whistle better than Bing Crosby could.  Grandpa would have him sing Wreck of the Old 97.   I love that my dad chuckles low under his breath every time he tells the story.

I guess if you were to look at it rationally, I really didn't need the accordion, but the older I get the more I cherish the stories.  As soon as I saw the accordion I knew I wanted it and I knew why.

I want the stories to stay alive.

Fav Round-Top find...

I went to Round Top Antique Fair with a few items in mind to find.  What I didn't expect was this amazing butcher's scale to be offered up to me for only $100...

It's huge- measuring almost four feet from the bottom, but I love it.  I decided to move my stove necessities to the scale top and actually like having them here better than right next to the stove.  My cabinets flanking the stove are very tall, but don't allow for a lot of room below, so this works better.

Just goes to show that when treasure hunting you never know what will fall in your lap ;)