oh, the irony...

One of my biggest pet peeves is people who litter.  
It drives me crazy to see people toss cigarettes or trash out the windows of cars.  In Texas, the campaign  "Don't Mess with Texas" was  a huge success in deterring the litter problem.  I would personally like to see a national campaign of "Only stupid people litter".  :)

Somehow, it is even worse to live here in this beautiful, natural, rural setting and see trash on the side of the road.  I am the "self-appointed" road monitor in my neighborhood and often pick up litter when we go on our dog walks.  As much as it makes me angry that I have to do it, it also can turn my whole day around to do something beneficial for my neighborhood.  I swear you can hear the forest whispering "thank you" as I/we pick up trash along the road. 

One day, Dan and I were on a dirt road in our neighborhood picking up trash and I climbed up an incline into some bushes to pick up a good half dozen beer bottles.  In climbing out, I tripped over a limb and fell.   I saw the sharp pointed edge of a thick, jagged stump rushing towards my face as I fell.  I turned my head at the last second and the stump scraped the side of my neck leaving a large gash, but I survived.  In the split-second of the fall I was seeing my obituary:  woman dies picking up trash!  I did, however, land with all of the beer bottles safely in my arms. ;)  Poor Dan stood there watching the whole event unfold in slow motion.  He relived the image for days and banned me from going into the brush to retrive litter; which, of course, lasted until the next time I spotted a bottle in the woods. ;)

One of our daily walking routes is referred to by us as "the loop."  The other day as Ella and I walked the loop I picked up trash along the road.  We were about 3/4 the way around when my grocery bag was full of liter and I decided to leave the bag on the side of the road (to pick up later, or sometimes a nice phantom neighbor will assist my efforts and pick up the bags, or piles I make until I can get back with more bags)  and cut through a path in the woods to get home (thankfully, there is never any litter in the forest.)

















 It was a gorgeous Fall day and I wanted to sit in the forest for a while and feel its calm energy.  I found an abandoned stone wall, long forgotten, that was deep in the trees off of the path.





As I sat on there on the wall I happened to noticed what looked like the bottoms of two bottles buried at the base of a nearby tree.   They were barely visible under decades of forest debris and pine needles.

 

I dug them out... a treasure!  Two antique bottles with that slight purple tinge that sitting out in the sun for 100 years will do to glass.   One bottle had writing on it and looked to be a whiskey bottle; the other bottle was unmarked, but had a wide mouth.  I was delighted, and immediately started to ponder who had placed them there and when?  Who was the last person to touch them?  Perhaps one of the men who had built the wall?   I'm thinking I would need a shot or two;) of whiskey if I had just spent the day moving huge stones to make a wall!

As I happily carried my newly found "treasures" out of the forest it suddenly dawned on me....

Oh, the irony.
My "treasures" were in reality just someones one hundred year old litter!

I brought my new finds home, soaked them for days and cleaned them up.  One is indeed a whiskey bottle from the  H.W. Huguley Co. that was in Boston from 1834 to 1916 (according to ebay it isn't of great value.)  The other has a fabulous shape, but no marking except for a "2" on the bottom.  I have no idea what it contained.  (Any bottle experts out there?!)  I'm going to get a large cork stopper to fit the top so that I can use it for ???!

So, do you suppose I should leave all the Bud Lite cans and Miller bottles on the road, and in one hundred years someone will think that they, too, are "treasures"?!
  
Nahhhhhh.




a few more shots from our walk through the forest...

in honor of the Kentucky Derby....

my mint julep cup!

My antique mint julep cup is American coin silver made in the early 1800's by a New Orleans silversmith. It is engraved with the name "Wood."
We found the coin silver cup at a small antique mall in Carrolton, Texas years ago. It was heavily tarnished, and when silver tarnishes it can sometimes look like brass. The cup was marked:

Brass Cup $5

I examined the cup and noticed the marks on the bottom- the only marks are the silversmith's name and "New Orleans." I immediately knew from the font of the lettering and the weight of the cup that it was antique coin silver, and not a brass cup! Several years ago a mint julep cup, similar in style and condition (i.e. several small dents), made by this same maker sold on ebay for $1100!  Recently I found another similar cup by this maker up for auction for $2500!! :O  This is why we antique!!  I have kept the mint julep cup on my bedside table filled with flowers for years now- always with white (and only white;) miniature carnations!

For several years I hid my affection for white miniature carnations! When I was a young adult carnations were not a desired flower, even considered tacky by some. Whenever flowers were ordered from a florist you always specified NO carnations.
Then, one day early in our marriage Dan stopped at the grocery store to pick up some milk and also brought me some flowers.... white miniature carnations. I was touched by his sweet gesture, but silently thought... "carnations?? ewwwww!"  Then I placed them in a vase on my bedside table and proceeded to fall in love with their beautiful foliage (they look like miniature roses), their fresh fragrance and the fact that they lasted for two weeks! I was smitten. I hid my purchases in my grocery cart (their easy-to-find accessibility is another reason to love them;) fearing someone might see me buying the dreaded carnation until I discovered the wonderful "Seasons" Notebooks by the lovely Carolyne Roehm who made using all-carnations in an arrangement tre chic!! Thank you Carolyne!!


So, here's to mint juleps, white miniature carnations and Carolyne Roehm!!
Cheers!

Happy Derby Day!

vintage japanese glass fishing floats

basketball-size fishing float in antique urn at front door


(This post could also be entitled "it's a small world," but I'll get to that story later in this post!)

Japanese glass fishing floats were once used by fishermen in many parts of the world to keep their nets afloat. Large groups of fishnets strung together, sometimes 50 miles (80 km) long, were set adrift in the ocean and supported near the surface by hollow glass balls or cylinders containing air to give them buoyancy.  These glass floats are no longer being used by fishermen, but many of them are still afloat in the world's oceans, primarily the Pacific.

The earliest floats, including most Japanese glass fishing floats, were hand made by a glassblower. Recycled glass, especially old sake bottles, was typically used and air bubbles in the glass are a result of the rapid recycling process. After being blown, floats were removed from the blowpipe and sealed with a 'button' of melted glass before being placed in a cooling oven. (This sealing button is sometimes mistakenly identified as a pontil mark. However, no pontil (or punty) was used in the process of blowing glass floats.) While floats were still hot and soft, marks were often embossed on or near the sealing button to identify the float for trademark. These marks sometimes included kanji symbols. Today most of the glass floats remaining in the ocean are stuck in a circular pattern of ocean currents in the North Pacific.   Once a float lands on a beach, it may roll in the surf and become "etched" by sand. Many glass floats show distinctive wear patters from the corrosive forces of sand, sun, and salt water. When old netting breaks off of a float, its pattern often remains on the surface of the glass where the glass was protected under the netting. Other floats have small amounts of water trapped inside of them. This water apparently enters the floats through microscopic imperfections in the glass while the floats are suspended in Arctic ice or held under water by netting.  Most floats are shades of green because that is the color of glass from recycled sake bottles (especially after long exposure to sunlight). However, clear, amber, aquamarine, amethyst, blue and other colors were also produced.

They have become a popular collectors’ item for beachcombers and decorators. Replicas are also being manufactured.

(The above excerpt is from Wikipedia and the full article can be read here.)

Fishing floats on the dining room table.  I love them all, but my very favorites have the rope etching.

photo for the love of a house






A collection of baseball-size floats still in their nets.
Vintage Biltmore Hotel Silver tray.photo for the love of a house



Close-up of the "marking" on the float.

photo for the love of a house

More of the collection in the basement!  This jardiniere is huge, so the size of the floats is a little misleading..... the largest in this photo are basketball-size and the smallest is grapefruit-size!
photo for the love of a house



My own personal exposure to fishing floats came at a very young age...  as I've mentioned before, my mother grew up in Hawaii (the story of her childhood lamp that now resides in my kitchen is here) and she would find floats on the beach that had washed ashore.   When she married my father and moved to the mainland she brought those floats with her and I grew up in San Antonio with the floats scattered in the yard amidst the flowers and shrubs.  After meeting Dan and moving to the Pacific Northwest we began antiquing to furnish our then apartment.  I started spying the small floats at shops, back then for very little money- usually around $1-$3 each!!  The floats captured my heart for three reasons:  I have a fondness for the orb shape (as can be seen throughout the house); they reminded me of home; and being poor newlyweds,  at $1 it was sometimes the only thing I could afford to buy on a shopping trip!   
Thus, a collection began!!

Fast forward several years and many floats - small baseball-size floats, grapefruit-size and large basketball-size floats have now been added to our collection!  We lived in Dallas at this point, and my much;) older sister, Susan, and beloved brother-in-law, Doug, admired our collection and started collecting floats themselves.
We had many wonderful antiquing sources in the Northwest, so for my antiques business in Dallas Dan and I would fly back regularly to shop.  On one such trip we took Susan and Doug with us, and went to the Tacoma Dome Antiques Show.  At the show, we separated to shop and when we met back up with Susan and Doug they were in a booth that had floats for sale talking to a man who was introduced to us as "Frank Forster."  Frank evidently had a vast collection of floats and the next thing I know we are driving to Frank's house in Tacoma to see his collection!  And vast it was- Frank was a serious collector and a whole room had been dedicated to fishing floats!   We also met his lovely wife Kim.  My sister corresponded with Frank and Kim for several years, until Frank's death.

So..... imagine my surprise when several months ago while blog-hopping I stumble on a blog called

Glass Float Junkie 

and on her site find photos and a mention of Frank and Kim's collection!! 

It is definitely a small world, yes?!

Rich Richardson and Frank Forster

photo Glass Float Junkie

Kamichia used to live in Alaska (she now lives on the Oregon coast) and would take plane trips to remote
beaches and find the likes of this....

photo by Glass Float Junkie



I squealed out loud when I first saw this photo!  The mother load of fishing floats right on the beach!!  Like an Easter egg hunt, only better!!!!  Can you imagine?! 

For a fascinating pictorial be sure to click on all of Kamichia's photo-links on her sidebar here showing her beach combing trips and the individual photos of different types of floats!

Since floats are now considered "collectibles", there are a lot of fakes out there too.  Kamichia talks about how to tell what is real from what is fake here.

Several of you have asked me where you might find fishing floats for sale; Kamichia also sells fishing floats on etsy,  (you can also look on ebay), but-  be forewarned.....
fishing floats can quickly become an obsession!!!:)

Here are a few other photos of how I use the vintage fishing floats around the house...
placed in the center of the iron dining table on the back porch

...in a copper tub filled with fishing floats and copper floats on the back porch

... in an old wire basket on the upstairs master bedroom porch.  I love the pop of color of the one amethyst float!

a little project: an antique frame

As I continue to show you around the house (just waiting on some velvet pillows being made to show you the living room) you'll notice that we have a fondness for paintings.   We have been very fortunate to have found some fabulous antique and newer paintings over the years-  keep in mind we've been antiquing for 23 years! 
(for the record:  when I use the word antique I only mean that it is over 100 years old.  Just because something is antique doesn't mean it has to be precious, untouchable, unattainable, unaffordable, etc.  It can be, but doesn't have to be... )

I think original art is an extremely important element in a home.  I believe art gives a house a soul.   It should speak to you on an emotional level, whether it is art drawn by your child or an antique oil painting from a listed artist- the value is in the emotion is brings to you.  That's why art is so personal.

So, when I found this watercolor several weeks ago I had an immediate emotional attachment... it reminded me of our farmhouse and how the farmhouse sits on the property, and the amazing skies that we see here.  From the framing I would guess it was painted in the 1970/1980's?

 $10

Later that same week, we found this antique water-gilt frame at another antiques shop.  At first, I walked right by the frame only seeing the painting... wasn't interest.  Then, my eye saw the beautiful antique frame and I was smitten!  We bought it for $100.  Good antique frames are really difficult to find, so when we spy them we buy them!  The frame joined several other antique frames stacked in the closet awaiting its perfect mate.... until it dawned on me how perfectly this frame and that watercolor would go together!

I "married" them. 
I will use a piece of antique wavy glass (from our house renovation) instead of new glass to add some additional character.
So, for a mere $110 I have an original piece of art in an antique frame! 

Wishing you a very happy weekend filled with some great finds!

weekend find...

After a stunningly gorgeous 40-minute drive through Fall foliage to get to our favorite pancake diner we stopped in our favorite dive antique mall and found these beauties...
antique piano legs!

As luck would have it, on Friday the contractor and crew arrived to start the barn room renovation (a post to follow), and lately I've been thinking about what to do for a large barn room ottoman.

Score!

These gorgeous hand-carved legs measure 23 inches in height. Their large scale is perfect since the barn room is fairly large at

23 feet- 6 inches x 27 feet with a 12 foot plus ceiling. I'm thinking an upholstered top, but we could also do a wood top made with reclaimed barn wood... .

What would you do?!

did I mention the price?...... $68, and then after the 10% discount for cash..... $61.20!!!!!!

each leg is numbered... love the antique font

the legs are on iron casters

What's this you ask?!

This is one tired shopping-dog under the down comforter taking an afternoon nap. It's hard to be Ella!!

yesterday's find

Yesterday, Ella and I (Dan is out of town) took a lovely drive- past mountains, a lake and fabulous antique houses over to our favorite antique haunt about 40 minutes west of us. This is the same antique mall where I met Matthew Mead a few months ago! It's the best kind of antique mall- a dive, with great prices and merchandise that turns over daily. In fact a couple of weeks ago we found a gorgeous mahogany table to put on our upstairs porch (oops- forgot to show you that one;) and the owner said the dealer had only brought it in an hour before!

So, yesterday I stumble upon this large (30"total) antique iron lantern! Here it is, as found, under a table in the dealer's booth. I hemmed and hawed, and even left the store and sat in my car thinking about it- as it needs tons of work, then realized that Dan would KILL me if I didn't buy it. I'm notorious for not buying something one day and wanting it the next- which sometimes entails having to drive hundreds of miles to retrace our steps!! I never buy to buy, and only buy what I love, and this lantern had my name all over it! Isn't it funny when you look at an antique and think it "looks" like you?!

You may now laugh freely, when I tell you that I hemmed and hawed and the lantern was only $20, but wait... the dealer was having a 30% off sale, so it was really only $14!!!

I was thinking it might look wonderful (after I spend hundreds renovating it!) placed between the french doors on the soon-to-be barn room! So, instead of a light at each door, just one large light to illuminate the whole (what will be!) gravel patio! What do you think?!

As I've mentioned before we live in a very small town, surrounded by even smaller towns, one after another. Our drive takes us through the charming village of Dublin, New Hampshire. This bulletin board is at the corner of the Yankee Magazine headquarters which is right on the road. I often stop to read the local news. This was the message yesterday....I think it a very lovely way to be eulogized.

As I write on my sidebar... if you have never experienced small New England towns it is hard to imagine it. It is very much like stepping back a hundred years in time. Dan and I have traveled extensively across the United States, and we have never seen towns as charming!
I hope you will come visit!

I see the light!

Finding a pair of small, vintage chandeliers isn't easy let me tell you! I've been looking for a pair, one for each of the guest bedrooms, for a while now. Currently this is what you see in both bedrooms! Lovely, yes?! Both bedrooms are rather small, so I wanted the continuity of having the same vintage fixture in each bedroom.

I found this pair of small (20 inch diameter) vintage chandeliers several months ago. I passed on them then because I didn't want to spend the money, but several weeks ago I went into the shop and they were marked down $100 each from the original price! All the sudden I saw them in a new "light"!

I realize that at first glance these chandeliers looks a bit over-the-top for small bedrooms in an antique farmhouse, but I plan on taking off all of the drop-crystals and crystal ropes and making them very simple, classic crystal-armed chandeliers. In this photo you can see how I've started to remove the crystals from the one on the left, showing the clean lines of the fixture. I wanted fixtures that would be a nice detail without making a big statement. I've been smitten with glass-armed chandeliers for a while now, so I think they will be perfect in each bedroom.

I first brought one chandelier home on approval, and even though they're small they are really heavy, so imagine Dan holding one up over a bed, and me asking him if he could also please "lift the crystal ropes," so I could get an idea of what they would look like! It ain't easy being Dan!! Dan's next project is to clean and wire and hang them!

I will then add real-wax candle sleeves from this wonderful company, Lumiere Candles. They have a wonderful product, great prices (I was paying double to triple this in Dallas for a mediocre product, and their charge to custom-cut is nominal), and their customer service is the best. I highly recommend this company. Ask for Paul!

fun finds and Matthew Mead too!

( iron industrial baskets - we think were used in some sort of manufacturing process - that will make fabulous candle holders on the the iron table below....)

This past Sunday Dan and I (and Ella!) did our usual weekend routine of driving 4o minutes west to eat some of the best pancakes in the world at a diner in a tiny, little town in southern New Hampshire! After breakfast, we always go to one of our favorite antique malls in the same town- lots of dealers, great prices, and constantly changing merchandise....

We were walking down an isle when we passed a man moving a piece of furniture and Dan asked him if he needed some help. I turned around and saw the man and thought "I know him!" Well, I didn't actually know him, but knew of him!! Turns out it was Matthew Mead! Matthew was the Style Editor at the dearly departed Country Home magazine. I remember seeing his photo in CH, and also on some segments he did for HGTV. I also recognized him from the photos in his new book that I had purchased (but forgot to mention to him) several months ago.

Matthew also has a Halloween magazine on the stands right now! Matthew was delightful to chat with and I was excited to hear about his new venture with Ki Nassasuer... a new magazine called Flea Market Style which will be out in Spring 2010! This blog is a behind the scenes look at the making of the magazine! Be sure to pop over and check out the magazine and Matthew's website!

Matthew, it was great fun to meet you!

Hope Oscar is feeling better...


We bought this 8 foot iron table for the barn room. It will be placed in front of the original barn door that will be mounted on one of the walls in the barn room as a large piece of art! The wood top will be replaced with a slab of limestone.

We've been looking for a large table for a while as the running joke is that I keep talking about all of the things I want to put on this one table! Like: my collection of antique Chinese blue & white ginger jars and vases/ my collection of antique French confit jars/ my huge clam shell- it measures 36 inches /and now the above candle holders! I think I'm going to need another table!!!

The day after I first spied the above table, we saw this table in Maine. Loved the stone top (this is where I got the idea to use limestone), but at $1200 I liked my table better at $105!! And 30%off never hurt any sale... don't you agree?!