freshvintage

Adamstown: Good Bathrooms & Bad Eggs

Renninger's in Adamstown, PA was small enough that Erin and I were able to hit Shupp's Grove on the same day. I found great stuff at both markets, but the atmosphere at Shupp's Grove is much nicer: shady trees and better bathrooms. I purchased a few more things than I photographed for this post, but the total for everything in this post is $160.

Do you see that red metal box in the middle of the photo?  It is FILLED with vintage decals. The box was probably used as the store display - it has dividers for different sizes and prices of decals. I'll have to write a separate post to share the decals with you. These are a couple of my favorites:

A vintage globe to add to my collection, a stack of Country Club Sweet Cider labels (these were for gallon jugs of cider), two sets of card games/flashcards, a small medicine cabinet and an old Order Book:

The man who sold me this Order Book had tons of neat journals, ledgers, photos and other ephemera, but his prices were a little steep. I would have bought a lot more from him, but he wasn't willing to budge on his prices. I settled for this book, which is definitely worth the $25 I paid for it (despite the fact that it is falling apart).

This isn't an ordinary Order Book. It is the diary of a Lancaster County Mennonite farmer that spans from 1896 to 1926. It contains his labor accounts, where he lists his farm workers, their hours and how much they were paid (one dollar a day). He has a page that lists the subscriptions to farm journals, how much he paid and when they run out.  But the best pages start in 1907, when he began writing a short sentence for each day of the month. Most of the farm-related entries are about tobacco, so I think that was his family's major crop. But there are also references to growing cherry and peach trees, corn, strawberries, blackberries, watermelon, sweet potatoes, pigs and cattle.

The farmer was a member of the Herr family, who are some of the earliest settlers of Lancaster County (and, more importantly, make a mean potato chip). I've been reading the journal to see if I can figure out if the farm is part of the Herr Family Homestead. There are some mentions of the Hershey family, too.

On each page (which is a month's worth of entries), there are a few references to attending funerals. This page from December 1914 has twelve burials. You can see that someone marked off each burial. I thought that it may have been the flu epidemic, but that didn't happen until 1918. Maybe they all had some bad eggs.

Fast forward 50 years to these ten vintage activity books:

This one is filled with blank pages, but the cover is my favorite:

I bought another Redman picnic basket, created by the Redmon Company in Peru, Indiana. You can see my others Redman baskets here, here and here. The basket had a pie shelf inside, along with these bingo cards. The seller told me to keep the Bingo game because someone else was supposed to pick them up and never did. Sure thing, lady!

Here are a few of the 115 assorted metal stencils that I bought at Renninger's. Most are numbers, but there are a few letters, too. They have a tab on the bottom, so they can stand up on a shelf. Tre industrial chic, no?

This is my big purchase for the day - a wooden rack. It may have been used as a baker's rack. Or it could have held shoes or textiles in a factory. My mother-in-law, Mary, has one in her kitchen, and I always loved the way it looked. I totally copied off her. It is in my family room because I don't have room in my kitchen.

It is a little impractical because the shelves are made of widely-spaced dowels. Mary suggested getting glass cut to fit the shelves.  For now, it is holding a couple of quilts and a chenille bedspread.

The old cast iron casters are in great shape, but the wood could use some conditioning:

I thought about using the rack to store wine. But then I remembered that wine doesn't last long enough in my house to necessitate any type of storage.

How would you use the rack in your home?

I will slap you

There was only one estate sale in the area last weekend, so I ran into local bloggers/dealers Dona & Connie while I was there. They packed Dona's truck to the brim. I walked away with just a few things, but then noticed that the house across the street was having a sale, too. While I was paying for my pile of stuff, the homeowner's son walked into the garage, looked at my pile and asked, "Is someone really buying this stuff? Why would someone buy this?".  In my mind, I told him that someone would buy it because his mother is a sucker and was selling it all for a pittance. And then I slapped him in the face (in my mind).

Here's a white matte pottery planter, five apple green shutters, a pink apron, set of six floral-painted tin coasters, and a daisy throw. Does anyone know if that type of flowery knitting or crocheting has a name?

I found these at a thrift store. The heavy mother/baby statue appears to be a garden ornament. It is made from cement (or plaster?), and then painted to look like wood.

I have a feeling that the lovely ladies at the thrift store thought this pitcher was a Made-in-China castoff from HomeGoods. God, I love when people are wrong.  I think this one's an oldie.

 

And for something vintage-inspired, but not quite vintage...here is the new lamp over our kitchen table: the Porter Pendant from Pottery Barn. It has an adjustable cord and weighted pulley that let you adjust the height.

And the part that I am most proud of? Chris and I actually installed it ourselves. My whole family just pooped their pants from the shock of it all. I don't do electricity...ever since I stood in my brother's bedroom with a flashlight while my dad asked me to "keep an eye on that broken outlet while I go to the basement and flip the breaker". He wanted to see what would happen. Well, I'll tell you what effing happened. The outlet exploded in my face and my brother's bed caught on fire. I took my fried bangs, hauled ass out of the room, and ended up in the fetal position next to the front door. Thankfully, I was just far enough away from the explosion that I wasn't burned.  And there wasn't too much damage to the house because my dad ran upstairs with a fire extinguisher. My dad, the accountant: not the handiest of men, but at least he was prepared.

A New Backdrop

It's not too often that I find this many great things in the dead of winter. I spent $45 on everything in this post. All from charity thrift stores.

My favorite find is the Goodform aluminum office chair. These can fetch a lot of money for mid-century modern furniture collectors. I found a great website that shows many of the models of Goodform chairs (this one is #3325), and some history of the company that makes them, General Fireproofing Company. This is the second aluminum office chair that I've found on my junking journeys. You may remember that I bought a similar chair last summer - the one that I accidentally dropped on my foot.

I also found a 1950's strawberry tablecloth with 4 matching napkins, an ironstone brown/white transferware pitcher, a black painted parlor chair and a brown and blue plaid wool throw. I originally thought that the throw was new when I saw the trendy color combination, but then I noticed an old fabric label from "William Ayres & Sons, Philadelphia". It's an oldie.

The silver ice bucket is not marked - I have no idea how old it is. But is looks damn cool, even it is a circa 2002 tarnished bucket from Homegoods. I also bought the glass tea canister, the French vocabulary book and the 1939 illustrated book called "Where Did Your Garden Grow"?

Here are a few of the colorful pages from that book:

 

These books are from my local thrift store that offers a bag of books for three bucks. I made out pretty good this time. I looked up a few of the books on eBay, and found that five of them sold for $15-$25 each! The book titled "Stillmeadow Kitchen" seems to be worth the most.

And now, let us address the big fat orange elephant in the room. Yes, we painted our family room last week. I love it - Chris is still warming up to it. It is hard to tell from these photos, but it is an orange creamsicle/tangerine color. I found the paint chip at Lowes - it is an Olympic paint called Mandarin.

I was inspired by the colors in the pillow below (formerly a napkin) and decided to use the orange/green color combo in my family room and kitchen. It actually looks good with the dining room colors, too.

My neighbors have already started joking that our house looks like a crayon box. Screw 'em! Neutral isn't in my vocabulary.

PS: That rooster weathervane lamp is the first purchase I ever made in a thrift store (12 years ago)!

Downpours + No Yard Sales = Paint a Room

Not exactly my favorite equation, but it needs to be done. It was January when we last (and first) painted a room in our house, so I think it is about time.

The color of our kitchen is now Sea of Grass. It is a Martha Stewart color, but I brought the paint chip to Home Depot to have it color matched.

You know from seeing photos of our old house that we like to make bold moves with our paint choices. This is a little bold, no?

I'm not very good at cutting in, hence the big picnic baskets that are covering the absolute mess of paint where the wall meets the ceiling above these cabinets:

I hope you don't have the impression that my kitchen is always so clean and uncluttered.  Why do you think I didn't just take one big picture of my whole kitchen? I had to split it into several photos so that I could shift the pile of crap from the counter to the kitchen table in each of these photos.

Our kitchen table is one of my most favorite pieces of furniture in our house. It is made of old barn wood, and the apron around the table top is made from lengths of old, chippy molding. The top has nail holes and scratches all over it, so I don't have to worry about keeping it perfect all the time.

I hung this photo on one of the shelf pegs until I figure out where I want to put it. I bought it at a thrift store in April, and I decided to keep it instead of sell it. It's the graduating class of our local high school.

Obviously taken before the Hitler moustache became taboo...

By the way, thanks to Teresa and Lisa for giving me the "You Make Me Smile Award". I would prefer the "You Make Me Pee My Pants and Shoot Apple Martini from My Nostrils Award", but I will settle for a smile. Thanks, ladies!

And Jennifer from The Good Life tagged me with seven random things about me. I did this a while back, so I am choosing to refrain from sharing any additional weird things about myself. I don't want to scare away readers. But please visit Jennifer's blog - she has great style, takes amazing photos and finds a lot of cool vintage goodies!

   

This Old House

I was looking for something on my computer today and came across the photos that I took while we were selling our old house in Drexel Hill, PA. The house was a Dutch Colonial built in 1923. We lived there for five years, and didn't exactly enjoy it. It was too small for the four of us (and occasional visits from in-laws) and it seemed like something was always breaking. In order to even sell the house, we had to replace the sewer line from the street to the basement. Which meant that our front lawn became one big dirt mound. This all happened in December, a time when grass doesn't exactly flourish in this part of the country. We had to lay sod in order to bring some semblance of curb appeal in the dead of winter. What an exciting way to spend $6,000 on a house you are trying to get rid of: sod and a sewer line.

But, looking at these photos today, I realize what a cute little gem we had. The house had so much character. The original French doors with glass doorknobs let in such an enormous draft, but they sure were classy. The tiny galley kitchen had been redone in the sixties, but I tried my darndest to bring it back to the forties. And I miss the little "bonus room" that was attached to the master bedroom. It had two closets made out of beadboard paneling, with a little desk area between them. We were told that is was originally the nursery.

Here are a few pictures of our first home. It took us five years to make this house look like it does in these pictures. We have a long way to go in our new home. Only one room is painted. We've designated October as the Month of the Paintbrush. As you will see in these photos of our old home, I'm not a big fan of white walls!

I painted all of these cabinets Behr's Cottage White and replaced all of the dirty brass hinges with chrome ones. I also replaced the old wooden knobs with antique glass knobs. They were all a little different, which added to the charm. The valances were made from Martha Stewart tablecloths that I bought at Kmart. I was so damn proud of myself after I made those valances.

The dining room had a huge picture window that had been added in the seventies:

I'm the first to admit that we made a mistake with the color of the living room. The yellow was a tad too bright. But that baby gate in the fireplace is tre chic, no?

Here's the bonus room off of the master bedroom:

Finn's bedroom (yes, the ceiling is green):

Maeve's room (not quite as neon green as it looks here):

The front porch:



The kids loved to sit at their little table and color:

This garage was packed to the gills with lots of great junk. I had a big sale right before we moved to our current home.

Hopefully, I'll be brave enough to show you photos of our current home after we've painted the rooms in October. If Chris and I don't kill each other in the process.

Bug-Free Wine

While all the highly motivated and creative people are busy making cupcakes, I've found a far better use for my jumbo cupcake liners:

[Exhibit A: Dead bug in wine glass]:

[Exhibit B: No dead bugs in wine glass]:

Budget-Buster Weekend

I went to my mom's house in Hammonton, NJ for the annual sidewalk/yard sales along the main street. And, one of the big antique malls in town is going out of business because the owners unexpectedly lost their lease. It is a shame because I always found nice things there for a decent price. Shame for the sellers. Good for me.  Mostly everything was 50% off because they have to get out so quickly. I wish I had a pickup truck because I would have bought some big pieces of furniture. Like a mahogany china cabinet for $40.

I gave myself a budget of $150 for the weekend. As you have probably figured out from reading my blog, I normally don't spend that much in one day. The only other time I spent over a hundred dollars was when another antiques store went out of business.

I'm pretty happy with the results. Here's the whole kit and kaboodle:

I realized after I took the above picture that I had left these in my trunk:

That's a Wolverine Child's Play Kitchen Tin Cupboard. Isn't it cute? I think that one might go on ebay.

I told Chris that I wanted to hang the iron window grate (below) on the wall in the kitchen. He flat-out refused. I'm just going to hang it anyway. I bet he won't even notice. 

I love those baby books. They are both from 1945 and have their original boxes. Last year, I bought a similar unused baby book at a yard sale for a dollar and sold it on ebay for $45!

I like that this cake cover/plate is embossed with the word "CAKE". God forbid you put a pie in there. And there's yet another picnic basket. I'm addicted to them. This one is a Redman basket, and it has the original plastic service for four.  And I just couldn't resist the metal pie safe/bread box thingy...

I bought 11 packs of these little vintage cards. I think they are from the 1940's. Each pack has 12 cards with envelopes.

This was one of my favorite finds...three boxes of birthday candle holders. Two boxes have boys and one has girls. Didn't Country Home or Country Living just do an article about vintage birthday candles?

Do you know anyone who lives in Radnor, PA or went to Radnor High School?  I have fifteen of these vintage felt pennants!

This box has little rubber stamps for all the letters and numbers:

Pencil box: Step one...

Step two: It unsnaps and folds open to reveal this handy list of state capitals and measurements guide...

Step three: Pull the little blue tab and it opens into a little blotter with two drawers.

Someone left a comment on my listing at sk*rt saying that she'd like to know how much I spend on the stuff I find. Ask and you shall receive...

Item	Cost
Wood tea cart	6.00
Baby book (unused)	8.00
15 Radnor pennants	3.00
White pie safe/bread box	3.00
11 packs of cards 1940's (12 ea)	12.00
Green chair	15.00
Black iron window grate	25.00
Aluminum water cooler	5.00
Child's Wolverine tin cupboard	9.00
Cake cover with glass plate	5.00
Small glass fridge container	1.00
Baby dress	1.00
Floral tablecloth	6.00
Rubber stamp kit	2.50
3 birthday candle holders	10.50
Picnic basket w/plates & utensils	7.50
Baby book (used)	6.00
Oval picture frame	2.00
3 sets dollhouse pots/pans	3.00
Pencil box	1.25
Garter belt	1.00
Aqua linen tablecloth	4.00
Red egg beater	1.50
Black egg beater	1.50
Wood trim piece with circles	10.00
Blue metal shelf	4.00
Grand Total	153.75

I only blew by budget by $3.75. That's one less latte I'll buy this week.

PS: Unfortunately, that barn in the background of my pictures is not mine. It just happens to be directly behind our house. Our development was built on former farmlands and the original barn and farmhouse are still standing. The farmer just sold the farmhouse to someone new, and I have to start schmoozing...I smell a barn sale in my future!

Vintage Maeve

I haven't had time to go to thrift stores for the last few weeks, and there weren't any yard sales this morning, so I thought I'd share some pictures of Maeve's room. I've tried to fill her room with cute vintage things from yard sales and thrift stores. And my mother-in-law, Mary, has been great at supplying me with lots of vintage goodies over the years.

This shelf is hung on top of a tall wicker lingerie chest, so it is too high for Maeve's stinky fingers to reach. I bought the white shelf and the pink footed planter at that going-out-of-business sale a few months ago.  The other pink planter and booties planter are from this trip to Goodwill. Mary gave me the old knitted booties that are hanging from the drawer knob, the little box of teeth in the right cubbie and the round picture in front of the stack of Bobbsey Twins books (that I bought at a yard sale for a quarter each).  The brush and mirror were Chris' grandmother's.

Here's a close-up of the teeth & poem. I'd like to meet the person who came up with the idea to make and sell boxes of teeth as a congratulations-on-your-new-baby gift.

We keep blankets in this pink metal hamper ($10 at a yard sale):

This original print called "Sun Kissed" by Bessie Pease Gutmann hangs above the hamper. I bought it at a yard sale the last time we visited Chris' family in Yakima, Washington. The woman that I bought it from was a friend of my mother-in-law's. She had HUNDREDS of original prints by Bessie Pease Gutmann. They were in every room of her house. I was happy and a little surprised that it survived the flight home. Sorry about the picture quality - there's a glare from the mirror.

   

I bought this chair for $7 at Brigg's Auction and recovered the seat with different fabric. The big pink enamel bowl under the chair holds just a sampling of Maeve's "buddies".

Maeve was sleeping in her crib when I took these pictures an hour ago. She is still fast asleep. I'm so damn stealthy. I should have majored in cat burglary instead of computers.

Buttons

As promised, here are a few pictures of the buttons that I won during my night of drunken ebay bidding. Like most things that you buy when you are drunk, I had a touch of buyer's remorse when I opened the boxes.

Most of the buttons are small, nondescript black and white shirt buttons or just big ugly coat buttons. I enlisted my son, Finn, to help me pick out all of the colored buttons. We filled eight of these little red containers with all of our favorites.  I love the glass buttons and mother-of-pearl buckle at the bottom of the picture. 

The red containers were from the dollar spot at Target (but they aren't selling them anymore). They have strong magnets on the back, and came with a metal strip that mounts on the wall. Instead of using the strip, I put the containers on the side of this metal storage cabinet.

I bought the cabinet for $3 at a yard sale last summer. It is a great place to hide my fabric, patterns, ribbons and anything else I can stuff in there. The bottom was rusty, so I covered it with fringe from an old chenille bedspread. On top of the cabinet, I have even more fabric in a pair of vintage locker baskets.

If I ever clean the rest of my "studio" (more commonly known as the guest room), I'll share some more pictures.   

Painting Woes

I received a couple of requests to see some of the buttons that I drunkenly won on ebay. I don't have pictures of all of them yet, but here's a picture of a diaper/wipes wallet that has 3 of the 1000+ buttons. It is a little hard to see, but I stacked 3 buttons, including a big mother of pearl one:

Chris and I spent Sunday painting the dining room. In our old house, we didn't spend too much time preparing before we painted. This time, we diligently taped all of the trim and chair rail. It still looks like crap. The paint seeped through the tape in a lot of places. Brown paint on white trim actually does look like crap. Luckily, you can't tell from these pictures:

The colors we used are Sunwashed Blue (also known as aqua) and Mayfield Common (aka brown) by Ralph Lauren at Home Depot.

In the lower right corner of the above picture, you can see part of our victrola cabinet. That was the first piece of furniture that we ever bought at an auction. Before it went up for bid, I looked at it quickly and thought that it would be a great place to store our stereo (the victrola had been removed years ago and replaced with shelves).  I ended up being the highest bidder at $70.  When we went to carry it out of the auction, we realized that it didn't have a back! So dumb. I learned my lesson with that one.

I bought the 2 cake plates at a moving sale on Saturday morning for $5 each: