We close on the new house tomorrow and will start the process of moving, probably the next day. The house we’re in now, the one we’ve lived in the past 40 years, hasn’t sold yet, so we’ll just ease stuff out. Not get in any big hurry. But one thing’s for sure. It will never look the same after this weekend. I don’t want to forget, so I took some time to go through and take some pictures. No fancy lighting, no tripod, just me snapping pictures. So they’re not all that great — not that my pictures are all that great with fancy lighting and tripods. Picture taking is just not one of my talents. There are a lot of pictures and to keep the page load time under an hour, I’ll divide them up over the next two or three days.
The front foyer
- The chest came from my parents’ house. An interior designer placed it in their home. It’s from the 1700’s and was quite expensive. I always knew where it would sit when it finally came to live with me.
- The gold figures and the green, marble lady also came from their home.
- The gold figures sit on a $20 dresser piece.
- The little lamp was bought at an antique mall yard sale for $5.00.
- The long mirror on the left was $10 at an estate sale.
- The chair was $5.00 at a moving sale.
- The chenille flower looking thing was….. I don’t remember! ….. but I bought it from my good friend Lena’s yard sale.
- The bamboo look hat and coat rack was $20 at an auction.
- That hat with the cord hanging from it? I got it at the estate sale of the parent’s of someone who was a couple of years behind me in school. He was a cutie and I actually remember him wearing that hat! Back about 1973 or thereabouts.
- There are religious prints on the wall.
All that was accumulated over at least a couple of decades.
The living room
The house is a late ’50’s, L-shaped ranch. These houses often had a combination living room/dining room. So, we have that plus a small dining room. Annndddd a den and a bonus room. Here’s one end of the living/dining room.
The other end (complete with open closet door at the far end of the house):
Goodness! The dust! This “cloche” was actually some kind of industrial light thing or something. I got it at an estate sale last year for $5.00. The pedestal base was a gift from my daughter one Christmas. The books and the flower frog thingie were picked up for little or nothing at sales here and there.
Gallery wall of little girls with birds prints. Also accumulated here and there. The big one on the left was a gift from friends. I think these may be in the granddaughters’ room in the new house.
I picked up this parakeet trophy for a few bucks at an estate sale. My grandfather raised parakeets, so it was a must-have.
So I stopped at a little antique shop maybe 10 or so years ago. This fence piece wasn’t priced. The young woman there looked it up and said $40. Well, by golly, I jumped on that! I found out later, somehow, that the price was wrong, wrong, wrong. I think it might have been what they paid for it. Oh, well. I’ve done that, too.
I had no idea what I was going to do with it. It sat outside doing nothing for several years. I tried it in front of the fireplace. Enh. Then, much to my husband’s dismay, I had the brilliant idea to hang it on the wall. God bless him. He did it.
Oh. That chair that needs covering? Either $5 or $10 at a yard sale. The husband priced it and as I walked off with the chair, it sounded like he was getting a scathing talking to. Too bad, so sad. Like I said. I’ve been on that end, too. It happens to all of us.
This is that whole corner. I bought the round table…. goodness!…. 25 years ago?…. actually from the lady who used to live here. She was by that time divorced and remarried. She said, about the table, that she and her husband were focusing on buying better, or “real”, antiques. I had to pay $25 for that!
The sofa was in my parent’s living room. I guess I’ll give it to our daughter for her new house. She’ll have a formal living room. I’ll only have a great room and this sofa isn’t for lounging. Sigh.
The coffee table was also my parents’. The mirrored tray is something I should do a blog post on. It’s a hanging lamp skirt thing with a mirror I just happened to have that just happened to fit. It rattled when we walked through the room and needed some weight. The book was placed on it to solve that problem. The green box was Momma’s. Everything else, including I believe, the peacock feathers, came from yard sales.
So. Click here to read the story of the statue. In brief, she looked nothing like that when I bought her.
That tall, skinny thing with the candle on it. I got it at a yard sale 20-30 years ago. It was a rusty, crusty, icky, oil lamp and cost me $15! That was a lot for me at the time. Heck. It still is a lot of times! Then I took it to someone who could clean it up and “restore” it. It seems like, in the end, I had about $50+ in that stoopid lamp. And it leans. I used it for-ev-er as a just-for-looks oil lamp. Then a few years ago I thought to put a candle on it. It’s precarious. The slightest bump and that candle is on the floor, but if I would just take the time, that can be fixed.
Are your bored silly yet? Like Aunt Clara on Bewitched, I collect antique doorknobs. And display them in a small aquarium. Unlike Aunt Clara, those are the extent of my collection.
The living room mantle. The picture above it is the most expensive thing there. Because it had the perfect colors and I actually loved the print, I paid $40 for it at an antique mall. The little blue cabinet was $10 at a small, church yard sale where I was one of the first, if not the actual first, person there. The busts were $10 at a yard sale. Someone else had them in her hand asking how much they were. When told they were $10, she put them down and I scooped them up. The man has since been beheaded and repaired. (The man bust! The bust of the man! What’d you think?!) I believe Ricky was the one who broke him. I don’t think anything else cost over $5.
That’s it for today. I suspect it’s about all you can stand anyway.
Click here to see part 2, the kitchen, butler’s pantry, and den
And here to see part 3. The bonus room, hall, and bedrooms
My goodness, I enjoyed seeing all your stuff Wanda! You have a lovely home with intriguing antiques. Give me antiques every time even if they are yard sale treasures. I love that little blue cabinet on your mantel, and absolutely adore the ornate iron fence on the wall! It’s very eye-catching! Love the lamp skirt thing on the coffee table…yes, do write a blog post about it! Now I’m going to go read your story about the statue.
[…] Click to see part 1 here […]
Thanks for sharing, love hearing where things come from. Glad to know I am not the only one with pieces from many different places and that have been treasured for years.
[…] It’s a small collection but I do love every piece. Mint green pottery is my favorite. Click here to see how the collection was used in the old house. […]