Antique mall finds: Vintage kitchen

I picked up a couple of vintage kitchen items on a recent adventure to the antique malls. I love this jadite green scale. It's in great condition with just the right amount of patina. 

It was $20, which is more than I would normally pay for a such an item, but it's so perfect. Plus similar scales go for more online, so I don't feel like I overpaid.

I also fell in love with this sculptural solid brass pitcher. Hello brassy goodness! It is seriously heavy; I should probably keep it on my nightstand in case of an intruder instead of in the kitchen.

See? Nearly five pounds!

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Pretty new things: Happy birthday to me!

My birthday was a few weeks ago, just two days before Etta was born. You may ask yourself, how does a nearly full-term pregnant lady celebrate when she can't have drink or sweets or comfort foods (stupid gestational diabetes)? Buy herself pretty things, of course.

The first, a brass lamp from the second wave of Nate Berkus' Target line. The shade is part of the collection too. I tried to pair it with a lighter colored shade, but none of the others at Target fit on the lamp! By design perhaps? 

I love the look of the dark shade, but black shades can steal so much of the light, and our living room is so dark without any overhead lights. Luckily, the inside of the shade is bright white, so it's kind of a non-issue.

My second self-purchased present was this old wire basket I found at an antique mall. Have no idea what it was used for. It was a bit dirty, like it had been in someone's basement or garage. 

Honestly, I am not quite sure why I had to have it other than I love it. I am practical to a fault and can talk myself out of most any purchase, so once in a while, it's nice to buy something purely for the heck of it. It's going to be bringing its vintage charm to my kitchen shortly.

Antique mall haul: Wood and brass

I had one of those epic treasure hunting Saturdays last weekend. It was mama's day off and since I hadn't been to any antique malls or thrift stores in nearly three months, I was due.

I did not attempt to theme my shopping, but it appears as though wood and brass are calling to me these days.

I finally pulled the trigger on a wooden printers tray ($10). I've always wanted one, but some are too large for my tastes or too expensive for my guilt. This one is smallish at 11" x 17". I love the handwritten numbers at the top. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it quite yet.

And then I found this wooden whale cutout ($6) whom I adore. No idea about how old it might be, though.

A troop of brass monkeys! For $5, how could I say no? They hang in a chain like the Barrel of Monkeys game. I don't know how to display them, though, so they might become fodder for an art project.

You may know, I have a weakness for e's, especially at $1.25 each. They look like wood, but are actually some sort of resin.

I also picked up some small brass pieces. A bell, a basket and a pair of tiny flower candle holders. I'm positive those candle holders will never actually see candles again. But I loved their shape and think I might save them for an art project of some sort.

Another antique find: Two dogs in a trunk!

I've got more than half a dozen projects in various states of finish, but none of them done enough to share today. So I'll leave you this Friday with another recent antique find:

an old 8x10 photograph of two dogs in the trunk of a car (a.k.a. pretty much the greatest thing ever).

I found it at an antique mall I don't go to very often. My brother was with me and he bought it for me as a birthday gift. I don't think he liked it as much as I do, but he still bought it for me anyway. (Thanks, Adam!)

It's signed on the back, but I'm sure it's just the work of an amateur. I already painted the frame black (was a honey oak), and I can't wait to find a place for it.

Return of the antique mall finds!

It's been a while since I've shared some antique finds! This past Tuesday was my birthday, so Dan, Elise and I did a little birthday shopping. 

I found a lot of tiny things this time, but I'm going to attribute that to having Dan along to attend to Elise while I got to look a little closer. The frames are going in the bedroom, but I'm not sure where any of the rest of it is headed.

I'm going to frame this Disneyland souvenir mini plate. I'm much more willing to incorporate Disneyana into the decor for my Disney-loving husband when it's vintage and pretty.

Yes, that is Abe Lincoln. He's cast iron. Might frame him too. Oh and the brass horse! I am the furthest thing from an equestrian, but I love him anyway. And I might have the beginnings of a brass addiction. Definitely didn't see that coming.

My vintage schoolhouse light is up (and it's pretty!)

Remember my vintage schoolhouse light I found for just $20? Yes, for about the cost of a take-out dinner, I took home this awesome fixture with a milk-glass shade. I still can't believe my luck! Especially when a new fixture like this would cost $160+.

It was time that it made it's way up onto our kitchen ceiling to replace this white and shiny brass ceiling fan. Ugly and definitely not our style. But before we could do that, the fixture needed help.

While I would have loved to keep the original finish, it wasn't in good shape. Lots of rust and some white paint spatters. It needed a paint job and quick.

I wadded up some paper to protect the inside of the fixture and the small hole for the tension screw that holds the glass shade in place. Then I sprayed with a coat of rusty surface primer and when that was dry, a coat of oil-rubbed bronze.

The fixture required some simple rewiring, which my dad took care of for me. (Really, all he did was take out the old wires and reconnected two new ones.) After that, it was ready to go up!

Once it was installed on the ceiling, I needed to touch up the silver screws used to mount the fixture. I used up the last of the oil-rubbed bronze spray paint when painting the fixture and didn't want to buy a whole new can just for two screws.

I found some dark brown paint in my stash and that was a close enough match (especially up near the ceiling) and touched them up in about two minutes.

Before we had the light up, I was a little concerned about how bright it would be. The old ceiling fan didn't give off a ton of light, and it had three bulbs. The schoolhouse fixture only had one socket for one bulb, so I bought the highest wattage CFL I could find -- 150 W equivalent (really uses 40W). Only one bulb, but surprise! It's actually much brighter than the ceiling fan was. Must be how the glass shade diffuses the light.

So clean and simple, it looks like it's always been there! That really is the best outcome, isn't it?

(The rest of the kitchen...eh. It's OK. The layout works well, but the finishes are different than I might have chosen. Still, it's not horrible, and it will probably be a long while before any of it changes.)

A trip to the Pink Elephant Antique Mall

I try to keep this blog on-topic and don't usually write "hey, look where we went" type of posts. But... um... hey, look where we went this past Saturday!

The Pink Elephant Antique Mall in Livingston, Illinois! It's on I-55, not quite an hour north of St. Louis. Sure, a visit to an antique mall isn't so off-topic for this blog, but the big draw here isn't the antique mall; it's all the roadside oddities.

(Elise calls the big man "Superman" for some reason. I'll admit he does look a bit Clark Kent-ish.)

The antique mall itself was pretty average. A lot of "smalls," not too much furniture. A lot of "junk," not really fine antiques. (Junk is what I prefer anyway.) The prices were pretty comparable to other antique malls I've visited, which is to say some things are overpriced, but there are also bargains to be had.

We did bring home a couple of items:

This mini metal mailbox bank. It's about nine inches tall.

And a souvenir Disney World book from the 80s that somehow my husband didn't already own.

After shopping, we sampled some ice cream from the shop outside and Elise had her first cone to herself. (Usually, we share, but this was holding off lunch. Don't judge.)

I would totally stop by again if we were in the neighborhood. It's a great photo opp, if you like taking photos of weird stuff like I do. And the ice cream is pretty good too!

More info on the Pink Elephant roadside attractions at Roadside America.

Lucky antique find: Vintage schoolhouse light fixture

I've always wanted to replace our crappy kitchen ceiling fan with a vintage (or vintage-inspired) fixture. More specifically, a schoolhouse fixture with a wide milk glass shade. Simple, classic and it matches well with the period of our house (1930).

I haven't really tackled any real improvements in our kitchen yet. I didn't even paint it when we moved in because the dark brown that was there suited the space pretty well. (Hard to admit for someone who's addicted to painting.) So while I've scoped out replacement light fixtures a little online, I haven't done anything more.

Then on one of my regular antique mall trips, I was just about to leave and I spotted this:

(flipped upside-down... or right side up, I guess)

A vintage schoolhouse fixture. The price? Only $20. I had a silent freak out. $20? Really? I kept thinking I was missing something, that there would be a crack in the shade or something, but nope! The fixture itself needs to be cleaned up and possibly repainted (it has some minor rust on it), but that's easy. And up near the ceiling, any imperfections would probably go unnoticed anyway.

It will hang about 14" down from the ceiling (same as the ceiling fan) and the widest part of the shade is about 16". I'll have figure out how to re-wire it, but even so, a reproduction light like this would run well in the $160+ range. So even with the minor cost of re-wiring, $20 is a huge bargain.

I still can't believe my luck. You really do find things when you least expect them!

Antique mall finds: End tables and more!

My younger brother closed on his first house this week and is replacing some of his hand-me-down furniture. We have somewhat similar tastes, so lucky for me, he trusts me to shop for him! I found this pair of end tables for $100. Anyone who has shopped for second-hand end tables knows that it's difficult enough to find something you like in good condition, but to find a pair is even harder! I'm glad we were able to snag these.

Moving on to another store, I found this octagonal end table. (Guess it was end table day.) It appears to be homemade, built out of plywood. But the hardware was interesting, the price was right ($10!) and I have plans to paint it. No guilt about painting plywood.

And it has storage! Again, this one is for Adam, but a little part of me wants to keep it.

Speaking of octagons, I also found this slightly-larger-than-a-dinner-plate mirror at a thrift store for $3.

It has slight impressions to mimic bamboo, but they are pretty faint. I'm also going to paint this one because that faux gold isn't doing it for me.

And the last of my finds, I'm actually keeping for myself. This little plywood box (what's with the plywood this week?) is pretty banged up, but it was only $3.50. I've been trying to find some interesting small storage for the open shelving I have planned for the family room. 

What do you think, should I paint it or leave the crazy wood-grain dinged up mess as is?