Dinning Room

Hello!  My hubby was looking through our local metal scrap yard a couple of weeks ago, with permission of course, and came across a couple of old rusty industrial bread pans.  I loved the old patina they had.  They were lovely and since I also make bread boards and love baking bread, I thought they couldn't be more perfect for our kitchen.  I've never really blogged about this little cabinet before so I thought I would now.  A couple of years ago we were out for one of our summer bike rides and came across a yard sale.  There were only a couple of things left, one of them being this cabinet.  It was filthy and yellow and definitely needed a makeover.  It was only $15 so we couldn't pass it up.  I cleaned it up, painted it white and added crown molding to the top.  I usually use it to store my spices, flours and pasta, but decided to give it a little better organizing and put a few of my favorite things in it for display as well. I put so...

If you have read our blog for awhile, you know that I have a love of vintage pull down school maps.  I've even made a few myself since they are usually way out of our price range.  Imagine my surprise when my hubby came home with 6 of them a couple of weeks ago that he picked up at a garage sale in the rain.  Talk about luck.  We kept 3 and the other 3 are going up for sale in our shop.  They are all absolutely gorgeous and date from the 1940's to 1960.  And their condition is amazing.  So are their colors.  One of the maps is exactly the color scheme that we have in our master bedroom/home office.  So, of course, that's where I put it.  I don't usually include this little home office corner of our master bedroom in photos because, well, I've never been very happy with it. I mean, who wants a computer, printer and all that mess in the bedroom.  Not me.  I'd love to have a separate room for our office but this is what we have a...

Happy Friday!  I don't know about you but I'm so ready for the weekend.   Today I wanted to blog about a few cool pieces my hubby  picked up at an auction last weekend.  The first is this amazing 100 year old Hobart industrial coffee grinder. This thing weighs around 90 pounds!  And the best thing is that it works perfectly.   I had asked my hubby to keep an eye out for a cool vintage coffee grinder for our shop because we are wanting to have coffee available to our customers and I thought it would be really fun to freshly grind the beans in a vintage mill.   Then he came home with this beauty and I'm not sure I'm going to be able to give it up.  :) I love the lines..... Another piece he brought home is this steamer trunk. We've always wanted one and he loved this one.  It needs a few minor repairs  but I can't wait to find a special place for it. And he also found these vintage wool Navy blankets.  They are so soft, ...

Howdy friends!  I love when it when I come across a great bargain, especially when it's on Etsy and involves something I adore collecting.  Now, let me back up a bit.......the good thing about being sick in bed.....online shopping.  The bad thing about being sick in bed.....online shopping.  And I did a good bit of it while I was laid up with the flu a couple of weeks ago, but shhhhh, that's a secret.  Every now and then a girl just needs to shop to feel better.  In my defense, it doesn't even count if each thing you buy is under 10 bucks, right?!  :-D One of my favorite places to shop is Etsy and during my little shopping spree, I came across this absolutely wonderful solid walnut rolling pin for only 6 bucks!    I could NOT pass that up because if you read our blog or visit my Etsy shop, you know how much I adore walnut and also how I adore rolling pins and collecting them. What a treasure this thing is.....can you imagine all the wond...

Digging through crates of junk covered in filth a couple of weeks ago acquired by hubby,  this is what I found lurking in the bottom. 8 gorgeous very old ironstone platters and a lovely little bowl.  Can you believe the luck??   I certainly couldn't.  In fact, I almost overlooked them because they were covered in so much dirt, they weren't recognizable.  It's amazing what Mr. Clean Erasers can do. I was so excited to add these to my tiny collection of ironstone. Any of you collect ironstone?  What are your favorite pieces?

Happy Monday!  Last week my hubby purchased the contents of an old home and while a lot of it was junk, we did find a few goodies, one of which was a very cool vintage metal cart/table.  I immediately remembered seeing something similar at Pottery Barn , so,  I was pretty happy that this was among all the junk. We thought this was the perfect space for it.  And I thought it would be great to use as a snack or drink cart for our own kiddos or when we have guests over since this is usually the room we entertain in.    Another special little find was this set of glasses with a "G" on them, perfect for our family.  I almost didn't find them as they were in the bottom of a box covered in ick.  But after a couple of hand washes and a go through the dishwasher, they are like new. The cart is metal with castors and the shelves are heavy porcelain, maybe?  I'm not really sure, but they are very heavy.  I didn't have to do anything to it other tha...

Hey there!  Happy first day of the LOVE month!  Speaking of love, my amazing man brought home more loot this past week from his picking adventures and put it in storage.  I was able to go check it out over the weekend and pick what I wanted out of it.  I came across this huge wood frame that I HAD to have.   As soon as I stumbled across it, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. Yes, I know, chalkboards are everywhere but I really don't care and this thing makes me so happy.  Plus, I am so inspired by this quote from one of my cookbooks.  I have this quote on another chalkboard at our shop to inspire me while I work on bread boards. I also picked out this vintage wood cutlery tray and silver tray.  I didn't get a good shot of the silver tray but I love it and that sucker is so heavy.  And it goes perfectly with our vintage silver flatware. I think this might just be my favorite corner of the house.  To make the chalkboard, I si...

Hey there!  Hope everyone had a great weekend.  My hubby brought home some things the other day for me and this one particular thing, I just fell in love with.  And it's perfect for Valentine's Day. How cute is this old coffee tin??  So cute!  I filled it with one of my favorites, tulips.  I just love that you can find fresh tulips in my local grocery store during late January and February.  So, I treat myself to some each week when I shop for groceries.  They are such a cheery addition to the house during the drab winter months.   My other find is from Etsy.  I just love Etsy and always try to support handmade when I can.  There are some wonderful sellers there and I could spend hours looking in their shops.  Anyone who knows me knows that I love to cook.  It is one of my passions.  I have a couple of knives that I've had forever and they were always getting thrown into the drawer with my other kitchen gadgets, ...

My man has found himself in the middle of a vintage furniture smorgasboard getting ready to open our new shop.  The furniture and other items he has found are amazing  and hard for me to let go of.   This wardrobe is one of his finds.  I just love it and get to keep it.  It definitely needs some love so I can't wait to see what I can do with it.  I don't want to use it as a wardrobe, but instead, add some shelves to the inside and use it for storage in our laundry room, which we desperately need. And I'm also thinking of giving it a paint job, but haven't decided on a color.  I think I've narrowed it down to white or gray.  What do you think?

My hubby surprised me today with something we've always wanted. I'm so overwhelmed that I'm just going to show you the photos. Vintage railroad carts.  3 of them. I can't wait to get to work on these bringing them back to their original beauty.  

Happy Monday everyone!  Did you have a good weekend?  My hubby is in the process of cleaning out a few storage units he purchased so he has been bringing home fun things for me to play with.  His latest find is this cabinet that I've not figured out what to do with yet.  Here it is in it's original state. I think it is beautiful but I'm not really sure what it is.  Does anyone know?  The end reminds me of a little pie safe with it's tin sides and shelving.   The hardware is beautiful but I'm not sure I want to keep the hinges.  However, I love the door handles so they are staying. The top has a hole in it and will have to be replaced.  And I haven't decided if I want to paint it or just improve it's original features.    I'm also not sure if I even like the tin sides.  I love the aged tin sides on this piece from Anthropologie. via  I wonder if there is some sort of treatment I could apply to the tin to replicate that...

Hey there!  My hubby recently purchased the contents of another building to "pick" and has been bringing home all kinds of fun things for me to play with.  One of which was a big box of vintage silver flatware.  I just love vintage flatware and this particular group happens to be from the 30's.  Imagine the wonderful history it has. I was torn between leaving it as is or polishing it up as very old flatware patina really appeals to me.  But after polishing one of the spoons, I decided I had to spiff it all up.  It took an entire morning but I'm sure glad I did.   Here's what it looks like after all that work. The picture here really doesn't do it justice.  They are perfect and I'm crazy about these fork and spoon collections, as well as, this collection of odd shaped spoons on the end. And these larger forks and spoons are just lovely and sparkly. There were also this collection of serving pieces that I was so excited about.  I'm crazy a...