Home » Posts filed under antique scouting
Diposting oleh
fawaid on Selasa, 08 Maret 2011
I'm suffering from a severe case of antiques apathy. I go to an antique store. I look around. Up and down. Then- a big old yawn and shrug. It's funny, I still like to look but the little chip that triggers the wallet grab is malfunctioning. It's not really a money thing, since I've always had the cheery ability to overlook financial prudence. It's a bored of stuff thing. A full house that's rapidly becoming less full thing.
I've been heaping the cast offs on my sidewalk for my neighbors- rusty bird cages and typewriters and straw hats and mirrors and desks and dressers and thrift store paintings. Out out out. The only thing that's called, shouted, screamed my name and demanded to be bought is this Merrick thread display case. I got it back in the fall from my favorite of favorite
folks in Brooklyn and I think we're going to grow old together. Love is a beautiful thing.
It cost as much as it would if you took a boy you liked (as if!) out to dinner on his birthday and you let him get dessert with your rare steaks. A bottle of wine, too. You know, a white table cloth-y kind of place. Since things like that don't happen in my life, I ate nachos for dinner and it all worked out in the end. How could I pretend for a minute I wasn't going to snap it up immediately? It's got my name written all over it.
Diposting oleh
fawaid on Sabtu, 21 Agustus 2010
One of my top most favorite humans, bloggers and all around wonderful girls (the highly respected and adored
*GINNY BRANCH STELLING*) opened a little vintage etsy shop called
I love you both yesterday. I died of happiness. And then that happiness turned to sadness.
Because people, at the start of yesterday morning, I had -38 cents in my checking account. NEGATIVE 38 CENTS. Do you know how annoying it is to pay an overdraft fee for 38 cents? Thought so.
Ginny is perhaps the only person alive who can give me a run for my money in the collecting department. She buys with her whole heart and soul and her taste is a perfect blend of sweetness, simplicity and utility.
Anyway, the short end of the story is I found a check I had squirreled away (1st check from Hearst for freelancing!) and deposited that sucker quicker than you can say
ginnyiwanteverythinginyourshop. I, however, refrained and snuck away with the hand thrown terra cotta pot above.
If you know what is good for you, you will go to her
shop and find something to love. And after that you will go and look at
this photo of us at her wedding, if for no other reason than we look cute.
Thank you.
Diposting oleh
fawaid on Kamis, 01 Juli 2010
It recently dawned on me that I've stopped showing you my stuff. You know, the stuff that I've been buying lately. Old stuff. Did you think I was just not buying stuff? Because HA. No. I will continue to buy stuff till there is no stuff left to buy. (personal mission.)
I bought this old shelf made from sewing spools and really heavy gauge wire a few visits to Maryland back. I splurged on it and by splurged I mean it cost more than $30. I've had a serious weakness for spool furniture for the past few years, the real good, old handmade stuff is pretty tricky to find.
It's holding half of my
dead horse bay bottles and a few other not too special thingies I use for flowers. The good stuff is mostly not on here because, hello, I'm still traumatized from the last
shelf that was in this same spot. Serious heavy duty hardware this time. And if it falls again, I promise, you will be the first person to witness my burning shame in all of its glory.
Diposting oleh
fawaid on Sabtu, 20 Februari 2010
About a month ago, my big sister and I drove 2 hours to Doylestown, Pa. to go to the Mercer Museum for the first time. We got stupidly lost after stopping at Terrain and pulled up 10 minutes after it closed. There may or may not have been tears, foot stamping and devastation all around.
On my day off last week (shock! joy! I had a day off!) I made it back to the Mercer and finally got to poke around. It's a history museum devoted tools and products used in early American crafts, trades and occupations. Basketry, meat preservation, coopering, cheese making, leather working, spinning, lumbering, medicine, solar salt harvesting, glass blowing and 45 other unbelievable exhibits- each in its own small alcove.
I was really overwhelmed. I've never been to a place like it and was basically floating on air for 2 hours. The museum isn't heated and we could see our breath while inside, otherwise I could have stayed weeks. Months. Years. All of eternity. Bury me inside the hearse and coffin exhibit on the 3rd floor, please.
Diposting oleh
fawaid on Rabu, 20 Januari 2010
I bought this dress on ebay for the price of a steak dinner and a bottle of wine. When I opened the package, I swayed in place. My cheeks flushed. When I tried it on, I went light-headed.
I am beyond taken with this dress. Far and away, my favorite of favorites.
Diposting oleh
fawaid on Minggu, 03 Januari 2010
True fact- I have a secret and repressed jewelery fetish. I don't wear any jewelery at all because of a highly developed tomboy streak and my humorously Amish fear of self ornamentation. Okay, I wear a watch and own a single ring. That I do not wear anymore.
Behind this closeted jewelery obsession is a store. A store that spins out a sticky spiderweb of irresistible impossibilities so dizzying even a seasoned antiquer needs to hold on to her hat.
Erie Basin, how I love you.
Grace Bonney got me this little 1930s celluloid compass button for christmas and my heart jumped about ten feet in the air. Me? Own something from theee Erie Basin? I'm inching toward, nay,
resolving to take the jewelery plunge this year. Just like I'm
resolving to go eat some ice cream now.
Diposting oleh
fawaid on Rabu, 25 November 2009
Since tomorrow is thanksgiving, I should be writing a very impressive post about making some insane appley, cinnamony, brown sugary, buttery, nutty, flaky, crumbly, yummy thing because I'm a real life domestic goddess. But then I wake up and remember I'm not. Instead, I'm curled up under my quilt at home in Brooklyn, delightfully alone.
My train home leaves at 5am tomorrow morning and I'll be puttering around my folk's house till sunday or monday. Activities include long walks to the bay, dog patting, antique malling and standing in front of the fridge, hovering over a cold turkey carcass. I have a lot of things to be thankful for, no?
Happy thanksgiving, friends. If I could share a piece of pie with you, I would.
Diposting oleh
fawaid on Rabu, 28 Oktober 2009
On our blink and you'll miss it visit to Cambridge last week, the design*sponge ladies and myself stopped into a wonky antiques mall. 5 stories of odd and random expensiveness, but I came out with a tiny lab glass beaker, so whatever, it was worth it.
It's heavy but still feels delicate and it's really small, like 2 1/2".
Boston is so funny. It damn near blizzarded, snow, sleet- all kinds of miserable. But I ate a lovely and too short early morning breakfast with
Kate, got a ton of divine wallpaper (yes more!), toured two amazing old houses and memorized all the lyrics to every Lady Gaga song there is.
Um yeah, that last bit wasn't my idea. The girls in the front seat controlled the cds and now I've been schooled in what "the kids are listening to these days". That poker face song and the other one about a shorty fire burning on the dance floor. Charming. Absolutely charming.
Diposting oleh
fawaid on Kamis, 22 Oktober 2009
I thought about buying this photo from work for a few months. I kept on putting it off, because honestly, I didn't need it and didn't really even know why I wanted it to begin with.
Last week a girl peeked into the counter and asked to see it. My heart dropped down into my stomach. I stammer.
What? This photo here? With the baby? Really? Oh, okay..... Let me get that out for you.... I swallow my pride and hand over the photo. I'm friendly. We chit chat about old photos. Inwardly I'm thinking
get your mitts off my damn picture.
She decides it's weird for a single twenty-something to hang photos of babies in her house. I see her point but decide to disregard it completely. After she walks away, I have my wallet out in T point 2 seconds. Now I'm the proud owner of a photo I do not need.
The moral of this long winded story is twofold.
#1. If you want an antique, you need to buy it straight away or make peace with the fact that someone else could buy it first.
#2. If you disregard the above and someone else is holding something your dying to buy- DO NOT TELL THEM YOU WANT IT. End of story. Never ever say something like-
oh if you don't buy that i'd like to.... It's a guaranteed death sentence. Act politely but supremely uninterested. They're either going to buy it or not and anything you say will just make matters worse.
Okay young grasshoppers, I'm tired of divulging trade secrets. Go forth to your local flea market and prosper.
Diposting oleh
fawaid on Selasa, 20 Oktober 2009
Remember the great plate
destruction of 2009
? Yes. I'm still finding shards of glass all around my apartment.
About 3 weeks ago, a mini miracle happened. I came home from a miserably long day at work to find a package at my apartment door. From a reader. And not just any reader, but an awesome, handsome, charming and funny boy. Cue shrieking 3rd grade girls!
Okay, okay. So it's not like that, but whatever, HE SENT ME IRONSTONE PLATES. And I love them, and him, forever and ever. After some internet sleuthing, I've found out that they're the tea leaf pattern by Powell & Bishop ca. 1867-1878. Pretty and simple, with a little faded gold clover leaf in the center.
Now I have no excuse to continue eating like genghis khan sans plate.
This whole post begs the question- How thoughtful can one human be? Seriously?
Nick is amazing, go see for yourself. He sent me plates when I had none.
Diposting oleh
fawaid on Sabtu, 10 Oktober 2009
Let's talk about
brimfield, okay? Is now good for you? I'm finally ready.
I found these 30s/40s heels in a puddle on the ground at some weird army navy tent. I squealed. They fit. It was an honest to goodness cinderella moment, nevermind the mold and broken heel caps.
In a good shoe, I wear a size six, but a seven feels so good, I buy a size eight. (name that movie!?)
Well, more like an 8 1/2 or 9 which makes finding pre-1950s shoes really hard. Pretty ones that fit can get really pricey so the 5 dollars I paid is just a joke.
The whole trip I'd been eyeing padlocks but was sort of revolted by the $80+ price tags. Lest you think that because of my $5 shoes, brimfield is a bargain hunters paradise- sadly it ain't. Dealers generally seemed to know what they had and charged accordingly. More than your local flea market, anyways. When Amy A. pointed out this heart shaped lock for waaaay less, I pounced.
Now i just need to find something to lock up around the house.
A leather bound, scalloped, starred, empty address book. This is the sort of thing I hardly need but makes me the most giddy.
A romantic alternative to my boring and useful gmail contact list. Fit for, you know, scrawling the names of the handsome gentlemen I happen upon during my windy walks alone in the wilds of brooklyn. Oh god. I've been reading too many Austen novels again.
Diposting oleh
fawaid on Jumat, 25 September 2009
Brimfield. I laughed. I cried. It was better than Cats.
Right out of the starting gate, my camera lost it's ability to focus, as did my mind. And it poured. Like crazy. I was soaking wet and wildly giddy, bordering on manic. Add to that 5,000+ booths of antiques, divine carny food (pulled pork!) plus multitudes of handsome, flannel wearing bearded dealers. It was not pretty.
Poor
Grace and Amy just kinda shook their heads and let me zoom around unchaperoned. Which may or may not have been a good idea after I had circled the whole place 3 times, twitching and muttering aloud about not finding enough feed sacks.
Never fear, in the end I found my feed sacks while the girls waited in the car to go back to brooklyn. When I fully recover from the excitement, I'll take photos of the haul.
Diposting oleh
fawaid on Kamis, 24 September 2009
This is why I'm proud to be a human.
Like a bajillion more photos of
MRC's honeywell farm on
flickr for those of you who want extra credit.
PS- stop by the shop this weekend and say hi. bring ginger cookies.
Diposting oleh
fawaid on Rabu, 23 September 2009
Do I even need to say that this is the best bathroom ever?
Just in case, I'm saying it now, on the record.
THE BEST BATHROOM EVER.
Diposting oleh
fawaid on Selasa, 22 September 2009
Lest you think (and rightly so) that I am turning into a crabby old miser, I'm going to give you a present. A really really good present to make up for all of the whiny crap I've been churning out this month.
Remember the
barn? Yes, of course you do. Who could forget. Well, if you thought the barn was good, welcome to the house that barn belongs to. It made me
honest to goodness cry. Walking around it the first night, I was all teary. It was really embarrassing.
And now for a bit of back story-
I work at a truly spectacular antique store on the weekends. A store to make doves cry. A store that I haunted long before ever I worked there and a store that when I stand behind the counter, my heart still races with crazy antiques fever. When I got the job, I was thrilled because I could stay in the shop for hours staring at things and have it not be weird, cause hey, I worked there.
The store is called
Moon River Chattel and if you live within a 3 days drive of williamsburg, you should pack your bags and leave tonight to meet me there on friday. If you have any sort of soul, you will not be disappointed.
Long story short, this is Mr and Mrs. MRC's house upstate. On a 23 acre former dairy farm. Living the dream.
They invited us three shop girls up for a weekend and the trip blew a fuse in my brain. Now all I can do is mumble and sigh a lot when I try to describe how perfect it was.
Like right now. I should have something insightful to say about how they left the original layers of wallpaper etc... but I can't even get a proper, non idiotic sentence out. I'm too busy being googly eyed and stammering.
