antiquing finds

A local antique shop had a gardening event this past weekend, so I went to check it out.

I was hoping to find a bistro table for our little front porch, but no luck. 

Instead, I found a few pretty things inside the shop. I love milk glass, but I normally pass on the vases. I thought these three were unique enough to purchase, especially for only 99 cents each.

I also picked up this metal carrier...maybe it was one a milk bottle carrier? For now, this is how I'm using it - notice I stuck a couple of the milk glass vases in there - but I'll probably move it outdoors in the warmer weather to hold small pots of flowers.

I put the third milk glass piece in another carrier that I had. The lilacs are from my yard.

I don't know if these vintage pottery pieces are candlesticks or bud vases. Unfortunately, I didn't notice the entire leaf was broken off on the piece on the left until I got home. When the shop owner was wrapping these pieces, he said that one of them had a chip and asked me if that was OK. I said, "sure" without even really looking. Lesson learned.

The bottom of the candlesticks/bud vases have an unreadable signature and label. 

Any ideas?

I love this bowl. It's made by Harker Hotoven Pottery. I now have it sitting on my kitchen counter with fresh fruit in it.

Another find were these horseshoes. I hung them on our fence over nails. I posted the photo on Instagram and someone said that I have them hanging upside down! My question was, how do you hang them the other way? You certainly can't drive a nail through them.

I also went to a plant sale where all the plants were native to our region. I ended up getting a big poppy plant, bluebells, bishop's cap, and a variety of herbs. I can't plant any of these plants yet though, because it's still too cold. We've been having frost warnings at night. We also are changing up a couple of our little garden areas around the house this year. So once we do that and get these new plants in the ground, that'll be another post for another day.

Have a wonderful week!

light, colorful, cheerful

Thanks for all the wonderful suggestions for the couch pillows in my last post. I have decided to keep them like this. A few of you also suggested tying in some blue or yellow from the couch onto the coffee table. Yes - perfect! The blue glass jar isn't the same shade of blue as the afghan or the blue in the pillows, but that's OK. I have different hues of aqua and turquoise going on in other areas of the living room.

A couple of people also suggested putting one of the pillows on top of the blue afghan. But, I can't do that.

It's Zippo's favorite napping spot. A pillow would interfere with that spot and as any of you other fur-baby people know, you don't mess with a cat or dog's sleeping spot. ;-) Especially when said fur baby is almost 17-years old. I make life as pleasant as I can for him.

The ladder bookshelf got a spring update with different shades of blue, too ~ along with keeping some milk glass pieces.

More blue and milk glass on top of the secretary desk when you walk in the front door.

Speaking of blue, here's what the sky looked like today on my afternoon walk. No edit on this photo at all. Isn't that color glorious? I passed a house down the street where I said hello to an older gentleman out in his yard. We agreed that we could smell spring in the air.

Back to the living room, I would show you the buffet, but Monkey obviously thinks he's the star of the show. Ah well, I think pets add that certain je ne sais quoi to vignettes, don't you agree?

 I moved a small, unpainted (but half-primed - I need to paint it) drop leaf table from the basement in front of the window. Previously, I had a little, dark-brown vertical table there. Too much brown going on. And this table gives the kitties the perfect place to perch to watch the birds and squirrels out the window. Clementine turned around to give me her prim and proper girl kitty pose for this photo, lest you see her backside while she's looking out the window. I'm going to paint this table outside when the weather warms up.

Moving into the kitchen, I added some color to the table. I like to keep the table in the kitchen simple, as this is where we not only eat, but do paperwork, play board games, sometimes read, work on our laptops, etc. I prefer a runner, but since this table is small, it's hard to find 60" runners. Most of them in the stores are 72" long. The blue and white checked piece of material is a cotton dishcloth. I got that idea from Linda at Itsy Bits and Pieces. Go take a look at Linda's February 22nd post and see what she did with her table. It's beautiful!

Keeping the china cabinet light and cheerful with red, yellow and aqua. See the white and red cake stand on the top shelf? I showed that on my blog in January ~ it's from Target and was only $5. For anyone who's interested, when I was at Target a few days ago, I saw they now have this cake stand in pastel colors (pink, mint, yellow) for spring.

Happy Tuesday, everyone ~ think spring!

Sharing with Cozy Little House Tweak it Tuesday.

starting with a clean slate

 Welcome, 2016! This was the sunset on New Year's Day when we were walking out of Barnes and Noble. We head there at the beginning of every year to get planners, calendars and Christmas cards at 50% off.

That little virus I had after Christmas - the sore throat, headache, and tiredness - was gone in a few days and never progressed into anything where I was truly sick. I hope it was due to using natural remedies as soon as I felt that sore throat coming on. Or maybe it was one of those minor bugs that would've went away quickly on its own anyway. Either way, I'm thankful it passed quickly.

Like many of you, I've been working on putting the house back together after getting all the Christmas stuff packed up and put away. While I like the pretty lights and warmth of Christmas decorations, I enjoy starting January with a fresh, clean look. I got the other two white kitchen chairs from overstock, so now there's finally a complete matching set around the kitchen table. 

Also, that's Clementine sitting by the heater vent. One of her favorite spots in the winter. ;-)

Found those cute rooster oven mitts on winter clearance at Crate and Barrel. Needed new oven mitts anyway, so win-win. And, do you see the middle shelf of the china cabinet...a peek of the red and white cake stand?

That was an impulse Target purchase. (No way...not at Target!) Normally I don't buy cheap, made-in-China stuff like this, but I couldn't resist the red and white, especially since it was only $5.

Changed out the winter snowmen plates on top of the fridge for something lighter. I know I could've kept the snowmen plates out all winter, but again, in the mood for lighter and brighter right now.

Moving into the living room, I brought out some of my milk glass pieces, but notice I did keep one snowman alive and well...

I used more milk glass pieces on the buffet. Digging in my linens storage box, I found this vintage, white, cotton piece that belonged to my grandma. We think its from when they used coverlets over pillows, but we're not completely sure. I have it folded in half on the buffet. Any thoughts as to what this might be, if not the pillow coverlet? It's about five feet long.

No milk glass on the entryway console table, but capturing the colors in the mirror and curtains with other accessories.

 Sunset casting a warm glow tonight in the living room...

And there's Miss Clementine once again by a heating vent. Yawning this time. ;-)

Diffuser going on the little table by the window.

Can you make out Zippo on the blanket on the couch? That's one of his favorite sleeping spots. 

Here's to a clean, fresh start for 2016 - hopefully, in several different ways.

Sharing with Tweak it Tuesday.