Something Old, Something New

Well, new to us, anyway! We went on another antiquing excursion, my husband and I. With camera in hand I walked around some of our favorite antique shops- including one that I have shown you before, but the owners added more space since we were last there. And, we found they did some really cool things outside in the back, as well. If you love antiques, I think you'll enjoy this little tour!

I am always so impressed by what a wonderful job so many sellers do with their display areas. Often they have a very small amount of space with which to work, but somehow they manage to make it all look so great. Although almost a "visual overload", it actually makes the hunt more fun! Isn't this "room" above pretty?

There are so many feminine things here in this "shabby chic" area. The pretty quilts, the chandeliers, the vine of flowers, bird cage, white furniture..

Even the stuff that to me looks like "junk" somehow works in here! And how about that huge clock and some of the crazy shoes?

I just love the old clothes!

There were some really sweet items there. Don't you just love the little white wicker children's rockers?

Then we went outside....

Is this great or what? I can not get over how cool this area out back was! They really did an awesome job out here. So creative!

Haha! Even all these old junky appliances looked just wonderful!

These bird houses are all so pretty. The man who makes them also sells them at our friend's house when she has boutiques for charity benefits. ( I did a post about the boutiques HERE.) He also makes awesome jewelry and key rings out of antique silverware. I have bought some of the prettiest earrings from him, and I love my key ring, but I think his talent is really in his painted birdhouses. We have three of them hanging in our back yard now. One has a new little bird family in it and one of them also serves as a wind chime, as he hung some antique spoons from it- so clever! And I am just waiting for the empty one to welcome "tenants"! We also have one more we still need to hang. They are all just so cute.

We had such a great time just walking all around the area of shops- and didn't even come close to getting to all the ones on our list to see. But we did manage to find a few things we felt would be nice additions to our home. One thing I saw, Mike actually went back and bought a few days later and brought it home to surprise me:

It is this wonderful old antique musical instrument case. I just thought it was so cool. It sits on our piano, and will serve to protect our daughter's violin.

I think it works well near my husband's antique radio. And our piano is pretty neat, too. You can play it as a "regular" piano. And the dogs both love it when I do! Notice I said the dogs as I am not exactly what you'd call a fine musician, lol! But it is also a player piano that you can either play manually by pumping the pedals with your feet to make the rolls turn, or it can be plugged in and switched on to play electronically. It's really a fun instrument!

And this was Mike's early Father's Day gift from me. I wanted to surprise him with it but I needed him to pick it up, lol, so I had no choice but to tell him about it ahead of time. I had called the store after we left because he liked it so much. They were really great and even came down in price on it and held it until Mike could pick it up. (And that's when he got me the instrument case.)

We really weren't sure we had the "right" spot for this beautiful deer in our house, but he actually looks awesome right over the door of the dining room as you enter the kitchen.

It's really quite large, but with the high ceiling, it fits perfectly there.

And here is something I have been wanting since I saw one about a year ago and have been kicking myself ever since for not buying it. It's an authentic old Hollywood movie light! There is a man who was able to buy some of the old lights and he refurbished them and wired them so you can plug them in and use them as lights in a room. The one I had seen last year was so great that I took a picture of it and had been thinking of it ever since. We went back but it had sold. But when we recently went in again I decided to ask the store owner if he knew if there might ever be any more available. He called the man who had it and was told he had just one large one left (he had some smaller ones that fit on tables at one time, too). So, the guy got it all worked on and a couple of weeks later brought it in for us. They emailed me pictures of it and I knew I just couldn't pass it up. Actually I was told after I bought it that had I decided not to get it there was someone who worked in the store that wanted it. Apparently everyone who saw it just loved it. Well, I am thrilled with it. What do you think? I figured that with all the New England antiques we had, it was time to add a little bit of Hollywood history to our Southern California home. Isn't it cool?

I have the light in the living room area and I think it is great there. Actually, our living room and dining room, although somewhat divided, are really just one big room together.

Here you can see the Hollywood light and the deer together. I think we found a couple of really great additions for our "eclectic" style of decorating. What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by! Next time I will be posting a hand made card- at last, I promise ;-)

After hearing from so many of you how much you enjoy my posts of antiques and collectibles, I figured this would be a good thing to share from time to time while I am not able to craft as often as I would like. I am still not able to stamp very much, but I am slowly getting back to it. Thanks for your patience with me, and for continuing to stop by. Please leave a comment; I love hearing from you all!