Open Season On Junk and Vintage Treasures

Ah, the thrill of the hunt.


Lately I've been into this big time, looking for the odd and the beautiful,
in the nooks and crannies of New Jersey and beyond.
This week, my searches brought me to wild and woolly Pennsylvania on Friday, all over God's good earth (aka New Jersey) on Saturday, and today?  It's into the untamed wilderness of Bergen County.

Sometimes I bring home the oddest strays.

Welcome to a Sunday Favorites post at That Old House.

This one was first published in August of 2010.

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(August 31, 2010)
We stopped at my brother's on Saturday night, on our way home from the beach house.  He and his wife have sold their Long Island home and are packing the camels and heading their caravan off across the desert, aiming for North Carolina.

Their new house is smaller than the house they are leaving, and that's why every once in awhile
I get a call from him:  "Hey, Cassy, you want the . . . .?" and I nearly always say, "Yes."

The latest thing -- an old oak office arm chair that our Mom painted
about 40 years ago, for the original Southold beach cottage.

She painted it glossy yellow.

Really yellow.

School Bus-Yield Sign-Crime Scene Tape-Screaming Yellow Zonkers Yellow.

This is the woman who, back in the early 1960s, painted the walls in our tiny summer bungalow kitchen in a tasteful pale creamy yellow, thereby lulling my father into a false sense of security.  She then painted the 1910-era table and chairs in brilliant watermelon pink and deep green, and slathered pink paint on the old  refrigerator too, just for good measure.

Mama was not shy about color.
I am still scarred by memories of her raspberry bathroom.

This chair's paint is showing its age.

There's a big chip on the back and scads of little bitty chips elsewhere.

My brother Lindy thinks I will strip this chair and restore it to its oak-y dignity.  He is delusional.

I think it needs a new and gnarly paint job, don't you?  Color ideas?

It's going to live at our desk, where I blog if I'm not using the laptop.

The chair is perfect -- comfy, and it makes me smile.

(Update from Nov. '11 -- the chair is still in its original yellow paint, and I'm sitting in it right now.
Right at this desk.  With a bright orange coffee mug on the left.)

Odd things do make me smile.
Like the next two thrifting finds . . . a pair of -- ummm -- lamps.

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When we were out at the beach house back in May, we went to a flea market at the

Museum Houses in Cutchogue.  I snagged two table lamps.

I say "snagged," as if I had competition for them.  I did not.

I think even the seller was surprised that I took them.

They are . . . interesting.

These babes are tall.  36-inches to the tops of the harps.

There are two lamps, but I only photographed one of them.  They are identical, and both are in perfect shape.

Loaded with painted, gilded, and molded detail.

Help me out here, folks.  What the heck are these?  They are not new, that's for sure.

Former oil lamps?  Buffet lamps?  Rococo?  What would you call them?

I haven't decided the fates of these old gals.

They may end up on either side of the high 4-post bed in the pink guest room,

where they are tall enough to shed light on a book being read in bed.

Or, they'll get listed on eBay and I'll leave them to their fates.

(Nov. '11 update -- I need to learn how to rewire lamps; these are still in storage.)

They do have a certain quirky charm.  Well, I think so, anyway.

The rest of my family is of another mind.

Annie and I sniffed out yard sales while we were at the beach house this past weekend.

At one house sale I bought this:

A 20-year old Fitz and Floyd bowl.

It's about 8 inches wide, about 3 inches deep.  Nice size.

I think it has a neat, woodsy, log-cabin-in-the-Adirondacks sort of look to it.

At another house sale, I found 5 old lamps, all porcelain, of odd and old
designs and shapes and colors and I was sorely tempted to buy them,
but my daughter Anne wisely shot me with an elephant tranquilizer gun
and dragged me away.  A narrow escape indeed.

 . . . sigh . . . . 

You always mourn the ones that got away.

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Thanks to Chari of Happy To Design for hosting the lazy lady blogger's favorite party --

Sunday Favorites.  Go visit, and see what other bloggers have dredged up from their past lives

to feature on this sunny Sunday.  Click here to visit!

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Well, at least it is sunny here in New Jersey.

And after Howard comes back to earth after his flying lesson today, we are picking up another

Craigslist find.  We had good luck on yesterday's hunting trip, including an unexpected treasure.  

There is a method to my madness.  Really, there is.  Enjoy the day! -- Cass

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Furniture, Fabric, and Flattened Flora

My junking trip into the
wild and woolly Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
on Thursday yielded 3 tables and a sweet old rocking chair.

There, in the back of my trusty minivan, is my haul.

This is the junk hunter's equivalent of tying the deer onto the hood of the car.

Yes, I actually took this picture backwards, over my shoulder, into the rear of the van

when I pulled into our driveway.  I am that lazy.


In my defense, I'd spent a lot of time on the road in Pennsylvania that day,
traveling at 12 MPH behind vehicles like this (the big green thingy):

I don't snap pictures while I'm driving, but the big green thingy had stopped.  I guess for a rest.
Therefore, so had the line of cars behind him, including me and Red Minnie, my van.

Anywho, the tables and chair are a little ... ummm ... cleanliness challenged,

so they won't be coming into That Old House until they get the spa treatment outside first.

Then we'll see what else they need.

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So Thursday was an excellent day. 

A successful junking trip into Pennsylvania, and then when I got home --

FedEx had delivered my fabric samples.  Yay!

I showed you the patterns in Monday's post.  (Click here.) 

#1 was the clear winner among the comments left on that post.

So let's see how it looks in real life, in the Pink Bedroom!  Please pardon the lousy indoor lighting.

 As is usual with samples, most of them were eliminated right away,

so I narrowed it down to #1 and #6, with the striped #9 as an accent if we use #1.  

Also briefly in the running: #3 and #4, but they were quickly eliminated.

That's #1 on the left -- a scattered old-fashioned roses print.

#4 all the way on the right -- nice color, but the fabric is very stiff and would not drape well.  Out!

#3 is on the left -- too many red tones, not enough pink.  Otherwise a really beautiful fabric.

So here is #6.
Yes, there is a lot of it.  I ordered a yard because the pattern is so huge.
Here, it's draped over the loveseat.

I am cuckoo about this fabric, and I'd sign on for it now except --- I'm not sure it's right for this room.

Fabric #1, which is a linen-type cotton and has a soft, antique, muted look, might be better.

Less dramatic, but maybe a look we can live with longer. 

  It also goes really well with the striped accent fabric.

 But if I use the cottage-y looking, more restrained linen-y roses fabric, what can I do with the big peacock fabric?

I left the Pink Bedroom in a funk. . . and then looked down our second floor hall and realized,

"Hey!  There are other rooms up here!"

Want to see a part of That Old House that no one has ever seen before?

Here it is, below.  The room our daughter Anne has dubbed "The Cell."

It's the same size as our hall bath, and also the walk-in closet for the master bedroom.

We aren't sure what these 3 rooms originally were -- since the house was built before bathrooms --

but they may have been small bedrooms, nurseries, hired-man rooms, or even box rooms.

It's about 7' x 12' and is in its original, as-found state; we haven't stripped paper and painted in here yet.

 Eventually I want a pretty daybed in here, and make it a cozy spot for reading or napping,

and a small single guest room to use in a pinch.

But I can't see Giant Peacock Fabric in here, can you?  Talk about system overload.

So, we move on to the Master Bedroom, where the walls are painted in Benjamin Moore's Palladian Blue. The curtains in here are quite restrained, a yellow and blue toile from Greef with a Chinese look.

 Yes, that's also a rice-carved bed, similar to the one in the Pink Bedroom.

Hey, what can I say?  I found two on Craigslist.

How can you not get them when you find them for $200 or less?

Now, let's bring in the Giant Peacock Fabric, our #6 from last Monday.

 Ah . . . the background of #6 matches the Palladian Blue wall color.  Well, what do you know?

This is what it would look like if you were tipsy.

But -- do I want to introduce pink into the Master Bedroom?

Must I consult with Howard about taking such a step or can I act,

as Hyacinth Bucket would say, unilaterally?

Stay tuned.  Any suggestions or opinions are very welcome!

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Now about that Flattened Flora in the post title . . . 

These below were upright Autumn Joy Sedum before the snow hit.

Would you believe we still have snow on the ground here and there?

 Along the sunroom foundation, the sturdy little wax begonias have finally fallen.  Squashed by the snow.

Last weekend that our big lilac was cut in half by its trunks breaking off with the weight of the snow.

But even our great big Forsythia, usually such an

enthusiastic mound of psychodelic color in the Fall, is looking a bit downtrodden.

I hold out hope that come Spring, our perennials and bushes and trees will

have all sprung back and recovered.  Let's hope for a mild winter!

Have a lovely weekend!  Howard is going flying,

and I am putting on my Mad Scientist lab coat and experimenting.

 Double, double toil and trouble, Fire burn and cauldron bubble ... Cass

Link Parties!

At My Romantic Home, it's Show And Tell Friday.  Click here!

Feathered Nest Friday makes its home at French Country Cottage.  Click here!

The Charm of Home features Home Sweet Home on Fridays.  Click here!

It's Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground.  Click here!
Miss Mustard Seed hosts the Furniture Friday Feature.  It's a must visit -- Click here!

And it's Fertilizer Friday at Tootsie Time.  See what's still blooming, or not!  Click here!

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Come Junkin' With Me

I'm heading across the state lines
into Pennsylvania to do some antiquing.

Okay -- junking.  My kind of hunting trip.

If you want to come along, you better be quick.  The red minivan leaves in about 20 minutes!

I'm checking out some Craigslist things.  Among them are these:

Now you know I don't like to spend more than $15 on anything.

So I may have to do a teensy bit of negotiating here and there.

I'm betting on me.

Right here in New Jersey, there's a beautiful Henkel-Harris hutch-style cupboard for sale -- for $50.

Fifty dollars for Henkel-Harris, top of the line, American-made furniture.

Someone needs to buy that puppy.

Or I'm in danger of buying it myself.

So, why am I buying more little tables and chairs?  I'll tell you tomorrow.

But now . . . I'm outta here!   -- Cass

Link Parties!

At From My Front Porch To Yours, it is Treasure Hunt Thursday.  Click here and visit!

At Tales From Bloggeritaville, it is Thrifty Thursday.  Click here!

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