Today, I enjoy the splendid pleasure of welcoming Cindy from quaint handmade to share her favorite vintage treasures.  Cindy, whose blog she co-authors with her husband Scott, shares genuine, heartfelt ideas that consistently inspire me to contemplate the beauty of life.  quaint handmade’s photographs and musings capture a life filled with thoughtfulness, and I especially enjoy Cindy’s new diptych series that finds the line that connects throughout all of Brooklyn.  I am sure that many of you feel the same.  Without further ado, I introduce quaint Cindy!

“My favorite vintage things were all my Mom’s. Although we shared many common interests like decorating, crafting and cooking, she was not one to covet old things or collect them. I, on the other hand, love vintage  and have many collections. She also loved simple colors and asymmetrical  lines while I love florals and symmetry. These items are very special  not because they are have enormous monetary value, but because she loved them and so do I.”

“The green glass vase was my Grandmother’s and the purple one was my  Mom’s. I don’t remember seeing them around the house growing up and suspect they were hidden for safekeeping because they are very delicate.”

“My Mom and I would take the bus about once a week to a local mall for some lunch and shopping. She loved simple, classic design and found this lovely statue in a Danish store for $.50. I would say it was one of her favorite objects.”

“The Hall Teapot was one of the first things she purchased when she married my Dad. I love the colors and it looks great with my floral china.”

Thank you so much Cindy for sharing your beautiful and sentimental treasures! Isn’t it wonderful how you can see a lovely connection between a blogger’s life and aesthetic through the items she treasures?

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For three reasons, I am delighted to welcome Colleen from FreshVintage today to share some of her favorite vintage things.  1) She has fantastic taste in vintage treasures.  2) I marvel over her scores of treasures that she finds for mind-blogging low prices.   3) Most importantly, she is the Conan O’Brian of the junking and antiqing world.  How can you not appreciate a vintage lover who shares her stool samples? (We’re talking about the antique furniture kind silly!)    Without further ado, here’s Colleen on the mic!

“This aqua painted shelf has that crackly alligator patina that is impossible to reproduce. At one point in its life, someone added another piece of wood to extend the top of the shelf. This makes it the perfect depth for a pair of fans that I found at a yard sale for a few dollars.”

“I purchased this folk art red schoolhouse at a yard sale five years ago. The woman who sold it to me said that a friend of the family had made it for her when she was a little girl in the 1930’s. It is difficult to tell from the photo, but it is rather large at 18 inches high. There was probably a school bell on the roof at one time, but it has since been lost.”

“My favorite part can be found when you open the doors. There are several rows of little benches and a rustic teacher’s desk hidden inside.”

“This painted orange tin was one of my first purchases when I began to collect vintage items for my home. I have an affinity for orange, so it was the color that first caught my eye. And I love the simplicity of the hand-painted daisies and grass.”

Thank you Colleen very much for sharing your wonderful favorite things! (If the schoolhouse goes missing, it wasn’t me!)

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Today I have the pleasure of sharing peeks into the home and vintage treasures of Jess, from The Homebound.  For inspiration on renovations, doses of clever humor, and fantastic chalkboard paint ideas, The Homebound is the place to be.  And any girl who includes a vintage shop in her wedding registry is a fantastic chica in my book!  Perhaps the best way to introduce Jess would be to share some of my favorite spaces in her lovely historic house.

Pairing a chalkboard panel with a clawfoot bathtub is so unconventional, yet so lovely together.  I can imagine beautiful love poems written on the chalkboard panel.

Jess’ ingenious ways with chalkboard paint is the perfect solution to a home office’s wall.  If I had this wall, framed to-do list and calendar, I know I would be exponentially more effective.

Jess’ most recent incarnation of her living room mixes and matches different genres and colorscapes very well.  The red chair pictured is one of Jess’ favorite vintage things — and for good reason!  In her own words, “This vintage red darling is the first piece of furniture that my husband and I purchased together. We were in a local second hand store and my husband saw this chair. Usually I don’t let him help in any decor purchases because I am a complete control freak when it comes to interior design. But, he pointed this baby out, I thought that I could make this piece work in my house and now it is one of my favorite pieces. Score one for the husband and now I have also reached my quota in allowing him to help. Two birds with one stone, people!“

“This picture is a 3 for 1 treat! The two side lamps were wonderful wedding presents that I had registered for at a tiny vintage store in my husband’s hometown. I thought it would be a little different to register at someplace other than Target (though you better believe I went there too!) or Bed Bath and Beyond and the clock is something we inherited from my husband’s grandmother. I think it makes a rather nice vignette in our dining room.”

Thank you Jess for sharing your favorite vintage treasures — and for inspiring us all to take out our chalkboard paint!

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Janine from UPPERCASE Gallery never ceases to amaze me with her creative projects (including a new magazine on the way!), intriguing curated exhibits, and of course, her fantastic taste in vintage treasures. While she has an enviable collection of drool-worthy vintage typewriters on display at UPPERCASE, today she shares with us a space in her lovely home that showcases some of her favorite vintage things.

I have many favourite vintage things (many of which are typewriters, typewriter memorabilia and paper ephemera). Most of my typewriters are actually on display in UPPERCASE, but at home the one vintage thing that makes the biggest impact in my small house is this classroom map of Canada from 1962. My husband Glen bought it in a small town in British Columbia when we were on a road trip together. We lounge on the couch and look up at the map and think of places we’ve been or plan future trips. I’ll sometimes quiz Glen about where a particular lake, river or town is located and he’s nearly always right.

The dark wooden chest, dating back to the early 1900s, was given to me by my grandfather and is lined with old patterned paper and smells terribly of moth balls when opened. The red table is not vintage at all, but a lucky garage sale find from down the street ($4!).

Hanging non-traditional artwork that has meaning to you is such a wonderful way to decorate your home.  Thank you Janine for giving us a lovely peek into your home — as well as inspiring us to dream of road trips via vintage maps to come!

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