Birdcage Deja Vu....

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This birdcage sits on top of the TV armoire in our living room. It may look familiar to you....


...because I showed you photos of it last year...


... when I found it (along with these two vintage frames) while junktiquing in New Hampshire.

The cage is flanked by the reproduction Staffordshire dogs that I got for Amanda last year...

They seem quite happy to be protecting it (although from what, I don't know!)

(mid 1950's... Nana lifting up my sister so she could see Pete the parakeet in his cage)

If you've ever read some of my older posts, you know I love vintage children's books... So you can imagine how excited I was when I happened across this copyright 1954 "Parakeet Peter" book (with the 29 cent price stamped on the front cover!)

It's just perfect! (This is exactly how my mom, sister, and I would hold our Pete's while teaching them to talk)...

We had a ladder and bell just like the ones pictured here...

And a few posts ago, I showed you a photo of my Nana's Pete with his bowl of water sitting in front of his cage, just like in this picture... Deja vu indeed!

Yup... We even had a mirror for our Pete...

Such sweet memories this book brought back!!!

Donna

Can you stand another bird cage??

I know I'm really milking these bird cage posts, but to be perfectly honest, I don't lead a very exciting life; therefore, I'm often at a loss as to what to blog about! (If you follow the widget links below each post, you can see all my previous bird cage posts!!)

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So I'm going to take advantage of my bird cage collection and string it along a bit more...


I found this beautiful vintage cage and stand while visiting western Massachusetts last year... Here's a picture of it in the shop, right before I carted it out to the van!


And here's the plastic Pete who lives in this chippy white birdcage, which now stands in a corner of our living room.



The very nice thing about plastic Pete's (as has been mentioned in previous comments) is that they aren't the least bit messy! Can you imagine what this scrapbook paper (that I lined the bottom of the cage with) would look like if that was a real parakeet up on that perch?

The base is also old and chippy... perfect for a shabby cottage look...

I sometimes decorate this cage for the holidays. This is what it looked like during October with a little white bird nesting on a big pink floral pumpkin!

And at Christmastime, it became a vintage barn for the glittery sugarplum reindeer that I painted...

And here's yet another blast from the past... My little sister and I posing with Nana's Pete (again, with his cage door open)... This is a rare photo from our old albums. Purchasing color film and having it developed was much more expensive back in the 50's, so this is one of just a handful of color photos that I have from that era, the majority being black & white...

Check back tomorrow for my one year anniversary giveaway post!

Donna

Bird Cage Love #3... Chippy Cottage Green!

Continuing with my bird cage collection....

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Last week you met Pete, who lives in this little footed cage on our kitchen counter.

And yesterday I showed you this white wire bird cage that is currently housing my philodendron plant...

Today I'd like to share a favorite old bird cage that makes its home next to one of the family room windows (all the better for the birds to see out!)...

I purchased this vintage bird cage from eBay years ago. I absolutely flipped for the chippy, cottage green color. It was also the perfect size for this old black bird cage stand...

I love the domed top, the deep base, and the scrollwork on the front.

And this is sweet Pete, a beautiful blue-green celluloid parakeet who spends his days swinging back and forth...

... while his friend, Miss Canary, spends her days eating! They are the best of friends and share the cage together... (just look at those perfectly chippy cottage green bars!!!!)

The scrollwork on the cage shows up better in these night-time photos...

I don't know if I'll ever get another live bird. I haven't had one since I was a teenager. But if I were to get one, I think I'd have to purchase a larger cage than what we used in the 50's... Looking at some of my old photographs, the cages seem so small. With all my talking about wanting a parakeet lately, the girls suggested we transform the windowseat area of our family room into a big cage and get a couple of parakeets! Wouldn't Spotty and Tiger love that!

Did you know that you can adopt birds from Petfinder.com? I think that's so great because if what I've read is true regarding most pet store birds (bird smuggling and bird breeding - think puppy mills, but for birds), I'm afraid it's not a very pleasant existence for these beautiful little creatures. I've added a link to Petfinder on my sidebar (just click on the parakeet photo), where every possible species of birds can be adopted. As a matter of fact, through the Petfinder website, you can rescue/adopt a wide variety of animals, from cats and dogs to birds, lizards, and farm animals... It's definitely a website worth checking out if you are looking for a non-human companion!!!

And I couldn't end this post without sharing another old famly photo of Pete... (Note: All our parakeets were named Pete)... Here, my sister and Pete are enjoying a warm summer day out in the yard. (I wonder if my sister was trying to capture a playmate for Pete??)

More cages to come in future posts...

Donna