Nana's Hutch

The hutch wasn't really Nana's, but that's what I call it because the beautiful china displayed on it once belonged to her.

 I framed a photo of my Nana as a young woman and and placed it between two dishes on a plate rack above the hutch.

I love the china pattern. It's Marx & Gutherz Carlsbad #1446 Austria, circa 1885-1898. Last week I spent some time cleaning, dusting, and rearranging the items on the shelves.

Interspersed with the china are some of my favorite old family photos. I also keep two large vases on either end of the top shelf, topped with lampshades. (That way I'm always ready for an unexpected bouquet!!!!)

 

 The lampshades add a touch of whimsy to the basic glass vases.

The entire set of china (dishes, soup bowls, platters, serving pieces, etc.) is stored in the bottom section. (Here's a photo of the hutch before its cottage makeover.) To the left of the hutch you'll see one of my next projects. The bottom shelf of the small table in the dining area has become a catch-all for a mish-mash of paperwork, etc. I'll show you the makeover as soon as it's complete!

I love this October, 1951 photo of my mom and dad on their Niagara Falls honeymoon. And the vintage cake topper sitting on the flower frog looks just like my mom and dad did on their wedding day, right down to the hairstyles and wedding attire.

A button bowl sits in the cake saver (much less tempting than a cake!)...

...and a circa 1930 photo of my mom sits in the bluebird gravy boat. The gravy boat isn't part of Nana's china set, but the colors are remarkably close (and who doesn't love bluebirds?).

If you look closely at the frame, you'll see that the glass is completely cracked. I'm betting any regular blog readers can guess who is responsible.

Having been taught by nuns in the 60's, I could not resist purchasing this vintage nun music box from MagiaMia's gorgeous vintage Etsy shop! The song it plays is Dominique, of course!

 

  

  

  

As I cleaned each frame, I realized how beautiful all the little details were...

...and I realized that each little frame held a big treasure, at least to me.

Well, my little friends have decided to join me while I photograph. 

They're always afraid they're going to miss out on something...

Sweet Mr. J is always a good boy. He never causes any problems...

 

  

I wish I could say the same about his little sister, the frame breaker!

Have a great weekend, everyone.

I'm joining Claudia at Mockingbird Hill Cottage for A Favorite Thing Saturday,

 Brenda at Cozy Little House for Tweak It Tuesday. and

Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show & Tell Friday.

 

Be sure to stop by and share one of your favorite things or something you've tweaked!

Donna

  

Please don't eat the daisies...

I am craving spring. I thought I might hasten its arrival (at least in my mind) with some daisies from the grocery store.


Is anything more charming than cut flowers in vintage milk glass vases? With any luck, I hoped they would last at least a week.


Luck just ran out.


Little Miss Curious doesn't miss a trick, or anything new brought into the house.


Baby, you can sniff and admire them to your heart's content, but...

...Please Don't Eat The Daisies!

I actually removed the daisies right after taking these photos because I couldn't remember if they were poisonous to cats or not. So I checked this ASPCA Toxic/Non-Toxic plant list and was horrified to find that daisies are toxic to cats. Needless to say, the daisies are gone.

We are going to hit the 50's and 60's this weekend in New England. Finally. I hope you all enjoy glorious weekends!

I'm linking up to Cindy's (My Romantic Home) Show & Tell Friday. Be sure to pop on over to see Cindy's beautiful table settings and to visit everyone else participating in Show & Tell this week!

Donna

Cute as a button...

Like many of you, I love to collect and decorate with buttons!


I use them to anchor the flowers in my crackled vase...


...and I keep a big supply of extras in this detailed ceramic bowl...


When it's placed on my glass cake saver, it almost looks like a frosted cake (if you really squint!)...


Here's a sweet button heart that I bought at a craft fair many years ago...


And I love to collect unique little vases and fill them with buttons. This one has a 'nesting' bird on top....


I put these two button filled vases behind a little bird's nest that sits atop a candle holder (needless to say, this candle doesn't get lit!)


And then there are the vases that sit on the fireplace mantel....


Yes, I think buttons and cottages go hand-in-hand!!!

The rest of my family, however, would like to see this cute "button filled vase" decorating idea go the way of the dinosaur... After a few occasions where someone was squeezing by a table, or rushing through an area or whatnot, a vase has gotten knocked over and buttons have gone flying everywhere! As a result, I have moved all the button vases to areas where there is no foot traffic, for the sanity of my family!

Update: I've found eBay to be a great place to purchase buttons (I bought mine by the "pounds" years ago). I just did an eBay search of "buttons pounds" and came up with 72 auctions, but you could refine the search to certain colors or whatnot. Happy hunting!!

Donna

More of my Junktique Treasures...

Okay, back to what I bought the other day... I am so drawn to cottage blue and robin's egg blue, so when I spotted this little blue bottle, I scooped it up. The raised lettering says "Mellin's Infant's Food Doliber-Goodale Co. Boston." I just stuck some dried flowers in it to photograph it, but I think it will make a sweet little vase for "fresh from the garden" flowers this summer! I found some just like it on eBay and it looks like the blue ones range between $13 and $15, so I'm very happy with my $4 price tag!

At the same shop, I spotted this GORGEOUS robin's egg blue vase from several aisles over. Now I'm not into collectibles so I really don't know the value of such things. The vase had a raised peacock and flower vine design and I was surprised by the weight of it (quite heavy); it also had an old black & gold Fenton label inside. (I own a white hobnail Fenton candy dish, but had never seen this color... but like I said, I'm not a collector.) I was a little disappointed because the price was more than I wanted to pay ($21.00). I asked the salesperson if the price was firm, and he said he would take 10% off, which brought it down to around $19. He said it's a rare Fenton color and it would sell quickly. I think I must have put it down and picked it up 3 times before finally bringing it up to the register. Again, I could just picture beautiful summer flowers in it... Well, the first thing I did when I got home was to look for the same Fenton vase on-line, and I found several going for $75, $150, and even $225, so now I don't feel quite so bad about what I paid! Of course those are mint condition, and mine has some faint (but stubborn) dirty spots... There's a blue Fenton peacock vase on eBay right now that's only $9 (with 4-1/2 days left on the auction). It's slightly different from mine as it is shiny (mine isn't) and it has the Fenton logo on the bottom (which mine doesn't, just the label inside), but other than that, it's pretty close!

Remember the shop where I got my rose painting and Mary statue? Well, I also found this cute robin wind chime for $1.50. It's hand painted and is just adorable. I have to say that robins are one of my favorite birds. I have multiple bird baths in my yard, and the robins favor the deepest one. They just love to submerge themselves and flap their wings and splash to their heart's content. I can always tell when a robin has been in the bird bath because the water level is way down and the ground is soaking wet all around the bird bath!

And last, but certainly not least, here is the other wind chime I bought. Remember the "white bird" hint I gave you? Isn't this sweet? And St. Francis of Assisi is the clapper of the wind chime. I hung it in the yard to take a photo of it, but I think this will look really cute hanging inside the house in front of a window. It certainly fits in with my decor!

So thanks for letting me share some of my junktique treasures with you. We're back to unseasonably COLD weather here in New England... 40-50 degrees for the next week and lots of rain as well (we desperately need the rain, so I won't complain about that)...

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Donna