A is for Antiques, Old Stuff and stuff that just looks old

My newest oldest!

I am seriously in love with this piece.  I cleaned it up a little and beautiful! 

The pulls are amazing and the detail is charming! 

I saw a definition of Antique on Facebook the other day that said: Grandma had them, Mom sold them, I bought them back.    That pretty much explains my life in a nutshell.   My grandmother's kitchen was filled with a big old stove, a tiny refrigerator and the most amazing collection of cookie jars and cute things you have ever seen.  In that kitchen, on that big old stove, she baked some of the most amazing, love filled concoctions you could dream off and made the worst spaghetti on earth. My grandmother was Hungarian and somehow Italian food cooking was not something she could master.  It could be the tomato juice she used instead of pasta sauce.  That's just a guess.

My dream kitchen will have one of those big old stoves from the 1940's in white with red trim and if I can ever afford to replace the cookie jar my mother lost (shout out to mom who I still adore even though she lost the Little Red Riding Hood cookie jar promised to me by grandma when I was 7), that will be added someday.    I have had a love affair with history since I was a kid and today it translates into old stuff and junk.

The piece above is my latest purchase.   It is amazingly charming, old and well loved.  I have no idea how old it is exactly but what I do know about it is that it came from a friend of mine who is moving to Minnesota and that I fell in love with it the minute I saw it.  My friend said to me, "You could paint it and make it awesome."  I replied that this is not a 'paint it' piece.  This is a keep it like it is and put it somewhere to show it off piece.

I can't tell you exactly how I know not to paint this except that it is in really good condition, really pretty the way it is,  and I knew immediately that painting it would be a tragedy.

I have a love affair affair with old junk treasures.  Some of the stuff is awesome and some has potential.  Some needs to be painted and some doesn't.  My entire house is a work in progress and I am slowly filling it with well loved pieces or making stuff looked well love.

I have found pieces in the trash pile at my recreational land in East Texas.  Yes, my land has it's own trash pile.  There is no trash pickup out in the country and the people that lived there years and years ago just tossed everything in a pile. We take our trash with us when we leave but that doesn't fix the pile problem.  Truthfully, it scares me but I managed to find an amazing old bucket that I turned into a hanging planter so I got past my fear.

My kitchen is only 45 years young and at some point in the 90's someone did a remodel on it. They didn't do a really good job and the kitchen is terribly small.  When I moved in, the cabinets were all white and they looked hideous.  It wasn't a pretty white or a clean white and frankly, with no disrespect to all of you out there (and you are the majority) who love white cabinets, the artist in me is bored with white.   I kind of run to the beat of a different drum and my drum said turquoise and red 1950's style kitchen.   I distressed the cabinets and made them look old and thank heavens, my husband loves them.   Just a side note here, these cabinets are awesome.  Everyone who comes into my house just loves them.  The black isn't quite as dark in person but I am so glad I used a black glaze on them.  It has been over a year since I redid them and I am not even considering painting them which is a miracle for me. 

Do you remember these end tables your grandmother had?  These things were all the rage in the 1970's and they fit my home perfectly since it was built in 1970.   I don't do pieces from one single era because I like a lot of different things (None of which are mid-century mod)
but this was something I was determined to find and redo.   I like to think that when you save these pieces to love another lifetime, you are doing the earth a favor and yourself.  I have to apologize for this photo.  It is the best I have of them because the lighting in my living room even with every lamp turned on, is not good.   This is actually a lovely creamy mint green color paint with brown antique glaze for age.  No distressing.  (BTW, yes, I know I need a new camera.  I am using my iPhone because I lost the program for my Point and Shoot Sony and I want a 'real' camera next time but budget has to be met first!)

Lime finished Chest

This old chest of drawers, which I have featured in this blog more than once, and I never manage to feature with the actual handles that are on it, is amazing.  It was in terrible condition and had to be painted.  Unlike the buffet above, this piece needed serious TLC just to make it work.  I basically had to rebuild half the drawers.  I love how this chest turned out.   I had it for sale and nobody has ever purchased it and that is just fine by me. I realize that everyone doesn't need a high chest of drawers and the thing that is in vogue right now is the wide dressers that you can turn into media cabinets.   The thing is, this chest has character that mass produced furniture just doesn't have. It is probably 60 years old, maybe more, and when I was refinishing it, I thought about the families that used it before me.  The hopes and dreams and laughter and sadness this piece witnessed over the years.   This piece took an incredible amount of work and it doesn't photograph as well as it should but it is simply beautiful.   So pretty in fact that it is the inspiration for my guest bedroom remodel.   The queen bed that I have for the room will be finished in a antique grey and the colors for the bedroom will be white, yellow, blue, and grey.

So yes, I love antiques and old junk.  Whether you make something look old or find a new use from something that is old, there is nothing more amazing that bringing new life to something that was once well loved and should be again.

Blogging from A-Z

Spring Cleaning Blog Style

To Do List

For the last several weeks I have been working on cleaning up the blog.  Part of this has been going back through old posts, cleaning them up and deleting old pictures that didn't convert when I changed my blog address.   To be honest, there are way too many posts to complete this monumental task.  Today's blog is officially something like my 721st post. 

So instead I decided to clean up my Pinterest blog board and remove all posts that didn't work.   It was a shorter task but it reminded me of long forgotten post which are still out there but include things that are no longer relevant to my life.  Some good and some not so good. 

Including friends who aren't a part of my life and one ex romance that, thank the good lord, ended up preparing me to find the love of my life.   

The truth is this, these people were a part of my life for a relatively short period and they only mattered at the time.  The question becomes, should I delete the old posts all together?  I haven't figured out the answer yet.  I suppose if I were reading those posts now, I would laugh at the naive person I was just 5 short years ago.   I don't really know that woman anymore.   

Sometimes a trip down memory lane is necessary and some of those blogs are about people and friends who will always be a part of my life.  You can't delete who you were with the push of a button so I suppose, in their own right, the posts are relevant to me, if nobody else and I guess that answers the question about deleting.  Most of those posts are not a reflection of the blog today and most people don't go back that far.  For me, some are embarrassing and some are just sad. 

In the end, you can't run away from who you use to be.  That's all they really are now. That person is gone just like the  hurt is gone.  The people that use to be a part of my life and are not now, well, they don't matter.   You can even care about them, wish them the best, and still want nothing to do with them.  It is possible and they taught me that lesson.

So I haven't deleted them.  Maybe I will someday if I ever make the change from Blogger that every blog "how to" post says I have to make.   That is another decision for another day and energy and time I don't have.  For now, I will work on the future and making this blog better and not worry about the past.  Everyone has one. 

So what about you? Do you delete old posts that really don't matter anymore? 

Loving old stuff

*Chest of drawers

There is a certain charm and quality that old things have that seem missing in modern incarnations.   I remember an episode of Little House on the Prairie where Charles Ingalls hand crafted a table (or something, forgive me, I haven't seen the show in like 25 years) and sold it for a little profit.  At one point his table was noticed by a mass producer and suddenly his simple style and hand crafted piece became a thing of mass production.  Naturally, the mass produced copies were not made with the same quality that Laura's pop put into the piece but cheap won over quality and character.   Skip ahead to a modern day auction where Charles' piece is still hanging around and still speaking to people.   The piece sold for a pretty penny at the auction and the winning bidders were thrilled with the piece even though it had suffered scratches and dings in the 100 years since it was originally crafted.  Those love marks made it look and feel as appreciated and special as it clearly was.   Of course, you know it is dad's piece by his marking on the bottom.   The point of the story was cheaper doesn't always mean better.   

I have refinished old beat up pieces that needs some work, the chest above for instance.   It has dove tail drawers, a quality stamp in the making when you buy an old piece of furniture that you look for before settling on something.  Modern furniture usually do drawers that are less complex and not quite as sturdy.  This piece however is old and when I worked on it, it took some loving care to get the joints secure and the drawers sliding right.   Nothing too complex but it took a great deal of my time and is one reason I don't really want to part with it.    One thing kept coming to my mind when I was working on it however, what was it in its time?

Now, obviously it is a chest of drawers but the piece itself has some features that are simply nice.  The top two drawers are smaller and there are compartments in them.   The drawers were obviously intended for ladies delicate items and the maker put in some quality touches that you don't see today.   The scroll work was what actually sold me on the piece.  (Note: I have changed the handles out on this piece since I refinished it but haven't staged it for a new picture in a while because the room it is used in is undergoing a retooling of its own.)    

But more than just being appreciative of the original handy work of the piece, I can't help but thinking to myself as I redo something like this, what has this chest of drawers seen?    I have no idea exactly how old the piece is or what it looked like originally.   The piece was painted rather poorly when I picked it up and it had some wear and tear on the bottom that required restoration so there was no hope or insight into the original finish when I sanded it down to recreate the piece and I couldn't find a makers mark to save my life so I couldn't look it up. 

However, to me anyway, furniture and other old things sort of have a life of their own.   They have seen things in their history and been through things that one can only imagine.   I think to myself, maybe this piece started out with a nice couple who just got married.  Through the years, mom needed extra room for the kids so it became a chest in her daughter's room.  Did the chest of drawers listen to the radio late at night with the little girl or watch her read?  Did the chest of drawers watch as the family grew and moved out of the house?  Did the little girl take it with her when she got married and started a family of her own?   Was the piece discarded because someone didn't appreciate it for the history or thought it was too old fashioned when grandma passed?   Was the chest there watching history with the owner?   Did it have a view of an old tube TV where it saw the Korean war and Kennedy? Did it see the Beatles invade? Could it watch the moon landing as it happened?  Did it witness the 1970's fuel shortage and see Happy Days on TV?  Was there a place in the attic for it when Reagan took office or the space shuttle tragedies?   Did it get to see Friends come and go on NBC?   When did the family give up on it and why?

Now, don't get me wrong, I know that furniture doesn't have feelings, which is probably good considering the way some people fail to appreciate it.   I just can't help but think to myself, the appreciation for something old goes way further back then the long dressers everyone wants to redo for entertainment centers or mid-century modern pieces that are all the rage.  Pieces of furniture like the chest of drawers above have history and were at one time, loved additions to a home filled with love, hope, and dreams.   I like working on them and wondering what that home was like,who the people were, and what happened both to the furniture and the people who once loved something old.  

Maybe in this era of mass produced, box store furniture marts, I am just old fashioned and would rather work to restore and bring back to life old stuff.   I have worked on pieces that were mass produced and pieces that were not and I can make anything look good but, slapping lipstick on a pig doesn't change the quality of the animal.   Yes, I have some pieces of mass produced in my home and I certainly have given new life to old crap but that doesn't mean I don't know the difference.   Yes, I am a little old fashioned and maybe, just maybe that is okay.    I may make a mistake and buy a piece I like that nobody else wants because it isn't a trend but who cares?  Isn't the important thing that the piece speaks to me?

Link to DIY blog covering this Chest of Drawers redo

*Chest of drawers:

People confuse chest of drawers (chester drawers people make me crazy) with dressers because dressers are what everyone has gravitated to in the last 20 years.  My grandparents always had a chest of drawers in every bedroom even if they also had a dresser.   The above piece is clearly a chest of drawers.   No hutch or mirror was ever a part of the piece.   Dressers tend to be the longer pieces with mirrors attached that everyone loves today to redo for living room or dining room furniture.   I like both for different reasons.   I especially like when they have the lingerie drawers because to me, that says someone put thought into the design.    

Haven't we been here before?

My grandfather was a medic in World War Two. He passed away in 2008 but before he left this world for a great fishing hole in the sky, we use to have long talks about the state of life. He was frustrated with the place he called home, this little rock called Earth and much more the country he saw good men die to protect. "It's your problem now, Laura", he would say. "I am done with it." "The small farmer, the backbone of this country has been forced out. We produce nothing. We have forgotten who we are and where we come from. Nobody cares about their own past or anything my generation did to keep freedom alive." I would argue with him. I would tell him over and over, I care. I know my history and I know how important the past is. He died believing he was right and I was wrong.

My grandfather was a smart man.

When you turn on the news today, you hear about Missouri, is it 2014 or 1963? You hear about Israel and Palestine. We watched Munich this weekend, that was 1972 but that goes back much further. Have we forgotten so soon the terrorists that Israel faces today are the same ones, basically, who attacked the US in September 2001? Ah, but it goes back further. Oh, and Russia! A few short months ago the world LOVED Mr. Putin because there was an Olympics going on but not everyone was praising him. Even then the Ukraine and other former Soviet countries were trying to tell the world this is a bad man and nobody would listen. We listen now. A plane full of people had to disappear for us to hear but now we are listening.

Does it disturb anyone else but me that history keeps repeating itself? That we continue to fail to learn the lessons from the past and make the same mistakes over and over again?

Has anyone tried to have a conversation with a young person about the past? Trying to even get them to watch a movie about any historical event takes a force of nature. I have tried to talk about things with my nieces and nephew and future step-daughter. Talk to them about their family and the past. Talk to them about their own history much less that of the world. They don't care. There isn't a video game for the family tree. There isn't a computer program for what's happening in Missouri or Israel or the Ukraine and kids don't care because, well, because....we let them.

I am deeply disturbed by all of this. I wake up at nights and watch the news and think, 'I want to give the world back Grandpa. I don't want this mess. This isn't what I signed up for!' So, what do we do about this? How do we fix it and make sure what we leave the next generation isn't as ugly as what they have now? How do we make them care?

How do we open our eyes to the reality of the ugly and stop accepting history repeating itself? How do we learn? How do we get better?


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Never, Ever, Ever: Oh, say can you see those bombs bursting in air?

Linking up with Neely
Stephanie and
Shelley for Never, Ever, Ever week 5!

Never, Ever, Ever:

*Have I never been so glad to see a month gone as I was June!  It was a beast.  I feel like I lived a lifetime in June.  I learned a lot about myself last month.   I am glad it is over.  I grew a lot.  I am glad that is over too but I found out how strong I really am.  I am kind of shocked actually. I thought I was going to crumble. I didn't. I found my fight and God help anyone who gets in my way again.

*Will I never try to work through anything without God again. What WAS I thinking?

*I never will be sad for a 4 day weekend.

*I won't ever apologize for being a history geek.  

*Never will I understand the love for Whataburger Ketchup.  Sorry Texas.

*I will never get tired of spending the 4th of July at the Ballpark.

* I won't ever complain about 90 degree weather in Texas in July.  I feel like we have hit the weather jackpot!

*I won't ever give up on my dreams again.  No matter how unattainable they seem and how impossible the future seems.  I have a new plan of action from now on.  Pop some Matthew West on, grab some water,  take the dogs for a walk, and let God do His thing.  It will all work out without the tears.

*You will never see me walk away from a glass of lemonade.  Since I started back on my migraine medicine I can't drink carbonated drinks and because I am now paranoid about water and I save all my bad drinks for coffee.  (I have only had a half an alcoholic beverage in an entire month.  Who have I become?) Crystal Light Lemonade is my go-to water based drink! 

*I may not always agree with the politics of the right and left. I may not always agree with the way people pick to go about arguing  points again and again especially when the arguements don't make sense.  I may ignore them on Twitter and Facebook most all of the time but I will always believe that even when I think the points are wrong and stupid, they have a right to be wrong and stupid.

*I will always love fireworks, the Star Spangled Banner, my Uncle Sam,  and the United States of America.

Always

If for some reason I get too wrapped up in baseball and biking to write anything until after the 4th everyone have a beautiful and happy holiday and eat lots of yummies and drink lots of yummies and STAY SAFE....and hydrated....you didn't think I was going to leave that out now did you?

XOXO


Simply,
Laura