Vintage Home Decor and Estate Sales Finds

The Vintage Fairy has been smiling down on me in recent days. I have been having the best luck on recent junque trips, ie. estate and yard sales.

On Friday, I popped into the best antique store where the owners recondition vintage stoves and have the best little vignettes...such eye candy! The owner, whom's name I should've got, has set up various "kitchens" and other rooms to complement the reconditioned vintage stoves they are selling and she has simply an amazing eye. Out back there are shabby garden and architectural finds, it's just a vintage lover's heaven. I'll definitely be stopping by often.

I purchased a couple of small items there, one of which included this fancy vintage french poodle, which my girls have dubbed "the snobby dog".
See all those little rhinestones! She's gorgeous and she knows it! She's the recent addition to my apparently new collection of vintage poodle figurines.
This poodle collection started with an estate sale I attended a couple of weeks ago where I found this fuzzy grey vintage poodle figurine, on the right.

And speaking of collections, this photo really moreso highlights my little beginning collection of Paris souvenir pins and charms. I have another little gold one I need to add to this vignette. I've also started collecting vintage Paris souvenir spoons. Pretty much Paris/France- whatever is going to be collected by me at some point, I'm sure!

A better view of inside the glass....the black and white paper inset on the clock is supposed to be a damask but looks like flames here, doesn't it? I may have to replace that with a smaller print.

The cloche and clock were from the same moving sale, several weeks ago. I love how I pick up things here and there and then they all start fitting together, sometimes weeks later, like a puzzle. The pedestal the little vignette is based on was from the best estate sale I attended this weekend.

The sale was run by the former owner of a local antique store and she was liquidating some of the best vintage pieces at the best prices. I have to say the deal of the day and what is making the most incredible impact on my home is the purchase of these two bookcases for, get this...$35.00!


Here's one, where I'm displaying some of my favorite little things and crafty items.
I'm planning on papering the back in a black and white toile or damask, eventually. It's already painted a color I love and, although you can't see it here, it has a slight crackle finish on the inside with black underneath.

That little folding metal children's chair was purchased at an estate sale a couple of months ago along with the vintage metal folding chair that I use at my desk, two of my fave items! I plan on listing those amazing vintage children's books that are on top of the chair as soon as I get them photographed, picked up at a church rummage sale.

The second bookcase is in my entry hallway area replacing a black metal and glass top table I had there for years. I'm displaying my family photos there.
Meet my little Jazzy (Princess Jasmine) ,there to the right, who had to stick her nosy nose in. And apparently it's time to do a paint touch up on that wall there...it never ends, does it?


On top is another of this weekend's great purchases, a vintage picnic basket in excellent condition! Can't you imagine Toto popping out of it?

I'm knee deep in a sprucing up of the family room (the room with the green wall) , which will include a new couch, chair and ottoman soon!

I love when I can look around my home and feel happy about the way things are coming along. Cozy, warm and cheerful feelings are what I'm after here.

Family Room In Progress

This is what I've been working on the last week, changing the wall color in my family room and setting up my little desk area. You can see on the right side, where I stopped painting, the color I'm switching from: sand to kiwi. I'm loving this pretty green. I have that one wall and the hallway to finish and then it'll be done.

But, I'm loving my desk area. I still don't have all my office stuff transferred over to my drawers, but just to have a dedicated space to work at has been great and I feel like I'm getting more done.

I found this desk at an estate sale a couple of weeks ago. It was the family's grandmother's desk and they say it's at least 50 yrs. old. It's in great shape, structurally. It has all it's hardware, but of course the wood is really beat up, but I'm a strange one and actually like the look of it. I can't make up my mind whether I want to paint it a creamy white or just leave it alone. At this point, I'm thinking I'll leave it. I think all the wear adds character.

New At The Vintage Butterfly Boutique

This gorgeous pair of collectible figurines came from one of the estate sales I attended this past weekend. So many wonderful things there! This family had such history there...the new owner of the home said he purchased the house full of all of these gorgeous items. Lucky! It was the cutest old house also, I want to live in that neighborhood myself and someday I will.
The sweetest little ceramic baby carriage, another new purchase.



And this guy is a Lefton china collectible coin bank...I'm calling him a squirrel. He looks like a squirrel, right? He's a previous purchase newly listed today at http://thevintagebutterfly.etsy.com .

I've also updated my flickr photos with previews of the many new items I will be adding over the next several days and that is only half of what I still need to photograph and list!

Stay tuned, the shop is going to be full of vintage goodness!

New Vintage Stock Coming Soon!

I had a fabulous shopping day on Saturday! I have a lot of work to do to get the items photographed and listed, so please check back soon.

I am so excited to get my new things up...but, as is my way, these are all things I am in love with myself, so the hard part will be deciding what to let go of and what to keep!

Happy Friday Vintage Lovers!

It looks as if it will, indeed, be a happy vintage thrifting weekend for me. I'm excited after checking out my local paper and craigslist and there are 5 good prospects, 4 estate sales and 1 thrift store liquidation! Yay!!

I'm off this Saturday, so it's perfect timing. Hope the hubby doesn't mind that I've planned out the whole morning. He's usually good about being my "assistant". If not, my 18 yo daughter is getting into my thrifting passion a bit herself, really just helping me out, but she's beginning to learn what I'm looking for and likes to help with my stamped shipping tags and goes along to the post office when I drop off my shipments. She even pushes me to take more photos and get more items listed at my store, LOL. Hmmm, maybe she's more of a "manager" than a assistant.

Happy Friday to you, I'm off to work and hopefully I'll have lots of fun photos and adventures to talk about this weekend.

Pyrex Hurricane Globes

I'm excited about these vintage Pyrex hurricane globe candle sconces I just listed on ebay!

I found them at an estate sale this week, in excellent condition, no chips, scratches...nada!

When I got home and did a little research I found that these are pretty unique...I could only find one reference to them anywhere and that was for an auction on ONE globe (just the globe, not even the base) starting at over $20.00.

So, I'm hopeful these will do well.

We shall see! Take a peek- http://cgi.ebay.com/Pair-Vintage-Pyrex-Glass-Hurricane-Candle-Globe-Sconces_W0QQitemZ250212625699QQihZ015QQcategoryZ4765QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Estate Sale Pretties

Some of the beautiful things found at the recent estate sale I attended.

A pair of Italian pinking shears.

A sweetly glittered dangling stars ornament.

Silk beaded Christmas ornaments.

A gorgeous glass beaded wreath windchime.

Hand- embroidered handkerchiefs.

A gorgeously detailed silver candy dish with some interesting hallmarks at the bottom that will require some further research on my part to determine the maker.

So much gorgeousness!

Estate Sale Reveries

I lucked upon a wonderful, local, estate sale the other day and found some of the neatest things. I could have easily spent more than I did, but kept to my budget.

As I wandered around this couple's home, I was touched by the strong presence that their home and the things in it gave off. I felt as if I got to know them while I was there...she was a crafty woman: there was a whole room dedicated to her crafts (she embroidered, crocheted, sewed, knitted, did plastic canvas, etc) with a sewing machine, serger and another machine I didn't identify.

She loved Christmas and made many of her own ornaments. There were light sets and ornaments. Papers and tags...many items in their original boxes.

She sang, loved to cook and was an incredibly neat homemaker...everything pressed, all instruction manuals to all of her appliances neatly filed, pretty china and silver kept in mint condition.

He loved to play poker and collected playing cards, was in the Navy and loved a good dirty joke (there were several "novelty" adult items from the 70s' in their bar area!).

I could go on...they were lovely, what I know of this couple, from their home and their things. This, this sense of history and heart is what I love about vintage collecting and decorating.

I imagine that they would be pleased at how much joy their precious things are bringing to me.