Vintage Silver Adds Personality to Decor

Silver adds personality to vintage decor including candelabras, Champagne buckets, vases, coffee and tea service, silverware, and jewelry.

An easy way to add instant personality and character to your decor is to find nostalgic items and intersperse them throughout your room.  Keeping with the same material or theme will create a cohesive look.  Also, make sure the items reflect your personality.  If you love them, as time goes on you will not grow weary of your selections.


Silver adds personality to vintage decor.  Tarnished silver pieces like candelabras, trays, champagne buckets, vases, coffee and tea pots, and water pitchers look great in shabby chic, farmhouse and vintage settings.  The shiny items above are now tarnished because I don't have time nor the inclination to polish silver with regularity. 

Feature a silver tray on a dining room table or coffee table layered with other finds like old books, figurines, votive candles and flowers in a silver vessel.

Add  mixed height candlesticks to a shelf or mantle.  Candelabras are stunning, especially when lit. One of my favorite items is diminutive tea pots with lots of detail work. 
 

These look lovely as flower receptacles tucked in here and there in any room. Consider using them as vases at bridal showers and vintage weddings.  We threw a bridal shower for my niece at the Rose Garden Tea Room at the Huntington Library and Gardens.  Since we were in a beautiful historic garden setting it seemed appropriate to have beautiful flowers in the little tea pots on the tables.  The guests wanted to take the arrangements home when the party was over.  Silver water pitchers are great for flower arrangements too.


Think outside the box and use your silver pieces in unusual ways.  I put my Yorkie Raleigh's dog treats in a silver bowl on my mantle so they are available when he comes in from the backyard. No one knows the treats are there except Raleigh, of course.

Pearl's Cottage has beautiful silver items for sale at Etsy including my favorite mini coffee pots.  https://www.etsy.com/shop/pearlscottage?ref=si_shop

Time to Decorate Your Mantle for Christmas

Consider switching things up this year when you decorate your mantle for Christmas.  Use beautiful items that you have around your home, grouped together, to create a beautiful display.

Consider using like materials for a cohesive look.  Here I have silver plate items that are for sale at Pearl's Cottage's Etsy site coupled with greenery with red accents and some peppermint candies.  My business partner, Michelle, set up these items in just a few minutes.  The pickle castors are my favorite items because they are so detailed in their design and they harken back to a day where pickles were held in high esteem.  Now they are filled with peppermint candies to give them a little holiday cheer.

The other items on the mantle include a mini tea pot, a creamer and a vase that are filled with flowers and greenery.  These beautiful items can stay on a mantle all year by simply removing the holiday themed items.

Rare Antique Pickle Castor

Crystal and glass collectibles including vases, creamers and bowls look pretty grouped together too.  Try milk glass, pottery or whatever items you appreciate

Find greenery and flowers at your local Michael's, Hobby Lobby or JoAnn's stores.  You don't have to spend a lot, just pick up a few things to drape across the mantle and fill your receptacles.

The same decor looks good on a buffet table and dining room table.  How do you plan to decorate your home this Christmas?

Antique Christmas Tree Ornaments

It's time to start thinking about holiday decor and setting the table for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Each year I like to do things a little differently from the previous year.  A while back I was lucky enough to find and buy hundreds of old glass Christmas tree ornaments.  It is a beautiful collection, from a woman that cherished her holiday decor.  I marvel each year at the beauty of the ornaments and the number of years that have passed since they were made.

It takes me hours to set up the tree and it feels like days to take the ornaments off the tree and put them away.  I love them so much I keep them under my bed for the remainder of the year.  No attic time for these beauties.  One of my favorites is the bird ornaments that clip onto the tree boughs.  They are extremely fragile and so I only have a few of them.

Since I've redecorated my house this year, I'm planning to make a tree skirt out of a drop cloth. I found this one at http://www.craftaholicsanonymous.net/ruffled-drop-cloth-christmas-tree-skirt.  I like the way the ruffles move from the center to the edge of the skirt.  Drop clothes come in large sizes so it is easy to make a really big skirt without any seams.

Antique ornaments can be found on Ebay and at auctions and estate sales.  It took me more than a year to collect enough to fill the tree.  When I found an abundant, pristine collection at an auction, I was willing to pay whatever it took to make them mine.  My advice is to pass up the beat up ones that you come across.  I bought some because I was happy to finally find them, but in retrospect I shouldn't have wasted the money because they were too scratched up or plain.

Once you have them, be VERY careful because they are delicate.  It is amazing that things can last for a century in someone else's house and then be in dire straights when they get to my house.

Share your holiday decorating ideas with me.  I need some new ideas.

Vintage Shelves Are Great For Displaying Treasures

This shelf is the first thing that I painted.  After the shelf I moved on to bigger furniture items.  I wish I had a before picture when it was a dark wood, which was pretty, but of course I wanted to paint it white.  It has screws in the back which holds the entire thing together.  When I bought it I didn't notice the screws and planned to just paint away, which would have been a nightmare getting into all the little cubbies. 

Thankfully I took the back off after I removed the screws and all the little parts just slid out.  If it didn't come apart, it might have been the last paint project that I attempted.  On went the primer and the paint and soon it was ready for reassembly and distressing.

Using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint is an option that will cut out the priming step, however a final wax coat will be needed.  I think the shelf would look good in all sorts of colors.  The shelf holds all sorts of decorative treasures like perfume jars, old postcards sent from Europe to America, and a prayer book that my grandmother gave my uncle when he was a little boy.  I've added shelves to other areas in my house like the one below that hangs by my front door.  I caught my daughter putting her make-up on there before she ran out of the house the other day.

I put a painted bookcase on the wall of my kitchen because it was the right size.  I filled it with milk glass because I like the white color against the mid-tone paint.

See the bookshelf in the corner

Interesting shelving is hard to find.  When I see a piece I like, I usually buy it and find an empty wall in a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen or hallway.  They are nice to have where people pause or sit because it offers the opportunity to appreciated collected pieces. 

My business partner, Michelle, has all sorts of shelves filled with beautiful things.  She has a talent for displaying items so I often copy her ideas.  Michelle's grandfather made the lovely shelf below.   Look carefully at the top where there are two little birds on the shelf backing.  He made all sorts of custom items for her house before he passed away.  Not only are they beautiful shelves and furniture items but a wonderful memory of her grandfather and his talent.

Michelle's kitchen shelf made by her grandfather

Shelves are decorative on their own and provide practical and pretty ways to display collectables and practical things.

Crystal Cruets Are Beautiful and Functional

A cruet /ˈkruː.ɨt/, also called a caster, is a small flat-bottomed vessel with a narrow neck. Cruets often have an integral lip or spout, and may also have a handle. Unlike a small carafe, a cruet has a stopper or lid. Cruets are normally made from glass, ceramic, or stainless steel.

In the Victorian era cruets were made of highly decorative cut crystal and were made to be both ornamental and functional.

Pearl's Cottage features a collection of cruets on Etsy at https://www.etsy.com/shop/pearlscottage?ref=si_shop.  They are in impeccable condition and reasonably priced at $20 to $25.  I like to group three or five cruets together on a shelf, hutch or table.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/pearlscottage?ref=si_shop

Old Jewelry Made New

When I go to estate sales I gravitate to the jewelry table and specifically the pins.  Something about the shimmer and shine makes me want to pick them up and think about the women who once wore rhinestones and furs.  Did they wear these beautiful jewels to tea, church, dinner parties, work?

In an effort to wear pins today and not look like I live in the 1950's, I turn them into pendants.  Some pins lend themselves to hanging more than others.  Last week I made this necklace with a some beaded chain, the pin, a few jump rings and a clasp along with jewelry pliers and some reading glasses since I need a little magnification assistance.

I think the finished length ended up about 22 inches.  I have worn my new necklace alone and layered it with longer and shorter necklaces.  When i visited my sister in San Francisco she said she wanted one like it, so I need to either give it to her or disappoint her since it's one of a kind.

Here are a few pictures of other pendants I have put together in the last few months.  When rigging things up, I check to see how the pin is hanging; it needs to lie flat against the body instead of side to side.  By adding an extra jump ring the problem is usually solved.  The other issue that occurs is the pin tipping too far forward. Experiment with different size jump rings to balance things.  I usually have lots of sizes on hand including extra, extra large ones.

All it takes is a little imagination. If things don't turn out quite right, I simply change whatever is not working. Next up is a bracelet made from some jet beads from two broken necklaces that I picked up for a song. Please visit Pearl's Cottage again to see what's going on next time.

I must like long pendants because I just noticed that everything posted is 22" to 36".

Painting Furniture - My Latest Obsession

Before you notice, I'm going to admit that I get a bit obsessive about a project or a or a "thing" and I like to do it all the time, until I move on to my next interest.  Right now that thing is painting beautiful, old furniture. You've seen it.  It has lovely details and hardware, it's really heavy, and painting it white has been all the rage. Well I was late to the party so I'm having a great time now.

First, I finally got around to painting a chair I picked up at an estate sale in Long Beach more than two years ago.

Then I painted the frame and drawers of a sideboard and stained the top dark with a matte varnish finish to protect it.  I just love the contrast.

Before and after:

Now I've moved on to a dresser for my daughter.  I wanted to finish decorating her room around some bedding I made and the color scheme was quite trendy so I opted to for a Granny Smith green apple.  She is college age so she needs a contemporary feel to her vintage furnishings.

Here is a picture of the "before" dresser with a crackle finish on it. Yes, it is hideous, but admit it, the piece has good lines, details, and hardware.

My first step was to take off all the hardware and put it in a big ziplock bag then put it somewhere safe.

Next I sanded everywhere I could with a power sander. I have to do it everywhere because of the uneven crackle finish. On other items  I hit the bad spots with the power sander and the rest with sandpaper.  I used everything from 100 grit to 220 grit.  Lots of dust from this job so I covered up with a dust mask and safety glasses.  Hand sanding worked best in the corners and details of this dresser.  Since I want a fresh look, I made sure I had a nice finish.

After the dresser was all sanded, I primed it with a shellac based primer.

Remember if there is an issue that bothers you before you paint, it will be magnified when a sheen, glaze or wax goes on it.  A big scar may need to be embraced instead.  If the piece has a shabby chic look then don't sweat it.

Wipe down the piece with a damp cloth to remove dust. Another good option is to go over the finish again with a cloth dampened with paint thinner or a tack rag.

Then start to paint away.  Use a small roller with a 1/4" nap called a cabinet finish roller.  This is my new favorite tool.  For a beautifully smooth finish, this little baby is the best!  I used a latex paint with a low sheen finish.

My next painting project is a dresser for my master bedroom.  I love the beveled mirror.  The finish has a bit of wear and tear, but that doesn't matter since I'm going to paint it.  Should I keep the top stained?  Let me know what you think?

Old Baby Shoes and Antique Toys

Have you ever come across an item that just tugs at your heartstrings?

Old and warn baby shoes tell a story with their dirty color and scuffs.  I found the ones above at an estate sale as I was hauling a box of dishes out of a house and to my car.  I'd already paid for my things when I spotted the pair and stopped to give Ken, from the estate sale company, a few more dollars.  Kindly he let me just take them.

Amazing isn't it, that someone would hold onto a little pair of shoes for their entire life.  No child today would probably wear shoes long enough to get them into such a well worn condition. Maybe a baby or toddler sported them during the Depression when money was hard to come by.

The little boy with a football is a precious toy.  I gave it to my friend Michelle because her son played football for 15 years, beginning when he was a wee little thing.  Such a cute diminutive rubber toy.

What baby things do you keep or collect?  Maybe someone will eventually clean out my house and find the knitted sweaters that my aunt made for my kids when they were babies or the quilt a dear friend gave my daughter when she was born.  Or just maybe they will be passed along to my grandchildren some day.