Sparkle Plenty wrote today about some things she found in her recently-moved-in-to cottage, and she asked what sort of stuff other people found in their newly-adopted domiciles. I didn't want to clog up her comments section with all my thousand-words, so I'm putting up some pictures here instead.
This is probably my favorite, I don't know why:
It's a serving tray. With a picture of a '50s-era Dad-type, grilling and drinking under a measly tree. I L-O-V-E love it. Unfortunately, we've never really used it, cuz it's huge. It takes up the whole table, and any food you put on it gets dwarfed, making it look like people shouldn't eat any because there's not enough. I made Johnny hold it for this picture, so you could gauge the size. He's not a big fella by any stretch, but he's big enough to show.(And no, that is not a coke nail on his right pinky finger. That is a guitar-pickin' instrument, thanks very much.)
Next up, this hat box:
It is shiny and vinyl and I heart it, too. You'll just have to trust me that it doesn't look quite so banged-up without the flash. But I've never put it to the use for which it was intended, because when I wear hats, I tend to wear the men's kinds...
And this is where I keep the poor things when they're not in use:
Somehow the old bastard always whips back into shape.Thing #3 that I found in this house and kept, is this pretty purse (and yes, it's on the same kitchen table the hatbox was pictured on, there's just something about the camera's flash I haven't figured out yet):
I don't know if you can tell: those spider-leggy things are actually the handles. Okay wait, hang on. It looks like this:
And this:
And this:
Oh hey wait! There's my other little old purse on the inside! Who knew that Payless thing was tucked in there?Well, anyway, this one is suede (I think), and stiff, and fab-u-loso, and I carry it when I get dressed up. Which is not often. But when I do, I don three-quarter gloves in black velvet(ish), slip this purse on my arm, and I am Breathless -- Breathless, that is, with just a tiny touch of Goth.
Next up, and Johnny's favorite, the water pitchers:
Are they Fiestaware? I don't know. They say "USA" on the bottom, but I'm not a girl who cares enough to look them up*. They're a bit more blue-green in real life than in this picture. And we've never used them, either. But we will.So now let's pass it on: What have you found in your houses?
21 comments:
1) Oooooh, Ege--you are stylin' in that hat, you are!
2) BONANZA!!! LOVE the tray, LOVE the hat box, LOVE the purse, and LOVE the pitchers. Dang, toots. That is SO much better than that grisly-rolled-up-likely-containing-former-owner carpet I found in my old crawlspace. This weekend, I'll post pics of the grandma stuff I found in the bottom drawer. Not as cool as your stuff, but very endearing.
My great Grandmother had water pitchers like those. I have no idea what they were Fiesta or whatever, but we all loved them. There was a slight family skirmish over who got them when she passed on. I was only 11 at the time, and now don't even know who has them.
hmm, I once moved into a place that had an old file cabinet in it. I contacted the landlord and he asked me to please throw it away. I looked inside and tried contacting the person who I assumed it belonged to but never got a response.
OMG what great finds! The tray, purse and pitchers especially.
Left behind on purpose/with our advanced knowledge was a buttload of furniture since this was a furnished boarding house for college students, and to get the sellers to like us best we said "just leave it all and we'll get rid of it" which we did courtesy of Wonderful Glorious Freecycle. Of everything left here, we kept one nice twin frame and a seemingly brand new pillow-top twin mattress/box spring set, one desk to keep in Elder Granddaughter's room, six dressers three of which really are super cool, two small file cabinets topped with an 8' section of countertop that was someone's desk and now is my sewing table, and a delightful set of wicker porch furniture.
The surprise items we found were:
a few old very rusted coffee cans with very rusted nails in them.
a very old but broken Pepsi bottle.
lots of mice.
Nothing seriously fun, like you found. I did find lots of seriously fun stuff in both of my last two houses, but it's way too much to write about here.
Hey we have the sister to that tray. Same color, same size, different picture- a dad BBqing. We have also never used ours but we did have it hung on the wall in the kitchen for awhile. I bought a hook/tab combo that I stuck to the back of it.
I can say that the pitchers are not Fiesta ware, but they are really great.
At our house we fount an old birding book and some old tools and and old native American grinding stone out buried in the lawn- which is our favorite find.
I want those pitchers!!! I am way jealous. All I found inmy house was a the Father's WW2 wooden footlocker and an entire laundry basket full of old medicine & prescription bottles (from the early 1900's). My house was apparently a doctor's office in the early 1900's.
you should have seen the set of dishes she threw away! they look just like the ones alton brown uses, and i kick myself evey time i see them that i didn't keep them.
love yr hat- sexy woman! I have been cleaning my basement this weekend- details later
I adore that platter! And man, what great finds you had in your house. We just had a funky 1970's style lamp.
My favorite things so far are a collection of wood-framed mirrors. Two are rather simple and plain, with beveled glass, but the third is from an old dresser and is huge. I'll have to find just the right spot for it.
My least favorite thing I encountered was a GIGANTIC box of old underwear--boxers, granny pants, long johns--that I found in one of the laundry chutes. Straight to the trash bin that went.
So THAT'S where they went! Green Fairy: are you sure you're not really the Underpants Gnome?
This is Fun!
Sparkle -- I found lots of gross stuff, too, but it's all gone, now. T'ank God.
Vanessa -- Really? Your GREAT Grandmother? Hm, maybe they're older than I thought...
Leslie -- This house was left full, too, and I threw out most of it (I will be posting soon about the dishes you will all want to kill me for throwing out, as soon as I confirm the pattern with my sister). We had no mice, oddly, but plenty of odd coffee cans of things.
Kimberly -- WELCOME! And also THANK YOU! When we're done with our kitchen, we will hang that big red tray right on the wall. Never thought of that before. Internets are fun!
ILU -- you can't have them, nyeah nyeah! But if your house was a doctor's office at the turn of the century, I think you should count yourself lucky that all you found was pill bottles. Coulda been full of leeches...
Khurston -- Thanks. I'd forgotten about them. Now I want to hang myself.
ATS -- Will you post pictures on your blog if you find anything good?
Aimee -- WELCOME! Now, when you say "funky lamps," do you mean funky like George Clinton, or funky like old socks?
And Green Fairy -- I want my underpants back!
On second thought, you know what? No I don't.
Wow, you guys found much cooler stuff in your houses (except for the person who found old underwear. Ewwww.)
We found, in our bathroom drawer: incense, candles, and WEED in a small baggie. I had no idea what to do with it. (Well, I did, but didn't want to use it for its intended purpose.)
So I threw it out and hoped I wouldn't be thrown in jail. I guess someone more hip would have been excited about that find :D
Welcome, Anandi!
Now tell the truth: after you found the candles and incense, you couldn't have been too terribly surprised to find the weed.
The question is: where did they stash the bean burritos?
Ege - I'm so lame, I only knew it was weed *because* of the incense and candles. It didn't smell like much - looked like it had been there for many, many years.
We haven't found the bean burritos or the chips yet. Hopefully we won't ;)
We only had old coffee cans full of some sort of goo and some very old paint cans. They could have been antiques since this house had not had any paint put on it in or out since it was built in 1937. We also had an antique boiler that blew up one night and caught on FIRE! The dog saved everyone!
Wait, Donna -- what? The dog?
Tell!
Just realized you said they are stamped "USA" on the bottom. They are probably some kind of Ohio pottery (tons of potters in Ohio). Definitely not McCoy or Roseville, I'd have recognized them. Hmmm. I must solve this dang mystery.
Fancy Crew on the case (Nancy's lesser known tranny sister).
Fancy Crew Solves The Case Of The Blue Water Pitchers!
They are...
DRUM ROLL PLEASE...
VTG CRONIN BLUE TULIP POTTERY
there's a matching batter bowl on ebay:
Item number: 6161078875
hey...there's a whole load of this stuff on ebay. i can get my own damn pitcher.
search: cronin blue
Wow, I think all we got was lots of dirt and dead (and live) cockroaches. I wish we'd got cool leftovers like that when we bought our place!
My daughter also have same type of platter she love these time of color and love to eat in those type of plates.
Your platter are cool too
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