Christie Spring show 2013

I hope everyone made it out to the Christie Antique show this past Saturday. It was a little chilly but a beautiful day! I loved walking around checking out all the amazing finds. I wasn't in the buying mood but found lots to look at and tons of great ideas to inspire me. Here's a couple of pictures of things that I found interesting!

This desk was so ornate and gorgeous. You just don't see things like this often.

This unique sign is definitely a statement of the history of Mental Health care. I'm glad things are different now.

This tractor is similar to one my grandma has that was my dad's as a child. My sister and I would love to play with it when we were little.

 

This is a masterpiece! Someone took a long time to collect all the driftwood and assemble it into a horse.

This vase was so pretty. I love all the different flowers and colours. It is a perfect spring accessory.

 

Tea caddy makeover

I must apologize as I do not have a before picture. This is a tea caddy that we used in our summer residence for as long as I can remember. The top was needing a refinish badly! I ended up painting the top as my dad last year stripped it and stained the top and it didn't take. I didn't want to strip it again and re-stain only to have the same problem.  So I painted it with ASCP Old white. I then used the pearl plaster finish by Artisan Enhancements and topped it off with clear wax. I also tidied up the legs using Restor-A-Finish in Dark walnut. I love this product as it vanishes any scuffs or scratches. Here is the final product!

Aberfoyle spring show finds

I hope everyone stayed warm this weekend! The temperature sure took a nose dive here! Two weeks ago we turned off the furnace as it was so warm out the furnace wasn't coming on. However we ended up turning in back on as Sunday morning we woke up to the house being 60 degrees! 
I bundled up on Saturday morning to check out the Aberfoyle Spring Antique show. The weather was miserable but the show didn't disappoint!

Here's what we took home with us!

A plant stand in phenomenal condition! This was a great find! I have too many plants that they are taking over tables!

This is the top of the plant stand.


I found this pair of brass rocking horses. They don't match but I thought they could be used as cute bookends.

I bought tons of old hardware pieces that I can use on furniture I refinish or paint. These were ten label holders. I love the idea of adding them to piece of furniture.



 This was a very cute drawer pull that I couldn't resist.





Another Brass handle.

 

A set of four brass drawer pulls.

I love these drawer pulls! A pair will hopefully come in handy.

 

This is one was unusual and a bit ornate I thought it would be really nice on a door.

This was my favourite find of the day and I will share about it later!!!

 

Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!

Aberfoyle spring show

Tomorrows the day folks!! I'm so excited to check out all the great antique finds!!

What are you hoping to find??

Antique Cabinet Redo!

Happy Easter Everyone!

Here is a cabinet my father picked up last summer to refinish. He didn't get around to it before he passed away. I decided to paint it rather than strip the finish off. It was like it had been painted brown with a brown glaze.

Here is a picture of how it looks before:

This is the picture of the cabinet after:

The inside has a chalkboard area too!

I painted it to match my medicine cabinet. Here is a link to that project.

I hope you liked my painted cabinet.

Christie Antique Show finds [Part 3]

 Last Saturday I went to the Christie Antique Show and had a blast! My parents and I found many items including tons of salt and pepper shakers. We did buy other items than salt and pepper shakers and here they are:

I have been collecting the old turquoise fiesta ware for about 3 years. I found a small nappy bowl.

 I also found two plates in the turquoise colour. I will later do a post devoted to fiesta ware and the different markings on pre '86 and post '86 pieces.

 I have also been collecting McCoy pottery pieces. This is one of the markings the company used.

 We bought this frog as a present for my grandma, who loves frogs. She has tons of frogs in her garden and in her home. I thought this was in great condition with the paint being very well preserved.

 I have had my eye out for a glass rolling pin for awhile but just couldn't find the right one. I was thrilled when I was at a booth and they had two! This one has not been used and still had the information inside.

 I love that it has the Good Housekeeping seal on it!

This is the information sheet inside the pin. I love the retro logo! It even has recipes on the back!

 I found this Fire King mixing bowl at Christie and pointed it out to my parents and they were thrilled to find it. It is a beauty!

I had to alter the lighting in this picture to show the Fire King label on the bottom of the bowl. Fire King is a popular vintage brand that made mixing bowls, batter bowls, and refrigerator dishes.

Here is the mixing (batter) bowl.

This is a refrigerator dish and lid. We actually got them separately. There was this medium lid and two small lids at a booth that we picked up. We had two small refrigerator dishes without lids at home and thought we might as well buy all three lids. Then a half hour later we found this pretty blue refrigerator dish without a lid. Perfect match!

Here is a picture with the lid on the dish.

Hope everyone enjoys these finds as much as I do!

Christie Antique Show finds [Part 2]

 At the Christie Antique Show my parents and I were looking for items that we want to add to our collection as well as items that my parents could resell at their Antique booth at Brydges Street Merchant Market in London, Ontario. We noticed at the end of the day that what we had picked up was vintage kitchenware's and quite a few salt and pepper shakers. I don't think we need anymore (s&p) for a while. I find vintage kitchenware is becoming very popular as it can be used in our everyday lives. Here is the salt and pepper shakers that we got!

This pair is a blue milk glass. It is not labelled but it is a very simple and colourful pair.

 

 This pair is a red/orange coloured polka dot pattern on milk glass. I believe it is made by Hocking company. These are worth $25-$28 each.

 This is a depression era pink glass. It doesn't have a pattern on it. We picked these up for 4 dollars!

This salt and pepper set is called the windmill pattern and is really popular. The lids were originally painted red, but with age this set has red speckling on the top and most of the paint has come off. They are milk glass with a painted blue windmill and red lettering. These are about 3 1/2 inch tall. These were made by the Hazel-Atlas company.

 The three spice jars are the Dutch scene pattern and have a different blue person on each jar. On the three spices the lids have been repainted and this is what the windmill lids would have originally looked like. Each jar is to have a red star above the name of spice. They are about 3 1/2 inch high and made of milk glass. They are worth $12-20 each.

This I think is my favourite. It is just the Pepper but it is really funky! It is a white milk glass that is painted yellow and has the black dots. It is also 3 1/2 inch high.

My New Buffet

I had been looking everywhere for a buffet that would be perfect when painted and distressed. I finally found one at aberfoyle antique market. This is what I started out with.

 I decided to paint the buffet:

I painted two coats with my new paint spraying gun. I fell in love with this gun as it makes painting things so much faster! However I left my painted buffet to dry outside overnight and when I woke up early it was covered in dew! I had a minor panic attack and hoped the sun would help to dry the buffet quickly. A couple of hours later and I found that the dew had made streaks in the finish.

After I looked at the "dew disaster" I realized I liked the effect it had made. Since I was planning on distressing the buffet anyways the extra imperfections the dew had made worked. I would have painted another coat of paint if I had wanted a perfect finish.

Next I sanded using a 120 grit sandpaper on some of the detailed areas and where it would naturally have some wear.

I took out the wooden knobs and replaced them with anthropologie mother of pearl knobs. I love these because they match the feel of the antique drawer pulls the bottom drawer had.



Here is the final look!

So what do you think?