Home for the Harvest Tablescape

I've been a bit of a busy bee lately buzzing through writing the first draft of my second novel, so I haven't had a ton of time to post. But I have had some fun decorating the dining room for Fall with some of my recent finds.

It started with wanting to use the Croscill tablecloth and valences I found at the Goodwill Outlet Store a few weeks back. The fabric was so nice and the colors had just the right feel for autumn. The tablecloth was a perfect fit on my round table, while the valence got easily repurposed as a mantle scarf.

The colors seemed to work nicely with some of the Roseville pottery I've uncovered at surprisingly affordable prices lately.

Here's a view of the mantle and table together. I went with 70s era Carnival glass for the table setting.

You can see a close up of the table. The plates and the goblets and candlesticks are not the same pattern, but the color is close so I think it works.

The candlesticks are actually a new find for me. They're a Harvest Grape pattern and match the goblets. I got the pair for $5, which seemed to be a pretty good buy.

The dinner plates are called Anniversary and they're made by Jeanette Glass. I bought these a while ago and I love the many iridescent colors they reflect back.

Wishing you all the bounty of the harvest at your dinner table and in your thrifting adventures!

--Jenn

Treasure Box Wednesday: A Little Shine in the Thrifted Finds

I got a chance to go on a little thrifting expedition with my shopping buddy, Scoobie, last weekend and I wanted to share with you my shiny (literally) new goodies. The first was this Kathy Van Zeeland purse I got for six bucks at the Red, White and Blue in Bellevue. With its mint green color and pearl finish, I think it will be really nice for spring.

I'm not much of a shoe girl, but handbags somehow really speak to me.

The other item I got was this large, Westmoreland/Smith glass carnival basket from the McKnight Road Goodwill. 

It's one of those things that leapt right out at me, and I had a feeling due to the busyness of the store, that I was absolutely the only one there who was going to get excited about it. I know carnival glass isn't for everyone--which in this case was to my advantage!

Wishing you happy days as our mild winter fades away into spring.

Treasure Box Wednesday: Portrait of Happy Hunting

The skies may have been black and the winds, they did bluster to the point they broke the door at the North Versailles Goodwill, but the treasure hunting this last Saturday... it was a blast!

I journeyed down Route 30 with my buddy Scoobie and her brother, and as a collective we came away with so many goodies we had to use the back seat to help hold them all. I realize looking at my photos, I didn't even take photos of all my finds. So I will save those for a future Treasure Box.

My favorite finds of the day were two early 1900s portrait vases which drew me in instantly. This one is from Austria...

The rich color and a great price meant I could not leave it there in the cabinet of the Fleatique II in Ligonier, PA. It seems very happy with the other pieces I've accumulated from the same time period.

Then at the L&L Fleatique in Adamsburg, I snagged this pink portrait beauty...

This is an American Whiteware piece from the Owen Pottery Company of Minerva, Ohio. It's now sitting happily displayed on top of my china cabinet along with some pastel Hull pieces.

You can see a better closeup of the lady on it here...

At the Fleatique in Ligonier I also got four of these nice blue (they don't look so blue here, but are) carnival glass styled plates...
I imagine they're from the 60s or early 70s, but I usually see carnival dinnerware in marigold or amber instead of blue. So this was a nice change, and the price was right, too.

I got this little aqua sandcastle at a thrift store-- which one, I don't recall anymore as we went so many different places it started to be a blur!
And just because I forgot to include it a week or so ago, I'd picked up this nice tole 1940s-styled waste basket at an antique store in Bellevue, PA. I think I'll use it for my upstairs office.
So that pretty much bins this Treasure Box Wednesday. Hope you're able to turn trash into treasure where ever this week takes you.

Treasure Box Wednesday: Secret Christmas Treasures and the Biggest Thrift Purchase Ever

The Treasure Box might look empty this week, but that's only because most of the things I thrifted were not, in fact, for me. Post-Christmas I'll be able to share with you all the thrifted goodies I found for some friends who appreciate cool vintage stuff, either as stand-alone items or as part of thrifted gift baskets.

For me, I really only uncovered the nifty 70s blue carnival glass piece above and a couple of CDs. This was from the Salvation Army Superstore in West Mifflin.

My shopping buddy this day-- Dad-- however, went on to thrift what I believe was the most monumental item I can recall us thrifting in our lengthy history. At the Goodwill on Pittsburgh's South Side, Dad managed to get himself a very nice Dell laptop computer-- in great shape, running smoothly, and with all the bells and whistles he was looking for.

That branch has the only computer store in the region, and the guys who helped him seemed to really know their computers.

Dad was additionally floored because he got a 10% senior discount on the thing-- not something you get when you buy from a retail computer store, necessarily-- and a free laptop bag to boot!

So he's been having a great old time, using the laptop for all his computing needs, plus playing DVDs, enjoying a brisk game of computerized Solitaire, etc.

And me, I need to finish Christmas shopping. Somehow the holidays just keep sneaking up on me. You blink and there they are, waiting for you!

Tell me, how are you folks doing on your shopping this year? Are you close to done? And do you thrift any of your presents?

Autumn Tablescapes: Fun in the Fall

How can you decorate for Fall on a budget? I had fun with it this year using some vintage Carnival glass, and a few discount rack items from Bed Bath and Beyond.

While I love the marigold Carnival glass, orange is not really my favorite color. I think I was scared by Harvest Colors as a child in the 70s...

So my base colors in Autumn are usually sage green and purple, with the Carnival glass serving as my warmer tones. I got the set of Jeannette Glass plates in the Anniversary pattern from Graham's antique mall in Ligonier...
And the grape patterned goblets and centerpiece bowl were thrift store finds.

The leaf placemats were a little over a dollar a piece at Bed Bath and Beyond.

The chair covers are actually 90 inch round tablecloths I got from BB&B's discount area. While chair covers were running a too-pricey $20 a piece, these were less than half that, and I just pinned them at the back with vintage brooches I already had....

They help protect the chair from my enthusiastic kitten friend, Alice...
She's not allowed up on the table, but she feels the need to supervise all activity for quality control...
We're still working on a few things. (Like "no climbing on the table.")

I'm also still working on the Halloween mantle, but you can see where I'm going with it. I need to find a permanent home for that lamp, but it's just so darned pretty I haven't moved it.
The little papier mache style decorations were largely from Tuesday Morning a year or two ago, just after the Halloween season.

And that's what I've been up to this week. I realized that as of September 11, The Thrift Shop Romantic was officially four years old! I'm not sure what that makes it in blogging years-- but I suspect it's about entitled to Social Security benefits.

So have a piece of virtual cake and celebrate with me! And I hope to see you again on Wednesday!

Birth and Rebirth in Collectibles Trends

Do you ever wonder about what specifically spawns certain trends in collecting and decorating? What makes a certain type of item suddenly become in demand, or even have a powerful resurgence after being ignored or reviled for decades?

I had often wondered this very thing in relation to the iridescent glass we think of as "carnival glass" today.

I have been fortunate over the years to pick up a number of carnival Indiana Glass Harvest Grape pieces from the 60s and 70s-- all inexpensively at thrift stores and antique malls.

But I was always curious what it was that triggered modern manufacturers to suddenly start remaking the colorful glass that had been so popular 50 years or more before.

Well, would you believe I recently found the answer to this, in casual reading?

Yup, I'd been going through volume three of the Imperial Glass Encyclopedia, when their section on carnival satiated my curiosity once and for all!
In the 1960s, not only did Marion Hartung publish books on the subject, bringing the glass back into the light (so to speak), but an article in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution newspaper (August 18, 1963) on the topic dubbed old Carnival glass the "Cinderella of Modern Antiques."

In response, Imperial, Fenton Art Glass and other companies began reissuing carnival pieces, many from their original molds. And the revival grew well into the 1970s.

This got me thinking about how it had taken some appreciation from Martha Stewart to get the collectibles community showing renewed enthusiasm in the creamy green glassware known as jadite...
While I've noticed costs for jadite have gone to more reasonable levels in the last year or so, there for a while antiques dealers were offering jadite for princely sums. Where Martha waxed poetic, the market agreed. Everyone wanted beautiful, soothing pieces made of this opaque, aqua glass.

So this got me pondering again: what do you think is a highly underrated collectible today?

As I've always been a fan of the Carnival glass, I notice right now I'm one of the few that finds it magical. Will it have its day again?

And I adore McCoy's art pottery pieces, particularly ones from the 1940s. It always makes me wonder why McCoy pottery ends up being about half the price of Hull, even though their style is very similar...
So my question is open to you folks:

Is there a collectible item out there that you adore and feel hasn't received the attention it's deserved?

What is your "Cinderella Among Collectibles"?

Treasure Box Wednesday: Hot Cup o' Good Fortune

After a few errands on Saturday, I set out on that gray, blustery day a-thrifting down Route 30.

Why does it seem when winds do howl and rain does pelt against the windows, there's comfort wandering around a brightly-lit thrift store or quiet antique mall? It's one of those times where, even if I found nothing, it's just fun to look.

But find things, I did! And I managed to hit a couple of really good sales, too. Like the 50% off of these already well-priced Carnival glass pieces at the Ligonier Fleatique...

I'm not sure how old they are, but you can't beat the rainbow of colors on them!

Speaking of colors, how about these excellent lusterware teacups from the Salvation Army? ..

Seeing them there together, I just knew they had to have come from the same lady's collection. Do you ever ponder things like that when you shop? What place the item held in someone's life before it arrived at the store?

At the Good Samaritan thrift store in North Versailles, I uncovered this pink 70s French glass serving bowl to match my set...

I like it because it looks so much like Depression Glass. And this time I was doubly thrilled because I'd missed out on this very style piece once at a different antique mall; they wouldn't sell it to me because it wasn't priced, which I totally understand. But the guy running the desk also didn't want to call and bother the dealer to find out how much it would be. Needless to say, it was a disappointing "No Sale" that day...

But it's all balanced out now!

I also got a great big bag of Shiny Brite ornaments from the Good Samaritan. It's really never too early to pick these bright li'l fellows up!...

At the L&L Fleatique in Adamsburg, I bought a nifty gift for one of my friends (I'll show you all that post-gift-giving, so as not to ruin the surprise for her.) And I got myself a small McCoy planter-- which was also on sale!

And lastly, following the grand tradition of my father's, which involves buying things he doesn't know what they are... I bought...

Um...

Something I don't know what it is.

It's definitely styled like my downstairs light fixtures, so it's probably from the Depression era. And it's done in the same airbrushed colors. But as for its function?...

Here is the back...
So what do you folks think? Did it come from some other light fixture? Or perhaps part of curtain tiebacks or rods?

Any and all suggestions appreciated and ready to be taken for consideration! As the thing was just seventy-cents at the UFO in Greensburg, I figured it was worth that just for us to mull it over.

Anyway, it's pretty, and you all know me-- I probably can make use of it somehow.

So that's it for today's Treasure Box Wednesday!

• If you missed Sunday's part two of the fireplace installation, that wraps up here.

Well, it's not precisely wrapped up, but I'll give you something non-fireplacey to read about on Sunday to mix it up more. I imagine that will be a relief to all of us. :)

Have a great week, friends, and I hope to see you Sunday.

Treasure Box Wednesday: The Colors of Fun

There's a lot of color in the Treasure Box this week, folks! And as August gives way to what may very well be a chilly fall, these warm, cheery colors seem to do a person good.

One of my favorite pieces of this week was a ruby carnival glass slipper made by the L.E. Smith Glass Company of Mount Pleasant, PA...
The company has been doing glass since the early 1900s, and continues the tradition today. This glass shoe has a newer mark. But I like it's antique styling. Because Mount Pleasant isn't far from where I live-- and where I bought this shoe, actually-- I tend to find quite a bit of it around. This was from the U.F.O. in Greensburg.

At the Goodwill thrift store, I got this handy-dandy pink, standing breakfast tray...

Someone had already embellished it with One Stroke flowers (nice job, whoever you may be!). And for $3 you really can't go wrong.

At another thrift store, I found this nifty two-tiered vintage bowl...

It's not jadite, though it may look it. It's just colored glass. But it was such a nice, vivid shade, I couldn't resist.

And lastly, as part of a half-off sale at the L&L Fleatique in Jeannette, I got this World War II souvenir pillow cover...

If you'd like to read the poem on it a bit closer, you can do so here...

And that's the whole spectrum of our Treasure Box this week.

• If you'd care to check out Sunday's post, on 1970s decorating, in "The Good, the Bad and the Funny," click here.

If not, well, perhaps I'll have something new to tickle your fancy this coming Sunday!

Treasure Box Wednesday: The Glass Menagerie and Other Thrifty Finds

You all will laugh... Here I am, a fan of antiques and art, and the find that made me happiest this week was a plastic take-out container of small glass animals.

"Why on earth?" you ask. Well, it's a funny thing-- I had these very same glass animals when I was a child, my dad having won them for me on my family's vacations in Cape May, New Jersey. Unfortunately, mine had gotten some kind of problem due to moisture, and they clouded over and were ruined. As much as it had pained me, I eventually had to throw them out. My beloved little Boardwalk arcade prizes were gone!

But oh, I saw these and this flood of wonderful memories overcame me. And at just a few bucks for the lot, I couldn't help myself. It made my day.



It's remarkable to me because they're in the same colors I remembered, same characters... everything. Anyway, it was a cheap, cheerful reminder of a lovely period of my life. (If you'd care to read a tale I'd written about it, you can check it out in "Magic Fingers Ma and the Quest for the Mega-Blender." Just click here.)

Other goodies this week were these chirpy Commodore bluebird salt and pepper shakers, probably from the 50s...

Such happy little fellows, I think looking at them will make cooking seem like less work.

I also found this 60s/70s blue carnival glass compote...


I hadn't seen this particular size before.

And lastly, at the Goodwill thrift store, I got this super-soft leather jacket. It still has its extra button sewed inside...


So, that closes the Treasure Box for this week! Thank you for sharing in my little joys.

And just so you all know, this Sunday's post will appear only here on http://thriftshopromantic.blogspot.com and NOT on www.thriftshopromantic.com . I'm going to be traveling, and won't be able to update the project site with the fresh post until Monday.

Until next time, friends!

Treasure Box Wednesday: Carnival Ride and Thrifty Thrills

Well, this antiquing and thrifting adventure weekend certainly packed a punch! Twelve of them, even...


Yup, in a trip down my beloved Route 30, I had a veritable carnival ride of goodies. Like this lovely blue Indiana Glass carnival punch bowl in blue... complete with the original cups... hooks... and even a ladle!... All of it came as a set from the L&L Fleatique in Adamsburg. How I do love that place!


I can just see a nice sherbety beverage in there, or perhaps a mulled cider in fall! Care for a sip?

My other favorite thing of the day was this beautiful Victorian photo album cover...


The pages and binding, unfortunately, are long-gone... but the celluloid cover is in just amazing condition. Back and front are intact. I think I'll just display it as-is.

It came from Graham's Antique Mall in Ligonier. I was carrying it around the booths and radiating unbridled joy, I suppose, since an older lady smiled at me and commented, "Ohhh, somebody's found something they love."

Is it that obvious? Erm... yes. Yes, it is. :)

Then my other-other favorite thing of the day (and will probably be a fave of my fellow Pyrexics, too) is this nifty Pyrex holly and pine mixing bowl I found at the Salvation Army...


...In an orange-red, I think I'll fill this with goodies for my friend Scoobie's mom... She loves red, and can certainly use the bowl. I can hear her oohing and ahhing now! I've never seen this pattern before-- and I see a lot of Pyrex at the thrifts. So that was exciting.

I also got this cool 1940s Homer Laughlin mixing bowl in a pattern that's called Orange Tree...


I liked it because it reminds me of William Morris Tree-of-Life inspired wallpapers. It's a very small bowl-- perhaps only six inches across. It was a whopping $0.99!

And it was at a Salvation Army I found this nice purple vintage hanky...


And a Trixie Belden for $0.49! T'is the season for Trixie Beldens it seems. I wonder why we're spotting her all of a sudden like this?


Lastly-- and this is the thing that will hopefully end up being a present for you all, as well-- I found us some fun vintage cookbooks to look at in future posts! (See, I think of you folks when I go out...)


Well, it's time for me to put the lid back on the Treasure Box for another week! Thanks for joining me-- as always. I enjoy hearing from you all immensely.

If you didn't get a chance to see the "Bag of Old Papers" post from Sunday, that'll be tucked away here.

And otherwise-- hope you have spring in your step, and in your gardens, too!