Feathering My Nest

Thank you for visiting my blog today – I think I’ll take a little different tack and show you some of the things I’ve recently purchased for my home instead of for resell in my shop.

This is a peek at my bedroom…I’m pretty sure I was a “Shabby Chic” girl long before Rachel Ashwell took out a copyright on the term. Hopefully “eclectic” isn’t already taken, too, or I’m going to run out of descriptors!

But what I want to show you here is my two new table lamps.

I found these a couple of days ago at my favorite “Boutique” thrift store. They were $75 dollars each but their lamps were all on sale for 50% off so – score – I got both for only $75.

I knew Waterford crystal lamps were expensive, I didn’t know that they marked pretty much everything on the lamp with their logo. There’s a fabric tag on the inside of the shade. The name is embossed there on the top of the metal bracket for the shade. It’s on a sticker (one lamp still has the original) at the top of the crystal ‘vase’ and it’s also acid etched at the base of the crystal right above the brass works at the bottom. There’s no missing this is Waterford!

But even with no direct sunlight into this room at the moment the crystal looks like diamonds and I love this brass, the ring looks like it’s made of rose gold.

I, of course, checked on the current pricing when I got these beauties home and they resell around $500 to $600 EACH! Wow! Not sure my shabby bedroom is equal to the upgrade but I’m keeping them anyways.

Next up – from the same store – my new dish set.

I’ve gone through two “box store” sets that I thought might work (wrong). I tried, with an unbelievable deal, on a huge set of Franciscan Desert Rose only to discover while I like Shabby Chic in my bedroom, I don’t for my dinnerware. Still, all’s well that ends well because I sold that set locally for a very tidy profit. I even tried some of the new Melamine sets – yuck.

Then one recent glorious afternoon I went to my Boutique Thrift with hubby along this time and as my attention was focused on something else he wander off only to come back shortly to show me a dish from a set he had found there.

PERFECT ! This is Vintage Red Cliff Ironstone that was produced here in the US (Chicago) from 1950 to 1980. Being ironstone, this is tough stuff, it microwaves, is dishwasher safe and can stand up to average wear and tear use. But I like dishes that don’t detract from the foods appearance, but instead ‘frames it’ if you know what I mean…pretty but plain.

The set was a 16 place set – OMG for $250. I still had to find some soup bowls separately and they were $30 each, but I’ll get my money back as the set came with cups and saucers which I will never use so those will be offered in my shop soon. Plus, 16 place? No, it’s just me and hubby and the occasional guests so a 1/4 of the rest of this set will also get listed in my shop.

And that takes care of my dishware, finally.

This piece falls into my ‘eclectic’ sense of décor. This pretty bird is made from Antique silverware.

I found it at my fave store for $20 and considered it a bargain indeed. I love the patina of age on this guy and the fact that someone’s imagination saw old spoons and made beauty instead of just melting them down for the silver.

It’s funny how things go in waves as I almost never actually pick up a piece for my home on these shopping expeditions, it’s always for my shop. This was sort of a wake up call for me, I think it’s time I started looking at things from that angle a bit more because I loved adding these treasures to my life. And after all, for years now I’ve worked hard on my shop and now it’s well established and doing great. So it’s time to reward me, my home and my husband (of 46 years and counting) that I share it with.

Is there something you’ve been looking for…I hope you find it soon.

Thanks for sharing my post with me today. – Kriss