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New Antiques

By Dawn Sailors In Around the House

Ok, I realize that’s a bit of an oxymoron, but they’re antiques that are new to me, so it works.

I mentioned in passing a few weeks ago that Brett had been in Arkansas for a while, but I didn’t get a chance to tell you why. He was helping his family move his grandmother back to Nebraska after living down there for 20+ years. She has a beautiful property in the hills that overlooks a gorgeous lake and we’ll miss visiting her down there, but she’s been on her own for too long and we all were excited to have her closer to home and her great-grandbabies.

So what does all this have to do with anything? Only that her estate down south is much larger than her new apartment, so there were a lot of pieces of furniture and other goodies that she’s collected over the years that were in need of a good home. Hence the theme of this post: our new antiques! And we got them for free!!

While he was down there, Brett was sending me photos and asking what we could use. We were lucky enough to snag this vintage record player and radio combo and I’m crazy about it! It reminds me of a special one from my childhood, but I plan to refinish it and my brain is already cooking up some cool ideas for a unique look. Maybe some new fabric for the speakers? A coat of dark stain to modernize it a little? Perhaps an artistic surprise? We’ll see. Along with the table radio/record player came a whole stack of vintage albums. Even including a couple of original Beatles albums. Holy smokes! I’m really looking forward to playing the Christmas ones this winter. Hopefully we have figured out how to work it by then.

We also were gifted with these amazingly beautiful chairs. Not only are they unique and very intricate, but that olive-green velvet fabric that some people might turn a nose up at happens to go perfectly with our reading-room curtains, which are my favorite! So in love. How lucky can I get?

So those are the main two pieces we got, in the move, but g-ma Lila has also given us a few more items over the past few months that I’m excited about too. The first was this collection of Fortune magazines- a complete set from 1934!! (Ok, we technically got these almost a year ago on a trip down to visit her, but I had to include them because they are so cool!) They are in great shape and are so so interesting to read through. I love looking at all the ads and the beautiful illustrations in the articles. It’s so strange to see cigarette ads telling readers how good they are for you, that they give you energy and (my favorite) that you might not like them at first, but they will grow on you. No kidding… Lila told us that in the 30’s cigaret companies had to basically talk people into starting smoking. What a 180 from today. Can you imagine?

Well, enough of that. On to more goodies. Grandma Lila has been collecting Armani statues for years and as a special mothers day gift, she let each of us kids pick out our favorite one to take home. I chose this beauty. It is from the 70s I believe, and is signed and numbered. What a gift! I would never have picked something like this out for myself, but I love all the detail in the sculpture and paint. The flowing fabric is amazing.

And finally, I got some blank stretched canvases (for that illusive day when I have free time to paint again.. Um I have a kid.) and a collection of small square frames. I plan to spray them white and make a gallery wall in the dining room. I think it will be beautiful, although I may have to find some new glass for a few. Good thing Michael’s is practically within walking distance!

So there you have it. I don’t even know what else to say. What a lucky lady I am. I love new old things!!