Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Drinking Heavily and Some Other Stuff


Thank you all for your wonderful Valentine's Day wishes, I hope you all had a great day filled with love and surprises.  We spent a quiet evening watching movies and munching on cupcakes...perfection!

One of the nice things about not feeling 100% is the chance to slow down a bit and spend some time at home instead of running around at our normal breakneck pace!  When I was under the weather last week. I spent some time fluffing and re-arranging things in the house.


Although I can buy pieces of furniture and love them for years, I often find myself bored with the accessories in my house, so I'm constantly moving and changing things around.  Up until recently. the ruffled hobnail basket pictured above held my vintage croquet balls, but I thought it might make a nice container for my beach glass and pottery shards found along the beach. 

That little piece of lavender glass, that you can see in the picture, and a few others in the basket are from my dear friend Lili from Fearless Nesting.  Lili and I share a common love for found objects, especially those we find along the beach.  While I'm good at throwing my found objects into a bowl, Lili is wonderful at creating something special like Raku pottery that has bits of sea glass incorporated into it.




This little pewter dish seems to move all around my house, residing in the living room sometimes, in my bedroom at others.  I think it has lived in almost every room of our house at some point.  It was made by my son when he was in elementary school.  He did a project on pewtersmithing and created this wonderful little bowl that I love.  It's perfect for holding a set of tiny silver shells that my sister "M" gave me for my birthday one year.


A milk glass hobnail vase was another find I brought home when we cleaned out my parent's house.  I can't wait until the peonies in my flower bed bloom this spring so that I can fill it with fragrant pink and white blossoms!




This old set of binoculars once belonged to someone on my mother's side of the family.  My brother inherited a pair that once belonged to my grandfather, which I'm glad of because my brother really didn't take as many things as we girls did...I guess he wasn't in to milk glass! ;-) 

I remember sitting on my grandparent's side porch when I was younger and using the binoculars to look at the horses way out grazing in the field or birds on the apple trees.  I've loved old binoculars ever since, and I'm sure these probably belonged to one of my great uncles.  We keep them on the shutter table in our family room, close at hand to watch the swans or a pair of river otters that sometimes swim up and down our creek.




Now I know some of you clicked on this post thinking that based on the title I had taken to drinking heavily...but I hope you won't be disappointed to find that it refers to an old "Whisky" crate I'm using to hold my overflowing collection of shelter mags!  It was one of two we found in my parent's attic, my sister "M" has the twin, and I just love the way it looks and how it gives a nod to my new found Scottish heritage.  I do sort of wonder why my parents had two of these crates lurking in the attic though...just makes me curious since I never saw a bottle of King William IV Whiskey in our house...ever.


 

Although I don't have a drinking problem, I do have a serious magazine problem so this crate will help keep things a bit more tidy and organized.  Now if I could just get the rest of my house as organized...hmm maybe I should start drinking, then I simply wouldn't care right?!

I hope you're having a wonderful day my friends!

24 comments:

  1. Kat, I love your milk glass and that old wooden box. I saw a wooden box at Scott's antiques over the weekend and it was $350. I don't think so!!

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  2. I have a serious magazine problem too.. I try to hide it, but...

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  3. Love all your goodies... the Scotch boxes are wonderful! And the milk glass looks beautiful with the sea glass! I'm working on cleaning up my cabinets for painting...we tried a couple of different whites and went with the Simply White! Thanks! XO

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  4. Just before reading your post I was gazing around my office wondering what to do with all my magazines... I think I need to perhaps buy some old wooden boxes too!

    Di

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  5. The little pewter dish with the sea life is plain gorgeous!!!

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  6. Love the binoculars. They are fabulous. The box is a real treasure. So great to hold magazines. Hugs, Marty

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  7. LOL!!! Cheers! I know what you mean about having a magazine problem - me too! Hiccup! LOL!!! Have a great day!

    Mary

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  8. I have ALWAYS had a very soft spot for old wooden boxes! My whole adult life I've been on the search for them. Perhaps it is the permanence of these vessels.
    Brenda

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  9. I love your milk glass pieces, they are so beautiful! When I saw the pic of the binoculars I smiled! My grandpa had a pair just like those, they are now my moms and hopefully one day I will save them for my kids. We still use them when we go up north to look for deer and large ships that pass through Lake Michigan on their way to the canals. I just love them and this may sound funny but I can still smell my grandpas house when I use them. The crate is perfect for your addiction too!! ;)

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  10. Hi Kat!

    I'm just catching up and thought I'd stop by! Absolutely love the Hobnail milk glass. I just started collecting. Sounds like binoculars hold a special sentiment to you. I'm jealous that you can see river otters from your window. They are such funny creatures to watch.

    Hope you had a nice Valentine's Day! xo, Michelle

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  11. You have some great things there, Kat, but I must say that the old Whiskey crate is my favourite. My hubby's ancestors are Scottish, they came to Canada in the mid-1800's.(Mine came from England and Ireland.) I'm guessing that like most folks of your parents or grandparents time, they didn't throw a whole lot away, especially a serviceable crate.

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  12. I share your magazine problem - what an addiction...it takes up so much space!

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  13. I just have a plain old "collecting" problem! What a gorgeous wooden crate. It's so much fun to see your collections too and how you have them displayed. Thanks for the shout out, you are always so good to me Kat. Oh and that pewter dish your son created is so striking with those silver shells. xo ~Lili

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  14. I do likes me a little dark red with my cottage style

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  15. I have been seeing
    a lot of posts where
    casters have been
    added to wooden crates
    for moveable storage,
    which I think is really
    clever and good looking.
    Love all of your bits
    and bobs, Kat!!
    xx Suzanne

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  16. The pewter dish is priceless. I have a tendency to move accessories around with the seasons.

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  17. River otters??? Oh my...how I would love to look out my window and see river otters. Just wow.
    Your milk glass is beautiful. My mom collects it as well and has for years. I'm sure it will be mine someday (but hopefully not for a very very very long time).
    Cheers! heehee!

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  18. Hi,
    I really like your style. Love the hobnail milk glass. I remember my mum having it. I just acquired a few pieces and I really enjoy seeing other peoples. The vase will be lovely with peonies. I love that your things have a family history. That always makes the extra special. And I clicked on here because I thought that was milk galss I saw in the thumbnail picture! (But I did like the post title)

    Cheers,
    Lisa x

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  19. Hi Kat, I'm in magazine recovery right now, whittling down my subscriptions to 2 - Real Simple and Living but I did slip up and pay $9 for a copy of O Magazine at the Punta Cana airport - yikes!! Oh, and I just subscribed to More! I know I'll be picking up some spring and gardening magazines in the next few weeks - they just call to me at the checkout counter! Take care!

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  20. Kat, I love the picture with the milk glass that has the sea glass in it! That little lavendar piece is very beautiful and rare I'm sure! Lovely pictures!!

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  21. This post is full of my favorite things Kat. Love that milk glass and the old crate. Every house needs an old crate. Mine was from a sewing machine company and we didn't have any sewing machines either. Go figure.

    I hope your Valentine's Day was sweet.

    -Rene

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  22. I love the whiskey crate and eye wine crates with envy and may try to talk the wine guy into giving me one. I am sick too and am glad you are better. ♥O

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  23. I'm crazy for milk glass! I just found a little hobnail lamp yesterday at Goodwill, so cute!!

    Stop by the Beach Bungalow sometime and have a look.

    Sue
    xo

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  24. Kat love the story about the binoculars. We have a pair on our desk by our back door so we can take a closer look at birds in the yard. I hope our Grandkids remember them like you did.

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