Woman in Real Life

What is it about milk glass that makes it so irresistible? Each time I see a different piece in the thrift store I have to grab it up. I suppose it has something to do with its serene whiteness. Whether vase or bowl, a milk glass piece provides a lovely contrast to colourful flowers, candy or even coins. And then there's the price - generally a buck or two for a small piece. A few quick purchases soon become a collection.

Photo: the adimpleate blog

Excuse my randomness. As I mentioned last week, I am focusing on purging stuff rather than buying stuff. I will soon have more details to share about the four-month long de-cluttering process I have just begun. That doesn't mean I'm giving up thrift store shopping, but I want to do some significant purging before I add more to my collection.

In the meantime, I intend to keep the Vintage Bliss Tuesdays parties swinging. Today I wanted to share this find, above, from The Adimpleate Blog. Each week I'm in awe of how beautifully the thrifty finds, like this jade green vintage fork, are photographed on the blog. Be sure to head over and take a look. I'll bet you'll find it as inspiring as I do.

Thanks to all of you who faithfully link up each week (or whenever you have new goodies to show off). Seeing your treasured finds is a highlight of the week for me.

Linking up with:

I haven't been thrift store shopping in the last couple of weeks. Probably a good thing, since I've been reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing and setting goals for myself in terms of purging excess stuff from the house. I'll be posting about that in future. Maybe if I tell you guys I'll actually stay on track!

In the meantime, on with the Vintage Bliss Tuesdays party! I am sharing a look at a strange and essentially useless (but kind of cool) item that we have in our house - this vintage Primus blow torch, made in Sweden by BA Hjorth & Co.

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #trash2treasure #CollectiveBias

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you might well wonder how there could be anything left for me to take from my mom and dad's house. I have shown you so many vintage dishes, collectibles and larger pieces that my parents have given me over the past few years.

But yes, there's one more piece. My mom had this vintage laundry stand (drying rack?) tucked away in the basement. She really likes it and she was hoping to find a place to display it. Unfortunately for her, and fortunately for me, she never did find an appropriate spot.

Tucked into my son's closet, between his bath robe and his t-shirts, is one of my favourite collections -  the books I enjoyed as a child.

We put them on a bookshelf behind closet doors a few years ago. I didn't want to box them and forget about them. I wanted to share them with my kids when the time was right. But, we had to keep them out of sight for the most part because our kids tend to destroy everything in their paths.

I am avoiding the thrift stores at the moment, seeing as I must be stopped from adding to my giant collection of dishes. I will be visiting my sister soon and she will no doubt drag me (kicking and screaming of course) to the nearest thrift stores.

In the meantime, I thought it would be fun to share a look at our mid-century telephone table. My husband and I bought this from a friend many years ago before we had a house or any idea of what our interior decorating would look like.

This week, I'm calling on all of you expert collectors out there to help me with two questions: What is this thing? And, what should I do with it?

My mom gave me this (very large and heavy) crock last time I was at my parents' house. My husband was really thrilled, I'll tell ya. One more thing to add to the collection of dishes, knickknacks and assorted furniture that is crowding our house at the moment. But I am a sucker for anything with a sense of history.

My love of all things vintage continues to grow.  So I was pretty excited when fellow vintage enthusiast Holly from Gidget Sews sent me some of her new vintage-inspired aprons. If you're embracing the "new domesticity" like so many of us are, you'll enjoy baking your next blueberry banana muffins while wearing one of these lovely aprons.

Holly makes aprons for women, children and dolls (of the standard American Girl or Canadian Girl/Maplelea variety). My daughter loves putting on aprons when Mom does and she was over the moon to get aprons for herself and her doll.

Just when you think you have one of your clutter problems under control...

My husband built a whole bookshelf dedicated to movies and vinyl records. He painstakingly alphabetized the movies and then the records. Everything fit, with just enough wiggle room to get your fingers in between the albums. Life was good.

And then we visited my parents again and this happened...

 

We all know how powerful music can be in bringing us back to old memories. I was reminded of this recently when my husband got a new needle for his record player.

Last week, I told you how I found a vintage sewing basket while shopping for thrifty kids' clothing. I also found these assorted small treasures.

I'm a bit of a sucker for items that are displayed nicely. The clever thrift store employees arranged shelves of neutral-toned items that all worked in harmony with one another. I picked some lovely pieces from these shelves.