When I was pregnant the first time around, I was told by more than one friend that my home decor was going to need to undergo some major changes before baby arrived. In other words, anything fragile presently being displayed should probably be tucked away in safe storage until the kid was in college. When I found out I was having a boy, the comments came more frequently and with some urgency. Although I did listen to much of the wonderful advice about babies and raising children from dear friends and family, I made a firm and clear decision not to pack up the special treasures I enjoyed having around me in an effort to keep them intact. For one, I hate the idea of storing anything for fear of it being broken. Second of all, I had a plan to teach my children from day one what objects around the home were toys and what special items just weren't meant to be played with. One advantage to this ideal is that I can generally take my little guys to other people's homes and even into antique stores and trust that they know not to pick up and handle things without asking first. I now have a 2 and 4 year old boy in the house and still have my collectibles out on shelves, tables and mantles where I continue to enjoy them (that's right, they are still intact!). That being said, as conscious as my boys are of mom's special "breakables," boys will be boys and I've come to accept that rough housing is in their DNA. The recent influx of weapons, i.e. light sabers, swords, and nerf guns in our home (thank you, hubby) have put the collectibles in jeopardy of being an "accidental" casualty of some jedi vs. droid battle. However, mom has a little secret weapon of her own that has more than once protected the treasures from the occasional nerf bullet gone astray. My most fragile pieces are temporarily but undeniably "stuck" to their respective surfaces. Quakehold Museum Gel keeps things in place and a little bit goes a loooooong way! I like that it's not hard to remove my collectibles from their surfaces when I want to dust or rearrange too. I don't understand quite how it works, but it does...it's magic!.
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| I un-stuck my pottery collection from it's display cabinet this week and had fun doing a bit of fluffing and rearranging. I found the aqua colored book last week for .50 at a thrift shop. I love the color, the little symbol on the front and the way it ties in the aqua colored vase that was my husband's grandmother's. Apparently decorating with books is the new trend...so fun! |
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I also love mixing in special photos with my collections, especially if they help to tell a story. This sweet photo of my grandmother and her girlfriend was taken in the 1940's. None of these pieces came from that particular grandmother but they were made during that same time period. |
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I purchased this darling corner cabinet from Tracy of A Cottage Industry last year. I've told her about how perfectly it tucks into the corner of my kitchen but I thought I'd share a photo now that I've had a chance to collect a few pieces of pottery and display them the way I'd planned to. If you're not already following Tracy's blog, you should definitely go check her out! Reading her blog is what essentially inspired me to start my own! The cornucopia vase on the right is from Hull's wildflower series. It was my first Hull purchase and probably my favorite!  The vase on the far left is from the Magnolia collection and seems to be a fairly common piece, but beautiful nonetheless!.  This sweet little Thistle vase is more rare than the other two pieces. I am not sure what attracts me to the thistle flower but I am always drawn to dishes and pottery with a thistle motif. Aside from my 3 treasured Hull pieces, the rest of my pottery is unmarked and I bought them simply because I loved the color, shape and/or they were a darn good deal! It's a colorful collection but with a crisp white backdrop for which I am linking up to Faded Charm's White Wednesday party! Are you a collector of vintage pottery? I'd love to hear about your favorite pieces! I hope to share that furniture redo/repurpose project with you this week! I know I said that last week...but it's taking a little longer than expected. Hopefully my chandelier will get hung before week end too! Aaaa....so many fun projects. First things first...laundry! Okay, maybe not such a fun project, but it's got to be done! Thank you so much for your visit today! I absolutely love reading your comments and can't wait to visit your blog and see what fun ideas and projects you're working on this week! In addition to Faded Charm's White Wedensday, I am also linking up with A Beach Cottage today for BC Wedensday and Somewhat Simple for SYS Thursday! Best Wishes and God Bless! Amanda |
