Grandma's Rose Chintz and Pink Glass

Happy Pink Saturday dear blog friends!  My little breakfast nook china cabinet has been gathering dust for months now and I just decided that today was the day!  And what better day to share my Grandma's rose chintz dishes and Great Grandma Edith's pink depression glass with you then Pink Saturday!  After taking everything out and dusting it off, I added some pretty vintage crocheted trim to the shelf edge and tucked some of my favorite vintage photos of Grandma and Grandpa in here and there. 

The rose chintz dishes were my father's mother's.  She treasured them and when she passed away they went to my mom.  The pink depression pieces were my mom's grandmother's.  She collected both pink and green glass.  When she passed the pink glass was given to my mom and the green to my great aunt.  When I was married and settled into my own home, (and started collecting pink), my mom was generous enough to entrust both collections into my care!  I treasure them and love how even though they come from opposite sides of my family, they display so sweetly together!  I miss both my grandma and great grandma and feel like this is a nice tribute to them.  I know they would be happy to know that the pieces they so lovingly collected are being enjoyed and well cared for. 

Thank you for stopping by today!  I hope you've enjoyed your visit!  I look forward to seeing what you've been up to this week!  Please visit dear Beverly over at How Sweet the Sound for the Pink Saturday Party!  For the love of pink!

Best Wishes and Blessings,
Amanda

Repurposed Antique Radio Cabinet...Completed!

It's done!  Finally, the little project I've been hinting at is completed and I think it is definitely worthy of a post.  (I was a bit skeptical at first...shhhhh, don't tell my hubby!)  This was actually his idea and I do love that he thought to repurpose and upcycle an antique furniture piece!  My kinda man!

Funny thing is...I bought this little radio cabinet at a thrift shop because I thought it had a sweet style, then stuck it in our garage not knowing what exactly I wanted to do with it.  My hubby passed by that cabinet twice a day for almost 2 weeks before he noticed it!  I am not exaggerating...he walked right by it at least twice a day!  Typical guy, right?  Gotta love 'em!  "Where did that old radio cabinet come from?" he asked.  As soon as he said it I knew what he was thinking.  He had just been complaining about the big, cheaply made media cabinet in our family room.  I wasn't crazy about it either.  The problem with this radio cabinet was that it didn't open in the front like we needed it to for our electronics.  Hubby insisted that it could be done.  This is where I had my doubts.  I never should have doubted him!  He loaded it up in our truck, took it to his dad's shop and brought it back with a hinged door!  It turned out beautifully!  Of course I gave it a romantic, shabby look with a few coats of cream paint, a little distressing and a ruffly skirt but I am giving the majority of the credit to my honey this time!  Okay, I do my best to only show you pretty things...but I must show just one photo of the ugly black boxes, just so you can see how well everything fits!

I just love how the smaller cabinet opens up our family room.  The room is much more balanced now without the giant media cabinet.

Yes, those are dinosaurs on the coffee table!  I actually picked them up and staged a pretty tea set instead but it just looked wrong to me!  I've honestly never set a tea service on this table before.  This is our family room where we watch movies and play board games with our two busy little boys.  So, I put the tea set back in the china cabinet and set the dinosaurs back out on the table...keeping it real!

Bootsie thought "Oh boy, mom made me a new hangout...the perfect place to jump out and attack the feet of anyone who passes by!"

The picnic basket on top of the cabinet is the one I picked up from Apron Strings Productions at the Junk Salvation Flea on Saturday!  If you didn't see my post about the show, you can read it here.  I am sure you'll recognize many of the amazingly talented dealers who were there!  It was such a treat to meet them in person.  Ladies such as Kathleen with Faded Charm whom I will be linking up with tonight for White Wednesday! 

I am also going to join these fun linky parties:

Pink Postcard for Treasures and Transformations.

Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia for Tuesdays Treasures

The Shabby Chic Cottage for Transformation Thursdays

My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday

French Country Cottage for Feather Your Nest Friday

Thank you for stopping by!  I hope you've enjoyed your visit!  And a special thank you to my sweet hubby who lovingly supports (or puts up with) my love of pretty pink things and who still surprises me after nearly 10 years of wedded bliss!  Love you honey!

Best Wishes and Blessings to You All!

Amanda

Come Shop the Junk Salvation Flea With Me!

 
As promised, I am taking you all along with me to a truly magical vintage show where the Funky Junk Sisters have brought together the best dealers of the Northwest to wow us all with their gorgeous displays and sweet treasures!  Show starts at 8am, so we've got an early morning ahead of us!  Are you wearing comfy shoes?  Did you remember your treasure packing tote bag and a big ole wad of cash (hey, this is dream shopping...go ahead and drain your bank account ;)  First stop, Starbucks for a caffeine fix! 

We'll take that to go please...we're on a mission here!  It's a bit of a drive, but that's okay...we'll use the time in the car to share what we're hoping to find today to cozy up our cottages!  I am on the lookout for the perfect coffee table for my living room and sweet old picnic baskets for stacking and storing fabrics.  How about you?  Just pulled up to the Washington Co. fairgrounds!  This place is hopping with happy treasure hunters!  Here we go...have fun!  Take your time soaking in all the shabby, vintage loveliness!   There's no hurry...we have all day!

Check out this lovely row of blue chairs with skirted covers and Frenchy pillows that greet us as we walk in the door!

A cherried out vintage style camp trailer!  What a treat!

Must stop for a photo with the sweetest gals ever...Amanda and Lila of Apron Strings Productions!  Their space looks amazing and what's that?  The perfect little picnic basket!  Just what I was looking for!

Spring blooms, for real?  Yup!  They are popping up everywhere in here...it's magical!

Isabel of Maison Douce is here working her own kind of magic!  Gorgeous!

Oh yes, it's Lisa with A Thing for Roses!  I muster up the courage to introduce myself and say hello!  She is absolutely the sweetest!

We see several of these throughout the show...aren't they cool?

Okay, hard to tell in this photo but that pillow has an Eiffel Tower on it made up entirely of vintage buttons!

The cutest little gal makes these gorgeous bags.  I over hear her say that she is an upholsterer and makes these from her scraps!  I am pretty sure she made the Eiffel Tower pillow as well.  I wish I could chat with her and get her name to share with you but she is surrounded by women gushing over her creations!

Hey, here's Christa with Chloe Rose Designs.  She is pretty in pink today and her booth is packed full of the loveliest treasures!

The Funky Junk Sisters have set up a lovely display and here are those sweet paper roses they mentioned on their blog!  Linda and Dixie are walking about visiting with shoppers and make us all feel so welcome! 

What a pleasure it is to meet Kathleen of Faded Charm!  Please tell me you link up to White Wednesday each week!  It is one of my most favorite blog parties!  Kathleen's young daughter is here helping today and the two of them have set up one show stopping display!



Oh my!  This little spot is just so dreamy...I can't seem to pull myself away!  If you lose me today, you will most likely find me sitting here...just dreaming!

How yummy is the inside of this cozy camp trailer?  Guess what?  It's for sale!

Now this is my kind of camping!

There must be a wall in my home meant for this gorgeous painting!  It even has a sweet little bird in it!

As always, Tracy at A Cottage Industry has set up the coziest display and the sweetest furniture pieces are leaving her space left and right!  She and Clark have obviously worked very hard to make this spot special and shoppers are literally flocking to it!

There goes a chandelier!  It is unlikely that anything will be left here by the end of the day!  Everyone loves Tracy and Clark's treasures and they are such fun to chat with!  I could hang out here all day!

So, how did you do on your treasure hunt?  I think I bought at least one sweet item from each of these photos (just dreaming!)  I hope you had as much fun as I did!  I sure met some lovely, amazingly talented people!  As my little boy would say..."Best day ever!"  Thank you so much for joining me!  Let's do it again soon!  I hope you'll visit the blogs of some of the wonderful dealers we met today!

Truthfully I came away with just one picnic basket and now looking back at the photos I am wondering what the heck is wrong with me?  How did I pass up so many awesome finds?  I think I was just too caught up in the splendor of it all!  And I suppose I was trying to be practical, thrifty and stick to my "list."  I know, what's the fun in that?  Well, I did have fun...a lot of fun!  And I am so inspired!  Aren't you?

Linking up to Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Friday!

Best Wishes and Blessings to you!
Amanda

Pink Kitchen Tools Welcome, Frog Knick Knacks...not so much.

A girlfriend of mine tells a story about how she once showed interest in a little frog ornament while out shopping with her mom.  Next thing she knew, she was the proud owner of a full-on collection of frog knick knacks.   As it turns out, she's not too keen on frogs but once her mother bought her a couple, word got out that she was "frog obsessed" and one thing led to another... 

For your collection, Nicki.  Ribbit! (cute frog image courtesy of the Graphic Fairy!)

Such is the story of my pink kitchen tool and appliance collection.  In contrast to the frog collection, each and every one of these pretty pinks were a welcome addition to my kitchen!   My parents, my husband and sister-in-law have all contributed to my pink collection over the years for my birthday and Christmas.  I don't mind being "the girl who collects pink kitchen utensils!"  Unlike frog knick knacks, they are quite useful and compliment my cottage style kitchen so nicely!



This pink KitchenAid mixer mixes up a mean cookie dough!



These pretty pink mixing bowls are always on display on my kitchen counter...and they often show up at dinner parties filled with salad.  There is never any question about who they go home with at the end of the night.

Toast just tastes better when it comes from a pink toaster!



Our friends are most amused by our pink coffee maker as my husband is the true coffee connoisseur in our family. Hey, real men drink coffee from pink coffee pots, right?



I had to hurry and photograph these baking tools before my boys saw them out on the counter and thought we were going to bake cookies today!  Seriously, they see the hand mixer and immediately have a hankering for frosting!

Thank you so much for your visit today!  I hope you enjoyed a peek at my pink collection.  Do you have a collection that someone else started for you, welcome or not?  I'd love to hear about it!  I so enjoy reading your comments!  They make my day!  I will be joining the Pink Saturday party with Beverly at How Sweet the Sound this weekend.  Come join us if you love pretty pinks! 

Oh, and don't forget to come back and shop the Junk Salvation flea market with me!  Tomorrow is the big day and if you don't live in the Portland area, I am planning to share the eye candy with you right here in a special post!

Best Wishes and Blessings!
Amanda



Creating a New Mantel Vignette

Our living room is sparsely furnished with a Victorian settee, two blue wing back chairs, a vintage secretary and my repurposed crafting cabinet.  I suppose that doesn't sound sparse, but it looks a bit bare to me...like a few key elements are missing.  Perhaps a coffee table, end table and a rug would finish it off.  Half of the pieces we have in the room were handed down from my parents, the others were Craigslist purchases.  I actually love the wing backs and settee from my mom and dad.  They have loads of character and good bones...just not my choice of upholstery.  As my budget does not allow for a total room makeover at this time, I am hoping to do a little here and there throughout the year to give it a more romantic cottage feel.  This week I worked on the mantel.  I pulled things from around the house to give it a completely different look.  Inspired by many of the beautiful decorating blogs out there, I looked at the mantel as I would a surface to display my treasures at the antique store...an opportunity to create a vignette.  I have more freedom here than I do in the family room where as previously mentioned in earlier posts, there is a flat screen TV just inches above the fireplace mantel...aack!  We had some lovely sunshine streaming through the windows this morning which made for pretty natural lighting ...and I remembered to change the white balance setting on my camera this time.  I noticed that one of my posts last week had some photos with a really blue  hue to them....oops!  I am still learning! 

I am on a quest to find some pretty pussy willow branches (real or faux) for the creamy pitcher.  I was in a hurry to get something in there so I grabbed some low branches from our magnolia tree for temporary filler.  I don't love the look, but now I am curious to see if the buds will open up...so I'll leave them there for a few days at least.

Oh how I love bunnies!  They definitely multiply around my home in the spring, but it is not uncommon to find them here and there during the winter months as well!

My mom bought this darling little tussy mussy for me at a flower show a few years ago.

I am loving the covered book trend that seems to be the newest fad in decorating!  I did up a few of these fabric covered bundles for the shop this week...and one for myself!

This sweet little quail is so special to me.  I often admired it in my Grandma's home when I was little.  I wish I knew more about when and where it was made...all I know is that it was Grandma's and I will always treasure it!

Thank you so much for your visit!  Please head over to My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday, Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Friday and How Sweet the Sound for Pink Saturday...These ladies really know how to throw a linky party!

Best wishes always and God bless!
Amanda