I have a huge love of brass figurines and I’ve been collecting them over the last 6-8 years. It started with a little brass pig found at an antique mall that we lovingly named “Mr. Pig”. Now it has spiraled to a large brass menagerie of 30 or more animals ranging from lions, deer, owls and even a griffin (Tim’s favorite). I fell in love the weight of the metal and their vintage and distinct nature. Plus, I think the animals are just plain cute. The collection really started getting into full gear when I was wedding planning. I wanted to bring a piece of something I loved to the table, literally. On each of the reception tables we featured 1 or 2 brass animals to tie in with our woodland themed wedding. I had acquired so many animals leading up to the wedding, I had put a stop on the brass collection, that is, until I came across the cutest brass owl figurine that I’m sharing with you today.
What I Found
This post is a bit of a blast from the past, but totally worth sharing. About a year ago I was shopping at the ReBuilding Center, which is one of my favorite stores for finding salvaged materials. On this trip I was looking for old cabinet doors I could convert to chalkboards, but I also came across a matched set of vintage/reproduction lighting that I couldn’t pass up. Lighting is one of my true weaknesses (along with cabinets with tiny drawers). I’d been looking to replace my unfortunate “boob lights” that lived on my living room ceiling and these were a perfect upgrade. Today I’m sharing a few before and after photos of our living room lighting update with my salvaged lighting find.
I’m a sucker for jadeite green. Initially it was just the color that appealed to me, the perfect mint green in my opinion, but now, it has made its way as a personal collection of the actual glassware. Jadeite or Jade-ite is a type of glass made of jade-green opaque milk glass. It made its first appearance in the 1930’s, with its hay day in the 1940’s and 1950’s. There is some reproduction glass still being made today as this type of glass was made popular again by Martha Stewart in the late 1990’s. My personal collection has grown over the last two years, starting with a reproduction bowl I found at Home Goods. Now it consists of a variety of pieces, both reproduction and original by a mix of makers. As of today, it also includes a new-to-me set of jadeite saucers.
I was out at one of my favorite antique malls the other day, Montecello Antiques. On this trip I was by myself, spending a rainy Sunday afternoon rummaging the aisles, looking for anything that might catch my eye. Because I was alone, I made a few loops through. I find it’s hard to catch everything on one pass. On my second or third trip down one of the aisles, a cute little piece of stoneware pottery caught my eye. It was a grayish tone, primitive stoneware pitcher with a shiny glaze and 2 hand-painted navy blue stripes around the belly. For only $8, I decided I could make it a home.