Added to the bucket list

 a few more little bucket lamps 

for the breakfast room

 these ice cream buckets are painted a wonderful aqua/teal green

 you may not remember my other bucket projects 

so here is one to take a peak at

 the custom shade I had made in fabric from those wonderful 

old drapery panels 

my new neighbor Ellie

so generously gave to me
you can read that post here and here

Ellie is hard at work renovating her home

 and I am hoping she will let me have a peek next time I see her!

 this is a small and sunny little space just off the kitchen 

and will change a bit when the kitchen is renovated

  there is not much room 

so every square foot matters

 I'm not sure how I will re-work the furniture 

but I like it in this cozy space and I think it is right for the age
and style of this ranch house in the country

 the roof line is really odd and low 

but can't be changed unless we pull the whole roof off

so that needs to be worked around

 I probably should have a table with leaves to extend the size of the dining area

but....just don't think I will do that either

 I'm sort of committed to the idea of small and tidy

which makes life pretty simple in this house

 there will be a window seat where the vintage planter is now 

so the lamps will need to be placed somewhere else

it's interesting how the vintage Ralph Lauren fabric on the shades

and the Benison fabric on the chair seats go so well together.

 I love these lamps in this room and will need to come up with some new ideas how I can work them into the new kitchen design

 do you have any creative ideas
or interesting spots for table lamps?

I'd love to hear your ideas

happy remodeling!

kelley

Vintage Water Bottle Lamps

Making lights out of jugs, baskets and buckets is really fun.  It's sort of that philosophy of:

 "re-think, re-use, re-cycle"

 I saw these old bottled water jugs in their original wood crates and knew they would work perfectly as an interesting lamp base.

Each bottle was different but both had great detail and a blueish green color to the glass. 

 I love the diamond pattern of pressed glass with the bottler's logo, Arrowhead and Bustanchury

The old crates were sturdy and only needed a good scrubbing to clean them up before I had them rewired.  This one has some great old green paint.

I have a small grouping of vintage seltzer bottles on that table too. 

 Probably about the same age (50's ?) 

which is why the glass seems so similar.

Recently I have collected some of this old Mexican tourist pottery.  It looks great filled with oranges and lemons from the orchard

No, I'm not collecting birds nests...... but this was abandoned with one perfect little cracked blue egg. 

 It was so interesting and simple that I couldn't throw it out!

Below is another lamp made from an old basket wrapped jug.  I used a rawhide shade on this one and the color of the light diffused by this type of shade is really nice.

Below is one of many ice cream bucket lamps I've had made.  You can still find them on Ebay or at flea markets with original paint.

The shades are covered in left over grass cloth wall paper.

These are some decorative jugs with really interesting wicker wrapping.  I got them from a local designers warehouse sale.  They were great just as a decorative item but now wired as lamps they are useful too.  The shades I had made from some vintage hemp fabric, run horizontally.

The shades for these little buckets are really fun.  I usually try to think of how the fabric will be best run on the particular shade shape that I choose.  I like the fact that these have very little in the way of detail.

I am working on a really unique ceiling fixture too and will be sure to share it with you when its all finished.


Have a wonderful weekend!!!!!
~kelley~

Why I Collect Stuff: the honest truth

This post started out as more of a question to myself as to whether or not I should start collecting vintage toy trucks...yes!!!!! can't believe it myself but it is true. So I had a moment of soul searching and thought, why do I keep collecting things?

When I started blogging a mere two months ago, I put in my profile that I enjoyed collections, with my collections being "a tangible record of where I have been and who I am now". I since removed those words as they seemed like an added distraction to my profile but in retrospect nothing could be closer to the truth.

I became a serious seeker of "interesting stuff" around 1990. My oldest son had been diagnosed with a terminal form of Lymphoma and I quit my job to spend what small amount of time he had left to be with him. In a mere year my life was a daily dose of anxiety and hospitals. My beautiful son lost his battle with cancer on July 3rd 1991 and it feels like yesterday.

After his death my days were very empty; really quite suddenly. I found myself without much to do and needed some sort of creative outlet. My prior employment with a major retailer as a buyer and clothing designer left me with a wonderful sense of color, a love of fabric and I suppose the need to "buy" if you will.

I took my then 5 year old, youngest son (now 23) with me on about a two year continual trip to the Goodwill, Salvation Army and just about every antique mall and flea market within a 60 mile radius of our home. With our income now cut in half, I had to be a cleaver negotiator. Suffice it to say; this is why I am a collector. Collecting saved me in a sense, it cut short my loss a small bit and I found some weird sort of solice in the daily hunt, hoping to nab a deal that I knew was a windfall.

Collections regrets? not really. A few coulda, woulda, shoulda's maybe. But no regrets. I have since parted with almost every item I collected during those rough years and have started new collections as my taste has changed and my income has grown. I do have a very fond memory, however of a beautiful yellow pond yacht that was $275 and I just couldn't swing it...damn!
ROSEVILLE POTTERY lousy picture but I still collect it and love the colors and textures
INDUSTIAL SEATING AND STORAGE I have at least a dozen of these lab/drafting chairs made by Toledo and use them for everything
ICE CREAM BUCKETS Lamps, storage, garden, general cuteness and always great color
FIRKINS I have collected these for about 15 years, great color and interest in the sizes and shapes
JADEITE & YELLOW WARE I don't collect either any more but found gobs of these in the early 90's for really low prices. I sold my last really great yellow ware bowl on ebay about a month ago
DEPRESSION GLASS I guess you could say this is where it all started, I picked up cups and saucers, reamers and s&p shakers for pennys. We actually used the stuff at parties and dinners, alot got broken but I loved the hunt!
VINTAGE TOY TRUCKS yet to be determined?

This yellow truck is listed on Ebay for $2800....why? Should I start collecting toy trucks....maybe not.

I hope you liked this post, I enjoyed writing it.

best~*~ kelley