Busy Days!

The past few weeks have been BUSY for me at home. The weather was changing, I had old friends coming to visit, a friend gave me two really nice bookcases, and it had been quite a while since I had rearranged my collections. I have so many collectibles, that it's hard to clean and dust, and I generally do that every few months when I move things around. I'll set up a folding table, and take everything off of one shelf at a time. I'll dust them and them place them back in a new arrangement, or I'll pack them up and bring something "new" down from the attic. Above, a rare Hitchcock wooden chair that commemorates the Henry Whitfield House in Guilford, my hometown. The Whitfield house is the oldest stone house in New England, dating to 1639, and has been a museum for almost 100 years. There is a painting of the house on the top of the back of the chair,  with the name painted on the reverse side. Also in attendance are vintage dolls; the Cabbage Patch doll dates to the early 1980s and the bisque doll to the 1920s. This is the upstairs foyer.

Seen here are baby clothes hangers and baby shoes dating to the 1920s. On the wall is a photo of my mother fro 1938 as a nursing student, and on my new bookcase, lower left, is a photo of my dad, also from 1938, the year he entered the Navy.

Two views of a small two-shelf table in the foyer. I've painted it in these vintage bright colors to show off the ornate design of the spindles. All sorts of collectibles may be seen above, ranging from a 1960s Avon cologne decanter in the shape of a 2-seater Thunderbird (in the box, and still full of the cologne), to frilly 1950s floral ceramics, and of course, scale model cars...

In this view, a primitive wooden bookcase, dating to the late 1800s, may be seen at the right. I really haven't met a piece of ceramic or glass I don't like!

The TV screen and a livingroom window reflected in the shiny original finish of my 1955 Grundig Majestic Major console radio/record player. The blond-to-ebony graduated finish is still mirror smooth and glossy after almost sixty years. You've got to love the very Cadillac-like V-and-Crest of the Grundig!

A new arrangement in the kitchen features vases and kitchen implements including a ravioli maker from the 1950s, still in its original box, bamboo napkin rings from the 1950s and pewter candlesticks from the turn-of-the-20th century.

Matchbox-sized plastic model cars, above. These were produced by Jo-Han in the early 1970s. Seen above are a Gremlin, Vega, Continental Mark III and a Maverick, all cars that are relatively rarely made in scale models. I had to build them from kits when I was a teenager. Also seen is a small wooden cabinet dating to about 1850, meant for a "chamber pot" and has rails on the sides for towels. I've restored the beautiful walnut finish and created that impressionistic painting for the front of it.

Hanging on a wall for the first time in more than a decade is a vintage oval frame with an arrangement of dried flowers in it. The glass is convex and the frame is a beautiful grained wood with the grain radiating out around the edges as if from the center of the glass. Hoohoo created the flower arrangement in the 1960s. I'd like to open it up and center it again, but she closed up the back so methodically that I don't want to touch it. It's a snapshot in time, and really, what hasn't drooped or sagged in the past 50 years, lol? The large art piece is of my grandmother and a friend of hers getting ready for a swim, based on a photo from 1920 or so.

My grandmother spent the winter of 1962 in Florida and these very fragile sand dollars date to that time. I'm pretty amazed I've been able to keep them intact all of these years. Johnny Lightning matchbox-sized muscle cars include, from left, a '72 Firebird, '71 Challenger, '70 Torino GT and the pink '70 Barracuda 'Cuda at the far right. The bright lime green "King Cuda" convertible is a Hot Wheels model. A few of the books I've designed are at the bottom.

An IKEA bookcase in my kitchen, a gift from my friend Nancy several years ago. What can you see here? Or maybe it would be easier to ask what you don't see, lol. Items date from the mid 1800s to the present day. I mix and match!

Colors, colors, colors! The "Game of India" board game dates to the mid 1920s, and is basically Parchesi I believe. The blue glass vase is a 1940s item, and the painting at the right dates to the late 1800s. The bronze Model T is a coin bank giveaway from the Guilford Savings Bank in the 1960s, and the little ceramic fairy vase is just cute. Little cars include a '57 Chrysler 300 coupe, a late model Mercedes SL600 roadster, a late '50s Citroen DS in gray primer and a red-and-white '59 DeSoto 4-door hardtop. The pink glass vase at the left has flowers painted on it by Hoohoo in the 1930s. The brass candelabra is one of two Hoohoo gave me for my 6th birthday, already a little piano player. It was her hope I'd become Liberace II, lol!

B O N U S   P H O T O :

A small arrangement of dahlias keeps company with Shirley Temple, Joe DiMaggio, Jackie Robinson and the program to Gone With the Wind, 1939.