Other times, other places, other hands

I think one of the things I like best about antiques and vintage items is the history. I love imagining the life these items have led before reaching my hands.

There are very few family items in my collections.  My love for de-cluttering is apparently genetic, because the generations before me left little of their daily lives.

So I look at the items I've gathered from auctions and yard sales, and estate sales, and I spin stories.

For instance, I wonder....

What child loved this doll, and dressed her with tiny, careful hands...

What eyes scanned these pages...

...and what eyes wore these spectacles....

And did they share their space with a cat who loved to curl up on a rainy night?

What child delighted to receive a tin rabbit some long-ago spring....

And can tin rabbits become real?

Who was the bride who wore this delicate celluloid ornament in her hair? 
And how would she feel knowing that it was a part of my wedding 
so many years later?

Were great books or passionate love letters written on this typewriter,
or did it live a more mundane life, spitting out invoices or business letters in a back office, typed by a clerk who day-dreamed of sailing the oceans, or climbing far away mountains...

My collections will probably never reveal their secrets.  But the fact that they have them, the knowledge that they have traveled a long path through time and place to reach my home makes them just a little magic....

A few more of my vintage treasures....a tiny iron cat with it's face almost worn away, a hand-embroidered table cloth from the 1930's, a menorah from the 1940's, a page of poetry in a book published in 1917, glass dogs that were once filled with candy, and a miniature goose-image iron, probably a child's toy. 

For more images of vintage collectibles and decorating, I would recommend the blog Creating Vintage Charm...you will be inspired and delighted, I promise!  Even a chronic de-clutterer like me is tempted there! 

10 days, 6 hours and 22 minutes...but who's counting?

I didn't think it would come together, but it is. A wedding in a garden. The tables and chairs are reserved and set for delivery on the 19th. The papers goods, dishes, flatware and linens are on their way. The favors are being made by Barbara at "A Little Something Extra" and the menus are ready to go. Rings, dresses, shoes, veil, flowers, all done. And in our bedroom, a corner has been taken over by vintage serving trays and hand-blown glass bowls and vintage details to adorn the tables. Some of it new, some old and bearing the patina of years or even decades of use and love.

I think I knew it would be a vintage-style wedding from the start, even though I hadn't officially chosen. Looking back on the photos I saved and the blogs I read from day 1, including Vintage Chic Bride (that's one of their photos above, BTW), I was heading in that direction. And then when we found the location...a beautiful garden setting, I just knew. And the collection began. From Home Goods to local thrift stores, I found the perfect pieces for serving tables and guest tables. The only thing I didn't find were vintage table cloths, so I settled for classic ivory linen. It will work.

After the wedding, I'm not sure what I'll do with my collection. Maybe pass some of it on to another vintage-style bride. If you're a South Florida bride-to-be planning a vintage-themed wedding, let me know, and perhaps I can share some of my finds.

But not just yet. I have a wedding of my dreams in just a few days!