Today is another $10 thriftshop challenge day here at French Ethereal and as you probably already know I love heading out and seeing what’s out there at the thrift stores!
This week I found this lovely cut glass bowl with beautiful deep carvings and a lovely serrated and scalloped edge for a mere $4.00. I think I may have shared this story before but it’s worth sharing again.
My great-grandmother Julia Foley collected lots of cut-glass back in the early 1900’s ~ during the time when Americans were taxed on how many things they owned {or on certain things they owned, I’m not entirely sure on this point).
Julia ended up having to sell all but four of her cut-glass pieces to pay the taxes. She kept one for each of her children to have later on. A bigger bowl similar to this one was handed down to my grandmother Helen, who handed it down to my mother Ginny sometime in the late1960’s or early 1970’s.
It always held blown and dyed eggs during Easter and pinecones or colorful glass ornaments at Christmas each year. It was just part of my memories of home as far back as I can remember.
Love the swirls and little star cuts in this glass bowl!
Mom then handed it down to me back during one of my visits to their last home in Connecticut in the mid-1990’s sometime. I have loved it ever since and I think both of them will look lovely this next Christmas holding colorful vintage ornaments,
don’t you?
😉
Trying out different plates and bowls while at Twice As Nice thriftstore.
The second piece I found was really the first found ~ this lovely silverplate chafing dish made by Raimond Silver Manufacturing CompanyThe company began manufacturing silverplate wares in the early 1960’s and later was “acquired by W. and S. Blackington, Co.” in 1966.
The Raimond hallmark is plainly seen on this leg. This pretty chafing dish is in mint condition with no scratches and little tarnishing on it. I believe it may have a lacquer coating on it to protect the finish.
This silver dish cost only $6.00 and I thought the two pieces were good bargains! I plan to use the two together and separately. My first thought was to use this silver chafing dish in our new master bathroom to hold towels rolled up between the two lavatory bowls…
Until then… these two thriftshop finds will grace our Prairie Home and decorate our window quite nicely!
I have several small ones and other larger ones of various sizes
some with handles and others without
that I have shared in different displays over the years.
Last week I found four silver serving trays down
at an upscale thriftshop called
Twice As Nice
in Denton, Texas…
Having fun playing with the focus and light! 😉
Twice As Nice is a beautiful thriftshop carrying gently used
shoes and sandals, Brighton belts and housewares.
But my favorite thing to find when I go is
finding these older silverplate serving trays.
Silverplate trays are nice as they can serve many purposes:
from holding the mail to their original purpose of holding
crackers and cheeses and for serving drinks at parties when they
were first made in the 1940’s through the1980’s.
Similar trays can be found in specialty engraving shops
inside shopping malls and larger department stores
as well as online.
Fun when they aren’t always available when we
need them!
😉
I like to use serving trays to hold tabletop displays
on a coffee table or in the center of my dining room table
seasonally with candles or Christmas trees on top.
These are the products I used this time to paint three trays white.
Back several years ago, my friend Kathy would pick up
silverplate trays at thriftshops whenever she could
find them and then she would spray paint them
white and use them as chargers.
I copied this idea and have a set of six
currently in storage.
She found some really lovely ones with stylized flowers
pressed into their metal edges and I always loved that look.
Happily I found one this past week and knew it would
look lovely redone in white!
🙂
Loving the swirls and tiny flowers pressed into the edges of this silverplate tray!
Here’s a quick tutorial if you’ve never painted
metal trays before…
Painting silverplate trays
I have cheated and skipped this part before, but then the paint
peels off, so… If you’d like your trays to remain painted
here’s how you do it:
*Use a piece of 4-ought steel wool and lightly sand the fronts and backs of each tray.
This will make the paint stick better to the metal and
help prevent its peeling and flaking off later on.
*Cover your table outside or use an old tall cardboard box and follow instructions on the can of spray paint.
Shake can as needed and spray off of the silverplate trays
first to check for lumps in the paint.
*Spray the bottoms first and try not to over spray the edges
too much to prevent dripping onto the fronts.
*Paint in short even strokes ~ I painted on an afternoon when
it was over 90 degrees F outside so I was able to paint
over edges several times overlapping paint strokes
easily without drips.
*Move around after about 30 minutes preventing sticking.
Once dry, flip over and place supports underneath.
{I used gravel rocks under each tray’s back ~ worked great and the irregular surface
really prevented the semi-dry paint from sticking to the rocks.}
Paint the fronts as before using short bursts of paint.
*Paint a second coat on the fronts after the first fully dries.
Mine I had to paint again the next mid-morning.
*Sand back the dried paint with some 220-grit sandpaper
to reveal some metal ~ highlights and picks out the tray’s details.
🙂
*Finish with acrylic sealer in desired finish of
matte or a gloss finish.
Loving the way these painted
trays turned out!
🙂
Here’s a Pinterest pin-worthy pin to share:
Later this weekI’ll be sharing these trays in a festive fall tablesetting along with that brass feathered cutie also found while out thrift-shopping… Sharing with The Hearth and Soul ~ April J. Harris Feathered Nest Friday ~ French Country Cottage Create Bake Grow Gather ~ Shabby Art Boutique
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Good Sunday morning to you! Hope your weekend is going well. Today I thought I’d share my latest $10 thriftshop challenge finds with you.I’ll probably do a double header today as I am still in the process of finishing up the write-up for the blue jeans craft project.Hope to have that out later this afternoon for you now that Hubby helped me to get my computer back up and happy.Computers… gotta love ‘em!😉
Our new dining area situated in our new “Little Home” ~ bright and cozy!
Turns out Apple saysI need a new “top” to my computer as it is the battery which is giving us problems.
So…
With that, now you know why I have been struggling to get posts out the past couple of months. Okay, plus the move to the new “Little House,” but that was only these past two weeks.
I had fun photographing in different lights
as the day went on… 🙂
Now that all the housekeeping is done…
This past Tuesday when I went out for a few groceries I thought I’d just stop by some of the local thriftshops to see what I might find.This day turned out to be a super thriftshop day in that I found two items I have long looked for:
a maiden bust and a small silver tray.
A “new” vintage thriftshop silver plate tray with more thriftshop finds on top.
* An added benefit of becoming one year older: it garnered me a 10% discount at one thriftstore. I call that a win any day!
This chalkware or plaster bust is similar to one I found years ago at an antiques and gift show staged at a woman’s home in Oceanside, CA. That one was priced at $80 and although lovely, it wasn’t in the budget.
Tuesday’s maiden bust cost a total of $4.32, I think, and it was the piece which received the discount. The purchase price was $3.80 discounted before sales tax. The silverplate tray I found at another thrift store and was another good buy at $5.35.
Living in a space where larger items really stand out, I was really pleased to find a small enough silver tray {approx. 9″ x 16″} which we can use for breakfasts in bed, tea in the evenings while watching a movie, or just as a beautiful silvery decoration as is. This sweet silver plate tray may end up all over the place and holding many different roles! It will definitely feature as a serving piece holding goodies when we host parties outdoors and it is just the perfect size for life in an RV.
It is slightly pitted from something leaking onto it but overall it is in good shape and is level. {something to consider when picking up old trays at flea markets, thriftstores or garage sales}
If later I find the pitting a problem, it is easy enough to paint over the piece. I have several larger silverplate trays in storage and one I painted for just that very reason ~ also because I was really wanting a white tray at the time! J
Here a larger charger is used as a tea service in a Thanksgiving post I wrote a couple of years ago.
A few of the other silverplate trays found at thriftshops in California and currently awaiting the move to Texas…
{I may grab a couple when I head back to California during these next two weeks… we’ll see!}
If you’d like to read about cleaning these silver beauties ~ click Here.
Well, that’s it for today’s $10 thriftshop challenge!
Next up is the finished blue jeans craft project I began on
Tea, cake and scones ~ a study in whites and creams… {sigh!}
White and Silver…
Some of my most favorite colors…
Today’s post sharing some past
lovelies with you!!!
A few of the ecru and white lace napkins, a table runner and an Irish tablecloth {far right, bottom} picked up in England. Shot when I was still learning how to use the aperature on our camera to let in light. 😉
Do you ever feel the need to
just daydream? Bringing out my favorite pieces of china and those lacy linens and just the act of decorating our tables {whether they are big or small}, set me off daydreaming… Great for decompressing from life’s trials and also just because it’s a lot of fun to decorate with all that china!
I feel that need a lot. Do you?? 😉
A few of my favorite pieces… found at various thrift stores, flea markets, and antique shops. Most of my silver-plate pieces are 1847 Rogers Bros. ~ Remembrance pattern ~ above, far right
We usually have a few get-togethers
over the summer with family and friends.
Our daughter’s birthday starts the summer parties
here in June and in the past
we always had her school friends over
for a cookout and to swim
then to eat cupcakes or cake
depending upon the birthday girl’s wishes
each particular year.
Our son’s birthday is just on Labor Day weekend,
so his birthdays were always a little quieter
with just a couple of friends over
for a sleepover and swimming,
movies all night, and more cake and ice cream.
It was always rather nice having their birthdays
as bookends to the summer season!
For this summer, I’m making plans
to invite a few of my friends over for tea…
Okay, it’s always
my favorite thing to do I admit
but even with the tea craze
having come and gone
I feel there is always a place
for a good tea and fellowship with friends.
🙂
A favorite photo of a tea at friend Kathy’s former home with all of us from our tea group. This was taken nine years ago now! My how time flies!
I haven’t really had anyone
over to our new place as last fall was simply too crazy
moving every couple of weeks to new locations among the campsites as we took on our camp host positions,
then, winter was windy and freezing
{no outdoor entertaining for us!},
and we have just been too busy
this spring with track season.
But…
now summer is here!!!
and
the weather is balmy,
the afternoon coastal breezes soft and cooling,
and lovely trees providing the
necessary afternoon shade ~
just perfect to invite some guests over
to see our new digs and experience
all that this area has to offer!
One tea I have planned is for the friends
I’ve known for many years now and met
through the
Victorian Tea Society
and
The second is a party for my new friends
met while working here at The Lake!
🙂
The photograph just above
was taken after a tea when all the
silverware was sparkling
in the late afternoon light.
A favorite time of day to daydream is when
I’m making
all that china and silver
*sparkle*
with a good cleaning!
Our powder room downstairs at our Big House. ~ dressed for company!
Did you know that one of my favorite things
to do after giving a tea for friends
is to wash up all of the
tea luncheon’s dishes and all of the silverplate
while listening to music and
watching birds
peck seeds at the bird feeders outside?
I still do that here at our Tiny House,
now I just have to turn around and
sip a cup of tea while peering out the
sitting area window.
Is birdwatching a favorite for you, too??
A favorite setting with the rose plates and bowls brought back from England along with my great~grandmother’s crystal bowl passed down to the daughters. My daughter will be the fifth generation to have it grace her tables!
The lake here attracts so many species of birds
than we ever had at our bird feeders back in Murrieta!
Juncos, towhees (really large brown birds with barrel tummies!),
field and Nevada sparrows, blackbirds,
crows, ravens (so enormous and they love sunflower seeds!).
I’m sorry I don’t have any good photographs
of the towhees for you today.
They are rather shy birds and I’ll just
have to be sneaky this summer and
set up the camera the evening before
so I can nab pics early in the mornings
through our sitting area window!
😉
What kinds of birds are attracted
to your backyard?
Let me know as I love hearing
about everyone’s feathered friends!
I hope you enjoy having them visit you.
(I know you do!)
😉
Pieces of a cake we had at the “Snowman Tea” I gave for friends a few years back.
I Love birdson china, too!
This is a set of dessert plates I bring out each winter
to celebrate special occasions with
and also “just because days.”
You may have seen this set at the big stores like
Macy’s,
which is where I believe I bought a few of these at an after-Christmas sale.
Some came years later from
HomeGoods.
I would stack them in our cupboard and use them
myself for tea and muffins in the mornings
and for special dinners
with the family.
So pretty and fun for every occasion!
My daughter also likes to use them
for her breakfasts.
🙂
A cement piece I’ve had for many years ~ still looking to create something with it!
Anyway, Just a look back at some
“pretties” dressed in whites and silver
fromOur Home to Yours!
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A little tea party for two set in the garden ~ sign found at Hobby Lobby and tea mugs are at Target “Simply Shabby Chic.”
To Have and to Hold ~
Love those words!
In this season of bridal showers
and weddings
there isn’t anything better than helping friends and family
with planning their events!
Just a little party ~
Just a little bridal shower tea
through the internet
for my future
daughter-in-love…
When you planyour bridal shower,
send out invitations at least a month in advance
and a “save the date” for the wedding date
even further out
so none of the party or guests
gets caught unaware.
🙂
When it is time for the bridal shower,
dress your table in lovely lace
and set out your finest china
in pretty spring colors.
Have a tea light candle or two
along with a festive bouquet
in the bride’s favorite colors.
One thing I really wanted to do especially
was use monogrammed silverware.
For my children when they were young,
I found spoons that had their initials
on the handles.
We always used these as their ice cream spoons;
however, I always had
an ulterior motive
{yep, it’t true}
and that was to use these special spoons
at a future bridal shower party…
Love in the garden…
Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments. Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove. O no! it is an ever-fixed mark That looks on tempests and is never shaken; It is the star to every wand’ring bark, Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken. Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle’s compass come; Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom. If this be error and upon me prov’d, I never writ, nor no man ever loved. ~
