valentine's day Collections at the Fair

valentine's day

I can't help it. I am an Antique Faire lurker. The Sacramento Antique Faire happens every second Saurday of the month, and it is mere blocks from my house. It would be almost criminal not to attend....wouldn't it?

I am in San Francisco for a couple of days, so I thought I would leave you with a few images of collections from the last Sacramento Antique Faire:

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And then there was this wicker bench that was calling my name. I couldn't just ignore it. That would have been rude. So home it came where it is sitting on by back porch.

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See you Friday with some great things from San Francisco!!!

valentine's day I am a Pack Rat. I Collect......

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..........lots of things. Lots.

I inherited the gene from my mother. She is having a Garage Sale this weekend, and I have been commandeered to help. I may end up buying more than I help to sell. My Mom is the Queen of Collecting, and has amassed quite a few treasures over the years, many of which have managed to make their way into my house. Ahem. They found their way over here all on their own. I swear.

My Mom has collected mercury glass, vintage cake stands (and this was WAY before Martha started knocking them off), Ironstone pottery, Celluloid boxes, Victorian shell boxes, Hotel silver, fine silver, Polish and German pottery, books, contemporary art, antiques, twig furniture.....the list goes on.

As I said, I did inherit that gene, much to my husband's dismay at times. He refers to us as "Kangaroo and Kangaroo", a reference to a children's book about two Kangaroos that collect so much they can't fit into their houses anymore. They have a sale and get rid of everything, then start all over. ( I was just trying to find a copy on Amazon to show you all, and all I came up with was a book no longer available, but worth $300!....see, it does pay to hold onto stuff! Now where did I put that thing? My husband is gonna croak when I tell him.)

Anyway.... as I was saying...I do love to collect. I have been collecting hotel and restaurant ware and thought I'd show you a couple of pieces (above...a jelly bowl and syrup pitcher). What I like about hotel ware is that it is not so precious it can't be used. We use ours with abandon...almost every time we have pancakes.

So....I'm curious. What do you collect and do you use your collected pieces? Or just love looking at them? I have a bit of both sorts. Please spill!

Now, where did I put that book?

valentine's day Merry Christmas To All, and To All a Good Night!

I thought I would share a few pictures of our house at Christmas. I am sorry not to have had time before, but we were installing doors and moving furniture up until the last minute before our annual Christmas Eve party! Here are a few pictures of how I did the house:

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Our Fireplace Mantel in the Living Room. I like to use citrus and the kids love to make pomanders (oranges with cloves stuck in to create a pattern). They make the house smell wonderful!

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Our Christmas Tree with many years of collected ornaments, many of them very old from my Mother's family.

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Christmas morning: the tree next to the craftsman stairway of our 1911 house.

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We are still working on the house, and until we repair the fireplace, candles it is! It is a tradition to use the stockings knitted by my Mother-in-Law. They do hold alot of goodies from Santa!

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This Lotte Sievers-Hahn creche has been with me since I was a little girl. My mother collected the pieces over the years, carved by a single family in Germany. They are still available through the German Christmas Gifts website.

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The Dining Room Citrus Pyramid centerpiece.

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My Family Room coffee table with my new Jonathan Adler tray!

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And the citrus cloche idea, I borrowed from Halcyon of Decor Journal blog! It is a wonderful idea, don't you think?!

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Here is one of the little tables I bought at the Antique Faire on the landing to our basement. I think I might have a zinc top made for it. I bought some antique letters drenched in glitter, strung them on a ribbon and hung them from hat rack that had been passed down to me. That is a West Elm red lacquer nesting table with an Asian wire lantern on top. There is an American Indian rug I got from a visit to my Mother in New Mexico, an ironstone bowl of pine cones, and a vintage collection of miniature Christmas trees on the shelf.

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This is the tree that I put in our basement room. I put toy ornaments, carved red beads, and Scandinavian straw ornaments on this one.

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Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Cooper!