Vintage enamelware and antique shopping tips

Many people have asked where I get my antiques. I thought, instead of e-mailing everyone individually, I'd do a little post on the topic. Disclaimer: I am NOT an authority on antique shopping in the Chicago area or anywhere, for that matter. You can find many articles like this written by more experienced collectors online or in print. BUT, I am glad to share my personal experience with the hows and wheres of antique shopping.

First, some shopping philosophy.
Above is part of my collection of enamelware. I also have a couple casserole dishes being used for book storage and likely a few pieces gone MIA. This is a good example of how I've applied my most common shopping criteria: items must be cheap, colorful, old, and should travel easily (meaning, I don't need an alternate mode of transportation for hauling it home).
Now, once in a while I stray from this. I may purchase a large piece like this cabinet. Or this desk. Or this chair. Or my kitchen table (to appear later). But, seriously, not very often. Once in a while I may fork over a little more cash, but typically only if it's been given to me for fun spending purposes (like as a birthday gift).
I don't get stuck on one item. Many things I buy in multiples because collections are fun and attractive to display or use in sets. But I'd rather have many small collections, like these needle books or these rolling pins, than one large one. Besides, I don't have the perseverance for finding every manufactured piece of enamelware, for example, or the financial resources with which to pay for it all. I think I'd get sick of it if that's all I had, anyway. I need variety.
That being said, these varied items or collections still need to fall into the same general categories, allowing them to live in harmony in my home. For example, I would not pair a mint condition 1970s metal avocado green bread bin with black plastic handles with a rusting 1940s metal bread bin painted white with red lilies. I think time period, color, and materials (or perhaps condition of materials) are key for marrying vintage odds and ends in your home.
I tend to like items that fall into these categories: kitchen ware-primarily 1940s/50s, toys, small painted wood or metal furniture pieces, fabric, table linens, or quilts (I don't have much to show for in the fabric categories, particularly quilts, as they are harder to come by in good condition and in my price range). Knowing this makes my shopping a tiny bit more efficient.

My antique shopping philosophy checklist:

• Know your spending limits.
• Know your storage/display space at home.
  
• Know your storage space for traveling.
• And, often helpful, know your storage space and relationship boundaries with your parents. Is your mom willing to store your gigantic antique (that you can't cart home on the plane) until you can transport it by car?
• Know your style-what colors, materials, and time period attract you? Do those things work well with each other and with the other items in your home? Do they fit your other criteria?

My antique shopping tips:

• Know what you'd like to have more and less of and then focus on building and getting rid of a collection.
• Browse other stores and online shops to become familiar with typical prices for items you like.
  
• Find some reliable dealers. This means you'll need to be familiar with selling prices and at least be comfortable with the dealer, if not friends. Listen to other patrons' experiences. Read feedback, if you're shopping online.
  
• If you come across an item you think you love, but aren't 100 percent convinced you don't have something more important on which to spend your money or you can't think where in your home you would put it, then go home and sleep on it. Four things can happen: 1) You may realize you don't have the space, after all, or you may get a speeding ticket on the way home (which would answer the money part of the question), 2) You may forget about it (I like this one best), or 3) You may decide you can't live without the item, go back to buy it and find it's been purchased by someone who didn't have to go home and think about it, or 4) You may decide to go for it, and you do, and you and your antique live happily ever after.
• Peruse some decorating magazines to get a sense of what styles, materials, and colors go well together and to help confirm which looks make you most happy.

Now for the wheres of shopping. Yikes. This is not a short post.
Know first-
I may have found ONE item, total, at one of these locations or many items.
Sometimes I hit a sale at a typically high end store or find a hidden treasure at a low end one.
Sometimes I stop at a store as I'm passing through a different town during a long trip.
I have not done much shopping, anywhere, since I've had kids.
Chicago is big and I have not covered it all.
It's just good to know those things.

The "Where I've found stuff" checklist:

Sandwich Antique Market-greater Chicagoland
Kane County Flea Market-greater Chicagoland
Volo Antique Mall-greater Chicagoland
Heritage Trail Mall-Wilmette, Chicagoland
Secret Treasures-Evanston (just north of Chicago)
Edgewater Antique Mall-Chicago, my neighborhood
Broadway Antique Market-Chicago, my neighborhood
Lincoln Antique Mall-Chicago
Chicago Antique Center-Chicago
Salvation Army Thrift Stores-Chicago
Village Discount Outlet-Chicago
Unique Thrift-Chicago
Garage/Yard sales
Some random stores in Chicago that don't exist anymore, thrift and antique.
Other stores I can't remember without the help of a shopping buddy.
Random stores on the road in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri (particularly Springfield), Texas (particularly the Forth Worth area), and possibly other states.
Last, but not least, my grandfather's house. My grandfather is a part-time junk collector. He does some buying and selling and keeping and giving to grand kids. This is usually a hunt for treasure among non-treasure, but it's cheap (free) and has often worked well for me. This is how I acquired my trucks, some of the enamelware pictured above, and some other little goodies.

That is absolutely all I have the brain power for. I hope that answers your questions!
Happy shopping!

Red and blue, I still love you

I was directed to a lovely blog yesterday and found yet another person, or several if you read the comments, enamored by the red and blue (light blue/turquoise/teal) color combo. I have been a member of this admiring group for some time and after reading that post was prompted to capture a sample of my red and blue on camera.
Thanks again, Jess, for the pretty banner.

Rolling pins

My collection. Not nearly as big a collection as some I've seen in magazines, but enough for me. I'd rather have a lot of small collections than a few big collections, I've learned. Keeps it interesting.
Anyone rolling out pie crust this week?
Happy Thanksgiving!

I'll be back next week.

Vintage canisters

It's been awhile since I've shared something vintage. I'm a sucker for color and I'm always drawn to the reds, yellows, pinks, blues and greens of what usually falls in between the decades of the 30s-50s. I have this greenish set of plastic canisters which includes flour, sugar, coffee and tea (the tea is missing a lid and not pictured). Then I have this similarly colored single tea canister. It's my favorite. I would love to have a red set someday. Why? No reason other than I love to look at them. These days they're pretty much of out of the way, but still visible. Sometime I'll share my metal canisters. And then the cute metal shelving. And then that vegetable bin. Oh, and the cake tins. Ahh! So many beauties! If you have a favorite blog highlighting pretty vintage pieces, let me know. I'd love to take a look.

Vintage spice jars

One of my favorite pieces of vintage red. Six clear glass spice jars, with charming and colorful decals, neatly contained in their own little red wall rack. The decals chip any time they're touched, though, so I'm wondering if there's anything I can do (besides never touch them) to preserve them on the jar without marring the appearance. Hmm.

Cream and Sugar

I love colorful 1950s melamine dishware. I have several random cups, saucers, plates and these three cream and sugar sets. I'm always tempted to grab more when I see them. Definitely eye candy for me.

Nut dishes

I have these nut dishes that I picked up at a flea market. I'm not 100 percent sure how you're supposed to use them. Do you put nuts in one side and empty shells in the other? I don't really serve nuts, but I feel like for as long as I've had these I should have come up with some other way to use them for serving food (mini servings of crudite with sauce?). So far, I have just enjoyed displaying them with other brightly colored dishes. I love the colors and I love that they're plastic so I don't have to worry about them being damaged. Aren't they cute?

I love strawberries

I LOVE strawberries. Mainly, eating them. But they also happen to be my favorite color and sometimes the subject in vintage kitchenware, which I also love. We got a delicious box of strawberries from the store yesterday (above) and I am reminded that it's time to research the local fruit-picking schedules. If you've never picked your own fruit fresh from the orchard, you need to try it! As a family, we've been picking blueberries and apples for the last few years and have also picked blackberries, peaches, and cherries. Somehow the strawberry-picking has not worked with our schedule, but I'll try again this year. For you-pick orchards, I always check the Pick Your Own site and this one (which is limited to just a few Midwest states). You can also check your state's Chamber of Commerce or tourism site.

Here is an old family favorite strawberry pie recipe:

Bake your favorite pie crust and allow it to cool.
Fill with fresh, washed, cut or whole strawberries.
Make filling:
1 c sugar
1 c water
2 Tbs cornstarch
1 small pkg strawberry or raspberry jello

Mix sugar, water and cornstarch in a pan. Heat until boiling and thickened. Remove from heat and stir in jello. Pour over berries in crust. Refrigerate until set. Top individual pieces with whipped cream, if desired.
(This is also great for fresh blueberry pie!)

Update: Oh yeah, makes a great peach pie, as well.
And we did get to pick strawberries this year, with a blackberry bonus!
See blueberries here.

Kitchen scale

I've always wanted a bright-colored vintage kitchen scale and found one not long ago at my favorite little antique shop. It was a steal! I haven't even wiped it off and it looks great. Probably would have looked even better with more light, but Chicago hasn't really gotten it's spring sun yet.

Repurposing

One decorating practice I tend to use frequently in my home (honestly, before I ever read it as an actual piece of decorating advice!), is to "repurpose" vintage objects....Take old objects and use them for a new purpose. These are just a few simple examples. Casserole dish for book display, magazine rack for aprons/linens storage, truck for book display, vase for flatware, and refrigerator crispers for sewing supplies. We also use a breadbox for office supplies, metal vegetable bin for entryway shelving, egg basket for produce, and I was once working on turning a red metal baby crib into couch seating. That one hasn't panned out yet, but someday.

Coffee Birds

I thought it would be fun to post on a few of my favorite things. Pretty, old (I guess the hip word is "vintage") nostalgic things are inspiring to me and perhaps fun for someone else to see or remember.
These are my Coffee Birds. My grandmother had a set of these (there are 6) when I was a kid and I remember my sister and I drinking chocolate milk from them. We really loved the cups. According to my mom, my sister and I christened them "coffee birds" (since we saw my grandmother drink her coffee from them) and would ask for them as such for our beverages.
I don't know what happened to her set after junior high or so, but somehow they were out of sight for several years. (Actually, I think they flew away during a move to a different house).
Then, my husband and I happened upon some at an antique store in Wisconsin and I had to have them! They were very cheap; I'm sure they're not worth much at all. I've seen a few more in shops since then and always have a hard time passing them up.
I would be interested to know when they were made and where they came from, but not enough so that I've bothered to research it. They were probably a "dime store" find or something equally insignificant, but nostalgia is great for making something seem really valuable.
I love my coffee birds!

Favorite Things

This is where I keep my coffee birds and other happy, functional collectibles. So far I've managed to keep the kids from doing any damage here.
This cabinet has joined our family recently since the little ones were pulling things off the baker's rack I previously kept here. I love the glass doors (with charming bright color decals) to show off colorful craft supplies and my favorite storage boxes, antique refrigerator drawers.