Stuff in the house....

Here is another installment of 'inside our crazy  artsy house'...

I'll start with some of the things in my curio cabinet.

This is one of my most favorite sayings...and this one is extra special because it was stitched by my Aunt Eleanor.  Aunt Eleanor was my Nonnie's best friend - she was at all of our gatherings and we loved her so we called her Aunt Eleanor.  I remember when I was little and I stayed with my grandparents Nonnie and Aunt Eleanor would talk every night on the phone!

Here are some beautiful bead and button flowers that Madison made for me.  Can you see the little gnomes and way in the back there is a gnome breaking out of a squash...

I adore this little guy - I can't remember where I found him...garage sale, flea market, antique store???  But he cracks me up with the little bug on his foot.  I think that tiny tea cup was one of my mom's when she was little.

The tiny painting in the background was painted by a good friend of ours - Philip Henri Frasier.  It is only about 5 by 8 inches or so and is just so lovely.  I have another of his pieces and it is about 5 by 8 feet!!!  I love them both.

Here is the Door Mouse that my mom and dad gave to me many years ago.  It is the sweetest little thing and lives in that small bowl inside my cabinet.

This is Lane's beautiful 'Peacock'  - she won a blue ribbon at the Merced County Fair!!!!!!!!  Next to it is a painting done by Lane's great grandfather, my 'Honey'.  You can see where her talent comes from.
I love old books...can you see the stack behind Lane's painting?  Sometimes I don't even read them, but I love them any way!

A glimpse inside my hutch...the hutch itself is from Aunt Eleanor's house.  It has dark wood and curved glass doors in the front and it holds lots of my treasures.   My collection of vintage aluminum and green glass is in this hutch - you can see a bit here.  There is a stack of pretty tins and the one on the very top is what my brother, Brad, and I used to use to exchange goodies back and forth...I think we may need to start that up again!  See the little cream coloured thing near the green glass vase?  That is the handle from the cake cutter we used at our wedding.

In the hutch are also several gifts from my good friend Janet.  Janet loves old things just like me and she is always sending me the perfect gift that she has found somewhere in her travels.  This is my birthday angel.   She is of course my birthday month but even better than that on the bottom she is stamped with my birthday year!!!  Janet and I found her when we were antiquing together...my birthday was coming up and so Janet got her for me.

Another gift from Janet...Janet loves hearts and I love flowers...so when ever we find things with both we buy them for each other.  I think she started that little tradition and I think she has found more than I have.  So you see this green ceramic heart filled with flowers...it is actually meant to hang on the wall and has a place to put real flowers in it.  I love flower frogs and you can see an old glass one here.

Then there is my cork collection...a long time ago I started saving wine corks and putting the date and event of when we drank the wine.  I have quite a few and every once in awhile (in fact it has been too long since we've done this)  we dump them all out, read them, and get all nostalgic.  I see a Father's Day, a family reunion, dinner at Mom and Dad's...

Brian's bar is another interesting area in our house.  There is the crazy bar guy - who makes you think that you have had one too many even before you've had any...he is actually a bottle opener.

There is Brian's collection of shot glasses and misc. bar paraphernalia.  I think these mermaids are for putting olives in your drink - cool huh?

I love to hang things where ever I can (it kind of drives Brian a little bit crazy) so here is a button guy I made hanging by the bar.

For some reason I am attracted to round things - marbles, boccie balls, you get the idea.  I found these and couldn't resist.  I gave them to Brian as a gift - can you decipher their message?  Leave me a comment if you figure it out!  You can also see a milk bottle in the background - that is from when my Honey worked at Marin-Dell.

We are lucky enough to have a coffee bar at our house.  It is very special made from my Nonnie and Honey's old phonograph and radio cabinet.  We had a marble top put on it and it works great for parties (speaking of parties I think I need to have one)...These are some of my favorite cups, from another good friend, Judi.  One of my most favorite places (or landmarks I guess you could say) - the Golden Gate Bridge!

Here is a tea set that I found when I was out garage sale-ing with my mom.  I wanted it so badly and could think of no real reason that I needed it..I went back and forth..get it - no don't get it... finally I just couldn't help myself and so it lives at my house now. It is a children's set and so is quite small and sweet.

Another tea set - one made by that infamous Honey person.  You can see the little sign from his copper shop.  He made this tea set with his own hands...it is a beauty.  He also did the painting in the back - Portals of the Past in Golden Gate Park. http://www.sanfranciscomemories.com/portals/ofthepast.html

The creamer and sugar bowl from Honey's tea set.  He even made a sugar cube picker upper thingy... That is a picture of the man himself!  And a sketch of Nonnie's sister's farmhouse in Santa Cruz.  See those cute little coffee spoons with the coloured espresso beans on the ends?

So.......as you can see my house is full of love...full of wonderful sentimental things...full of gifts and precious things I have saved or that people have saved for me.  And that is only the tip of the iceberg - there's lots more I can show you when you come to visit!

xoxo    Elizabeth