Victorian "Chinese-Style" Tables

 Recently I came across these tables in an antique store near my house...........

Aren't they just lovely???  As you can see, they are sitting in my parlour in this photo, so yes.....they have found a home here at Le Beau Paon Victorien!  On April 27th, Erik and I celebrated our five year wedding anniversary. To mark our very first "special" anniversary, I wanted to buy him something special and I wanted it to be wood, since the traditional 5th anniversary gift is wood. These tables fit the bill perfectly.

 Both the large table and the small table have rose marble tops. When I saw the pair, I knew I wanted both of them and didn't want to split them up. The price for both of them was a little out of my budget range, so I tried talking to someone at the store to see if the dealer would be willing to negotiate with me. At first they weren't helpful....the person at the store was a little bit short with me and I went away feeling annoyed, but not ready to give up. I kept stopping back in over the next few weeks and checking on them....finally this last weekend I lucked out! The antique store is moving and many of the vendors were having sales in their booths to try and move merchandise so they wouldn't have to haul it all to the new location, which is across town. This dealer was offering 20% off, but even at 20% off the price was still a little steep.

 When I stopped in last week Friday I bought a vintage lace tablecloth for my dining room and then talked up the tables with the lady at the counter. It was a different woman than the one I had tried to talk to last time and this one was very willing to call the dealer to see what he'd take for the tables. Apparently there had been a lot of interest in them, but nobody was taking the bait. I dangled a price, I left my name and number. He must have thought about it for an hour or two, then decided he didn't want to have to lug them to the new place and that they'd have a good home with me ( I made sure to mention that we have a 1886 Queen Anne Victorian and that we are trying to recreate and decorate in the Victorian style and have a number of antique pieces), because he called me and let me have them for the price I wanted. Score!

In some past posts I have mentioned that our house has five bedrooms; one we use as an office, one is a guest room, one is our room and two others are unused. One of the larger unused rooms we plan on turning into a Victorian "man-cave" for Erik. He is very excited about the project, which we hope to do at some point in the next year if possible. In the meantime, we have been keeping our eyes peeled for things that we can put in his "Victorian gentleman's study". These tables I thought would be perfect for his room, which is where they will eventually go.  The dealer told us they are probably late Victorian period, c.1890s-1900-ish. They came from a very large house on Lake Drive in Milwaukee which is where all the big old Victorian mansions are. They are "Chinese-Style" tables, made for the American Victorian market, which during the later part of the 19th century was obsessed with Turkish, Egyptian, Chinese and Japanese-style decor elements. Having a "Turkish Room" or a "Chinese Room" was all the rage at that time, or "all the crack", to use the popular slang of the time.

Thanks for stopping by! 

I will be joining up with Coloradolady

for Vintage Thingie Thursday!

Antique Parlor Lamp

So , the other day I posted a couple of teaser pictures of something new that Erik and I purchased to dress up Le Beau Paon's dining room.  Click HERE for that post.

We have it hung up now, so I can show you all what exactly it is..........

My apologies for the blurry photos. My camera is getting pretty ancient and I've been having issues with it lately. I think I'll have to start shopping for a new one soon.

As you can see, it's a very fancy hanging lamp! An antique hanging lamp!  Now, I realize that this hanging lamp is actually what is called a parlor lamp; obviously it would have hung in a parlor or sitting room or maybe even an entry hallway, but I just loved it so much and it's RED and all I could do was picture it hanging in my dining room, so that's where it is.

Our dining room isn't actually very large, so I didn't think it would look too small for the space and would look nice as a central light fixture.

The lamp had been wired for electricity at some point, but it began life as an oil lamp. This milk glass resevoir for the oil is usually referred to as the "font". At the top of the lamp there is a pulley-looking wheel with chain wrapped all around it for lowering the lamp so that the oil could have been re-filled. I haven't figured out how to work the mechanism yet, and the chain is a little rusty, so I'm reluctant to mess with it too much; I don't want to break anything!

The previous chandelier in this room was quite large and extremely heavy. It was not an antique or even vintage and I really hated it with a passion. When we took it down, I was astonished by it's weight. There was also a ceiling medallion around the fixture, which is why in the above photos you can see some old crusty adhesive on the ceiling where the medallion was. I will be replacing the old medallion with a new one because the old one had a very small opening that the new light fixture doesn't fit in.  We also found that the big, heavy chandelier was so heavy it had actually bent the metal bracket it was hanging from.

I'm sure some folks that are purists and are restoring their historic homes 'period-authentic' or 'museum-quality' are probably cringing that I'm using a parlor lamp in the dining room, but I guess I'm just not caring at this point. Maybe someday I'll come across a really big, elegant antique chandelier for this room and I'll move this parlor lamp elsewhere, but I'm really loving it here, and that's what matters to me!

My dining room table is still dressed in it's summery pinks, yellows and peaches.

Soon I'll be changing out the dining room decor to be more "autumnal".

Thanks for stopping by!

I'll be linking up with Colorado Lady for Vintage Thingie Thursday

and even though I'm cheating and this isn't a real tablescape, I'll be joining Tablescape Thursday hosted by Susan at Between Naps on the Porch!

A New Store in Town & Some Finds

There are a number of antique stores and art galleries near where we live, which is both fortunate and dangerous.

Fortunate in that I can easily go there to look for goodies.....and dangerous for the same reasons!

One of the stores that we really liked recently emptied out, to our surprise. We wondered what in the world was going to take it's place. We felt sad...empty....apprehensive. There were other stores, of course, but we like having numerous stores in which to hunt; the more the better!

Luckily, the new store turned out to be an antique store. We heard that it had recently opened and that it was called "Antiques and Uniques".  We had to go there.

And I found this.................

Love!!  I've been looking for some pretty curly wicker chairs for my porch.....FOREVER! It was a really good price. I wish there had been more than one.

It matches perfectly with the white wicker plant stand that I found last year. I stole the pillow from one of my Adirondack chairs in the back yard. I have more of this fabric, so I will probably make another pillow or perhaps a cushion.

                         I also found some more vintage embroidered pillow cases for our bed. I can't resist these.

Just look how pretty that is!

 Sorting through a box of doilies, I spotted this lovely butterfly-shaped crocheted doily. How cute is that? I was hoping there was a pair, but alas, there was only the one. I had to have it. The other item is actually a tissue box cover.

I love Battenburg lace and cutwork, so I had to have it. It will look pretty in one of our bathrooms, I'm sure.

There was one other item that Erik and I found and are considering buying. It's kinda big and sort of expensive, but it's something we've wanted for the dining room for ages. We have to look at our budget and see if such an expenditure would be wise before deciding. I hope that I can bring it home and show it off soon!

Thanks for stopping by!

I'll be joining Coloradolady for Vintage Thingie Thursday

and

Courtney at French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday!

Vintage Thingie Thursday: Vanity Brush & Comb

It's another snowy day in Wisconsin.......but it's also Thursday and time to share something for Coloradolady's Vintage Thingie Thursday!



I've had this sterling silver holloware brush and comb my whole life....literally.

They are a little bit tarnished...  (ok, it's a lot tarnished...I need to get out my polishing cloth.)  When I was a teenager my mother gave these to me in a pink velvet case. She said that they had been a gift that I received on the occasion of my baptism. She never did say exactly who bought this gift for me, but she had kept them somewhere until I was "old enough", as she said. They were on my dresser in my bedroom when I was teenager and afer I left home, they went with me to all the different places I lived. Now they are back on my dresser in my bedroom.

There are markings on the brush and comb. It says "Gorham Sterling No.23". All these years I've had them I never looked up information on them before....but now I have. This pattern is called the "Victorian-Chased Pattern" and they are sterling silver holloware made by Gorham. Evidently they were offered as part of a 9 piece vanity set that included another comb, a military brush, mirror, powder jar, a matching tray and several other square brushes. I haven't found out any information about the exact date these were made, but I'm going to guess it must have been in the late 1960s and early 1970s (I was born in 1970).

I keep them on my bedroom dresser on top of a pretty vintage handkerchief. I'll have to ask my mom again if she remembers who gave them to me; it might have been my godmother. If so, she sure guessed pretty well what I would like when I grew up!

Thanks for joining me!

Vintage Thingie Thursday: Cornbread Pan

Today I'll be joining Coloradolady for Vintage Thingie Thursday with one of my fave vintage "thingies": an old cast iron corn bread pan!

I picked this one up a year or so ago at an antique store. I have seen them from time to time, usually they're pretty dirty or even rusty. This one was quite clean on the front. There were a few rusty spots on the backside, but I was able to remove the rust. It's very heavy cast iron. I feel like my wrist is breaking when I try to pull  it one-handed out of my baking cupboard. I just think it's so fun to make food shaped like things!

Aren't these corn sticks so cute?   ha ha.......

I made a Southestern Black Bean Salad the other night and decided to whip up some cornbread to go with it. Yum!

Thanks for visiting me!

Santa brought vintage dishes...........

Hopefully everyone out in blogland had a nice holiday and found some lovely things under their Christmas trees........

I know that I found some nice things under mine.... (Gucci perfume,a great new book, a new All-Clad covered skillet and an ice cream/sorbet maker attachment for my Kitchen-Aid mixer from my darling hubby!)...and a number of other wonderful gifts from my family. Our cats, E.B. and Olive, even found things from Santa under the tree; new toys and a kitty window perch.

There were so many wonderful gifts this year, but I have a couple of favorites that I must show off.......

Aren't these Santa salt and pepper shakers adorable? Each Santa has a snow-globe belly too, complete with snow and silvery snowflakes inside. Shaking salt and pepper onto your veggies was never so fun! These were a gift from my stepmother.

I also received a set of vintage Pyrex bowls in the turquoise 'Butterprint" pattern. I have wanted a set of these forever!

I got all four of the sizes! The "Butterprint" pattern is sometimes also called the Amish Farmer, Farmer and Wife, Buttercup or Rooster & Corn. The turquoise color was supposedly the most common, but it was also offered in pink and white, or orange-yellow and white. I have not been able to find a picture of this pattern in red and white, but I could swear that someone, either my mother or grandmother, had a single white bowl in white, with this pattern in red.  My mother definitely had a set of the "Early American" pattern Pyrex bowls, brown on white.This color and decor scheme was very "in" when my parents built their first house in 1973.  Click HERE to look at other vintage Pyrex patterns. This set was a gift from my mother-in-law.

What did you find under your Christmas tree this year? I hope it was something good! Thanks for visiting!

I'll be joining Coloradolady for Vintage Thingie Thursday....check it out!

Vintage Thingie Thursday: Brass Peacock

Today I'm joining Coloradolady for Vintage Thingie Thursday! Be sure to check back to see all the other posters for this week.

I recently acquired this lovely brass peacock:

He's quite large and even with his tail folded, he's quite stunning.

It's possible there might have been a pair of them, but I only have one. Erik suggested he might come in handy as a door stop. I know I'll have lots of uses for him. He would make a great centerpiece on a table, I think!

Thanks for stopping by!

Vintage Thingie Thursday: Pink Poodle Redux

This week I'll be joining a new blog party, Vintage Thingie Thursday, hosted by Suzanne at The Colorado Lady.

I encourage you all to check it out....and maybe join in the fun!

Some of my followers have probably already seen my sassy pink "spaghetti" poodle, which I acquired by accident a few months back. You can see the original post about it, and the story, click HERE

And I also had shown pictures of this:

It's so pretty, but I have no idea what it might be called.....or even how old it is!

Thanks for stopping by!