What Draws Us to Antiques?

My Grandparents Wedding photo

Cornice and sheers from Grandmother on other side.

I received a question from someone that wanted to know: 

 ''where do you shop for decor (especially antiques)''.

I smiled.

I was born and raised on a farm to depression era parents.

Folks who lived through the depression didn't get rid of anything, nothing, nada, zilch - why? Because "you may need it one day". Being on a small farm there was room to keep everything -

neatly in order and sorted.

Dad was a Carpenter by trade and always brought home 
anything that was going to be thrown away. He was the
 original recycler/upcycler. 

Wile remodeling the local JC Penny's this pattern cabinet

 was going to be tossed, He brought it home to store

his welding rods in. It now holds some of my crafting supplies.

Examples: on the weekends 
I sorted nails he had brought home, if he needed a tool
 he made it from what he had.

Corner cupboard Dad used to store tools in that sat out in the 

weather for as long as I can remember.

I always loved it, why would a little kid love something like that?

I brought it home when we cleared out the farm

, my oldest Son helped me bring it back to life.

What does all this have to do with home decor and antiques?

A lot of what we had had been passed down 
from generations before. 

Mantel Clock was my Grandmother's.

Unfortunately it no longer works,

but that doesn't bother me.

Uncles had made spindle back chairs, my Grandmother was an excellent seamstress, did beautiful crocheting,

Gloves my Grandmother made

 tatting, embroidering. My other Grandmother made quilts. 
My mother was the most wonderful cook, 
as well as seamstress.

When it came time to clear out the farm after my parents passed,
 it was the most difficult thing my Sister and I have ever had to do.
All the out buildings had to be torn down, but cleared out first.

My playhouse no longer exists

 How do you look through 60 years of someones needfuls, some which evoke heart touching memories and let them go to another home. It took us 2 years and 4 Estate Sales (that's after we went through and kept what we wanted). I don't know how many van loads I brought home.

I saved the escutcheon from the playhouse door, 

it now hangs on my wall. Cornice and sheers are 

from my Grandmother's bedroom.

The painting to the left is of my Grandparents

 500 acre ranch in the Livermore hills.

Wishing I had a larger home but at some point you have to detach your feelings and memories from the items and just purge. Very, very difficult. Thank goodness 
we had my Sister's husband to help. 

So the reason I smiled when I read the question was because all most all of my antiques are passed down from my family.

Trunks and suitcases Mom used when following Dad during WWII.

The Birdcage on top was my Grandmothers.

Getting back to the title of this post - What draws us to antiques? Why am I drawn to beat up enamelware, maybe because I have this picture in my mind of always seeing a beat up enamelware bowl leaning against the barn as I walked down the lane when I was little, something about that comforts me. Brings back the warm memories. Why does my Sister collect pulleys? There are feelings deep down inside that touches us when we see certain items. They call to us. I could list tons of things I'm drawn to and collect.

One of the rabbit feeders now holds my hot glue gun

 and dispenses hot glue sticks

Love it!

Or is it the wonder of the history of the item. 
If it could only talk and tell us what life it has had
over the last 50, 75, 100 years.
I'm sure we each have our own distinctive reasons
why we are drawn to certain items.

Oil Lamp belonged to my Great Grandmother.

Insulators are from our farm.

Vase was Mom's

Where do we find these beauties that speak to us?
I know not everyone isn't as lucky to have these lovelies fall into their laps. Antiques and collectibles can be expensive and out of reach for a lot of people, like me. Yes, I love the hunt for Treasure
and still look for what calls to me ~ be it an old desk top clock (working or not) to a beautiful plate by Homer Laughlin to add to my collection so that maybe one day I'll have enough for a set. But the price has to be right for me,
for you it may be different.

Found these windows up in the garage,

now being used for photo frames.

I love to go to garage/yard sales in older parts of towns. It's generally older people with older items and reasonable prices.

These types of sales can be found advertised in your local newspaper, Facebook, and signs posted usually on busy street corners showing you the way. 

Church Rummage Sales are other excellent venues to peruse. 
They are usually advertised in your local newspaper.

There are 2 churches in my town that have yearly sales. 
One has very reasonable prices and I usually come away 
with a lot of different things. My highlight this year was 
a vintage electric hummingbird nightlight. 
It was 50 cents.

Isn't it cute?

 It works great, but is missing the 
floral hurricane that goes over the bulb. 

After researching found this one on eBay that went for $35.

I'll be happy just to find a hurricane of some kind that will fit.

So I'm on the lookout for a replacement that will work. 

The other church has higher prices, 
I rarely get anything there, but always stop 
by ~ because you never know.

Thrift Shops used to be a great place to find diamonds
 in the rough, but they have caught on to the trend 
and raised their prices. They are still good places 
to check out especially if you're looking for 
larger pieces of furniture. Some have sales on certain 
days of the week which can help bring the price down. 
 You can find them in the Yellow Pages of your phone book.

One of my Grandmother's metal 

shopping baskets turned book holder.

 Antique shops are a bit to pricey for me, 
love to look at all the eye candy though! :) 
I do pick up an item every once in a while. 
Mom always made sure I had a hanky when I was little. 
Mine were children's hankies, and have a couple from 
when I was little. When I see one, usually at an 
Antique Shop I pick it up because they are so hard to find.

These will also be in the Yellow Pages of your phone book. 

Grandma's brooch acts as a curtain tie back

Royal Copley Boy wall pocket was Mom's, 

adore the far away look on his face.

The pièce de résistance for me are Estate Sales.

They run the gambit from farms (which I love)
 to very high end homes.

I always find it interesting to see what 
people have...nosy I guess ;)

Sometimes they are put on by the owners themselves, 
other times they are put on by professional
 Estate Coordinators.

You never know what you'll find. 
You are able to walk through the home and any 
buildings ie. barns, storage sheds, etc. and look.

Some you will need to be prepared to do some 
digging through boxes, shelves, etc..

Estate Sales are usually advertised 
in your local newspaper.

There is also online sites that can update 
you when there are Estate Sales
 in your area, such as estatesales.net and estatesales.org.

There are online sites such as eBay where you can find
antiques. Also search for online Auction Sites, 
I'm not very familiar
with them, but I'm sure everything is explained
 on the site on how it works.

Speaking of auctions, I've never been to one but there 
are some that you bid on unknown items in a box or 
storage space. You take a chance there may be
something good inside.
Then there are those that have the 
high end items you can view prior to the start 
of the Auction. You can also find auctions online at
Invaluable. They auction beautiful 
vintage jewelry along with other antiques.
But as I said I am unfamiliar with
these, I'm sure you could find information
with a search online or even in the Yellow Pages.

However and whatever you find or are
looking for wishing you a great find!