Furniture and stories

I can count on my fingers and toes the furniture that I have bought brand-new. (I don't count assemble-them-yourself metal or plastic bookcases.)  My mother taught me to appreciate antiques and bargains -- that is, why buy new when used will do?   Used furniture comes with stories -- where purchased and sometimes how much paid.

This green pie safe was the first piece that I bought with my own money.  I got it in 1977 at Boeker's antiques (it was more like a junk shop) on South Day St. in Brenham, TX.  It cost $35 and I had to pay for it in two installments. There was a little scrap of newspaper (remnant of shelf liner) with Czech text that I still have tacked inside the cabinet.  When I painted it I learned that it is better to pour out the paint into a smaller container than to dip right from the can -- because I dropped the can and found out how far paint can splash!  I starched muslin for the panels in the doors, just temporarily....and they've worked just fine for 36 years. This cabinet has been in kitchens and home offices in the places I've lived since.  The soft green paint has worked fine in each location. Now it holds greeting cards and other office supplies.

 Mind you, we don't NEED any more furniture.  When my husband retired and we combined households (after a 20-year commuter marriage in which we'd managed to fill up two houses) we had to rent a storage locker for the pieces that won't fit in the house but are too good to give away. 

So, to come to the inspiration for this post, HERE is my latest acquisition. It was FREE!

Several weeks ago I posted that I'd gone to Northbrook for a funeral.   Debbie had never married and lived in the family home. Her sister Pam was my classmate. She said they'd sold the house and that cousin Sue, another classmate, was coming for the weekend and would I like to go down to see them?  Certainly! When I got to the house they were finishing up.  "Would you like a dresser?" Pam asked. "None of us wants it."  Of course!  Pam's teenaged nephews put it in my car.  It is now in the basement storage room  until I can find a better place to put it.

And here is another treasure from the estate!  Sun Valley Dairy was in Highwood, Illinois.  It was the dairy that delivered to our house, too.  I've never seen a Sun Valley bottle and I was delighted when Pam said I was welcome to it.  (The liquid is water and cornstarch, to better show the lettering.)

Pam, Sue, and I had dinner at Northbrook's historic Landmark Inn which we were never allowed to enter when we were kids. (Back then it was a tavern called the Cypress Inn.)  It is always great to get together with people you've known just about forever--conversation jumps from the present day to the past and back again with no pause.