Eight New Projects. Happy 4th of July!

Sometimes – not very often – we binge antique. We definitely go to antique stores – “treasure hunting” – a lot. But usually we might buy one or two things. Last weekend was a different animal all together. 8 projects that will take me a very long time to complete. Please don’t look for blog posts on the transformation of these anytime soon. The stuff that will go on the porch will be done soon – the rest, be patient. But I thought I’d write a post to show you what might be amazing – eventually.

My friend Danny, who runs Franklin Heritage Architectural Salvage, puts up posts each week about what they have to sell. Last week, he put up these two beautiful leaded glass cabinet doors. I drooled. I immediately messaged him and said, “If I don’t get those doors, I’m going to end myself.” Because I’m overly dramatic.

(Also, I’d like to point out that those two doors were about the only thing I DIDN’T buy last weekend).

Danny, per usual, said, “No you won’t. Get here at open if you want them, and how about I tell you where I found them?”

Deal. I’d also like to go on the record as saying that if we don’t have money for groceries for a few weeks, it’s Danny’s fault.

So, Danny tells me about Robin and Jim, who are more delightful than the most delightful people you know. They are moving from the town south of us to Tennessee, and are selling a large majority of their antiques. Seriously – if you saw what they were selling, it’s hard to describe the things they were keeping. Just incredible. Besides their incredible taste, they were the warmest, nicest, and loveliest people of all time. We spent the most time with Robin, and he could tell us the background and story behind every piece they had. We didn’t know what we were interested in, and our funds are low, so it was a dangerous place to be in – surrounded by beautiful things with history, being sold by people who wanted nothing more than to drop the prices of what they had if they knew they were going to a good home.

I showed Robin a picture of our house on my phone, and we chatted excitedly about all things Victorian, and I told him that Danny had sent me after I saw the leaded glass doors.

“Oh, those doors don’t work in your house. They are much too new.”

Hilarious. We became best friends.

Doug and I THOUGHT we were just going to splurge on a piece of beveled, leaded glass.

It’s pretty spectacular. It needs some lead on one side, and a new frame. But it was meant to be, as it’s the same width as our front parlor window.

But then inside the house, there was a set of dining room chairs. We bought a table a while back as our Christmas present, and have just been hoping to stumble upon a set of 8 chairs. If you’ve ever gone antiquing, the odds of finding a matching set of 8 chairs are about as good as being struck by lightning while riding a unicorn while reading a news story about how there is now peace in the middle east.

But, there they were.

If we hadn’t bought them, we would have been cursed from ever finding another set for our entire lives. I truly thought I was going to have to talk Doug into buying them. “How can we NOT buy them?” he said. The upholstery, while fun, is at the end of its life. So a bit of a project, but the chairs themselves are in insanely good shape.

The prices were too much (not too much for the quality of the items, but too much for us to be able to handle), but they gave us a BEYOND good deal on them – less for the both than I was hoping to get just the chairs for.

We kept talking. Robin wanted to know what else I might like. I mentioned that the desk in the garage was neat. He asked if I had looked inside, and when I said I hadn’t, he dragged me back.

Lovely shape. Exactly the size I want for my future studio (imagine a chandelier above, of course).

Robin starts to show me around the desk. Side panel? Nope.

It’s a hidden bookshelf!

The desk was made by the Auglaize Furniture Company in New Bremen, Ohio. This undoubtedly was part of their “novelty furniture” line.

The top is in rough shape, but I’ve always wanted to re-veneer something. The feet are also rough – two are split in half, and the other two are pretty weak. If anyone has experience with that, I will take some tips!

So, you pull out the drawer, and there is a writing desk….

….that opens up….

….and has the seal from the company….

….and a spot for your ink well!

The drawer keeps going…

….and you can lift up this nook that holds letters and pens.

Amazing. Price slashed. It’s mine.

“Do you need any egg and dart moulding?”

When I said it’s the exact shade and pattern that was on my stairwell, he just gave it to me.

Then I passed this chair – well, shell of a chair – and I said, “That’s a really fun shape.”

It came home with me.

We met two amazing old-house enthusiasts, and ended up as caretakers for some beautiful things. Amazing.

So THEN, the next day was the salvage day at Franklin Heritage. Of course, we went, and I sort of felt bad because now that I bought the beveled glass piece, I really didn’t have a use for the leaded doors that started this whole insanity in the first place.

But, I found this mirror, which needs a lot of love –

– and this footstool, that needs everything. Like, you know. A top.

So, THEN, when we were working on the porch, Doug was doing some things that were really one-person jobs, which translated into me sitting on the porch looking at things on my phone. I thought about how close the porch was to being done, and how sad it was that we had no furniture for it because the porch ate all our money. So I started playing on Craigslist.

The next day, we came home with two wicker rocking chairs and a loveseat. Though, the loveseat is fragile. I mean, it works, but I really would call it more of a “sit-down-gently-and-hold-hands-seat.”

Again, like everything else, they need some work, but they were cheeeeeeap.

So THEN, on my way to school to get some things done on Monday, I swung by one of my favorite antique stores in town, because they had a big 4th of July sale over the weekend that we didn’t go to, but I saw a wicker coffee table in the background of a picture, and so I stopped to see if it was still there. It was, and it was also dirt cheap. So I snagged it.

So, the good news is that I have completely outfitted the front porch with treasures to be saved and refinished. And we spent hardly anything on those pieces. We also bought a couple of items – the dining room chairs and the beveled, leaded glass – that are incredibly beautiful and perfect finds that we couldn’t pass up. And that fun desk! Also good is that I have plenty of projects to keep me busy now when we can’t afford to do any more rooms for a while!

Also good news, is that we met some great new friends.

If you’re waiting for the bad news, there isn’t any. Treasure hunting is solely about focusing on the good.