We had a wonderful time at Anna's house on July 4 and enjoyed seeing many friends and hanging out at their house. Emily and Brian came--with gifts! In the strange synchronic way, one of the items, a small George Briard tray, had been purchased at the estate sale at the very house where the party was! What more, Anna loved the dish, which reminded her of a childhood dish of her grandmothers and was thinking of it as the inspiration for her kitchen remodel: orange and copper. Hot!
Emily told how her mother did not like to give 'used' gifts and how she had a hard time getting over that herself. Thrifted gifts are the best! If you find something someone will love, they won't care where it came from. In our case, the thrifted gifts included the aforementioned Briard tray, a small tin for the collection and a diminutive Asian statue. Lovely, all. The Asian lady rounds out a couple of recent statues of the BVM I found to a nice little set of three.
The used gift question made me think about Christmases past: my mam-ma lived in a older neighborhood in Tulsa, one that had been quite rural when they moved into it, with the city growing up around it. In the 80s, there was a problem with flooding and the city elected to buy-up many of the homes in the neighborhood and build a water-retention area. One of the home belonged to Miss Brotherton. This had been her family home and she had lived there her entire life, never marrying and only adding to the accumulation of thing already in the house. All of these treasures had to go, so mam-ma volunteered to throw the garage sale of all garage sales. It was legendary. Of course, come Christmas there were lots of extras under the tree--everyone had more presents than usual and we weren't sure why. Then, we began to unwrap and all manner of odd items from the house were revealed. Everyone got something, or several somethings, from the sale. Unique things. From then on, that Christmas was referred to as the Brotherton Christmas. Used gifts! Do it.
We also did a little trifting with Molly, but it seems our karma was used up on a few things. Molly found a great tile topped table in limey greens and yellows. I found a bulletin board in a very 70s design. We also spotted several items of interest along the way.
This virgin and child was lovely, but strangely the same price as...
Huh. Virgin Mary or strange plastic people with happy messages? I guess the gist is the same.
And then there was this strange display:
I can only say: booty-licious!
Molly scored a beautiful tile-topped table in shades of green and citreen that looks fab with her chairs. We spent a little time merchandising them and I think the result was very fun. (Hello Dempsey! Your first appearance on MTSS.)
She also found this great chair which looks perfect with her orange ottoman. I think she has a fantastic orange and green story happening.
Love shopping in Wichita!
I missed one amazing item in the parade of thrifting from the holiday trip--this amazing bird bank seen on the bookshelf with a coordinating owl bank. Mitchell has a small collection of these items that is quickly growing and the bird was a great addition. It has a small sticker on it that read, "Chicken Feed Savings Bank" and another on the bottom that reads 'Imports Enesco Japan.' These items share a peculiar aesthetic and day-glo colors that, as a child of the 70s, resonates strongly with me. It's kind of like Schoolhouse Rocks and color-your-own-black-light-posters-on-black-velvet had babies that were banks. I don't know, it gives me a shiver. Here's a look at the entire collection as it currently stands in addition to a peek at the books on my shelves. I know you like it...
Train Bank
Jalopy Bank
Street Car Bank
