Older is way better.
And no I’m not talking about people. I’m fighting that one tooth and nail, but I love me some antiques. Especially family ones. And I don’t mean fancy, pricey stuff–I just like cool stuff with a story! I think that’s the key to a great house–mixing in neat old family things with more current things. A house with no character is, well…just that. Yes, I love to go into a perfectly decorated house where every detail is attended to, and all the furniture is shiny–no nics or scrapes–but these houses are not as homey as I like. And unless I bulldoze mine I’m gonna need to embrace a bunch of old stuff 
I took a whole ton of pictures and ended up uploading them in no particular order–it took forever, so we’re stuck with it. Mama got no mo time.
So, we’re starting with a collage of old family photos. I like to mount the old photo on TOP of ivory linen so the deckled edges and stuff show (too band they don;t make em’ like this anymore ): I did these for Henry’s nursery–gathering childhood photos from each member of the family. They are now some of my most cherished things.
Speaking of linen, I am a sucker for it. Matt’s family had lots of beautiful tea towels with amazing monograms that I keep out. Mom and I collect antique hankies too (with our initials on them). remind me and I’ll post them sometime. They are DEVINE. When I got married I found one for my mom, grandmother and mother-in-law to have during the service.
Now I have a few of these tiny chairs…this one didn’t get old in MY family but it’s gonna get older in it for sure. My mom used to frequent the antique stores in Pine Mountain, Ga. when she still lived in my hometown of Columbus, Ga.–and being the sweetheart that she is, most trips yielded something special for MOI. She picked up two of these when I was decorating Henry’s nursery. Later I painted this one robin’s egg blue and the kids sit in front of the warm vent in the morning to put on their shoes or to give Wheeler some lovin’.
I remind mom how lucky she is often, that I love this stuff as much as she does. Imagine passing all your treasures down to someone who hates old stuff! She sent me this precious vintage valentine this year.
Most of you know that my husband is an archaeologist. He is a stickler about preserving and archiving, but since he’s always digging dirt he sometimes finds stuff that has no real importance. I’m sure I said that all wrong but I tried. Anyway, now the kids bring in little shards of glass and other goodies they unearth and we keep them in this grain scoop (that yes, my gifted husband carved) inside this beautiful bowl that he also made! (I think the arrowheads are replicas given to Henry–if not, we wouldn’t have been able to keep them).
For a brief time there was a consignment furniture and antique store down the street from where I live. It didn’t last long but before it got away I snagged this antique (and very primitive) meal bin (used for grains). We use it for tupperware on one side, and dog food on the other.
I bet that you’re thinking I live in an awful, musty old-lady house. In context it isn’t as old looking as all this I promise! But this post is about the old stuff so I’m staying on topic.
Anyway–these are antique kitchen utensils…some from Matt’s family and some from mine. They are on a bottom shelf in the kitchen, used to prop up cook books.
Here’s another mom-find. She literally saw this chair on the side of the road in someone’s trash. Yep–my dignified Southern Mutha went dumpster-diving. Ha.I bought a few fabric remnants, had the center piece monogrammed and voila! an elegant side chair in the dining room. Granted it has suffered a red wine spill…but that just means another fun project someday.
Mom has also given lots of beautiful frames from our family but she has a knack for finding them in antique stores too.
This photograph was done by Michelle Miree Smith–a Birmingham photographer who does this beautiful, hand-tinted vintage stuff. I think her photos are bar-none, the most lovely there are. The little table in the picture was built by my great grandfather (is that right, mom?) and Clara is wearing a dress that was mine (mom says it was hand-me-down from one of her friends little girls but I prefer to believe that it was mine all mine.
These are on the mantle in the basement. Matt found a couple of them, and one was found by my friend Joey who does landscaping. I begged him for it and he relented (the JUMBO one). Isn’t it wonderful?
Now some things make it into the house that I’m not all that keen on (You will NEVER see the aluminum foil rooster art–don’t ask). This green PLEATHER chair belonged to Matt’s grandfather and Matt was insistent that we use it. The good news is that it’s has a cute shape so I had a linen slip cover made and conceded. The cushion feels like a hard, plastic pancake but one day I intend to change it to a fluffy down one (He won’t even notice
When I was writing for CityView I decided my collection of old things needed an antique typewriter. I needed to look no further than the big old barn at Matt’s parents house in New Hampshire where a myriad of treasures lie. You won’t believe the other one I adopted…it’s coming up.
Because our house doesn’t have a guest room, we built (ha, MATT built) a murphy bed. It was MY idea but that’s as far as that goes. It is built from reclaimed lumber from a barn Matt bargained for on a dig.
The first year that we were in Tennessee I freelanced. I was doing illustration work for Stacy Claire Boyd and picking up graphic design projects. Sweet Matt found this old drafting table from UT (it was under a co-workers deck under a tarp). He bought it from him, and worked for hours on end (in secret, after I went to bed) to refinish it for Christmas. I adore this table.
I told you this typewriter wouldn’t disappoint! Have you ever seen such a thing?
I have a couple of these old metal fans, passed down in my family. I think they are the COOLEST. ha. I am sooo clever with words, no? Check out that antique STAPLER!
This trunk was in Matt’s parents barn. It was missing the lid, so Matt built a new one (of course he did, right?) from wood out of a ka-gillion year old barn on Gage Rd. in New Hampshire.
I got this idea out of magazine (Cottage Living I think–the saddest demise of any magazine EVER). I ordered them off ebay from two separate places and painted them. We use them at
our island as stools for the kids. Not everyone “gets” them…people try to put trash in them etc. but that’s okay, WE do.
Here’s the other little Pine Mountain chair. It used to sit atop Henry’s little wardrobe. Now they sit at the coffee table in it on the rare occasion they are allowed to take food into the living room. Hey, I have my sanity (and upholstery) to preserve. Believe it or not, I even sit in it on the weekends so I can work while I watch Jersey Shore marathons
This is Great Aunt Maggie’s desk. I cherish this little desk. The ink well is an heirloom too–and the lam was Matt’s grandmothers.
Victorian photographs….mom, were these from our family, or Matts? I can’t remember ):
Spectacles found in the Gage barn. Henry loves these since he wore little gold wire frames like this until he turned 10.
Great Aunt Maggie’s little autograph book…
The clock that I remember chiming away during my childhood…
This cool old bench sits in our mudroom…I bought it from my friend Miriam who was no longer using it.
Back in my younger days when I was single and living in my own apartment I discovered junk yards. I went crazy, hauling home old screened doors, windows. My neighbor said myapartment looked like Cracker Barrel. And I don’t think it was meant as a compliment. Most of it eventually ended up, well, back in the junk yard…but I could never part with this louvered door. The table is more Handi-Matty work. The wood for the top is from that ka-gillion year old barn in New Hampshire I told you about. Those strange cone things are hat forms that I found at an estate sale in Knoxville. If nothing else they are a conversation starter.
Another family frame…my favorite I think (with a Michelle Miree Smith photo of Henry)
I also love boxes. LOVE them. Mom has given me these as special gifts through the years. One holds a nutcracker set, one is an artists palette and one…well, I can’t recall at the moment.
This is by far my favorite tiny chair and definitely one of the things I cherish most. It belonged to my grandmothers best friend Evelyn. For the first five or six years of Henry’s life he was photographed in it for our Christmas card. I had planned to use it EVERY year for all eternity but somewhere along the way the tradition fell by the wayside. Look out though, it could be back any year now.
Mom gave me this old mirror–not sure it was a family thing or something she picked up. Sort of primitive…I love it. I also have a milking stool fetish.
I bought this one at an antique store in New Hampshire.
More boxes, and Matts beloved cribbage boards. He made the super rustic one and the other two are from his family.
The level is part of a greater antique tool collection that mom has gifted Matt over the years. As I’m sure you’ve gathered, he is quite the woodworker.
Matt gave me the larger box early in our relationship, and the seed box came from that estate sale I mentioned earlier.
Matt built the book case and the doors are some of those windows I dragged out of the junk yard!! t wouldn’t be complete without the National Geo’s
Matt has been collecting since he was a boy.
We have the perfect little hallway nook for most of the tools…
One of the oil cans was actually mine in art school–I forget what the stuff was called but it took adhesive off stuff.
Yes, I also love bird nests. Most years our birds return and build nests on our porch.
I KNOW mom, it needs polishing. Girl, I got bigger fish to fry. I polish it when company’s a-coming. I use this little sterling sugar dish for soap in the powder bath.
This is some sort of professional bakers stand. Mom and I got it at my favorite store in Knoxville, Michael Peters Home. I use it to store my plates.
These hang in my kitchen. The pizza oven thing came from a prop sale at Southern Progress (I worked for Cooking Light for 14 years…I think this was a Southern Living prop).
You don’t need me to tell you that mom got me the others
I just adore this watercolor. One of my mom’s best friends from childhood, mothers painted it. Did you get all that?
This breadbox was in Matt’s grandmother’s kitchen. It’s kinda ugly but we use it–it works and I dig it.
Sometimes Matt brings home a little treasure like this in his pocket. I’ll discover these things on top of the dryer amid receipts, coins and dust bunnies.
I love architectural remnants and started collecting them in college. My sweet friend Elizabeth gave me this one year for my birthday.
I know, I know, TOTALLY un-pc, but my mom who lives in Charleston says these things are all the rage now among the Gullah.
(The Gullah are African Americans who live in the Lowcountry region of South Carolina and Georgia, which includes both the coastal plain and the Sea Islands. Historically, the Gullah region once extended north to the Cape Fear area on the coast of North Carolina and south to the vicinity of Jacksonville on the coast of Florida; but today the Gullah area is confined to the South Carolina and Georgia Lowcountry.
This one came from Matt’s grandmother’s house after she died.
See, these things are plenty useful too
I have 
I have a few vases that were my grandmothers…this is one of my favorites…
This old Mail Drawer is from Michael Peters Home–just right in my mudroom/foyer
There is no shortage of antique books…I come from a long line of literary fanatics and history buffs as does Matt.
Another antique tool and an excerpt from a letter (he proposed in it!) written by my Great Great Grandfather to my Great Great Grandmother. I had a calligrapher copy it to frame and enjoy during the time that I was engaged and planning my wedding.
Some where along the way mom started a spool collection. She has since given them all to me but these were my friend Miriam’s.
When she de-cluttered her home she gave them to me.
More spools and a pulley that is part of the tool collection.
A milking stool from England (mom gave it to me)
Yep, another tool
More of the vases that belonged to my grandmother
This is the top of the table in the mudroom. Look closely and you’ll see the old farm symbol edged into the center…so New England!
My friends know me well. Karen got me these in NY. Aren’t they COOL?
More old books along with some antique printing blocks
Another stool. This one has something to do with a sewing machine…from my family. I use it in the bathroom (for the kids to brush their teeth)
There are so many wonderful stationers these days and most birth announcements are more cool than old-fashioned. But I went the very traditional route–Crane’s Engraved.
These are mounted on linen like the old photos.
Mom just gave me this (for Christmas). She got it from her favorite antique store in Charleston. Perfect for jewely and whatever else I manage to stuff in there.
My grandmother bought these in San Francisco when she was young. Mom and I found them in a closet…I really love them.
A lovely Gage linen
This marble topped table belonged to Grandfather, Henry Ritch Callaway. His name is inscribed on the underside. We use the table by our bed.
They just don’t make them like this anymore.
You may not love a tattered rug like I do…I think this one is the coolest. Bought from a shop in Birmingham, along with another one…I use them in our bedroom.
A made-to-look-old mirror (Michael Peters Home) hung with an architectural remnant given to me by my friend Elizabeth.
This old spool chest has a story. It was in my family but back in the 70′s my moms best friend Carolyn bought a farm in Alabama. The house was an old rambling structure held together mostly by dust I think. She and her family labored and toiled and made it into a home we all loved (they called it Maranatha):
Mar`a`nath´a: “Our Lord cometh;” – an expression used by St, Paul at the conclusion of his first Epistle to the Corinthians (xvi.22)
Anyway, mom gave this to Carolyn along with a few other things to help fill her farm house. When I graduated from college Carolyn gave it back to me. I use it as a jewelry box.
I coveted an old tripod lamp at Michael Peters Home for the longest…but hellllllooooo it cost a FOOOORRRTTTTTTUUUUNNE. So imagine the GIDDYNESS that ensued when I found this one in New Hampshire at a store right down the street from Matt’s parents house. It isn’t as cool as the MPH one but I think I paid $60 for it and it was already wired and everything. Then I bought the LAMPSHADE from MPH. I felt so smart
I LOVE the photo of my grandmother, Sarah Lucille Lyon (at top) on the day she married Henry Ritch Callaway.
The photos below were taken by my friend Emily and the frame was in my family.
This is my ALL-TIME favorite photo…Lucille and Ritch (those are the names they used) with my MOM! (Linda Ritch Callaway)
A vintage evening bag that belonged to my grandmother. She was quite the fashionista in her day.
Check this one…pretty fab, huh?
The other COOL fan
This is one of those things you inherit that you are not sure what to do with. I had no place to store it and no formal living room so I upholstered it to go in our bedroom.
A little weird but we’re trying to make it work.
The childhood photos also included me and my brother Robert. These are in my bathroom. They make me smile.
Amazingly mom had a stash of games from her childhood. I framed this one and it now resides in Henry’s room.
The trunk on the bottom was purchased for my first post college apartment in Greenville, SC. It was my coffee table.
Mom gave me the one on top around the same time. I had intended to paint it and line it with fabric but it never happened.
I was born in England (We lived in the Cotswolds). Mom framed this cloth map…maybe it was a tea towel or table cloth–not sure?)
anyway–I dug it out of the basement and hung it in Henry’s room.
This is a handmade rag rug from Matt’s grandmothers house (she was one month shy of 100 when she died). The rug is made from old nylons that were dyed. It was so dirty that I really couldn’t tell how colorful it was–but I knew it was a keeper. I had it cleaned and WOW. I love it–perfect in Henry’s room.
This pillow was made from vintage linens (a tablecloth and a Callaway hankie). The hand-tatted lace was made by a great great somebody in my family.
This is in Clara’s room.
Okay, so I forgot to focus but you get the gist…the families engraved baby cups…so sweet in Clara’s room.
more old books and my most treasured trinkets. Growing up I collected angels and these are the only ones still on display.
Oh my. They are so dear. Check out moms old girl scout handbook
These hooks were in my bedroom as a child and now they are in Clara’s
The sterling tray holds little notes from my moms birth (and yep that safety pin sealed her cloth diaper–or maybe mine? Not sure on that one.) Anyway, this was my moms idea (borrowed from Martha perhaps).
and still remains in Clara’s room.
A treasure trove…trinkets of mine, my moms, a few antique finds purchased for Henry’s nursery, sterling baby spoons…
and WHAT? I have come to the end! More than you bargained for right? Maybe I am exempt from posting for a day or tow, ’cause I’m EXHAUSTED. Plus, I have WORK to do.
Don’t know about you, but I sure did enjoy my walk down memory lane!
