White Milk Glass Collecting

This week we're featuring vintage white milk glass items. We recently pulled our current offerings together on the windowsill and are displaying them as a grouping. White milk glassware makes a gorgeous collection perfectly fitting to Shabby Chic, Vintage, Cottage, French Country and Victorian decor. Remember: 3 of anything makes a collection! Add to your own findings or start a new collection. Consider displaying on a hutch, shelf, mantel, windowsill or cabinet. For contrast or a splash of color, add florals or colored doilies under your white glassware.

White Hobnail Milkglass collection:

- vase

-2 votive cups

~Pair of white hobnail lamps with white marble base (awaiting pretty shades)

~White Hobnail Pots (set of 2 small, 1 medium....place marbles or pebbles in base for drainage and plant houseplants such as African Violets)

White Milkglass Pedestal Bowls/Compotes -these dishes are great for candy or nuts in the kitchen; small soaps or bath beads in a powder room; potpourri and/or tea light candles in the living room; a vessel to catch loose change or keys when you come home; or showcasing small collections of shells, marbles, or buttons. We lace ribbon through the rim to coordinate with displays or season. They are easy to switch out for holidays or room decor.

Wardrobe & Vanity Set

We hit the jackpot this weekend, having found these 2 antique furniture pieces at a moving sale. The funny thing is that the people who sold them to us were just as excited to get rid of them as we were to buy them! I'm so glad we actually got out early enough to get first dibs on these babies. Nothing was priced at the sale, which generally means the owners expect high prices but may very well drop them as the days wears on. Knowing everything was listed in the newspaper as needing to go, we thought we'd give it a chance and find out what they were asking before the opportunity passed. Both were reasonable enough to not pass up. Even more amazing, we fit everything in the back of the Escape! The owners even helped to load them! Can't beat that! We tend to surprise quite a few people in how much we can pack inside a vehicle!! Mom has a natural talent for packing. It's an artform!

The vanity has a beveled tri-fold mirror and matching bench. There are 2 drawers with original pulls. Measures 33 1/2" long x 18" wide x 30" high (55" high to mirror back). The stool measures 17 1/2" high x 22 3/4" wide. Currently available in our shop and just listed on Lancaster, PA Craigslist @ http://lancaster.craigslist.org/fud/1283708199.html

The wardrobe/dresser measures 33 1/2" long x 32 1/2" wide x 49" high (with back edging 54 1/2" high). There are 2 full lower drawers. The double door at top open to 3 additional drawers (could be removed to use an entertainment armoire). Also would work nicely as a linen or china buffet cabinet. Craigslist posting @ http://lancaster.craigslist.org/fud/1283736955.html

Of course, if I had these pieces for myself...I'd love to see them coated in a luscious coat of cream or white paint and glass knobs. Some people cringe at the thought of painting natural wood (my husband being one of them), so we decided to bring the 2 newcombers to the shop and offer them at reasonable prices for our customers. We'll let them decide what to do with them: use as-is or cottage-ize them! If they don't move in a few months, we may opt to update them. We'll see what happens. The set is currently on our porch outside the boutique as there is no space available inside. Packing items for display is also an artform if not a challenge!

Creating a Beach Cottage Feel with Shells

In the boutique, we have a beach cottage theme going on for our seasonal display which will hopefully spark some ideas for your own homes. Here are several snapshots of different pieces that are both simplistic and creative ways to decorate with shells and common all-season objects.

1. Glass terrarium - add a bed of sand, shells, beach pebbles, driftwood, sea glass, etc.

2. Vintage vanity mirror/tray (this one we painted a pale cottage blue) with mosaic glass votive cups and scattered shells.

3. Shells tousled along a lamp base.

4. Shell-tied votive cups atop another vintage vanity mirror

5. Dress up the garden (or inside) with shells inside a birdbath.

Glass Tealight Diplays: Limitlessly Awesome

We picked up a few new glass tealight holder cylinders that allow lots of creativity. They are basically a blank, glass slate which you place tealight candles. The first style come in three sizes, 5", 7", and 9" tall. Each has a separate glass candle cup which sits securely into the top of the cylinder. The beauty is that both can be filled with whatever your heart delights...or the mood strikes...or the season calls for!

We filled the tall one with sand and shells (not as full as I would make it if using it in my home, but just enough for customers to get the concept in the shop). We placed sand in the tealight cup as well to continue the theme and allow the candle to fit snuggly in place. To expand the whole beachy look, you could add small pieces of driftwood, sand pebbles, sea glass, and/or starfish. This makes a great spot to display mementos from a vacation (in any environment).

The second cylinder is filled with buttons in complementary shades. Again, we placed some in the base and in the tealight cup to complete the look.

The third cylinder is filled with tiny rosebuds. Any type of potourri, faux flowers or dried snippets from your garden (lavender would be awesome) would work just as well.

What ideas do you have?? I'm thinking: small vintage glass balls and tinsel for Christmas, candy corn for Halloween, conversation hearts for Valentine's....

I have to say, I bought one of these from a PartyLite show a month or so ago. It was wayyyy over-priced and, unfortunately, the candle cup didn't even sit level. Since it was not exactly stable, my daughter accidently knocked it over and shattered the base. With VCB prices (1/4 of what the PartyLite versions cost), you can afford to buy several. They look great individually or in a grouping of the three sizes. They also make awesome gifts and can be customized for any occasion or event. They truy are limitlessly awesome!!

The other glass tealight display is pictured below. This has a tube-like cylinder that sits horizontally on a tabletop. There are tiny feet to support the base and slots to hold five tealight candles. Again, the creative factor is limitless and versatile enough to change it up on a whim. Since we're in the full beach cottage mode these days, we filled our sample with a collection of pretty shells.

Plexi Goes Chicken

This is our newest piece: a jewelry display cabinet that was taken from bad to beautiful. When we picked up this piece, it was a dreary, dark wood corner cabinet with the absolute most ugly (straight from the disco era) burnt orange swirl pattern plexiglas panels in the top doors. I saw past the ugliness and into its potential. We took out the plexi and replaced it with chicken wire (cut to fit & stapled inside the door panels), gave it a good cleaning followed by a coat of primer, and blessed it with a double coat of white paint. This former nightmare has been transformed into a pretty, cottage-style cabinet/jewelry display. Unfortunately, it's not for sale! We truly needed a new place for our growing jewelry display. The wire works great for hanging earrings and the bottom doors show off necklaces from the attached hooks.

You could achieve this look for a kitchen or dining room cabinet as well....or even a cute corner bathroom cabinet for housing spare towels, soaps, and such.