A Favorite Space

I have long been fascinated by this office image (I've even shared it before here) and I think it will be the inspiration for my future home office in our someday house. I love the colors, textures, details, everything.

I've always wondered what house this pretty little office belonged to. So I did a reverse image search to find the source. It's from a beautiful Finnish (?) photographer and the whole house is lovely, as I was sure it would be.

I think I'll move right in!

{live beautifully}

Courtney

Latest Vintage Finds: Ironstone, Estate Sale Scores and More

Hello friends! With packed weekends, full schedules and lots of life getting in the way, my photography, blogging and shop keeping have suffered a bit. But, to make up for it, I do have some fun new finds to show you! The fact that it's now light into the evening has opened a whole new world for me and I may actually have a few things to blog about now that I can photograph things after work! 

I founds these beautiful ironstone pitchers in different booths at an antique mall this weekend and totally fell in love with their details. The one on the right is actually from my own collection, but the other two will be for sale in the shop. I'm having the worst time letting the larger one go as it's much more ornate than my pitcher, with prettier details.

The smaller pitcher (which is still a very good size) has this beautiful star burst on the handle, as well as scrollwork beneath the handle's arch.

You can see why I don't want to let this larger pitcher go - beautiful beading, ribbons and flowers make this a unique piece!

I also found something I have been searching for forever - a perfectly shaped vintage glass cake stand. It was actually the smallest in a set of three, but I couldn't afford to bring the whole set home. I am forcing myself to part with it and it will be at the shop this week.

Love the classic silhouette!

This little French tip plate is a fun find that you don't see often here. It goes nicely with the red stripe tea towel - made from an authentic grain sack. The tea towel is quite large and perfect for the grain sack collector or if you'd just like to bring the look into your home without the price (I'm asking $15 for it).

These are just a few of the finds that are heading to the shop this week. A few weeks ago, Abbe (who owns The Cottage) was out estate sale-ing and hit a great sale. I was stuck at work so she was madly texting me pictures of items asking whether or not to buy. She did a great job for me and came away with quite a few fun things. This is only one box of what she found - I didn't get to photograph the other. I'll have a 31 piece set of English ironstone for sale, some beautiful silver, lots of pretty ironstone sets of small dishes and bowls, and the rest you see here.

This pitcher and the little bloater pot you see next to it will be staying with me though. My friend Joey found them long ago at an antique store and after she tired of them in her home was kind enough to pass them on to me. She knows I love vintage typography. These two pieces are so unique!

All the finds look so great paired together! I am loving this little vintage stack!

Here you can see the gorgeous typography on the English bloater pot. Too pretty!

 If you're interested in anything you see here, it will be for sale this week at The Cottage Collective in Wichita, KS (sorry I only sell locally and can't ship). We're open Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Hope to see you there!

What have you all found lately? Any good estate sales or vintage finds?

{live beautifully}

Courtney

Vintage Find: Trophies

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I am loving the look of vintage trophy collections right now. The patina, silhouette, engraving and history all make them such a unique find.

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I love this large trophy used as a topiary planter.

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A large collection of loving cups is even more striking surrounded by black and white.

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While I was at The Bottoms Up market during KC's Warehouse Weekend last month, I scooped up my first two vintage trophies. They are from Scotland, which makes them even more unique!

Another find from Bottoms up was a pair of these arched leaded glass windows from France. I really bought them for our next house, envisioning them flanking a fireplace or in front of a pair of windows. But I think it's fun to lean one on the side table for now. I loved their shape and the latticed leaded glass.

I'm hoping to grow my collection, but these little guys don't usually come cheap. I think I got pretty good deals on these two, but I've hardly come across any others, much less for a good price. If anyone knows of any good sources, let me know!

Have you started any collections lately? What are you loving to pick up at flea markets?

{live beautifully}

Courtney

Catching Up

Hello friends! How are you all? I have been a bit absent from the blog recently. I've been just focusing on "doing life" lately, and keeping busy with work, the shop and friends and family. We are hoping to buy a house sometime this spring or summer, and I think that's also sort of paused my love of decorating our apartment. I am ready for a new space that's all our own, and don't feel there is much more I can do in our current rental, as much as I love it. But not decorating also means not a lot of blogging. Instead, I have been doing lots and lots of instagramming. If you'd like to follow my daily adventures, I'd love to have you join me!

Despite the lack of decorating, life has been very full lately. The first weekend in March, my junking buddy Leah and I headed to Kansas City's first Friday Warehouse Weekends. As I've shared before, t is my very favorite antiquing! I took a few photos with my good camera, as well as many instagram shots.

I thought this piece with all the numbered cubbies was amazing! There are so many unique pieces at Bottoms Up like this. Once I have a house to buy furniture for, I have a feeling a lot of it will come from Bottoms Up.

A pretty collection of vintage bottles in one of my favorite booths.

This booth was another of my favorites - lots of architectural salvage, ironstone, wire baskets and unique finds.

See what I mean about the ironstone?!

This was a shot of the back of my car after we had done the majority of the damage. We had a blast!

This industrial display was at Liberty Belle Antiques - they had phenomenal things and beautiful displays!

When I got home, I snapped this shot of some of the "smalls" I picked up in KC. I was beyond thrilled to learn that Country Living featured my photo on their Flea Market Haul blog. It has always been my dream to have our home featured in Country Living magazine, so this was a cool first step for me. My very favorite thing I brought home were those silver trophies. They were imported from Scotland, which makes them all the more special. I have always wanted to collect vintage trophies, but they're something that I don't see often. I was thrilled to start my collection with these two! I also brought home a pair of French arched leaded glass windows, which I'll show you soon.

The next weekend was one of my best friend's wedding. She married Matt's cousin, who we introduced her to several years ago. It's so amazing that one of my best friends who I've known since I was 5 is now semi-related to me! It was a gorgeous wedding at Kansas City's Hawthorne House. The ceremony was held in the quaint little chapel above.

With the gorgeous bride - the three of us have been friends for most of our lives, and have all been in each other's weddings. 

A shot of the cute wedding chapel.

Her dress was gorgeous!!

Matt was one of the best men - and so handsome! : )

Then the following weekend was the one year anniversary of The Cottage Collective. I can't believe it's been a whole year since I started the crazy ride of working full time and being an antiques dealer! Here are just a few shots I snapped of some fun things for sale at our birthday bash.

This weekend I got four days off of work (the perks of working at a church!) and took full advantage of the time off.

Friday was spent with my mom enjoying lunch and browsing through local boutiques (and our favorite, TJ Maxx). We always have the best time together! Above is one of my favorite local shops - Roo Grayson. 

On Sunday, our church had their Easter service in the historic Orpheum theater, and I was loving the architecture.

After delicious Easter meals with both our families, Matt and I got to take the first walk around the neighborhood of the spring. Not everything was in bloom, but these gorgeous blossoming trees made warmer weather seem near.

Of course I also took advantage of the time off to do some fluffing with my new finds.

And today I got to antique for more shop goods all day, which I will never complain about : ) 

Whew! I'm tired just writing about all the business that has been the last month or two! No wonder there has been no time for blogging. Hopefully I'll be back to it soon, I sure miss you guys! What all have you been up to? Any fun finds lately? I'd love to catch up with you!

Have a great week!

{live beautifully}

Courtney