Taking a break: Days 4 and 5

After accomplishing so much in the first few days, I got pretty tired!  I didn't get much done yesterday or today, but people tell me that sometimes it's ok to do that (I tend to find it nearly impossible to sit down and relax).  I spent some time with friends I don't see too often, and that was really great.

Sunday's activities involved going to a few vintage furniture stores because a friend of mine is looking to furnish her new house!  She found some great things and I couldn't help looking with an eye towards our house.  My eyes and love of interesting furniture are SO MUCH BIGGER than our house is and I saw all kinds of neat stuff that I wish we could have... but there simply would be no place to put any of it.  I fell in love with one of the orange 70's round metal stand alone fireplaces (we'd have to get rid of the piano to fit something like that in the living room - and in case you're wondering, nope, neither of us is a piano player), a number of dressers (but I already love the ones we have), chairs, a couple of orange Panton Flower Pot lights, a gorgeous Heywood Wakefield vanity table (even though the table part is so low I cannot imagine actually sitting at it).

I was totally amazed to come across a buffet/credenza that exactly matches our bedroom set - this is remarkable because it's a vintage set of dressers and bed frame that belonged to my husband's grandparents up in Illinois.  It was hard trying to not want to take it home with me because I LOVE reuniting items that belong together!  I've been struggling for a few years with divesting our household of my husband's family's heirloom dining set (buffet, china cabinet, table and 6 chairs)... it's nice quality and solid wood but it's a little frilly for my taste and the table is a real knee-banger due to the extremely low and decoratively shaped apron.  I seem to have developed more of a sentimental attachment to it than anyone else in his family even though I don't love it and it has caused me extreme physical pain nearly every time I've sat down at it.  Realistically, I know that I can't start replacing the furniture pieces until I gear up to move the set along to another home (whenever that will be).  So the matching buffet to our dressers will have to stay at the store.  (the side note hypocritical confession here is that after Christmas I brought my grandmother's Danish modern round teak dining table into the dining room and the knee-banger table has been trying to hide behind the couch in the den ever since)(but that was free!)

I did bring home 3 things: a little mirror with an enamel flower pin stuck to it, a vintage Lifesavers metal trash can which is fun because I still have my Rainbow Brite one and Bob still has his 6 Million Dollar Man trashcan.  The naughty bit is that I also came home with a super cute coffee table for the den... which I have a pipe dream of redecorating like a Tiki room.  Don't worry Bob, your coffee table is still safely in the house, this one was just too cheap and too cool to leave at the store!

my new treasures with our two old trashcans.  and yes, that is actually a shell back green crushed velvet couch in the background.  i have finally embraced it, trying to think of it as tiki-tastic