Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Junk in the Trunk

   I wasn't fortunate enough to appreciate antiques and vintage items when my grandparents were still alive, although I do remember certain pieces like the old armoir that held toys.........or certain delicate looking trinkets on shelves.  And even though there was a basement full of tools that any man would've envied, there was never a trip to "grandmother's attic" when I visited.  I have imagined this scene lots of times from reading books and being a vintage junkie........there's a huge Victorian attic with lots of forgotten treasures hidden in the dark.......and there was always a chest.  You know, the big old chest that had linens and a wedding dress and quilts and tons of stuff put away in it, just waiting for someone to discover many years later.  So even though I never had a personal experience of finding such a thing on my own, I seem to have started one just out storage necessity.........



                                         It's at the foot of my bed in my bedroom.............



                     I realize I am very blessed with this piece, because even though it isn't from a grandmother or a great-great grandmother, it is an antique that my husband and I acquired a couple of years ago when his sister sold her house in New York, and with it some priceless antiques. This thing is ancient......



                                                            and it's pretty big................



                                                those are some heavy duty handles......




           Since I'm a collector and have always had more than I have display room for,
I started utilizing this trunk for storage.  It pretty much holds things I don't want
to part with or have just run out of a place for....



                                                         alot of my quilts are in here..........



                        There's a small collection of Steiff animals that I got as a child........



and a doll of my mother's, I always call her "Mary Jane"......she sleeps on the doll bed my grandfather made for me when I was little............



And I know this is kinda unsettling, but when I was about 6 I had a beloved
guinea pig, and when she died I held a wake on this doll bed.......I remember that so well; I know it's kinda morbid, but I was only 6, so I guess I can be excused on that one..........



There's some old hangers that used to be in my closet as a toddler.... I remember when I finally got the "normal kind" to hold my clothes up when these became too small.......






                             And then we come to the dressers.  For awhile I had this
                                               thing about vintage doll dressers.....



                                       they were sooo hard to find, and I never met one
                                                     I didn't love and had to have.....







there's just something so endearing about their small-ness (? is that a word?).....I'm a real sucker for anything miniature............



             and most of them have those adorable little graphics on them..........





                           this one has it's own miniature version of mirror-silvering........



I did find ways to use them...........a few of them still have little notes from my children tucked in the drawers








this one still has the little craft sticks my daughter made in elementary school to help her with chores.....





My idea was to somehow put these dressers on a shelf up high around her room, they're really kind of hard to display when you have so many. But the collection didn't happen overnight and I never got the shelf up. Eventually I knew she was way more crazy about animals and horses being in her room than old vintage dressers..........



so now the dressers are put away in the trunk, er, chest..........I'm not sure what I'll end up doing with them since I don't really have any space to display them;  It's hard to give up a collection of anything when you remember how long and passionate you were about it at one time!  I suppose if I keep them where they are, in that trunk, maybe, just maybe one day a little someone might be up in my attic snooping around, and open the lid to find these old toys..........



and while she turns away to go look for a box of something plastic to play with, her mother will get to experience the fun of going through an old chest in the attic!!!

                                            Here's wishing you all a wonderful week!!!

                                                                      devon :)


P.s. I've been adding to my Etsy shop lately, hope you will all take a look at the link on the sidebar and check out the vintage finds at Livin' In The Past !!!

13 comments:

  1. That trunk is beautiful...I love it's golden color. Those little doll dressers are the cutest things! I really love that blue and yellow one :)

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  2. What a wonderful treasure box!

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  3. Oh, how I wish I had something like that for my quilts and linens!
    Brenda

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  4. Your treasure chest has some AMAZING treasures!!!! Love those little dressers....so cute!
    ~Des

    PS. I am now following you on Google....hope you will follow me back :o)

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  5. OMG...those quilts! The tiny dressers!!! I LOVE them....
    I think you displayed the quilts on purpose to torture me---especially the red one!!!
    Wonderful treasures, Dev...love everything!!! xo

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  6. I would love LOVE to stumble upon that chest and discover those treasures. The trunk itself is amazing; the color, patina is perfect. The red/white quilt certainly caught my eye. The little dressers are wonderful. I have one little one but a collection of them would be so fun. I would probably put them around the house for different needs. One or two could hold jewelry while another could be in a bathroom holding toothpaste or other little bathroom supplies. They are a great collection!!!

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  7. That chest is utterly gorgeous - I want one just like that! :)

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  8. I love having a chest at the foot of the bed. I love the way it looks plus it is functional. Your chest is beautiful. Happy to say I am now a linky follower. Yay!

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  9. Hey Devon,
    your chest is gorgeous! Love the wood and what amazing things you have put inside! It will indeed be a "treasure" chest for someone to come across and open in years to come. Those little dressers are so sweet, love the colors and graphics. I know you had fun gathering up your treasures to put away inside!
    Rebecca

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  10. Devon, this chest is gorgeous!!! Love it! But you knew I would didn't you! And small-ness really is a weakness but how could we not love these little small things. The dressers really are/were hard to find. Keep them stored. Sell them and you'll probably regret it. You know that's how that works!

    I hope you have a great Valentine's Day!

    Hugs,

    "Her" and Romeo

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  11. Those little dressers are adorable Devon!! I think they would look amazing on a high shelf around a room. I adore the white one with blue knobs and top with the little ducky and doggie graphic. How sweet are those!! I imagine they are hard to come by these days. :)

    I love to *collect* different things too and pretty soon I will need another house to store everything in if I keep adding to the collections! lol
    Blessings~

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  12. Mary Jane looks quite comfortable in the trunk.

    -Zane of ontario honey

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  13. Fabulous trunk and lil treasure inside.Those sweet lil dressers are hard to resist~Kim

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