What I love these days

I do like the French Country stuff upstairs, but I lean more toward black, white, silver and chippy white now, like these things on the black TV hutch in my basement. The goldish chair and ottoman in front of it is truly the best seat in the house...so comfy and perfect for reality TV viewing or the occasional movie. I copied my friend Shannon by putting all the chippy spindles on top of the hutch. I love them. The chippy black corbels on the sides are from The Brass Armadillo near Kansas City, Missouri, a great place to shop and worth going out of your way for if you are in the area.

I am looking for more black and white vintage tins like the Dainty Filled Confections one I splurged on at an antique mall in Marshfield, Missouri. The little striped box is cardboard and I bought it filled with dominoes at the same place, I think. The dog is chippy concrete and he was a bargain at a flea market in Crane, Missouri.

I am learning to resist buying every tarnished silver piece I see, but if the price is right (like the $1 tray holding the dominoes) or I truly love it (like the ice bucket that was a little more but still not bad) but I haven't learned to resist old dominoes and buy pretty much any set I see at a fairly decent price. The mirrored frame in the back was a gift from my friend Molly who lives in fabulous Las Vegas.

I also like old typewriters now, and Macauley discovered this Underwood hidden under a bunch of other junk on the floor in a booth at STD East for $8! I have another one that was only $6 that I will post another time. Love it. I also have started collecting old black/white flashcards and bingo cards and I got these long ones at an antique mall in Highlandville, Missouri on a fun little shopping trip with my friend Barb this past spring.

The little toy camera is one of my favorite recent finds. It was $1.95 at STD and I think it is so cute because it says "FRIEND" on the lens. The picture right behind it is of two of my best FRIENDS--my younger sisters, Lindsay on the left, Lane in the middle, me on the right--taken two Easters ago. Lane says she looks "goth" in the picture but I think she looks great and this is one of my favorite shots of the 3 of us. I got a good-sized baggie of old keys, lots of them skeleton and all of which I spread on the little silver tray under the camera, at another shop in Crane, and I think the whole baggie was only a couple of dollars, too. I see keys in shops being sold for $2 each or more, so what a steal! I love the frames with the rhinestones around them, too. Marshall's. I have several of them around. I would say these items might best reflect my "aesthetic"right now, or at least what I'm buying. Macauley and I might take off tomorrow and drive up I-44 to the Route 66 Antique Mall near Marshfield, Missouri to see if a coffee table I saw there many months ago might just still be there. Doubtful, but it was kind of expensive so maybe it hasn't found a good home yet. It's not like me to pass up something--I truly live by the little sign I see in stores that says, "The time to buy an antique is when you see it." But I couldn't justify splurging on the table then. Not sure I can justify it now, either, but might as well just go take a peek...