Stash Studios

Old Piano - New Tune

The piano was not particularly special. Never played quite right. Not a family heirloom. According to the story, it was just a church piano purchased at an auction. It spent many dusty years in a barn - future uncertain.

What does one do with a piano that never really worked right?

 

Until I read Katrina's piece on generational junking, I hadn't really considered how my family played a role in my passion for finding new ideas for old things. However, as we hit the road recently, we stopped in for a visit at the folks. We found that my dad had meticulously disassembled this piano for a client and set about designing a headboard for her.

I tell you, despite being someone lives to find creative uses for cast off items, before I saw the parts and the plan, I was a little skeptical. But as we dusted off the wood and found burled maple and really considered the unique shapes and infinite options, I must say, I began to believe.

 

Get Refueled

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Enjoy!

Playthings Past

When I sat down to recall playthings past, I first remembered the abandoned oven in my great grandmother's garden and the many many hours spent there making mudpies and meals from all the garden goodies she allowed me to use. The chickens scratching at my feet.

I thought I had hit heaven when we ascended the attic stairs and went through boxes of old records and turned the handle on the Victrola, me in a vintage dress that I had rummaged from a dilapidated trunk and she in her calico cotton smelling of coffee and cookies and soap and earth.

Oh sure, I had a few Barbie dolls. But the thing I remember most was not hours imagining Barbie's life with Ken, but rather the hours spent sewing scraps for Barbie's new wardrobe and then cutting her hair only to find my agility with the scissors led to the original punk Barbie.

Retreating to the pine grove with a book and a blanket.
Lying there listening to the wind rustle the needles as I immersed myself in imaginary worlds.
Roller skating.
From those rusty adjustable skates to the boot skates we scored at a garage sale when my foot finally slowed growing.

These are the things that come to mind when I consider my nostalgia for vintage toys.

I have vague memories of Big Wheel and Betsy Wetsy and Inch Worm and Merlin but I don't recall that these were the playthings that molded me. 

Don't get me wrong, I dog-eared  the Sears Wish Book like crazy. However, in retrospect it seems now that it was as much about what we didn't have as what we had.

Back then we didn't have playrooms stuffed to the gills with the latest whatnot.
Back then it was more than receiving all that we wanted.

It was about the hoping and wishing and experiencing some disappointment. 
Then ultimately calling on creativity to fill the long summer days.
Those were the things that informed our hard work of play.

__________________________

Thanks to Jessi at Scrappy Jessi for hosting the Vintage Toys post today.

Raw Country Alternative

Raw by choice - Country by definition - Alternative by design
REFUELED
Changing the way we see



The first issue of REFUELED drops Monday, May 12th.
Stay tuned for more updates and outtakes.

Sassafras

If you like your vintage inspiration delivered with a little sassafras, then you will love  Colleen at freshvintage. Every week she chronicles her thrifting escapades and  adventures in selling.
If the thought of discovering values and marks causes your eyelids to droop and your mind to go numb, you might hang on long enough to learn something here because this gal shoots it straight and punches it up with what she is really thinking.
No holds barred.


Thanks to one of my road-tested, hard core Junk Posse members,
Sue with Vintage Rescue for leading me to this find.
Junk on girls, junk on.
C

Have a seat

Vintage kid-sized card table + European maps = a clever recovery delivered by Garden Antiques Vintage.
Found at Warrenton.

Hey, who turned out the lights?

I'm sure I could regurgitate long lists of eco - ideas in honor of earth day but I decided to turn off the lights instead. Today our big adventure is to live with as little as possible. No computers, no television, no iPods....does the iPhone count as a computer? I can feel the withdrawal sweats coming on even as I prepare to set an auto-post in my absence. Wish me luck!

Cool Scrap

Reclaimed stairs made from the floor of an old castle. Now that is some cool scrap. This comes from Jan Korbes of Garbage Architecture.

Vintage Gems

Two out of three of these qualify as a new idea for old things. That's good enough for me.

When junking, keep an eye out for great buttons - even if you don't sew. You can add them to an existing choker or chain to make a one-of-a-kind piece for your collection.

I also like to look for bakelite dice. These are fairly easy to DIY drill in a loop and string to a necklace.
Recently I saw something similar offered by Free People.

The center necklace is my absolute favorite and one that I scored where else but Warrenton. My friend Jenny and I still wish that vendor would come back to the show. Last we heard, she was working with a friend who owned The Tattered Hydrangea boutique in New Braunfels, Texas. Yes, she made that big of an impression on us.

Sparkle on,
Cheryl

Green Trends

Wow, have you checked newsstands lately? Looks like corporate America has realized there is money to be made in going green.

Fine, maybe the idea of following a trend will get more on board.
Whatever it takes.

It has long seemed to me that buying vintage and rethinking items first thought to cast off was the best way to go "green".

Above, Rachel and I can be seen sorting through pieces of old enamelware. We used these pieces to hold candles and pencils. They made great flower pots and an entire set made their way into the family sandbox to help prepare all those complicated mudpies.