common ground : tole

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Perfect Patina...

On our trips to St. Louis we always try to make it to at least one antique store, flea, or mall before coming home. The trip before this last one we visited two of our fave places, Big Bend Antiques and Treasure Aisle, both in Maplewood.

This tole basket had some heavily rusted areas,

but it's perfect chippy patina made it impossible to leave behind.

It was really dirty, and even after a soft toothbrush cleaning,

it still had some grungy spots.

And this next piece was love at first sight.

I'm not sure exactly what it came from,

but I think it may have been from some sort of small stove.

any ideas?

It originally had a knob at the bottom too.

It's iron, and super heavy.

Maybe a small wood burning or coal, parlor stove...?

It's on the hearth for these pics.

I'm not sure what I'll do with it,

but it's here for now.

I'm buying much less these days. Being on overload for the last 7 or 8 years selling, I've become much pickier about what I bring home. It really has to be different and definitely call my name. These two patinaed sweethearts really knew how to get my attention. And I've learned if there's something that won't leave me alone, I better get it, otherwise I end up regretting it.
The weather has been amazing the last few days; short sleeve and flip flop weather. Hopefully I can get some plants potted for the deck soon, gosh, I'm so behind on everything. Oh, but I DID see my first hummingbird yesterday morning. YAY!! Hope you're having a great week! See ya Thursday morning for...