It'll break your heart

This website....:::holds heart:::: Makes dreams seem like reality...or makes your Victorian dream home turn into a nightmare once you get to the interior photos . It has a niffy side bar search where you can look up the mostly very cheap Victorian houses in your state.

  http://www.oldhousedreams.com/

 I am a lil bias because I seriously got close to trying to get one of these listed insanely cheap fixer uppers listed here . We backed down ( thank goodness for flakey agents! ) and now the house is like 40% less so I dont know, we are doomed if we do and doomed if we dont because it may be the best  or the dumbest investment ever. It would be so stressful, but so exciting, we could lose everything fixing it but hey, maybe we will be happy? Our dream is a Queen Anne on farm land and from what we seen it's a bit harder to get a very old house with land, not impossible but a bit more of a search . One day... Browsing this website hurts, I find it to be an emotional rollercoaster I cant get off .... so good !

Friday's Featured Item 4/22/16

  A dazzling set of 6 marigold Carnival Glass that would add some glitz to a china cabinet or a wonderful holiday table setting.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/275763834/set-of-6-carnival-glass-imperial-harvest?ref=shop_home_listings

                    Beautiful Marigold Carnival Glass Goblets !

How to find antique furniture 101

Here is some very helpful info with pictures in what to look for when you are looking at wood pieces:

The open drawer test!  So easy to see if you scored a real treasure. My 8 year old daughter LOVES opening drawers to see if she can tell if it is indeed an antique. 

Printing these out to bring along as reference while at an estate sale, auction or antique store would be a great idea! 

Friday Featured Item 4/15/16

One of the first things I began collecting at antique stores was pitchers. I just love how they instantly add a old fashioned look to a room. I have a hard time passing them up  but is one of my 1st ones that I was willing to part with. It has a beautiful stone texture look  and yellow rose design. Perfect for a small flower arrangement!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/287661991/vintage-yellow-rose-pitcher?ref=shop_home_listings

Upcoming at Lilly Violet

Some tidbits of what's to come on Lilly Violet: 

• Home Decor Poster Prints ! I have designed my first set of Home Decor prints that will be arriving this week. Im hoping this is the start of a very large collection I plan on doing. It is modernize version of sprucing up a room to have a lil Victorian style. Similar how IKEA sells their art but it will have more of a flair compatible with a vibrant yet elegant antique taste. I am starting off small & basic with 20 posters to see where it goes.  And of course I shall raffle off some and also have it as a free gift if you purchase a certain amount in my Etsy store. As soon they arrive I will have to photograph them in a setting of how I envisioned them that would appeal to many like minded in style home decor lovers.

• I decided I needed to hit the history books  to really study everything 19th century because I want this to be the basis of everything I do so obviously I need to know inside and out what I am talking about. I may know more on some topics in Victorian times then a typical person but I need to know more. Also the before & after- Georgian and Edwardian eras are of equal interest so I have to brush up on that. Man, I  should of became a history major is what I am saying hahaha.

• Themed features are something I want to add to the blog. A day dedicated to sharing historical information, a day to place biography of a historical figure, a day to feature something I am selling , a day about antique information and the most exciting thing- Momento Mori Mondays ;) 

I have just been brainstorming day and night in how to build up Lilly Violet. The Etsy store is very time consuming especially because I am trying to meet my personal inventory quota before I start promoting it but I think  I am within 2 weeks of that. At first I was like " 20 things!" ( Now I am at 22) then " No, 30! "  now I thinking between 35-40. Between being a mom , working part-time and trying to start my own lil empire (lol) I just been going 24/7 and I am okay with that but I just would really like to be officially " launched" & organized down to a science so I can just sit back and see where it goes. However, I do know....It shall be grand! If I am good at anything, it's making visions come to life. So any lurkers, PLEASE feel free to comment and tell me what else you would like to see on  Lilly Violet! 

How I feel right now trying to organize all my ideas with not enough time in a day.

Are you a "Purist"?

If you walk into a antique's mall and have a mini heart attack when you see hundreds antique pieces covered in Chalk paint...Then welcome to the Purist club! I think most of us gained our Purist views from watching too much Antique's Roadshow when the person gets the bad news that they HAD a wonderful piece worth alot IF LEFT UNPAINTED. Sometime we get these pieces when the damage is already done, sometimes a housewife gets a lil too crafty with paint, sometimes we thought we were helping it but we were just hurting it.

     I once scored a FREE French Provincial Lingerie Tall Dresser off a Craigslist curb alert which I used for my nursery. This was before I knew anything about antique furniture but I knew it was something special and refuse to ever part with it for sentimental reasons. So big surprise, it was a highly collectible and you can easily fetch $300 or more when painted- original probably way more. French Provincial furniture is one of the biggest victims in the chalk paint fad. Mine was sadly painted over all white, original top & knobs so maybe can be rehabbed but I honestly have no knowledge in how to do that but would love to learn how one day.

   Now nooow , I do like Chalk paint  or repainting when it comes to certain things- if it was already ruined or damaged so you just upcycling or bringing back to some kind of life. Or Antique style faux pieces. I am in the middle of  experimenting - a chipped, already painted very ornate sconce , a faux antique vanity mirror and already horribly painted yellow (and very rusted) trunk.

A sconce of some sort, it was painted black already when I got it so I added some Agave Chalk to highlight the detailing. My first try at Chalk paint which i enjoyed. 

So aside from items that was already been damage by paint, or not exactly antique then I find chalk paint to be lots of fun but my heart is with the rich dark untouched wood from ages ago.

Ever want to live in a painting?

Ever have days where you just cant stomach modern life anymore ? Me too....When I see paintings like these I could practically weep on how backwards time has gone, how can anything compare to any of this?

Some my favs :

JAMES TISSOT

KNUT  EKWALL

HUBERT ROBERT

EDWARD LAMSON HENRY

 How could we come from this to our future  where we buy our furniture & home decor at IKEA & Big Lots? 10 steps back for mankind . When I look at these it's like  this overwhelming feeling of awe & relaxation - no distractions, just beauty & comfort. That is how life should be, I guess anyone is capable of recreating it and shoot, some do but it takes alot of talent and whoooole lot of money if you want it to be truly authentic . The effort that went into the warm atmospheric interiors , the displays of art and heirlooms. Now doing it without alot of money and just an eye for it & knowing how to get those key pieces to set the stage at bargain prices, now that's my kind of life! If I had a endless checking account I would probably invest into the most ornate crown & frame molding ( painted gold of course!) and an obscene amount of damask wallpaper. No matter how hard I try, I just cannot be convinced into buying anything for my home from a chain store when there are priceless pieces of history sitting in thrift stores, antique malls, yard sales and normally as much or less then modern day furniture .Yes, I gone through many a antique chair that has collapse and broken from under us but sometimes you land something that is so sturdy and survived 100 + years then you really gain a sense of appreciate for that kind of craftsmanship ! All I want in life most days is just recreate these heavenly atmospheres into my own home , tune out the world, the noise and soak it all in...At the end of my days, I hope the afterlife includes a fully furnished Queen Anne Victorian Mansion.