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Aug 25, 2013

rusty pie pans and cheese graters


One of my favorite things to do is search for what I call "junk".... or my husband calls it my "rustic gold"... usually it consists of rusty antiques, rare items or weathered objects. Some people call it "antiquing" and some call it "picking"... When I think of "antiquing" I think of items in pristine or mint condition. I think of dealers. I think of collectors. I think of houses full of furniture you can't sit on and lamps you don't dare touch. I think of fine China. I am not really an "antiquer" but more of a picker who likes to go 'pickin' for junk I can turn to treasure. I started doing this a few years before the show American Pickers. Before 'pickin' was cool.


 I haven't gone 'pickin' in a while. Lately, I've had a few places in the back of my mind that I would like to dress up more around the house. Yesterday, my mom and I went out to a place called Alley Cats in Leesburg, Indiana. I was on a mission for pie plates, washboards and old books. I think I was successful and then some! Alley cats had terrific prices and some good sales going on! I have been wanting some shelves around the house and I love the shaker pegs on the one I found. I was so excited to find the shelf for $12! It's a really good size. Almost 3 ft wide! I am excited to paint it and roughen it up a little. I have a place in my kitchen where it will hang perfectly.

I was looking for old washboards obviously for my laundry room. Right now I don't have anything on my walls and since I spend a lot of time in there, I thought it would be nice to finally jazz it up and get it decorated. I am going to cover my smallest walll in washboards to create an "accent" wall them. It's painted a sage green color and I want to break up the green. 

I still need to find more washboards. I only want to spend around $10 or less per wash board and sometimes that's hard to find. I was really lucky at Alley Cats! 


I'm also on the hunt for old pie plates! They can't be shiny or else they just look like minature hub caps! I am going to do something with them in my kitchen but I can't quite tell you what, yet! I need to do a trial and error session to make sure my idea is going to work. I found about 5-6 more pie plates today at Green Oaks. I found all different brands. Each plate is unique in it's own way. I love how the gray enamel plates have different sized specks on all three plates! I think I have almost enough plates to start my project.


My husband's grandfather and my father in law ran a feed mill for most of my husband's life. It closed down a few years ago since less and less people are raising their own animals. There just isn't as high of a demand for feed like there use to be. They use to deliver all over the place! They were a mobile feed service. I love learning all about it. My husband, his granny and my father in law still use the grain legs and bins to store corn and soybeans after harvest.

Anyways, they were a Master Mix dealer so when I see Master Mix on something and it's not too costly, I try to snag it up! Some Master Mix items go for a lot of money, especially signs. I'd like to get this feed sack cleaned and have my mom make a pillow out of it. It's actually in really great shape. It just has that "musty" smell to it. If you've watched American Pickers, they have "picked" a few Master Mix items! We were excited.


I scored a few old books for a few bucks! I especially am excited about this bottom book. It's an old Electric Supply Catalog from 1904.

I can't tell you how excited I am about this! I was thumbing through it yesterday and it has hand drawn [printed] pictures of light fixtures, light bulbs, tools, electrical equipment and more! It was so fun to read the prices and look at all the amazing pictures. If you have been to my house, you know I have a love for replicated vintage lighting! This book was exactly that. I can't wait to thumb through it some more this winter.

At the top of the page, you see the globe light? That EXACT light was in the bathroom of the old farm house! That was the ONE thing I wanted to take out of it and I completely forgot to. It went down with the house, unfortunately. I don't know what I would have done with it but it was cool. The base was all rusted out from the house being damp all the time but I could have restored it easily. I didn't think of this until I saw that picture!

Now I am bummed.


And the last of my finds for the day was this really cool, primitive cheese grater. Have you ever seen anything like it?! I haven't! I don't know if this is a replica or an original but it's so cool and will go in my kitchen perfectly. I can't wait to find a fun spot on the wall for it! So far this has been one of my best trips I've had in a while.

What is one of your favorite finds? It seems like I find the coolest things when I am not looking for them. Heck, I was on a mission for pie plates!

A lot of people ask me how I "find" things that I like for my home and where I get my eye for it. I guess you like what you like and you know it when you see it. You start seeing things over and over again. Things that intrigue you. I have a fetish for old butter churns and I'd have more if they weren't so expensive! I also have a fetish for gray enamelware and anything wooden. Bread boards, rolling pins, dough trenches, cutting boards, etc. I also love anything out of a barn. A lot of my finds have been given to me by friends and family. They have been a lot of help on my adventure of finding unique decor. "Oh hey, I found this rusty old pale covered in cob webs in my barn. Thought you might like it." You can't pass offers like that up around here!

So, I am curious, any other junk enthusiast out there?

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