Chik-chik-cha-chik-chik-chika-chik-cha-chik-Ding-ziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip

It's no secret that I like old stuff. Personally, I think old stuff rocks. The majority of my house has antiques & vintage things as decor, and once we move back to the states, I'll be acquiring the rest of my cool things to give our new home some funky character. 

For those of you who don't know what this contraption is.. this is a typewriter. 

T-Y-PE-W-R-I-T-E-R. Ohhhh ahhhhhhhhhh!

 Now a days, everyone has a laptop, iPad, tablet, or other fancy do-hickey to converse with other people. This, my friends, is one of the many stepping stones it took to give you your current contraption. 

I kept debating back and forth about whether I really wanted to get this or not. I mean, it's heavy. VERY heavy. I struggled to carry it across the warehouse to my truck, lol

HISTORY OF REMINGTON TYPEWRITER:

E. Remington and Sons (1816-1896) was a manufacturer of firearms and typewriters. Founded in 1816 by Eliphalet Remington in Ilion, New York, and on March 1, 1873 it started manufacturing the first commercial typewriter.

In 1886, E. Remington and Sons sold its typewriter business to the Standard Typewriter Manufacturing Company, Inc. Included were the rights to use the Remington name. E. Remington and Sons changed its name to "Remington Arms".

"Standard Typewriter" changed its name in 1902 to "Remington Typewriter Company". This company merged in 1927 with "Rand Kardex Company" to form "Remington Rand", which continued to manufacture office equipment and later became a major computer company, as well as manufacturing electric razors.

After their invention in the 1860s, typewriters quickly became indispensable tools for practically all writing other than personal correspondence. They were widely used by professional writers, in offices, and for business correspondence in private homes. By the end of the 1980s, word processors & personal computers had largely replaced typewriters in most of these uses.

One of the main selling points for me was the fact that the keys are in French! How cool is that?  

....yeeet it says it was made in Ilion, New York, USA. The keys even have the accent marks you'd need while typing in your beloved "language of love". Spiffy, right?

I love how each side has a trap door so you can replace the ribbon wheels. They worked perfectly when I was hammering away on the keys to test it out! 

I'm positive that Eric's gonna roll his eyes when he sees this when he gets home. Then again, he really shouldn't be surprised since I talked to him about it last week for a while to kinda "test the waters" for his opinion. When I came home on Friday with the hutch and no typewriter, he even said "I'm surprised you didn't get it"....sucka. I had to go back to Slegers today anyways since I was returning the moving blankets they let me borrow to get the hutch to my house. I was in and outta that place in record time..even the owner was surprised how fast I was! I think I spent a total of five minutes in the warehouse, lol

To those of you who have been long time readers...remember the typewriter teapot I got while in England a few years ago? 

Well, now it has someone it can relate to :) I think they'll have a fabulous friendship together.

Let's just hope that this isn't the piece that causes us to be over our weight limit when the time comes to move! Eeeeeesh!

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It Fits...It sits.

So, this is a follow up for the post about my newly acquired hutch. After posting pictures of it on my Facebook page, several folks inquired about where it was gonna end up in my house. Ya seeeeee.... my Belgian house isn't exactly spacious. In fact, it's pretty cluttered, especially since I've taken up the hobby of hoarding antiques & all things deemed "cool". 

I ran back over to Slegers yesterday to officially pick up my new wooden jewel. 

Of all the times I've been to that place, I've NEVER been asked to back it into the warehouse in order for them to load it. All the while, I thought I was going to have to pay them to deliver it to the house...but no, they assured me that it'd fit in the Xterra. Remember when I got that awesome old trunk? Well, THAT fit, so surely this thing would. 

After a little finagling, they got the hutch all loaded in and wrapped it up with some moving blankets, then proceeded to do intense boy scout style knots on the back door & bumper to insure that it wouldn't fall out on the way home. I could only imagine hitting a speed bump and that thing slide out and bust into a thousand pieces..oiy! Luckily, I made it home with it in one piece! Yay!

My original plan was to put it in my office since I *thought* I had room in there, but, I don't. I wasn't willing to take all my Venetian masks off the wall because, well, I like them there. I strolled around the house for a bit debating on where it could possibly go..and it ended up making it to the foyer...blocking our french doors, lol. We don't even use those doors, so it's no major loss to me, but it made me realize there's literally no room in the house for any more furniture (to Erics delight). 

Once we made sure all the shelves were stable, we went ahead and moved all my bakers, roasting pans and other various little pottery pieces into it. Ohhhh my gosh! I'm SO happy! I'm totally digging the little hooks that are on the top of the hutch so I can hang our soup cups to free up some space for my other polish mugs in the kitchen. 

As much as Eric likes to give me grief about my purchases, he actually ADMITTED that I did a good job with this find and really, really liked it. 

MAJOR VICTORY FOR ME! 

I'm elated that it's pretty similar to our dining table, so I'm so excited to see how it'll all look together whenever we end up moving into our new home . So for the time being, it'll stay in the foyer since we only have another month and a half till the movers come to take away all my precious treasures and relocate all of them to New Mexico. 

Le Sigh. 

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Antique Love

See? See what happens when I finally get my wheels back? I hit the ground running and went straight to my favorite place...Slegers! Of course, I armed myself with my handy dandy iPad so I could take pictures of whatever caught my eye so I could run it past my oh so awesome husband...

The Eric. 

I know...I know... Eric had actually grounded me from Slegers a while ago, but I actually had his blessing for this trip because of 1) my serious withdrawls...and 2) I was on the hunt for a buffet. Over the last few months, I've been searching all over for a really pretty hutch or buffet since I *know* I'll need the extra storage space for my pottery. Lets be honest...whatever kitchen I end up with..it won't have enough room. 

Now that we're getting down to the wire, I NEED to find that piece and FAST. I actually found a gorgeous piece on Belgiums version of Craigslist, but that all fell through between location, transportation...and then the seller back peddling and tried to price gouge me. Na unh..don't do that to me because I'll just walk away from the entire deal, which is exactly what I did. 

After assaulting several Kringwinkels (their version of a second hand store), I migrated over to Slegers and strolled up & down their warehouse multiplel times to make sure I didn't miss a hidden treasure. I ended up finding several pieces I was really diggin'....

As much as I was liking this piece, I was thinking about how much work it was going to be in order to strip it down and stain it darker so it matches our dining table...mehhh..

I've been eyeballing these two buffets for a LONG time...like since the day we arrived in Belgium. They're absolutely gorgeous, but they weigh as much as my Xterra and would end up costing $1,300. Sure, it's a steal of a deal since they're beautifully carved and totally solid, but, there's no way I could ever sweet talk Eric into getting them. 

I came across a "pillow cabinet" which was pretty beefy looking. The thing is, it's almost too beefy if that makes any sense. It can hold a good amount of stuff inside of it, but it still didn't really match our dining table and I know it'd eventually REALLY bug me, lol. 

Just when I started to think that I was going to completely strike out... that's when I found it. The hutch of my dreams. The thing that happiness is made of. The cream in my coffee..

It's the perfect height, no gouges or wood rot, the key lock still works and the carvings on the front are absolutely gorgeous. Plus, it doesn't weigh as much as an elephant, so that's a major plus! I think I stood and checked it out for at least a half hour because I was so smitten with it. 

Don't you think it'll go quite well with the kitchen table? I think so! 

At this point, I'm very...VERY happy with the various furniture pieces I've managed to acquire since we've been in Belgium. Oh, and I'm not allowed to buy any more pieces (again) since we're pretty much out of room in the house. That's one of the things I'm looking forward to when it comes to moving back to the States...American sized homes with room! 

I'll be making the final arrangements for the cabinet tomorrow...and...I might bring this little guy home since I know it'd pair up well with my retro phone I picked up several months ago. Kill two birds with one stone...right? :) 

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B.O.B the Trunk

Have you ever heard the phrase, "Your eyes are bigger than your stomach"? Well...when it comes to me, it's "My eyes are bigger than my house".

If you saw my little love letter to my husband, you'll know that I was on a mission to pick up yet another trunk. Of course, the pictures from Slegers website didn't do it any justice......

.......I say that because it's considerably larger than I had anticipated. 

In fact, it's so large that I really had that doubting feeling of "should I really get this thing? It's massive!". Not to mention, I didn't think it'd fit in my Xterra. Lifting the lid is a bit of a struggle since the whole thing is made out of oak and iron. After looking it over, checking the wooden dowels, some minor repair work and what not, I walked around the warehouse to see if there was anything else that might catch my eye, but alas, I kept looking at the trunk wherever I was in the building. It was pretty hard to miss. 

I decided to bring it home since it IS an older piece that's between 142-162 years old (Mike, the owner of Slegers explained there was a twenty year age gap because lots of trunks within 1850-1870 were built the same by this particular builder) and it's an "import" from France. I'm only imaging the sort of things this trunk has lived through, especially with that sort of age on it. Honestly, I would've been an idiot not to buy it, especially because "the price was right!". So, the guys managed to get it into my Xterra (to my relief), and my friend and I rolled out to go have some cappachinos while enjoying some of the awesome weather we've been experiencing lately. 

I think I broke Mikes heart when I told him this was probably the last purchase I'll be making from him since I told Eric I'd stop buying stuff once I located a pretty awesome trunk. Not only did I get one awesome trunk, but I got two within two days of one another. So, I can't really back out on what I told my husband because, hey, my word is my bond. Mike on the other hand said "NO! Why?? Are you moving already?"....nope, not moving for another ten or so months, but promises are promises. Of course he tells me that I can always come in and visit while looking around without buying anything. Right. That's like asking a recently recovering drug addict to hang out in a unsupervised pharmacy and telling them to stay sober. Heh.

Not gonna lie...the trunk looked creepy in my truck. When you looked into the Xterra (from the front), the dome top from the trunk made it look like it was a coffin. Yeah, creepy. Then it dawns on me..."How the hell am I gonna get this out of here?". Normally, I grab my newly acquired treasure and hide 'em around the house like a little squirrel socking away nuts for winter, but this thing is so large that there is absolutely NO way I can get this out on my own. My second thought? Great, now I gotta deal with Eric being displeased with the size AND the weight. 

Luckily, I have a very supportive husband and he trusts my judgement when it comes to picking up various antiques. Given, this is larger than both of us were expecting, but it's still a gorgeous piece that'll fit in well with our collection. When I showed it to him, he gave a very heavy sigh and resigned to letting it sit in the truck till he got back from his appointment. Once he got back , we moved this beast of a trunk through the house and settled it down in my step-sons room since, well, that's the only space it can fit in, lol. 

Eric recovering:

For reference, this thing can fit all five of our dogs.... (sorry for the super blurry pic, but they were wiggling all over the place):

....and my fifteen year old can fit in it without a problem. 

Now I'm just looking forward to when we eventually move into our dream home and this can be used for the foot of our bed :) 

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Dear Husband,

Dearest Husband, 

      I have a problem. You know I have a problem. It's called "antique hunting". You've been amazing and supportive with all my buying adventures when it comes to finding cool "one of the kind" pieces for our home. Throughout the last three years since we've been in Belgium, you've trusted my judgement when it comes to our amazing kitchen table, oak wardrobes and decor that we know would cost an arm and a leg if we were back in the States. Despite thinking it's a bit crazy to buy some of the various things I've found, you've *always* supported my "problem"..and I love you SO much for that. I love you more than you'll ever know because it's fantastic to have someone, other than myself, who enjoys the older things that's been forgotten by time.

       On that note, I love you.........................................................................................

...............................................................................and I found another trunk. 

It's a French trunk and from 1870....and it's already on hold for me. 

LOVE YOU!!

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Ask & You Shall Receive!

Go figure...I posted about my "wants" and two of 'em happened pretty fast! If only everything worked that way, right?  Is it sad that the owner and his wife know me by name? The second I walked in, I heard "Hello Erika!" with big smiles and waves. I shop there way too much. 

I popped into my beloved Slegers and right off the bat I see this fantastic old world globe. Sure, it'd be nice to have one that has actual information on it, but I think this one is MUCH cooler because it has paintings of sea monsters, astrological signs and old latin terms for various continents. The globe even rotates on an axis so you can adjust the degree coordinates! LOVE! AHH!! Everything is applied on old parchment paper, so I'm curious to do a little more research behind this particular goody. 

Then I made my way upstairs since that's where I remember the church benches being. Given, I had the choice of a single seater, or a double seater. After debating and debating, I ended up putting a deposit on the double seater "just in case" since it was the only one left, but there were two single seater benches. Before I went and bought the thing, I had to make sure I ran it pass "The Man" since I was basically buying it for him. Ya see, he has this knack of tossing his uniform all over my kitchen table in addition to his hat, change, other doo-dads that aren't clean..on my nice, clean kitchen table. See where I'm going with this? So, yeah..this bench is for "his" corner where he can hang his hat and other junk.

It's obviously been sun bleached, but I'm not really worried about it right now since, hey, it's a bench. Once we move back to the States and we're re-united with all of our stuff that's in storage (like my power tools), I'm going to strip it down and stain it darker. It's solid Oak, so it's going to last a lifetime and I'd prefer having the color match the rest of our furniture :)

For the time being, it's still over at the antique place since I need to find a spot to put it (yes, shame on me for buying it without a designated place), but it also gives me time to get rid of some more stuff. Luckily, the owners don't have a problem with it staying there. As the owners wife put it, "You'll be back. You always come back".

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More Stuffs

Alrighty, so I did a post last week about Trogs. Since I have a bit of an addiction with them, I did some hunting online to get some sort of inspiration in terms of decorating with them aside from using them as a fruit bowl, or a dog toy bowl, or even a dog bed. Sure enough, I was scrolling around Pottery Barn and saw a good idea in terms of candles: 

So, I attempted to copy cat it without spending gobs of money on high end candles. Plus, I also happened to have a "mirror" style ornament to put in the trog (like the one in the PB picture). The only costly part was finding a "filler" to actually hold the candles up. Between debating on rocks, sand, seeds and everything else under the sun, I settled on coffee beans. Yes, coffee beans. After all was said and done, I used about seven pounds of beans...and here's how it turned out. 

All in all, I think it turned out pretty well. Not to mention, my foyer now smells like a coffee bar :) 

In other news, I completely forgot about this awesome chair my Dad bought while he was visiting us back in 2010. Man, time flies! Anyway, he ventured over to the De Kringwinkel with Eric in search of a fairly reasonably priced desk since he didn't wanna use the one that was in my office. Makes sense, right? lol. Well, when they came back, they dropped off this killer chair:

I'm absolutely in love with the carvings it! Plus, the cushions are leather and extremely comfortable. I totally see why my Dad snagged this thing! Apparently this was the only chair they had, but it was supposed to be sold with a matching couch. Obviously, we weren't in the market for a couch...nor were we willing to drag it up the narrow spiral staircase to where my Dad was staying, so, my he had to haggle in order for them to just sell the chair.  As you can see, he got his way:

I meant to blog about it forever, but I kept forgetting even though it's a really pretty chair. Honestly, I've been hunting for another one like it, but none of the ones I've come across have the carvings on the front and sides, which give it a lil extra "niiiiice" factor. Then again, it's probably for the best that I don't get another because this thing is HEAVY! Along the lines of..hmmm...50lbs? Yeah. Momma's gotta do some serious spring cleaning to make sure we don't go over our weight limit when the time comes to move! 

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Antiquers Anonymous

I have a bit of a problem. It's really bad. I mean, BAD.

In the last week, I've been to Slegers Antiques three times. Yes, three. Given, the first time I went, it was to check out some various stuff since a friend was hunting for a cool trunk to put in her house. Sure enough, we found one for a killer deal and she has it all set up & looking fabulous in her home.

 In the process of checking out various things throughout the warehouse, I was telling her about the trogs and how valuable they are in terms of buying them in the States. I think she thought I was pulling her chain till she saw my post later that evening about "dough bowls" through Pottery Barn. So, we ended up going back the following day to snag some trogs for her :)

Over the weekend, we attended a going away party for a friend and he had mentioned to me that he had never been to Slegers, yet he's lived here for five years! BLASPHEMY! Given, it's not really his kinda "scene", but he told me he wanted to check them out before he leaves cause he wanted some cool stuff to take with him when he moves. So, I met up with him and his wonderful girlfriend there today to do some hunting. The second I walk in the door, Mike (the owner of Slegers) started teasing me because, hey, I'm back yet again! The first thing he asked was, "Are you going to come in every day now??" ...nooo. I'm trying not to. Really, I am. I promise! 

After two hours of showing them around and looking at various things, they ended up finding a very pretty wall clock in addition to a wood wine rack with some pretty designs on it (kinda similar to the trunk). In the process of exiting to take them to the ATM, I stumbled across a little hutch table that was buried under several various vases and some clocks. After digging it out and checking it's condition..it NEEDED to come home with me. Correction...it WANTED to come home with me! 

I think I'll attempt staining it a smidge darker so it'll match the other furniture we have. 

It has the same "Tudor" style legs like the dining room table I had bought earlier last year, so, I figured it'd fit in perfectly with the rest of our stuff:

Hi. My name is Erika and I'm addicted to antiques. 

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