Antique-y Decor

I really enjoy antiques. Love love love 'em. I especially love using them as decoration around my house :)

I went over to my favorite antique store yesterday to pick up another trog since I couldn't get that particular one outta my head since I saw it on Thursday. It's HUGE, and stained dark (which I love!). Eric was joking with me that it should be a dog bed since it's large..so, I humored him and put it on the ground. Low and behold:

Wasn't expecting that, hunh?

When we first got here back in 2009, I started collecting these things called "trogs", which are basically little troughs that farmers would use around here to feed their livestock. Over the course of various trips, I've picked up more here & there and actually sent one to a friend back in California because she fell inlove with the ones she saw on my blog. I can't remember who mentioned it to me, but I was told that Pottery Barn actually sells them...but, for a much steeper price! Of course I thought it was silly that these things were insanely expensive back in the states, so I looked it up..sure enough..lots of money for 'em. 

Keep in mind, I pay (roughly) 20€ (about $26) for the medium size trogs and up to 40€ (about $52) for a HUGE trog. When I say "huge", I mean I use it to store all of my dogs toys along with their harnesses and leashes. So, of course when I saw how much Pottery Barn was wanting for their "dough bowls", I almost choked. Honestly, I couldn't imagine paying $200+ for a wooden bowl, so I hopped onto eBay out of curiosity...most of the bowls listed on there ranged from $145-$550!! Seriously?? WOW.


Here's the ones I've picked up since we've been here. You can kinda gauge their size cause of my Dachshunds that were checking them out :) My husband had given me a fair bit of grief over collecting these things, but they're growing on them since I use 'em for decoration, a holder for the dogs toys, and various other little things. 

I will say though, that PB's site gave me some great idea's as to how else I can decorate them! Now I'm on the hunt for some staggered candles and some decorative pebbles to put in the super long trog I just picked up (it's in the above picture, lower left). Actually, I think I'll just use coffee beans instead of the pebbles so my foyer will smell like a coffee house AND they'll hold up the candles nicely:

So yeah, there ya go! Trogs (or "Dough Bowls) are pretty awesome things to have around your house in terms of adding some shabby decor with a new twist :) 

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Busy Busy Tizzy Dizzy

Good grief. I haven't blogged in almost two weeks. Shame on me!! I've been busy between work, a Pampered Chef Show and working some more. I all honesty, I started a blog last weekend, but I have severe "Shiney Syndrome" and it obviously never got posted. Sadness.

Anyway, here's a post! :D

I had received an email yesterday from a local antique place I like to go to since they get some pretty cool / random stuff in there. I mean, if I had unlimited funds and a 6,000 sq ft home that required furnishing .. I'd be purchasing all of my furniture from there since they have UH-mazing.. hand carded buffets, dining room tables, wardrobes... uhhh.. just all around gorgeous stuff that has to have seen some serious history. When I was scanning through their site, a really pretty mirror caught my eye and I was pretty determined to get it since it was only €30 .. it converts to roughly $39. GIVEN, the picture on the site made it look huge.. so I thought it was a STEAL of a deal! So, I contacted my usual partner in crime when it came to antique stalking, Barb, and we made a date to storm the place today since I actually had the day off. 

Here's the gorgeous view I had first thing this morning:

Seriously.. I love my life in Belgium :) I'm kinda dreading the day when we get Orders back to the States. Sure, I'm an American and I should be an eager lil' beaver to go back to my country.. but in all honesty, I like it here better.

Anyway, onto the antique adventure. We got there a lil before opening, but they had the warehouse doors open already so we strolled on in and started checking out some of the new things. The gal I had been emailing regarding the mirror pointed me in the right direction to find it (this warehouse is massive), so we figured we'd just make our way up there while checking out all the different sections. I haven't been to there in quite some time, so it was interesting in seeing some of the new goodies. After pillaging for about an hour, I ended up with a coat rack, some trogs and a really cool / funky bucket. I didn't get the mirror I originally went there for since on the site....the mirror seemed ALOT larger, but it was actually pretty dinky. There was a second mirror I had my eye on, but alas, it was dinky as well.. wasn't worth blowing €70 on when all of the goodies I got totaled €82. 

Here's the coat rack I got.. I was originally looking for a coat rack wall mount (they're pretty cool cause they have carved figures in them), but the walls here are really hard to drill into since they use brick and concrete rather than wood and dry wall like we're used to in the States:

 

I know you're probably thinking, "It's green. Why did you get a green coat rack?". Well, I had originally picked out one that was a dark wood color, but it was a lil shorter and didn't have a section for umbrella's. Not only that, but it wasn't as stable as this one. I can look past it's quirky color considering I can always repaint it to something else...but the green just makes me kinda laugh since it's obviously such a random color to have, lol.

When we went over and checked out the Trogs (Belgian troughs) since I told Stef I'd find one for her since she's diggin' the one I have at my house. I snagged two pretty good ones.. one is perfectly round and would make a great fruit bowl (which it's currently sitting on my kitchen table with goodies in it), and the one for her is a lighter color with scalloped handles. Now, I washed mine once I got home considering I was planning on putting fruits and such in it.. when I bought it, it was a dark almost mahogany color...but after I washed it, it faded :( It's like all the color bled out of the wood.. so now I gotta find some kinda color staining wax and re-stain it :( SADNESS!

Here's the one I picked up for Stef.. the bananas are there to show how big it is, lol

 

My last goody was this lil random bucket. It's seriously random, but I loved it! You can tell it used to be some other kinda design, but who ever had it before repainted it. It's pretty beat to hell, but it gives it personality. The lid comes off in two pieces, even the handle pops off if need be.. not bad for €10! I ended up getting it so I could put all of my LUSH bath bombs in it for storage rather than keeping them all in a plastic bag, LOL. When Eric got home and I showed him, he even admitted it looked pretty cool (for a bucket). 

Luckily, we hammered out our shopping pretty fast considering I was already back home by 11 o'clock :)

Tomorrow we're having a silent auction on base, so I opted to donate some baked goods since the proceeds would go towards the upcoming Christmas party..even though I won't be attending. I figured I'd make an Oreo Cake as well as some Banana Nut Bread. The bread was simple enough to make since I had been practicing the last week or two on it.. so, I hammered our two loafs of that. Done deal! The Oreo cake, though.. I had never made before. It just looked good, lol.

 

Cake

12 creme filled chocolate sandwich cookies, coarsely chopped

1 pkg white cake mix

3/4 cup water

1/2 cup sour cream

3 egg whites

2 Tbls vegetable oil

Icing

6 creme filled chocolate sandwich cookies, coarsely chopped

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup sour cream

3 Tbls butter or margarine, softened

1. Preheat oven to 325. Spray Stoneware Fluted Pan with nonstick cooking spray. For cake, coarsely chop cookies using Crinkle Cutter; set aside. Combine cake mix, water, sour cream, egg whites and oil in Classic Batter Bowl; mix according to package directions.

2. Pour half of batter into pan. Sprinkle chopped cookies evenly over top of batter but not touching sides of pan. Spoon remaining batter over cookies.

3. Bake 50-55 minutes or until Cake Tester inserted near center of cake comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Loosen cake from sides and center tube of pan. Invert onto Nonstick Cooling Rack; remove pan. Cool completely.

4. For icing, coarsely chop cookies; set aside. Combine powdered sugar, sour cream and butter in Small Batter Bowl; beat until smooth. Ice top of cake allowing some to flow down the sides. Sprinkle top with cookies. Let stand until icing is set. Cut into slices. Store leftover cake, covered, in refrigerator.

I ended up making two of these..one for the auction and another for us at the house. Just to give you fair warning, this is a VERY decadent cake. VERY VERY VERY decadent. I hardly ever eat cake and this is making my blood sugar go through the roof. It'd delicious and something I'd definitely recommend for pot lucks, BBQ's and such... good grief, it's a ton of sugar, lol. I'm surprised how good it is considering it has sour cream in it, lol.

So, there ya go. I blogged :) YAY ME!!

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