VALENTINES DECOR!!!

Um, yeah, this is what we do in the Great North when we're snowed inside the house, it gets dark at 5:00pm, and we're bored!! WE DECORATE!!



I picked up some CHRISTmas lights after CHRISTmas for cheap, cheap, cheap. I think I paid 60 cents at Walmart-75% off. Red for Valentine's Day, Green for St. Patrick's Day and Red/White/Blue for Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day. Hey, why not? I always say memories don't just always happen. . . sometimes you also need to MAKE them happen. Like magic!! My 21 year old has always told me I did a good job making her childhood a special one ~ and I'm keeping it up for our 14 year old as well.

I added red lights to the two topiaries on each end of the mantel and in between as well. I also have a tall glass vase on the side table to the right of the mantle, which I placed in a string of red glowing lights. It looks so warm and cozy in the evening. And no, they do not flash/blink red. They are a constant-on-lit-red ;) As I stated in my opening line of this post. . . it gets dark here at 5:00pm ~ so we have plenty of time to enjoy the soft glow each evening!

A little heart banner I found years ago secured to my Fleur de lis irons. I placed white rose hearts on top of the irons for now. A little garage sale find of a cherub vase holding red and white paper roses sits upon another urn/vase I inverted for additional height.

The sofa table. . . I always use this area to decorate for the individual holidays. A large rose heart wreath, a large red rose underneath the cloche, behind the rose wreath is a picture filled with rose buds, a little vintage looking (a Marshall's find) birdbath with little hearts inside. Rose petals scattered here and there and other misc. heart/Valentine's decorations I've acquired along the way.

I must say, however, my very personal favorite is the little angel/cherub wings displayed prominently upon the wreath holder. Precious, just precious.

Our youngest, the 14 1/2 year old, is just absolutely thrilled with all the decorations. So my mission is accomplished!

It's a nice little "something" after the removal of all the CHRISTmas decorations. Dontchathink???

Blessings. . . until next time,

My Vintage Treasure Find!!

Remember two weeks ago when I was driving home from Physical Therapy ~ and my car just turned into a garage sale (which just happened to jump out in front of me)? I picked up this great, vintage, french inspired desk for $15!! Because I must have looked like I was hurting and was probably walking funny (back problems) the elderly couple selling it loaded it for me. Yeah, I know, I felt pretty crummy about that. I didn't ask them, they just did it.

Well, here it is:

Isn't it beautiful? It's missing all of it's handles, except one lovely antique glass one. It's nicked up here and there (click to enlarge) and there is a slight crack across the top middle drawer, and a little beat up on the edging. . . so, it'll be perfect for repairing and painting it black!! This will also go into our bedroom as part of the re-do.

It's pretty cold here now in Michigan so I'm planning on sanding my wonderful find in the driveway (dust) and then moving it to the basement for painting. I hope to sand this Friday and then move it into the basement. Yes, my family will complain about the smell of the oil-based paint for a few days, but we will all survive until the smell dissipates :) .

Then I will be on the look-out for wonderful, new, replacement drawer pulls for this beauty!

And dear friends, whomever your presidential candidate of choice is, please remember to pray for our country's upcoming election. Let's cover this election in prayer and ask that God's Will be done, and not necessarily ours.

Blessings. . . until next time,

Two More Little Do-Dads Complete

Two more (little ~ tiny) Master bedroom projects completed:

I already had this bench, which sat at the foot of our bed. But it needed some updating ~ that was for sure. Off came the cushion and out came the black satin spray paint again. The legs were wooden and stained a light oak. The wrought iron scrolls were already black, so this didn't take much to change. A good two coats of paint to freshen up this baby and we were good to go. I took one of the pillow shams that came with the coverlet set I purchased at Costco and used it to recover this bench. I wasn't planning on using these shams on our bed anyways. Well, I did think about it for a fleeting moment and then remembered my hubby doesn't like too many pillows on our bed. Too hard to make it he says and believe me, if he makes the bed occasionally, I'm all for making it convenient for him to do so :) !!

I then took the little vintage tray that I purchased this summer at a garage sale (for $3), removed the glass, took out the ugly print it housed and sprayed that old beat up wood with satin black spray paint as well. I added some black and beige toile fabric, placed the glass back on and added some trim around the edges. I placed the little black and white toile tea-cup/tea-pot I purchased through Ebay on my tray.

And YES, actually, I will use this tray and have coffee or tea, with a piece of toast and read the Saturday paper. Hubby, oh hubby, "Honey, are you reading this???? I'll take my toast dry and my coffee black!!!!!!"

Blessings. . . until next time,

Well, It's About Time ~ Partial Master Bedroom Reveal

Finally, I can show you a partial of our master bedroom re-do. Because of hurting my back I had to wait for hubby to paint the walls for me and hang things. The stuff I usually do. I still need to fix the ceiling where he doesn't paint as straight as I do ~ connecting the white ceiling to the wall. Shhh, don't tell him :) Then my camera was not allowing me to transfer my photos to my computer. I get a pop-up telling me my connection to my camera has failed and to try again. After 20 attempts, I figured there's just something wrong with the cable and I'll have to investigate further later. I removed the camera chip and loaded it into my youngest daughter's new laptop which has a port for camera chips. Then transferred to the stick and back to my computer. . . whew. Done with that.

So here it is. What do you think? Remember how terrible the bed looked before? I love it now painted black. It's Benjamin Moore, oil paint. I like to use oil when I paint furniture. It's certainly messier, but after sanding you can skip the priming and oil paint gives a very, very hard finish.

It's so hard to photograph black furniture, but I believe if you click on the photos they will enlarge and you'll be able to see the details I added to the sleigh bed.

The walls are Benjamin Moore paint. They are a Khaki color. If anyone is interested in the exact name I'll dig it out for you. I love Benjamin Moore paints. I also love the Benjamin Moore paint store. They will give you large color chips (like 6 x 4) to take home and tape up on your wall for a few days to determine if the color selections will work for you.

I found the coverlet at Costco. It came with pillow shams and a dust ruffle, which I didn't use. I'm tearing apart the pillow shams to recover a bench, which has always been at the end of our bed. You can see Sr. Winston Churchill on the floor at the end of our bed. He's kind of confused because he always sleeps on that bench. He even matches our room now ~ black and Khaki. I may use part of the dust ruffle with the drapery treatments. Never know.

A close-up of the headboard of the bed and the detail I added. I found the comforter at good ole Wally World (Walmart). I've used the comforter folded at the end of the bed with the pillow shams and black bed skirt. I know a lot of girls don't use bed skirts with a sleigh bed. But I do. I just like the look. I think it's more formal than the wooden frame board showing. The comforter is Springmaid and I just love, love, love black and khaki. It's my new fav. scattered with blue/green. We painted our master bedroom bathroom (room to be revealed shortly ~ as soon as I'm back to normal lifting and such) a wonderful shade of green. If you place green with it, it looks green, if you place blue with it, it looks blue. It's called Aganthus Green #472 and it's also by Benjamin Moore. It's the exact shade of the accent pillows on our bed, which I found at T.J. Maxx. The smaller toile pillows I ordered from a seller on Ebay who makes and sells beautiful pillows right here in Michigan.

I'm trying something a little different in this area. I moved down the armoire' and placed my wing back chair here to give a bit of a buffer when you enter the room. Our home is a split level (3 bedrooms up and master on the main floor). Our bedroom is off of the Great Room so I didn't want the bed to stick out and be the first thing seen when glancing into our room. The photo above the chair is a garage sale find $10. The throw, clearance from Marshall's $10. Larger pillow, clearance at T.J.Maxx and the smaller pillow from the Ebay seller. Did I mention I love T.J. Maxx and Marshalls? Well, I do!!

Here's my little thrift table gem that was a whole $24. It was ugly and beat up, remember? But look at it now. I added toile fabric behind the glass doors and now all my books can be hidden.

The wrought iron planter above the bed was a garage sale find too. It was really gaudy I thought before. It was gold leaf and wrought iron. Not what I was looking for. So, I resprayed the entire piece satin black and then repainted the basket section, which is removable, with the same paint I used in our adjoining bathroom. Much, much better now. The pictures on each side of the planter came from T.J. Maxx. The colors are perfect in this room.

I have not shown you the entire bedroom. It's still a work in progress. I have to make drapes and I didn't even show you the wall housing our triple dresser. Our bedroom set was purchased 28 years ago when we first got engaged. It's Thomasville, very excellent quality and was a fortune back then. I doubt I could find the same quality today. So, I'll lovingly call it "vintage." I don't know if it's true or not, but I've been told so much of the furniture produced today is made over-seas where it's cheaper to manufacture. It is then assembled in the U.S. So even though it's certainly more 80's. . . we're keeping it and updating pieces like the headboard/bed. So many of our friends are replacing their bedroom sets because they did not buy quality to begin with. We bought quality a long time ago and it's still beautiful and beautiful to me and I hope to have it for at least another 28 years and beyond.

I moved our jewelry box to the corner (it used to be next to the armoire' prior to moving the armoire' down the wall.) One door leads to the walk-in closet, the other to the master bathroom. The pear above on a fluer de lis shelf was white, but not anymore. It's now painted with the same paint as the bathroom walls. The fluer de lis shelf was also gaudy gold. I sprayed it satin black. Much better now. Both items were on clearance at T.J. Maxx.

Just so you can see. This is one area no man dare to enter yet. What a mess. But, I have big plans for this area too. I'm making drapes and valances. I'm changing out the blinds. I found the most beautiful antique french desk last week for $15 at a garage sale on my way home from physical therapy (the couple loaded it for me). I'm looking forward to painting the desk black as well for this area to the right of our entertainment center ~ in the opposite corner and on an angle in the boxed out window. We purchased this beautiful, Thomasville again, entertainment center two houses ago. We don't need it in this house, but it's too beautiful to part with, so we have our TV in here and I've placed toile on the glass door to hide my storage. Before I used it as a display cabinet, but I don't need to do that anymore. I need places for CD's and my church volunteer files.

Oh yes, please don't e-mail about ruining my furniture painting it black. I don't paint things in good shape. This desk is a mess and would look so much better with wood putty in areas and painted black. . . I'm just telling ya. Also goes for the sleigh bed and the little night stand.

So, here's a little peak for you. I've been busy with physical therapy (which is now feeling wonderful after the initial exam where they bend you like a pretzel to see where you hurt). We are now working on strengthening exercises and I can tell it's really going to help me out a lot. Already when my back is feeling quirky I can do the stretching exercises myself and get relief. Friday my husband is coming with me. They are going to show him the leg stretch they do on me to get my hip back in place. Yes, he is going and I'm not pulling your leg. He's going to pull mine. . . ever . . . so. . . gently. . . I do hope!!!!

I've been working on a few other little projects too. A tray for our bed, recovering the bench for the foot of our bed and two matching lamps that I purchased for $1 a piece at a garage sale. I transformed them with paint. Now, I must rewire them and we're good to go. Rewiring a lamp is easy ladies. Don't be afraid to give it a try. I've rewired lamps, changed out the socket from a one-way to a three-way. Very simple project.

Blessings. . . until next time,

More Corn and Projects I've Been Busy with!!

Or, more like. . . what was I thinking??!! :)

Yeah, I went back and purchased another 2 cases ~ 14 1/2 dozen ears of Michigan bi-color corn, shucked it, cleaned off the silks, blanched it, cut it off of the cob and froze it for winter. I'm DONE. No more corn!! I'm sure we'll all be savoring this wonderful bi-color corn come January around here. . . but for now. . . I don't want to freeze any more!! While cutting the corn off the cob. . . it splatters everywhere. Our youngest daughter was way at the other side of the kitchen at the table doing homework. While I was finishing this project she yelled "Mom, you're hitting me with kernels of corn over here!" Yeah, poor kid. I had an entire kitchen to clean and scrub ~ counters, back splash, floors, the daughter :)

Anyways, I've been a hit and miss blogger lately. This is why: My Projects!!!

I found this little vintage gem at the thrift store last week. I sanded it, primed it and painted it black (my new favorite paint color for furniture) for my master bedroom redo. I'm thinking black toile behind the glass doors (hides my junk that way :) ).

This is the before picture (darn, I need to start getting better about taking pictures before I finish my projects!) of a great little sleigh bed I purchased from Craigslist.com. I love it. It was not in the best shape when I got it. . . but I'm transforming it (see next photo).


This is the beginning of my transformation. This is the foot board. I couldn't get the photo of the head board because no one was home to hold the foot board out of the way for me!!! It's hiding behind the foot board draped with a old white blanket I use to protect things. I found these wonderful wooden appliques at Home Depot and used Liquid Nails to apply.

So far, what do you think? I'll be showing this sleigh bed when it's in our master bedroom. I'm painting our master bedroom this weekend so it should be in there shortly.

And lastly, I picked up this little beauty. Another Craigslist.com find. I'm going to attempt to recover this myself with a black and white toile fabric for my bedroom redo. I love Cindy's blog, http://romantichome.blogspot.com/ and she has inspired to me attempt this myself. I saw what she was doing with a chair and I thought. . . "maybe I can do that too!" Thanks Cindy!!

And lastly, I'm so excited because today at a garage sale I found a router. It was $15. I'm going to attempt to route out the back of moulding to cover our standard, builder bathroom mirror. You know, those little plastic mirror holders that stick out to hold the mirror to the wall? I'm thinking I may be able to route a notch out of the backside of moulding and attached them. Now, if I can just figure out how to use the router and the mitre saw!!!

Blessings. . . until next time (and thanks for stopping in!!),

Oh, Just for the Fun of It!!

For those of you who are older, you'll remember this. Those of you who are not. . . Just skip this post :)

A while ago while browsing through the antique stores near our cottage, I came across the above little "gem." Remember the joke, (before caller ID), when someone would call you and ask, "Do you have Prince Albert in a can?" If you responded "Yes," they would say, "Well, let him out!" Listen people, I'm not actually old enough to remember cigarettes in a can, but I remember my parents (and grandparents) telling me about this. Kind of along the lines of "Is your Westinghouse (refrigerator) running?" "Well go catch it!" Oh, never mind.

I thought this cute little antique conversation piece would be just a perfect addition to our basement game room area. And it is. It was only $5. Even if no one gets the joke (like our kids looked at me like I was crazy - but hey, they always thought popcorn was made in the microwave, that we always had microwaves and that remotes always changed the TV channel). . . well at least my Dad enjoyed seeing this treasure. He "got it!" *sigh* I think this aging thing may actually be starting to get to me!!

Blessings. . . until next time friends,

Valentine's Swap Goodies

Janae, from Object of Maya*ffection was my partner from Dolly's Valentine's Swap. This was my first swap and very fun. . . I must say!

What a surprise to have my package arrive early. I did run to the computer to make sure I didn't misunderstand the "send by date." I didn't. Janae is one of the "early" gals.

Even the box was decorated with Valentine's greetings. I opened the box and found this lovely bundle of goodies.

A lovely hand painted and decorated vintagey box, which contained everything. Some heart candles; homemade heart suckers; a little notebook all heartish; a special vintage Valentine with a mink accent and antique jewelry piece secured to the hat; a little pewter "listen to your heart" ornament; chocolate kisses in Valentine's cupcake papers; a little bag of Valentine's confetti secured with a heart surrounded with pearl beads and some chocolate! What a lovely surprise and thank you Janae! This was so fun to play along. I hope Janae's package arrives within the next day or so. Thank you Dolly for hosting this Valentine's Swap too!

Blessings. . . until next time,

A Little Moving Sale Visit

Garage/Yard Sale season is about over here in Michigan. I did happen to find one today on my way to the grocery store. . . so, of course, I stopped. It was an older couple having a sale. They were in the process of moving (and fighting). The woman wanted to have a moving sale, the husband didn't want to be bothered. Some items were priced, some not. Things that I thought should have been cheap had a big price tag on, things that were worth more were priced cheaply. The husband grumbled when asked for his help by the wife. Seeing marriages and relationships like this only make me treasure my wonderful husband. I am blessed! We are very supportive of each other's ideas, even if we don't necessarily agree with them : ) .

Anyways, this little item was not priced. I asked the price and was told 50 cents. It's a vintage, but never been used, 24% Lead Crystal Anna Hutte Bleikristall, made in Germany, powder holder. It has a powder puff, screen with a silver plated lid (or maybe it's Sterling, it doesn't say). On the backside of the top is a mirror and it says weighted and reinforced. It's probably not worth too much, but I certainly think it's adorable and worth 2 quarters!! Besides, it reminds me of my Grams!! Grams would keep her face powder and bath powder in things like this. . . . Remember bath powder? I don't see it anymore. Every year for Christmas that was my gift from my grandparents. . . a new flannel night gown and bath powder (or dusting powder some would call it). . .Man, did I make a mess with the powder in my mom's bathroom! Grams always powdered after her bath. But then these days, who has time for baths? Quick shower, get out and go!! Sigh. I think tonight, I'll take a bath.

Blessings. . . until next time (hopefully, I'll have a post of the finished chairs soon - they are done, but I was in a rush to get out of church last night and get our youngest home, so I forgot to take a picture!),

Taaaaa-Daaaaaa - It's DONE!!

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me, my present to myself . . . It's done!! My secretary has been lovingly repainted to fit my decor. I painted my piece in Satin Black. It's perfect for my room and for this corner of my room. I finally have it finished and couldn't be happier with how it turned out. I've taken pictures for you to see it both open and closed. I will be leaving it open, since I think the inside cubbies, drawers and little cupboard are a "work of art." . . . And also a pain in the neck to paint so I'll want to see the fruits of my labor!

I do have one additional item to add to my secretary. . . a small lamp for on the shelf. I have the "perfect" lamp (garage sale find), I just need to rewire it. I don't want to drill a hole large enough to accommodate the electrical plug. I'm thinking I'll either take it apart, or see if The Home Depot or Lowes have a new snap on plug (that would work well too). . . then I'll just need to drill a small hole to accommodate the cord, reattach the plug and we're in business.

Do you like it? I hope so. I love it! . . . or as my 13 would say, "I heart it!"


Blessings. . . until next time,

Edited to show the secretary before I painted it.

Almost Finished

I'm still working on painting my antique secretary. I have half of it completed (bottom half) and I'm now working on the top half. It's turning out wonderful (my opinion)! I'm very, very pleased with how the finish product looks. It will be a few more days (hopefully) until it is complete and I can post a picture of it on my blog. It's a very slow process with all those cubbies for mail, notes, etc. Plus, I need to remove all that antique stain from the hardware with mineral spirits. I was able to get the handles back on, but the little decorative pieces that are nailed in between the handle have been antiqued (don't know why - I'm thinking the prior owner didn't want to removed them before antiquing the piece).

The best time for me to work on it is in the evening, after everyone is in La-La Land. It's quiet, I'm not interrupted, I'm not playing taxi, etc. After working an hour or so I can then just hop in the shower and go to bed myself. :>)

Blessings. . . until next time,

Just You Watch!!

Thrifting, junktiquing, garage and estate saleing. My passions. I love to take people's cast-offs, no longer needed or loved items and transform them into something beautiful and useful. Some people would call this simply "recycling!" Good for the earth. I call it being a good steward with the money. . . the Lord's money : >) !!

One of my favorite things to do is to take something that was once very loved, very cared for and appreciated by someone and give it a new home. You know what I mean. Someone has died and their family is clearing out all their "junk!" "Junk" to their family, but not to the deceased person. I love pieces of antiques. Not my entire house, but a few accent pieces. Well, I came across such a "special" piece just recently. . .

I was cruising http://geo.craigslist.org/iso/us/mi just looking to see what was out there, when up popped this most beautiful antique secretary. $50, yes, only $50. It was from the 1940's had been painted, needed to be re-painted, or stripped. I immediately responded stating that "I wanted the secretary" and to "let me know when I could come and pick-it up!" I left my contact phone numbers . . . just in case they wanted to call me as opposed to e-mailing. I was delighted when I received a call back within the hour. The seller stated that this was in her parent's house, which they had just sold. Her dad liked to refinish, paint and antique furniture. It was his hobby. Both parents were now deceased and her brother placed some ads on http://geo.craigslist.org/iso/us/mi. They were trying to get rid of all her dad's junk! Junk! Junk!?! She told me when I could come out and look at it. I stated that "I didn't need to come out and look at it, I wanted it. I wanted to come out and pay for it and bring it home!" Home, my home, its new home, my loving vintage treasures home, my new treasure to love and cherish!

I didn't even pick it up. I didn't need to see it before loading it up. I asked my daughter and her boyfriend to pick it up for me (he has a pick-up truck and I give him money for his time and gas. Everyone wins!)

The pictures posted on http://geo.craigslist.org/iso/us/mi showed the antiquing a lighter stain color. Actually, it's an off-white with darker olive green antiquing. . . . Remember that color from the 60's? Everyone antiqued everything olive green? At least my mother did. Well, it's going. The color that is, not the piece. I'm working on it now. I've removed the hardware, separated the top from the bottom, sanded the piece down, primed and started applying the first coat of paint (you'll need to wait to see what color I selected). For all of you wood purist out there, I'm not into stripping furniture, I like to paint it. Sorry. Stripping furniture leaves me with a terrible sinus infection (yes, I wear a mask). I like the look of painted wood (and it was painted over to begin with when I got it, remember? So please don't e-mail me and scold me about painting furniture. . . it's a matter of preference. . . mine, yours. . . whomever).

It is a treasure, just waiting to be released. . . . Just you wait and see!!



Blessings!

A Rescued Treasure

I enjoy needle crafts. ALL needle crafts; knitting, crocheting, embroidery, needlepoint, cross stitch, sewing. . . I am the "master" of none, but a tinkerer of all. I'm also self taught. My mom, her mom and her 3 sisters had no desire to do such things. Luckily for me, my dad had a few sisters who did knit - so - when it was mandatory in the 6th grade that I knit or crochet a 6" square for a Christian Girls club I belonged to - I at least had someone to ask. The idea was for all of us girls to knit or crochet 6" squares to be pieced together to donate to a senior home.

My aunt showed me how to cast on, knit and purl. This was the beginning of a beautiful hobby. The remainder, I taught myself by reading books. Literally, taught myself. This was hard to do sometimes. . . since I'm left handed. I remember wanting to crochet so badly. Being left handed the book examples were always backwards for me. So, I got an idea. I went to my local library, checked out a "Teach Yourself How to Crochet" type video - - came home - - took the large mirror off the wall - - placed the video into the video player and sat with my back to the TV - facing the mirror. Bingo. It then made perfect sense to me. I could understand the instructions. The rest is history. . . I've knitted or crochet sweaters, both adult and baby, lots of afghans, scarves, hats, mittens, slippers, vests, baby dresses, etc. Then I took up needlepoint, cross-stitch, embroidery, sewing, etc.

I appreciate seeing other's beautiful handcrafted things too - - knowing how much time is spent making each item. That's why when I go to Estate Sales I normally end up purchasing the embroidery, needlepoint, whatever. It's old, vintage and not done as much lately. I always feel sad seeing all the time and effort placed into these pieces and the family didn't care about the items enough to keep them.

My mom, knowing my love for needle crafts and vintage finds, found a most wonderful surprise for me. She went to an Estate Sale and purchased a lovely needlepoint piece for me. She paid $8 for it. I looked all summer for a chair to use it on. Finally, just last week, I found one. It was at a garage sale for $8. It was ugly and beat up, but had good bones. The chair needed refinishing, or painting and had the most awful fabric seat on it. I removed the seat, tore off the fabric and sat it aside. I painted the chair satin black. I attached the beautiful vintage needlepoint piece to the seat using my handy-dandy electric staple gun (great invention!!). . . .And, here it is. What do you think? I think it looks great in the foyer between the grandfather clock (sorry, it's not included in the picture - it's to the left of the chair) and the little table (I picked the table up at an estate sale about 6 years ago).

Thanks mom. You may not like to do needle crafts, but you sure are appreciated for keeping on the lookout for them for me :>).

Blessings!

Vintage Heaven

I promised a few days ago to share my vintage silverplate with you. Here it is:

Isn't this silverplate flatware simply wonderful? I love old things. I love vintage things. I love "simple elegance." They just don't make things like they used to.

How did this collection get started? I originally purchased several place settings at an Estate Sale. Love those Estate Sales! Then I brought them home, polished them up and put them in a drawer. . . to forget about for awhile. I got busy, life happened and a few years rolled around. Funny how that happens. Later when I came upon them. . . there they were. . . beautiful, shiny, vintage, heavy silver-plated flatware begging for more pieces. My quest began. Thank God for EBAY. I first had to investigate what pattern I even had. So, Amazon was a great source for purchasing books on identifying flatware patterns. I purchased a book by Tere Hagan, called Silverplated Flatware. It is an identification and value guide book.

My pattern is by Wm Rogers & Sons. The pattern name is Triumph - it was first introduced in 1925. 1925!! That's before my parents were even born. 82 years old and still stunning! (I only hope the same is said about me when I reach that age :>). There just seems to be such a better degree of quality (to me anyways) than from the patterns produced today.

I continued on my search through EBAY. I found many individual pieces, a few place settings together, etc. I even found an original magazine ad from 1925 introducing the Triumph pattern for Christmas. Of course, I purchased it all. Don't want to see any pieces without homes. I got place settings, serving pieces, even a sugar, creamer & tea pot of the same pattern.

Now, my beautiful set is complete. . . and I absolutely LOVE it. Was is worth waiting 26+ years for my silver-plated flatware? Oh yes!! It was worth it!!

Come on over sometime and we'll "share a meal."

Blessings!

Sher