Thrifty Thursday: Petersburg, I love you!

So last weekend two of my favorite girl friends came to visit! We planned this visit over a month ago and I had been excitedly looking forward to it all of July, so I was very excited when the day finally arrived and I got to have some fun with these friends. 

Lauren and Bethany are sisters and we all went to college together. Lauren and I were friends 1st but as  we've hung out over the years since graduating from college, I've gotten to know Bethany and we've become good friends as well. 

So while they were visiting, we decided to use our Saturday morning to do some antiquing and drove down to Petersburg. I seriously am falling in love with this forgotten city that is just 30 minutes outside of Richmond and full of beautiful Civil War era brick buildings. While the economy there is pretty much non- existent and it is unfortunately biased as being a not safe city to live in, I find myself understanding why artists are willing to "take the risk" so to speak and live there/ start a business there.

Ok, enoughgushing over how much I like the place and on to the fun we had! We stopped at Petersburg Pickers, definitely worth the visit, for their Goat Days of Summer sale that happens every other weekend. Fri is 50% off, Sat is 60% off and Sunday is 70% off. So everything was 60% off the morning we went. 

As you may have read in a previous post, I have been setting up a ceramic studio in my home studio and while I found a wheel, I haven't been about to find a good stool that is the perfect height. If you are a thrower, you'll understand why having the right height seat to your wheel is important. 

Well, I wasn't even looking, not intentionally anyways, and what did I find at Petersburg Pickers but the perfect stool for my studio! This fancy fella was perched on top of a table and its industrial metal and black caught my eye. I'm never one to turn down style and function! The price tag was $95 but with %60 off it came to $40. 

While that isn't really what I'd planned on paying for a stool for my studio, I was willing to for this because I know it can function beyond a studio perch in a future place. And who can turn down a height changeable swivel stool! Now I can have one seat for both working at my wheel and for working at my hand building table!

But that was just the 1st find of the day, and while it was the one I most needed and had the biggest "sale" on it, it was by no means the best find! In another antique shop we stopped into I found these gorgeous crystal doorknobs in a box in the back corner. 

Ok, so ever since I got that iron bed, I'be been thinking that using glass/crystal door knobs to cap off the corners would looks really pretty since the brass knobs it had are gone. However, the cheapest I've ever seen glass door knobs for was $15 a peice and its usually more like $20 or more. Not to mention there are never more than 2 that match. So in this box in the back where about 12 door knobs and after picking through them I selected these four, all matching and all with pretty clear non yellowed glass. 

And guess how much I paid for all four!?  $21!!! They were $5 each! There was no way I was gonna pass that rpice up! I even kept trying to think of other uses I might have for them like one of those door knob shelf/hanger things but I was watching my spending and didn't want to just buy more becuase they were so cheap. At least now I know where to find them! :)

The last thing I got was this pretty green book for $5. Its called the Judas Tree and I have no idea if I'll ever read it, though when I perused it the story seemed interesting. I just like collecting books for their covers, its a bonus if its a story I love or one I enjoy reading. This cool pastel lime green was too nice to pass up!

My friends had some great finds too! Bethany got a beautiful Oval mirror on a stand for $40 and they both got a bunch of pretty vases and table decor. We went to the Blue Willow Tea Room for lunch and then drove around exploring the real estate... and even got out to check out a few houses that had for sale signs on them. 

Lots of fun! A perfect day with dear friends who equally love old houses, antiques, a good sale and exploring! :)

A Collection of Old Books and Memories

Do you ever come across something that triggers a whole flood of memories? 

Growing up I loved going to Baltimore to visit my Nana and Grandfather. They lived in a beautiful white painted brick house in Towson, Md that looked so small from the outside but was full of delightful nooks and crannies that went on forever inside. And fit their large brood of 7 children with their spouses and 12 offspring in a comfortably cramped kind of way.

1217 was their last home, the home they lived in after their 7 children had grown up and moved out of the big granite house on the hill at 217 Edgvale Rd. 

I always thought it was wonderful how they'd bought a house number just 1 more than their last. 

One of my favorite rooms in their home was the library/study. It was by no means a vast grand library like the one in Beauty and the Beast with a ladder and multiple stories of book shelves. Or the one I heard about so often that had been in the 217 house. It was just a small room, the 1st on the left down the hall from the main living/family room, that had an extra long (longer than today's XL twins) twin bed, a roll top desk with dark green leather top work surface and 1 wall of book shelves full of old musty books and little treasures. Oh, and a huge bay window that looked over the back garden!

As I got older, I became an avid reader and I loved nothing more than to spend a rainy afternoon in that room lying propped up by a bunch of pillows on the bed by the big window deep into a good story.  It was also a favored napping spot for many in the Holljes clan, myself included. I loved running my fingers over the new and old books spines, reading the beautiful gold leaf print that was embossed on the spines. Books on Medicine and Art (my grandfather was a physician and in his retired years a painter), books on the History of Vikings and Viking Sagas, books of poetry, philosophy, music, mythology and even some old school books that my Dad and his siblings used to carry to school. 

It's where I found an old crumbling copy of one of my favorite books, A Little Princess, and after asking my Grandfather's permission, took it home with me. 

So when I was visiting my Aunt and Uncles in St. Augustine, I couldn't help but be taken back when I walked into their office/ spare room with the wall of book shelves and a collection of some of those very same books I'd seen so often as a child.