If you do a site search of the word “auction,” a lot of results turn up. Since buying this place, we have purchased the majority of furniture and stuff for the walls from a variety of auction houses–mostly local ones, but a few farther afield. It’s been a while since I’ve posted about some of the finds, so let’s just dive in.
I’ve lucked out and found a lot of interesting stuff for our walls in the last couple years. This includes a set of three original watercolors of orioles and one of a female Townsend’s Warbler. And while we haven’t added more large sculptures to our pastures, I did snag a very spiffy brass apatosaurus and a pair of small brass crane figures. The former sits in my office, while the latter decorate the little coffee table in the downstairs area of the great room. Another auction find was a lot that included two green, oblong, cut-glass bowls, and what I really wanted, 6 adorkable birdy tealight holders.
Another awesome find was a set of wooden nesting bowls. The largest of the bowls had a nasty crack that a woodworking friend suggested I use filler to repair, but that didn’t work well and in the end, some glue and strapping work on the part of Agent Smith’s dad resolved the worst of the issue. I then spent several hours rubbing tung oil into the bowls to get the glowy–something that needs to be done regularly so that to-do item is now on my reminders list. The bowl now sits on the dining room table and to make it slide easily across the table, I used some scrap yarn to crochet a wee soft mini-rug. Not only are the bowls lovely, they serve very well as puzzle piece sorting containers.
And typing of organizing, thanks to good-old-eBay, I picked up some new-in-box Tupperware canisters to replace my old metal ones. Those old ones had an annoying issue: they didn’t seal well and I would often slosh flour or sugar onto the floor or counter when moving a canister to and from the pantry. I liked the first five I got so much, I found a second set and we can now store sugars, flours, rice and other stuff securely, which is great as occasionally we have rodent issues.
Perhaps the most awesome find was a simple vintage resin globe light I got from Westport Auction in Connecticut. With shipping it cost less than $150, and is the perfect addition over the dining table (which was one of our first auction finds). A couple years ago Agent Smith prototyped a way to get a light out into the space by using a length of steel rod and some cable stays; we repeated this method in the great room to add this new light over the dining table. The result is simply lovely.
Now before readers think we always get things “right” when buying from auctions, that is so not the case. The last image in the gallery below is a light fixture we bought earlier thinking we would use it over the table; the only problem is that it weighs too much and with the steel rod setup Agent Smith devised, the light turned out to be unsuitable. So now I will eventually have to rehome it.
And finally and most recently, as this country is not only going through the great wealth transfer but also the great stuff transfer, Agent Smith and I decided we should try to find some new dishes for everyday use. Since moving in together way back in late 2009, we’ve just continued to use the same eight dinner plates, 8 bowls and 12 small plates–the combined total of what we each had prior to connecting. We thought it would be nice to find something pretty that didn’t cost a lot, and eventually we snagged a huge set of Mikasa “Just Flowers.” While we only use the plates, the lot came with a coffee pot, multiple tea/coffee cups and saucers, and a soup tureen. At some point I may sell off the stuff we don’t want to keep, but that’s tomorrow’s problem.
