Christy and I enjoy our old house. We love the quirky little features and the slightly crooked walls and floors. We also really like the old hardware, light fixtures, door knobs, and appliances that came with it. The trouble is, over the years, previous owners have spent a lot of time, and not so much money, “updating” and replacing many of these quaint features with new ones purchased at Lowe’s. They lack style. They lack character. They look cheap.

To remedy this and to entertain ourselves, Christy and I love to go to auctions, estate sales, and garage sales to find cool old stuff. This past Friday, we went to an auction in West End and picked up a few really cool pieces that we’re very excited about. We spent 40 bucks, just barely more than it costs to go to the movies, and we got cool stuff to keep.

The first is an old oil lamp that’s been converted into an electric table lamp. When we bid 15 dollars on it, we thought it was kind of old and neat looking, so we were surprised when we saw the date stamped on it: March 27th 1888. It’s probably the oldest thing we’ve got. I bought a flickering light bulb for a few dollars and now it sits on our heartpine shelf.

The second item is a whimsical painting that really caught Christy’s eye. I think we paid 10 dollars for it. It’s by F.R. Assa from Nov. 1971. It makes the front room feel happy now. Thanks, Mr. Assa.

The third item we bought was a leaded glass hanging light fixture in the tiffany style. It was really dirty, looked old as the earth, and had withering and faded wires connecting the electrical components. We spent a cool 15 dollars on it, fixed it up, and now it’s hanging in our front room. I’ll be posting later today about the fixing-it-up process. Thanks for reading. – Robby