My Other Obsession

Hello friends!  Today I thought I’d share something different with you.  In addition to stamping, I love Vintage things!  Take me antique shopping, and you’ll make me happy!  What’s my favorite thing to look for?  PYREX!  I’ve always loved it, but shortly after my Dad passed away is when my addiction really took off.  My parents were divorced, and when we cleaned out my Dad’s house, I discovered some Pryex pieces that my Mom had left behind when she moved out, and of course brought them home with me.  And that’s what got me started with wanting more!  Fortunately (and sometimes UNfortunately!) that bug has also bit my husband, and he has been known to go to auctions where Pyrex is advertised, and buys it just because it’s Pyrex.  So, to some extent, we’ve gotten a little carried away with the collecting.  BUT, if you look at the collections of some people I follow on Facebook and Instagram, my collection is pretty meager in comparison! 

There’s a favorite antique store near me that posted some photos on Facebook late last week.  In one photo was a darling little white cabinet with open shelves at the top and I just could not get that cabinet out of my head.  With my Pyrex collection, I have really struggled with a good way to display things.  That’s partially due to the fact that even though I do have a large kitchen, it’s got two refrigerators in it!  Yes, I said TWO!  There’s the large stainless steel Frigidaire that we use everyday, and then there’s the 1950’s Westinghouse!  It was in my parent’s basement all my life… the previous owners left it behind when they sold the house to my Mom and Dad in 1970.  And as a kid, I just loved that old thing!  It had the coolest push button on the front to open it that I always thought was so fascinating.  So it was one of the first things I called dibs on when we started cleaning out my Dad’s house.  I let my husband remove the compressor from it to make it lighter and easier to move, so it no longer works.  My Mom used to plug it in and use when we’d have holiday gatherings, and it might still have worked but none of us had the guts to plug it in and see what happened!  So now I use it as a storage cabinet in my kitchen… inside it are my Tervis cups, food processor, Foreman grill, vegetable steamer, kitchen rags, wine glasses, miscellaneous dishes, and the door even holds canned goods!  You’d be surprised at how much I have in there!  But anyway, I digress… back to the darling little white cabinet!  It’s size appealed to me, because I thought it might just fit perfectly in the space beside my old Westinghouse!  So my hubby and I headed to the antique store after church on Sunday (it’s called Journey in Time… if you’ve ever in Northeast Ohio be sure to check it out!) and I found the darling little white cabinet, and fell in love!  Luckily, it fit in the back of my car with the back seats folded down, and so we brought it home!

And so today I just wanted to share with you some photos of my “new” cabinet and my pretty Pyrex collection!

Isn’t it pretty?  I LOVE the shabbiness… it’s all part of the charm.  Maybe someday I’ll strip and repaint it, but for now I love it just the way it is.  Everything on the cabinet is Pyrex, except the clear glass dish on the top shelf center…it’s Heisy glass.  Something my husband got at an auction that he thinks is fascinating, so I indulged him and displayed it.  And behind the bowls on the top shelf is a metal tray, I thought looked good there for contrast.

Here you can see the Westinghouse… I’ve even got the original owners manual inside!  The push button on the door is permanently broken, thanks for a daughter’s former boyfriend.    So the door no longer closes completely, but you probably wouldn’t notice if I didn’t tell you?  On the top of the fridge I have a Vintage straw picnic basket with a tablecloth, a tin cake carrier, and a Premium saltine cracker tin.  You see those Premium cracker tins a LOT, but mine is different because the panel on one side is in Spanish!

On this little white cart (another auction find from my hubby!) I have some more dishes, including all of my Town & Country collection pieces.  The Town & Country set of Cinderella bowls on the bottom shelf were the ones I found in my Dad’s kitchen… they had been a wedding or possibly a wedding shower gift to my Mom in 1963.  They’re a little on the plain side, and not very pretty but I love them because of where they came from!  On the top shelf there are some blue and red “fridgies” (as Pyrex collectors call them) and a few other Vintage items including old salt & pepper shakers, metal trays and a juice pitcher.  The “hen” is a ceramic piece given to me by my Mom when I moved into my own home.  I’m honestly not sure if she pained it, or if it was painted by the lady who taughter her to do ceramics. 

There’s room in the bottom of the cabinet for pieces I’m not currently displaying.  (And that’s gotten filled up more since the photo was taken as I’ve found more pieces around the house that were being stored that I had forgotten about!)  Don’t you just LOVE those snowflakes?  I’d LOVE to find a few more pieces like that before next Winter to create a fun display!

And the drawers even have room for some extra lids I don’t currently need in my display, and my Pyrex collectors guidebook!

So, thanks for indulging me today and for stopping by to see a bit of my Vintage kitchen!