Look What I Found At The Thrift Store

Finding reusable items in second-hand stores is like going on a treasure hunt. Here are some of the things I've found over the years.

Digging through dusty bins can really pay off if you're looking for chairs, side tables, mirrors, kitchen gadgets, pots and pans, dishes, glassware, picture frames, art, tools, books and even clothes for a fraction of the original price. It's an economical way to decorate.

One of my favorite things to collect is American-made dinnerware. If you question buying used dishes, remember that when you eat at a restaurant, you're eating on dishes that have been used hundreds of times. With the right scrubbing, disinfectant and sanitation methods, they're good to go.

Cast iron skillets make great finds for cooking steaks, fried chicken, pork chops and more. Their durable construction makes the pan safe to use on the outdoor grill, over campfires or in the oven.

Look for the manufacturer's mark on the bottom for names like Wagner or Griswold.

The skillet I found was covered in years of baked-on grease. SOS pads, elbow grease and a light coating of oil made it look like new.

Second-hand stores are great place to find vintage items as people who are downsizing donate their excess household items. Goodwill, Salvation Army, Donation Station, Friends of Strays, and Junior League stores can yield treasures from dusty attics, barns, storage units and leftovers from estate sales.

Antique stores usually have a bargain area where slow-moving items are marked down. Pawn shops and flea markets have jewelry, guitars, clocks, kitchenware, appliances, tools patio furniture and more.

This Rookwood vase from 1904 is signed by its designer, KVH, for Katherine Van Horne. It's marked with the manufacturer's stamp and a Roman numeral on the bottom for the year. Vases like this can sell for hundreds to collectors. I found this one at a garage sale.

Keep an eye out for multiple-family garage sales where people are trying to get rid of grandma's "dusty old things." You never know what you might find.

Vintage Oak Washstand from the late 1800s

If you want to learn more about the history of vintage items, auctions are good places to start. An experienced auctioneer tells a story about the items to build interest from the crowd.

Auctions

1. Arrive early and check out the items for sale. 
2. Bring a magnifying glass and a flashlight to inspect hard-to-see areas. 
3. Items are sold as is and where is. 
4. Any defects are the buyer's responsibility.
5. Find out how much the auction charges for a buyer's premium. Sometimes it's ten-percent added to the winning bid amount.

Bidders are assigned a buyer's number to be used when bidding. When the bidding gets intense over an item, the price tends to go up.

Don't worry that you'll end up buying something accidentally. If there's a question of intent, the auctioneer usually asks, "Are you waving at someone or bidding?" You'll know if you've bought something when they yell, "SOLD!"

How Much Is It Worth?

Finding values is easy with an internet search. For years, collector series books were the only source for values. They're still a great source of manufacturer's history of where certain patterns originated. Remember, an item is only worth what the market will bear.

When you check eBay for an item's worth, sign in and look at the "sold" listings. Just because someone sets a sale price doesn't mean people will buy it for that much.

Hull coffee mug in tangerine (rare) color with a matching coffee server.

Knowing what to buy is as important as knowing what not to buy. Here are some things best left at the store.

Things To Avoid When Shopping at Second Hand Stores

1. Intimate clothing, like socks, panties, bras or swimsuits, unless tagged with original manufacturer's tags and in "new" unworn condition. Always launder before using.
2. Cloth covered furniture with odors or stains are best left behind. (Crime TV makes me suspicious of red stains.) 
3. If it smells funny or has mold or water damage, think twice before buying it.
4. Avoid books or paintings that smell of mold or mildew unless they have historical value or are family heirlooms. In that case professional restoration may be required.
5. Pass on porous items like wooden spoons, wooden bowls, non-washable fabrics or other items that can't be immersed in a cleaning solution and disinfected thoroughly.
6. Consumables like make-up, body lotion, perfume, edibles and other vintage food items are likely beyond their best-use date and aren't safe to eat or use. Perfume bottles can be cleaned but the contents will likely smell strong.
7. Kitchen appliances need to be tested. Some items like mixers, toasters and lamps are safer if they're rewired.
8. Shoes are questionable unless they show little or no wear. They can be of value as theater props or decorations.
9. Some baby car seats and cribs have been recalled due to dangerous or unsafe outcomes. Check for any recalls.
10. Some old items were made with paints that contained lead or radioactive materials, like illuminated clock faces painted with radium. Avoid these.
11. If an item just doesn't feel right when you pick it up or holding it makes the hair on your neck stand up, leave it behind.

Use your good judgement on used items.

Good luck in your search for vintage items. I hope you find the treasure of a lifetime!

Burgundy Lace Dishes from the 40s

Solomon Lithograph from the 40s

Marigold Carnival Tumblers from the 60s

Hull Mirror Brown Oven Proof Dishes USA

Bain Honaker House in Farmersville Texas - Historic Houses

Nestled into a quiet rural street east of the Farmersville square, the Bain Honaker house is a reminder of the struggles of daily living in the 1800s. Constructed just after the Civil War, its builder and first owner, Anna Melissa Bain, was the widow of John Alexander Bain, 1823 - 1862. She was a woman of vision who with keen foresight, bought nearly seven acres in a small town fifty miles northeast of Dallas.

Inside the house there's a collection of items from workers, gun owners, revolutionaries, widows, orphans, musical instruments and lasting architectural design. Visitors can browse through antique books, old photos, vintage clothing, parlor-style furniture, and the remnants of lives well-lived.

Decorated in period-correct wallpaper, the interior is warmed by a shared fireplace in the wall between the parlor and the sitting room. 

"Mid-nineteenth-century homes included a formal parlor, sometimes described by social historians as a sacred space, where weddings, funerals, and other public events were held."

At times, it might hold the body of the deceased on display for visitation by friends and relatives prior to the funeral. The parlor was likely the most expensively furnished and elegant room in the entire house.

"The parlor furniture was made of richer materials and included the piano for entertaining guests. The cozier sitting room was used by the family for reading and sewing."₂

A ceramic and enamel container held excess ashes from the hearth. As the fire was the primary source of heat, it would need to be emptied on a regular basis. 

"A family would gather in the sitting room in the evening, drawing close together to share the light of an oil or kerosene lamp.

Reading was a popular activity during which the family was likely to listen to someone reading aloud. Typically, the man of the house would read aloud, while women engaged in some form of sewing or handwork."

A writing desk and a comfortable chair were highly valued items in a sitting room.

Anna Hicks Bain, born in 1834, was eleven years younger than her husband, John Alexander Bain, who passed away in November 1862. A widow at twenty-eight years old, she raised five daughters in the house following his death. She smartly supplemented her income by dividing the 6.7 acres into smaller plots which became commercial properties and by taking in boarders in the spare rooms upstairs.

This room offered entry to the house through the back doors, possibly used as the servant's entrance, or to allow boarders a private access to the stairs. It served as a mud room in inclement weather to store wet boots and outer garments or in summer as a place to cool off. Off the screened porch is a brick path leading to the outhouse and the fresh-water well.

The porch allowed access to the informal dining area, possibly an eat-in kitchen where food was prepared. Cold food was stored in the wooden ice box in the corner. A sign would be put in the window to let the ice man know what size block to bring in from his truck.

Many of the daily chores revolved around cooking, baking, cleaning, washing, mending, raising chickens, planting a garden, gathering the harvest. In the absence of modern appliances, most work was done by hand. Sundays were a day of rest and worship.

When the Bain-Honaker house was built in 1865, it was a time of national unrest with the war between the states just winding down. Supplies were scarce, tensions were high and many wounded men were returning home after battling neighbors and brothers over issues of States' Rights versus Federal Authority, Westward expansion and slavery. The years 1860 - 1864 marked some of our nation's most difficult times, certainly a difficult time to lose a husband and raise five children alone.

Music played a large role in daily life in the absence of telephones, television or radio. Books and reading, singing, sewing and hand crafts kept idle hands busy.

Anna Bain's daughters, Mary and Catherine (Cassia) married brothers Henry Honaker and Andrew Honaker. Cassia lived in the house until her death in 1928. Five generations lived in the house.₃

The bathroom was upgraded over the years. There's an upstairs bathroom with the old cast iron bathtub and another remodeled bathroom downstairs.

The house was donated to the Farmersville Historical Society by a descendant in 1989.

Farmersville, Texas is the place to visit if you enjoy quaint, old-fashioned towns with antiques and curiosities. Located near Highway 380 and Highway 78, the town has friendly merchants, good food, a quiet laid-back environment and the largest yarn store in Texas.

Sources:

1. John Alexander Bain, March 15, 1823 - November 1862. Facts from Ancestry dot com
2. Anna Hicks Bain, 1834 - 1906
3. Collin County Texas dot Gov, Bain Honaker House

Treasure Hunt in Farmersville

Singer Sewing Machine

The tiny downtown of Farmersville, Texas always yields a treasure or two and today was no exception. The stores have changed somewhat over the years, somehow adding more sophistication and newer things. Or perhaps it's me who has changed.

Red Door Antiques moved across the main street into a newly remodeled space. It's beautifully decorated and full of lovely things. Even so, I miss their old space that was drafty and dusty, just like I like it.

Downtown Farmersville TX

Found amid the current items that seem to outnumber the aged and vintage things of previous days, an enamel dishpan from the 1940s, white with red trim awaited. Another customer remarked that they used to bathe their small child in a pan like that. Yes!

Enamel Dishpan with Red Trim

At my favorite store, Main Street Antiques, there was a vintage Singer Sewing machine, the hand crank kind like one that sold in my own store long ago. Of course it was a must purchase after spotting the twenty percent off sign. A little Goo Be Gone and a wipe down with a cotton rag and it sparkles like new.

The best find of all today was a Christian Hymnal that contains most of the songs we sang in church as children. This book was published in 1961 and has a soft cover along with a classic image of the Savior rescuing a lamb. Sweet!

One of my Dad's favorite tunes...

Christmas Decorations

Putting away the boxes of Christmas decorations made me want to purge my rampant collection of holiday decor. A couple of trips to the trunk of the car and once again, my boxes fit neatly into the cupboard beneath the stairs. I knew exactly where I was headed with the donations.

Of course, it was somewhere that I would likely bring home more stuff than I dropped off.

The trip held no exception to the truth about giving; it makes more room for treasure. This vintage punch bowl was discovered at The Samaritan Inn in McKinney Texas.

Oh yes, one more item to find room for in the overflowing cupboard. The old pressed glass pattern brought back days of Christmas in the sixties and was simply irresistible. We traditionally served red punch poured into dainty little glass cups with handles way too small for anyone's fingers. The recipe was prepared with ginger ale, Hawaiian punch and pineapple juice cooled with ice cubes of frozen fruit juice. My sister was in charge of ladling at our house, hard at work at here at her duty post.

Perhaps when the right festive occasion comes along and punch is required, I might find a use for this set of elegant glassware. I can imagine filling it with a colorful holiday beverage. Forget the paper cups, I enjoy using real dishes.

Off for a Sunday Morning Drive

Living in the country has many advantages, one of which is the proximity of the old time neighboring communities. In just a few short miles and within minutes, I can be immersed in landscapes that take me back to a simpler time; a place where railroad tressles, onion sheds and grain silos dot the neighboring fields.

Downtown Farmersville Square

Two of my favorite places to spend a weekend morning include Princeton and Farmersville, Texas.

Today I set out early, heading north on one of Texas' picturesque highways to Farmersville's Historic Downtown Square.

To the right is a glimpse of the park adjacent to the Onion Shed pictured below. Today's unseasonably cool temperatures in the low 70s are the perfect pairing to a stroll through the grounds.

The Onion Shed and entry to Audie Murphy Trail Head

The Onion Shed is where Farmersville Farmers and Fleas monthly produce market is held. I missed yesterday's festivities, when the locals bring their handmade goods, vegetables and crafts for sale and display on the picnic tables under the tin roof.

Recycled Playground Equipment

South view of town

Although it is a colorful display that I've participated in as a one-time vendor, I enjoy the quiet on a Sunday morning when the local crowd is absent.

None of the merchants have opened their stores as most wait until after noon when church is out.



Main Street early on Sunday morning

This is Main Street where my favorite Antique Store is hidden away among antique buildings, many in the process of restoration. Its proprietor knows me by name and greets me with each visit, inquiring about my mother who is her age, yet the two are worlds apart. She brings baked goods and serves coffee and Mimosas to the visitors who patronize her store. Doris, at 87, has just completed the renovation of her building where a variety of consignment booths are housed, dedicating the building to her late husband.

Farmersville Visitor's Center - Chamber of Commerce



Galvanized horse troughs and farm supplies

Scenic Overlook - View of Lake Lavon

The journey on the return trip is refreshingly familiar as I gaze off into fields lining the road and stop at a Scenic Overlook.

Now it's time to head home and wash the produce purchased at a familiar stop in Princeton, Sally's Produce. I came away with a nice assortment of summer squash, green snap beans, tomatoes and a canteloupe along with a beautiful jar of red rasberry jam, the basis for a Rasberry Walnut Vinegrette dressing I'll serve on spinach salad. Sally wanted to know how to prepare the dressing, and I share my recipe while butterflies land softly on the produce resting between us.

All in all, it was a lovely trip.