Antiquing in Philadelphia AND my new Craigslist chandelier.
My favorite date is when Paul chauffeurs me around Philadelphia’s various salvage/antique/emporiums of delight and crap.
These excursions help me to focus:
I do not have NEARLY enough stuff.
It’s actually pretty scandalous, considering how few other responsibilities I have.
When we go in these places, I’m like:
LET’S BUY ALL OF THE THINGS.
SHOULD WE GET PUPPETS?*
AN ELECTRIC ZAPPING MACHINE?*
500 POUNDS OF BRASS KEYS?*
ANTIQUE EMBALMING TOOLS?*
Why have I not covered every available surface in OUR house with COOCOO CLOCKS and GILT FRAMES and TERRIFYING RELIGIOUS ITEMS?
*not made up… all actual things you can see in my instagram stories
whoa.
wait.
whatisthis?
is this a skeleton with brooches?
it is!?
and does it come with this amazing threadbare VELVET DISPLAY CASE that has sterling FANCY BITS and various accessories and accouterments?
it does!?
PAUL!!!!
CAN I HAVE THIS SKELETON?
IT’S FANCY.
Then we went to that antique chandelier place on South Street… a really old building, small, narrow; just CRAMMED FULL with crystal, brass, gilt, cut glass, ALL THE FANCY.
The lighting is MAGIC. Everything looks so GLOWY when lit with nothing but candelabra bulbs!
The only lighting in this entire shop is chandeliers.
There is NO other lighting. JUST chandeliers.
Literally.
ONLY chandeliers.
You see where I’m going with this?
When we walked back into OUR front door, Self was like – well! this is distinctly NOT AWESOME! You are not even going to trip over anything and fall into an antique display OF KNIVES.
And by the way, if you do not actually apply yourself, your entire life is going to go by and you are NEVER GOING TO BE GREAT AUNT GERTRUDE.
To prove her point exactly, Self said– where is our collection of cripplingly-heavy cocktail rings?
Velvet lounging robes?
Brass canes?
WHERE IS OUR STABLE BOY?
Self said— if you are going to keep on living, DESPITE YOUR OWN IDIOCY, the very LEAST you might do, is hang a chandelier in every single room.
Should that not be the BARE minimum of effort you muster?
So now I have to buy 9 more chandeliers.
You think that sounds like too much?
Welcome!
See all my favorite Craigslist scores here!
Happy Passover and Easter and SPRING. 🌱
I hope you get to spend it with beings you love.
xoxo, VEB
March 29, 2018 @ 10:49 am
Hi Victoria – I knew where you were the minute I saw the picture. My son said “Mom, there’s a chandelier store in Philly and you have to go be there.” I did, and he was so right. I found a home away from home and was so happy that he knew me so well! I have regretted not buying the “lady with torches bust lamp” that called to me as it was gone when I went back. I thought I saw you at the auction in Crumpton, Maryland, yesterday. Maybe it was the humongous golden mirror that made me think you were around. You might want to check it out – Wednesdays, 8 a.m. until whenever. Every Tuesday night they put two or three hundred pictures of what will be selling the next morning, on facebook, if you join the Crumpton page. Dixon’s Auction. Two outside fields with larger furniture, and tons of tables inside with all the smalls and then there’s the jewelry and coin auction at 1 p.m. There are always chandeliers.
Mary
March 29, 2018 @ 11:12 am
Chandlierless rooms are just plain unsightly. I have one (or two) in every room, except the bathroom. Working on that.
March 29, 2018 @ 11:12 am
Thank you Victoria, I now have a mission to find the chandelier store on South St and spend my husbands money 😉
Because life is not worth living unless you can surround yourself in luscious light and mirrors (and kittens too!)
March 29, 2018 @ 11:41 am
Victoria, does anyone really ever have enough stuff??? Well, some people might, but they are not a lot of fun.
Happy hunting!!!
March 29, 2018 @ 11:47 am
9 chandeliers does not sound like too much to me…if I had my way our house would have a chandelier in every room and closet. Bring on the fancy! xAllie http://www.theallthatglittersblog.com
March 29, 2018 @ 12:00 pm
Traveling from Mississippi to a GA mountain cabin for Easter. I stumbled across a soapdish on ebay that I’ve been looking for for (for for?) TEN years to complete a bath set. Got the toothbrush holder in Round Top, the shaving mug in VA, chamber pot in Columbus, MS …You get the idea. Happy!
March 29, 2018 @ 2:28 pm
Reading “Round Top” in your note made me smile. Love Round Top, prefer it without my husband and kids coming with me (have never been, YET, by myself), would definitely prefer it if I had a trucking license and my own eighteen wheeler to transport everything I covet there (we live farther north, up in the Rocky Mountains). But I could also go for a day by myself with a big (huge) dolly in Old World Antieks in La Grange, TX. Bought an altar there earlier this year which still sits on the floor, waiting to be mounted on the wall …. I thought she’d be for my life-size Santa Monica (bequeathed to me by my aunt), but kinda like her perched nearby with the altar up above.
Very, very first world story, I know.
March 29, 2018 @ 12:25 pm
Love chandeliers, but I am not crazy about household items or furniture with faces on them. Especially pitchers, faucets, fountains, etc… where the contents are dispensed through the mouth (or worse).
To your concern about living up to your Great Aunt Gertrude’s standards, I thought of this quote that, immediately when I saw it, I had to share with my brothers: “By the time my father was my age, he had amassed, like, 30 coffee cans full of screws. I have none. What have I done with my life?”
And this one is so you too! “My son asked if a punch bowl is where you keep the names of people you want to punch. I usually keep them in my head, but, storing them in a decorative crystal seems really classy.”
Happy Antique Hunting!
March 29, 2018 @ 12:37 pm
September 30, 2018 @ 3:43 pm
Thanks for the ear worm, Vicki. We be boogeyin’!
March 29, 2018 @ 1:08 pm
Thank you for this post…. I live only about a ten minute walk from this shop and have never stopped in. I assumed they only had crappy reproduction stuff and never thought they have something I would want. I don’t need more chandeliers, but maybe there is a better one waiting to bump one I have to the side….
I will be there this weekend.
March 29, 2018 @ 1:28 pm
You are one of my favorite people! I don’t know you but know we would be fast friends. I follow ONE BLOG! Yours:)
You make me laugh so hard! Each time that email comes in I get so excited, it literally makes my day. My home is nothing as cool as yours but I wish it were. I send screen shots of your hilarious’ness to my husband all the time. So keep up the hilarity and know I always root for you to find the giantest, most fanciest thing on your next adventure😊
PS-I love cats too, we have 2 Snowshoe kitty’s. They are jerks though, no snuggling unless they allow it (maybe once a week😝)
I want ALL the snuggly kitty’s!!
March 29, 2018 @ 1:43 pm
Thank the heavens that the kind heartedness you are sharing is out amongst all.
I have a small flock of Shetland sheep who are happily living out their lifespans as all creatures should.
Love following your adventures in the glories of treasure hunting/gathering …….my cup too is quite full.
Ever onward and all the best to you and your Paul.
Louise
March 29, 2018 @ 2:19 pm
I absolutely agree! You must have chandeliers in every room including bathrooms! My very dear friend Sharon, who is my lighting mentor has chandeliers (crystal) from all over the world in every room including the bathroom (hung above the bathtub of course). She is right and everyone else is completely wrong. I’m slowly replacing terrible other kinds of lighting with chandeliers even as we speak! Cheers!
March 29, 2018 @ 3:50 pm
Hi Victoria- I live in Paoli and have become addicted to estatesales.net. You put in a radius and get daily emails of what’s up in your world complete with pictures. As you can imagine on the mainline, there’s some awesome stuff. Sometimes I just go to see the house! Scored suede covered antique French bergere chairs, Murano lamps, tons of blanc de chine and Chinese porcelain lamps/etc.
March 29, 2018 @ 4:22 pm
THe last photo broke my heart…
March 29, 2018 @ 4:46 pm
Please list the stores you visited! I’ll be visiting family in Philly and I’d like to see where you go!
March 29, 2018 @ 7:28 pm
You know, we can totally help you with that collection of cripplingly heavy cocktail rings. 😉
March 29, 2018 @ 8:16 pm
Check out Wendy Addison’s Theatre of Dreams. You two were made for each other. https://www.facebook.com/TheatreOfDreamsWendyAddison/
March 29, 2018 @ 9:33 pm
So did you get the bejeweled skeleton? What a find! Looks like it could have danced right off the astronomical clock in Prague! (Except that one has bells it rings…) Maybe they’re cousins.
March 31, 2018 @ 1:45 pm
My mother’s neighbor has a golden chandelier hanging in his detached, crappy, unfinished inside garage…..makes it the nicest place to visit.
March 31, 2018 @ 9:30 pm
Hello Victoria, I’ve been a follower of your blog for a bit now, courtesy of Janet from The Gardener’s Cottage. I love your humor, your home and the way that you stand up for the animals. You give me courage to do the same. Thank you.