Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Old Things.......


I did find my furniture coaster that is made from glass.  My first memories of seeing these where back in the late 50's.  My Grandmother Brooks lived in an old farmhouse north of our farm.  She had me go upstairs with her to carry something down to the main floor.  As a coincidence her home is so very similar to the house that I live in today.

In the one room was a bedroom and the old painted iron bed stood against a slanted half wall with glass coasters under its feet.  It was her bedroom and in the room was an old fashion phonograph.  There was a polar bear skin rug and a single dresser on the other side of the room.  Just like my smaller bedroom upstairs was a dormer window that looked out to the yard.  Between the rug and the glass coasters I had never forgotten that room.  I thought it strange that the glass wouldn't break. Just like our house the other half of the upstairs was another larger room with another iron bed and a smaller room used as a closet.  Our small room, like a closet, was turned into a bathroom.

My house was built in 1904 and it was put together with square nails.  One of the reasons I was having to replace my siding is that these nails were rusting away and not holding the siding to the sheeting of the house. The siding was floating on the surface like a hung picture on a wall with a single nail.

A side story about square nails is a story about a music hall out east whose city were going to replace their floor of the stage. It was a couple of years ago.  They were afraid that if they didn't replace things exactly the same way as the original that they might loose the quality of sound.  So as they replaced the wood floor with the same kind of floor, they hired a foundry to make them square nails. These nails were used as they put the new floor down. This Old House shared this story and showed them doing the job.  I don't remember the city where it took place.







While digging in our dinning room buffet I found this bowl.  I wish my mind wasn't failing as I don't know where I had acquired it.  My wife doesn't remember the bowl either.  What is unique about the small dish is the design on it. I could have been from my parents home.  It could have come from the house that my dad demolished back in the














The Art Deco design puts this into the 30's or older.  It has the columns with small feet on them and the tulip design fits perfectly into the rectangle. The vertical ribbed sides also makes it an Art Deco decoration.

I spent a little time on the net looking up this era between the two wars.  I sometimes if I am pulling stuff out of my brain and I may be completely wrong.  Anyway, I know this is an old piece and maybe someday I will remember where it originated in the family.





I got a late call this morning to come in to take the head position of high school Special Education.  I like the job but I did have to hurry to get here.  It is very cold again but we are expected to get above freezing today by one degree.  Thanks for stopping by today. 

10 comments:

Patsy said...

I know it is my age now, but as I read your blog I got teary thinking about my on grandmother and mother and the few things I have left of them.
Thanks for the memories.

Anonymous said...

Fun to see the coaster and read your memories of the room.

That's interesting about the square nails.

That glass bowl is lovely. Some peppermint candy would be pretty in it for the month of December.

We are warm in the 60's today and have dental cleaning appts. this afternoon.

Far Side of Fifty said...

I remember those furniture coasters....I am intrigued with the polar bear rug your Grandmother had, certainly there is a story there! Your little dish is Art Deco. I will have a quick look and see what I can find:)

L. D. said...

My parents had a black fur cover that was put over me when I was really cold or was sick. To this day I think it was black bear fur and where the bear skins came from is probably now lost information. Most everyone is dead and I can not ask.

Far Side of Fifty said...

yes I found one on ebay!
Art Deco Glass Tulip Footed Powder Trinket Box Metal Lid Four Leaf Clovers That is the description...I knew I had seen one before. The metal lid missing is what threw me off. Maybe you have the lid someplace. :)

L. D. said...

No I don't have the lid. I was talking with my wife about that as we noticed the notch or rim where the lid could be positioned. This cold of come from my wife's parents house before it was torn down but we both still don't have a clue about it. I remember when I buy things at garage sales but this one is just a puzzle to both of us.

RachelD said...

Those old glass coasters were a mystery to me, as well---all our furniture had tee-ninecy pointy feet, and one chair had such small metal swivel wheels they looked like they came off a toy 1930's tractor. I always winced when someone sat down hard, fearing to hear a crunch from one coaster or another.

Aunt Nee and Uncle Summer had tin cans under their kitchen table legs, filled with water to discourage ants---that always fascinated me.

And the square nails!! When we built our house back in the seventies, I bought some huge 3x16 rough old beams from a cotton warehouse on the River in Memphis. They were whitewashed, and porcupined all over with square nails---crooked ones, nails in lines and almost patterns, with no reason that I could discern. Before the workmen hung them in the ceiling of most of the rooms of the house, we laid them on sawhorses, and the kids and I pulled two 5-gallon buckets of square nails out of them.

Then the wire brushing to get off all the whitewash was a terrible job---we had to shower maybe three times a day for several days.

If I could have kept anything when we sold that house, It would have been those beams, and the two ironwood Z-strap doors with the big "Church Handles."

Congratulations on your new job!

rachel

L. D. said...

That would have been a lot of work. It makes me wonder when the newer style of nail was invented as the square nails seemed hard to pull. I even found small square nails in an old picture frame with a frame I was restoring.

Vicki Lane said...

Fascinating memories . . . I love how seeing an old object can set our minds traveling.

KathyB. said...

I hope congratulations are in order for our job, congratulations !

I remember such coasters too, usually in living rooms on wood floors. They are quite beautiful in their own right, aren't they ?

I liked reading about the old houses and the memories they brought back to you.