My Weekly Down Home Dazzlers!!!

I'm addicted to Antiques and when I'm not in my store, I can be found in some other antique store, at a flea market or show!!!!  Last weekend I found a few fun pieces that I'd love to dazzle you with.

I love antique toys and I collect some for my own collection, and of course to bring in the store for other people to get excited about!  We get pull toy horses in the store on occasion, but we hardley ever get cows. I found this one and was happy to bring it into Down Home!

I found this stenciled tin document box.  It's in great condition and a more unusual size than most!

I almost kept this bank, mostly because my grandbabies would love it - they love playing with my antique toys.  I have a teeter totter toy with a little boy and girl on a teeter totter and they click click click down a pole and when they get to the bottom, you turn it over and the whole teeter totter swivels around to an upright position and they teeter totter back down. My little guys love it and want to play with it every time they're over.  They love my antique jack in the box to and my mechanical elephant bank too.  I'm sure they'd love to put a penny in this little guy's hand and watch him put it in the slot which in turn makes his head nod.  He's a Tammany bank and was made in 1875 - so fun!

Abraham Lincoln is always a favorite among our customers so when I find anything having to do with Abe, I usually buy it.  This book is dated 1896 and has a great cover - excellent condition!!!

I love this old bus/trolley coin collector - I think it's just fun and would make a great conversation piece.  It has a patent date of 1914 and I love the hand painted  "fare 15 cents" added to the top!

I just brought this vintage bike in the store today!  I sold two other vintage bikes last week - vintage bikes are very collectible these days!  This one is a Roadmaster Junior from the 50's.  I think it would make a cute display or fun in a garden!  Plus, it's red!!!!

I had to show off my pretty Black Eyed Susan Vine in my wine barrel out front - we're managing to keep it alive in the summer heat!!! 

New things are coming in everyday at Down Home, so stop on in and see us and our "dazzlers!"

xo ~ Peggy

My Weekly Down Home Dazzlers!

Our dealers pride themselves in bringing in the best antiques possible!!!  They hunt high and low and travel the continent to do so!  I love when dealers bring a new load in the store - it's so fun to see what they found and what I might "need" for my own collection! Always so exciting!!! Of course, I can't take it all and I'm happy to leave plenty for our customers!!!  A couple of these came in just today!!!!  These are my 10 Down Home Dazzlers that stood out to me today for one reason or another! Fun!

I love studded leather boxes!!!

A wonderful little spool folk art piece ~ perfect as a pedestal or plant stand! 



These tiny dolls are adoreable!!!!

A wonderful paper mache bathing beauty!!!  Love the lashes!!!

A buddy L dump truck  - LOVE it!!!!

I love early iron - the clam rake is so fun!!!

A schoenhut piano with  little cherubs!

This little taxidermy racoon is so sweet - love his glasses!

This is a fun rollerskate case with local skate rink stickers!

I love this general store display case - perfect for all sorts of collections!!!

Come to Down Home and find your own "dazzler" to take home!!!! 

xo, Peggy

Summer fun at Down Home!

I love summer!!!  I love the sun!!  I always have.  I'm sure my skin would be better off had I not sizzled in the sun with baby oil all those days as a teenager at Newport Beach, but those are happy memories. Even earlier than those Newport Beach summer memories, are days spent at Hart Park here in Orange.  As a child, I learned to swim at Hart Park. My twin sister, Patty and I would spend hours swimming at the plunge.  We'd get there when it opened and stay until it closed, coming home burnt, and with clorine clouded vision!  Yeah, good times!  Even now, I tell myself to stay out of the sun, but I worship it.  These days, I do know the importance of sun screen!!!   There's nothing better than a raft, my pool, and a good book.  Ok, how often does that happen???  Not often enough, but when it does... it's a taste of heaven!  Even better is time spent in the backyard with my family.  My three daughters, Ayla, Mollee, and Tessa were little fish and we had lots of swim parties with lots of kids all summer long! And today, we still get together and hang out in the pool.  Yesterday, I spent the day in the pool with my 3 year old grandbaby, Finley.  She's adorable, smart, creative, and talks non-stop! She's definitely a fun person to hang out with!  We had fun coming up with games like "the bumpy bridge" and swimming across the pool from one set of steps to another.  Also we had our new mermaid doll to add tons of fun to our pool time!  And speaking of mermaids, after swimming Finley wanted to watch "Little Mermaid, and it never occured to me before, but Ariel is a collector!!! (Remember that early scene where she's longing to be up in the sun, and she sings..."I've got gadgets and gizmos a plenty, I've got whozits and whatzits galore, You want thingamabobs, I've got twenty, But who cares? No big deal, I want more....)  Yeah, you all need to watch it again- she's one of us - addicted to treasures!   So, even when relaxing, my mind wanders back to Down Home and antiques! Ariel would love Down Home because the store is full of beach related pieces that remind us of summer and the sun....like striped canvas fabric, sand toys, lobster buoys, glass floats, and vintage ice chests.  We even have sea glass!  We have nautical pieces like anchors, ship lanterns, and sea chests.  Of course, there are some wonderful patriotic pieces like vintage flags, postcards, and presidential pieces.  Check out our suitcases and souveniers, like pennants and postcards that are related to vacations and happy memories of road trips! So, I hope you all get a chance to enjoy the sunshine this summer at some wonderful beach destination, but if you want a bit of summer fun close to home without the threat of sunburn, come on in and visit us at Down Home!

Here's a sneak peek of summer at Down Home...Enjoy!

If you can't wait to see more items than come on into Down Home and we'd be happy to help you with all your summer fun needs!

xo ~ Peggy

Little Down Home on the Prairie

We have just added "Little Down Home on the Prairie" to our store.  I've always described Early American antiques to people who don't understand them, as "Little House on the Prairie" kinds of stuff.  By the way, I loved those books and loved the TV show!  I've always looked for those wonderful period pieces and incorporated them into the store, but I decided to devote a space to only those pieces and make a cozy little room.  Those early pieces from 19th century country homes are my favorite!  I love those simple utilitarian pieces - of course I wouldn't want to have to actually use them, but I love collecting them.  Those early settlers had to work hard!!!

The older I get and the more I hunt for antiques, the more I love the early stuff.  I always say, "the older, the better!"  I love old surfaces - the patina of old wood, so smooth and dark and time worn ~ I just want to touch it!!!   I fall in love with things when I clean them ~ that's when you notice all the little imperfections, all the hand made evidence, and the worn surfaces, every square nail, wooden peg, and early dovetail.  I love seeing the old plane marks, scribe marks, and brush strokes. I love early repairs ~ a mouse hole patched with a piece of a tin baby plate, a child's coat mended over and over to last through all the children ~ things were cared for and used for decades.  We have a mix of antiques in Down Home and certainly I appreciate all the different styles and eras of antiques, but when I walk into a space with all early period pieces, I just fall in love!!!  Seriously, I hear harps and see little birdies and butterflies!!!

I love our little room even more because it's lined with wood that sat in the back yard for a few years after we took down our horse arena.  Old weathered ranch fencing created a great backdrop for my early pieces! So every time I walk in there, I think of my little horse girl, Ayla, who still loves to ride!  Of course that got me to thinkin' and I think I have enough left to do one of my bedrooms at home!

Anyway, if you love early antiques and primitives as much as I do, come on over to Little Down Home on the Prairie right in the middle of Down Home.  Hope to see you soon! xo