Northern Ohio Shopping Adventure

Yesterday my friend Bargain Hunter and I went on a shopping adventure in northern Ohio, about 1-1/2 hours from here.  We wanted to go to Jeffrey's in Findlay (where we'd both been before) and also visit Maumee, which lots of people we know had recommended.

It was a beautiful WARM (40 degrees!) day.  Yes, I said 40 degrees -- those of you from warmer climates won't appreciate how warm that can feel after a long sub-zero winter.  While we rode the hour and a half to Jeffrey's we talked about lots of stuff (and solved all the problems of the world) and she took me to task for not blogging enough.  BH told me that I'd been listing lots of really cool stuff in my Etsy shop that she didn't even know I'd bought because I don't blog about it.  To be honest, I've been feeling that, if my post isn't about that day's shopping (or maybe the day before), you won't want to hear about it.  She thinks I'm wrong (and maybe she's right). So you might be getting some 'old news' from now on!  I hope you don't mind if the post starts out with 'Two weeks ago I went to...'  

Anyway, Jeffrey's was great fun, as always.  All of our family lives in central and southwestern Ohio, so I make the trip up and down 75 very often.  There are 2 stops Mr. KV and I are guaranteed to make:  Skyline Chili for lunch or dinner and Jeffrey's for antiquing.  Both NEVER disappoint! If you're ever by Findlay, Ohio be sure to stop at Jeffrey's and allow at least an hour and a half (or more) to shop -- it's that big!

I've gotten some great deals at Jeffrey's and yesterday, I found these little goodies:

A Federal Glass black diamonds covered bowl with 8 custards

A tinware ice holder from a  'portable refrigerator' (cooler) from the 1950s.  It's has the most outstanding gray, black and white design!

Here are the instructions on the other side for using your portable refrigerator.  

 After Jeffrey's we made our way to Delta, Ohio and a pair of antique shops that BH had found online.  They were nice little adjoining shops, Bad Creek Antiques and the Vintage Barn Market.

On the way there, we saw a sign for an estate sale so (of course) we stopped.  It was in a heated garage == but the entire place reeked of cigarette smoke!  We could hardly breathe, it was so thick inside.  That didn't stop BH from getting an aluminum pitcher and me from getting this sweet hamper though...

I love the sparkle lucite handles on this hamper!

When we got to the Delta antique stores, seemed like they were phasing out their antiques and focusing more on repainted & repurposed furniture, as most items were 30% off -- fine with us, as we got some good stuff.  BH got a cool white iron twin bed frame and I got a farm table painted gray with old linoleum nailed on.  You could tell that the owner had done this -- it wasn't repurposed.  I'd love to keep it, but I think it will have to go into the booth (you just can't keep everything!)  I don't have a picture of it yet, as it's still upside-down in the back of my car.  There's just too much snow and ice to unpack it all and take it to the barn.

The gray table is on the right.

I also got this sweet little Samsonite smooth-sided train case at 30% off.  Train cases are so good for storage and totes, as well as actually using for travel, that they always sell well.

Next stop was Maumee Antiques, just outside of Toledo.  So many people had said that we had to go there and they were exactly right!  It was big and there was a good mix of the traditional and the unusual, plus lots of mid-century, which is what I look for.  The employees were very friendly, too -- always a plus!

We spent a couple of hours at Maumee.  Here's what I found...

Two sweet pink and gray canisters -- could these be the start of a new collection?

Aluminum trays -- six small and one medium-sized (that can all use a good cleaning).  They'll go great with my colored aluminum pitcher and glasses

I really like this Androck sifter -- it's a pretty unusual style.  The turquoise and white is a do-over.... I had a chance to buy this California Pottery lazy susan center piece for my apple dishes and I stupidly passed on it.  There was one a Maumee, so now I have all the pieces except the base.

This sweet little tv tray is kid-sized...or it was meant to be a side table.  It's very short and the tray is only about 11x14".  

I also got a cute little formica kids' table with mid-century legs and a formica covered folding table that was labeled 'The Best Folding Table Ever'!  I don't know about that, but it will definitely come in handy down in the basement.

All in all, we had a great time and got lots of treasures!  I don't know if I'd make the trip to Delta again, but Maumee is definitely on my return-trip list!  I'll post pictures of the tables I bought when I finally can get them out of the car.

Recap of a Fun Roadtrip

Two weekends ago, Mr. KV and I went to Cincinnati, Ohio for a mini family reunion. We used to all gather here in Michigan during the week between Christmas & New Year's, but that hasn't happened for the past two years, so we were all looking forward to this seeing each other.

Mr. KV and I stopped at Jeffrey's Antiques in Findlay on the way down (a stop we try to make at least one way on every trip). If you've never had a chance to go to Jeffrey's, you'll want to shop there if you're ever traveling on I-75 through Ohio! It's huge -- allow at least 1 1/2 to 2 hours to cover the entire mall. My son Jim spent most of his time in the political booth, while I went hunting for vintage hardware for my many furniture projects.,

On Saturday, I spent the morning with my niece. First we had breakfast at her house, which is a sweet 1930s bungalow in Westwood. Like many of the houses built around that time in Cincinnati, it has a Rookwood tile fireplace (it's hard to imagine a time when Rookwood pottery was so common that it was used routinely in building!

She's got the cutest kitchen, all decorated in red and white. She refurbished this thrift shop chair and used an Anthropologie napkin to cover the seat. I love it! She gave me my birthday presents early -- a great slate she had made and a vintage switch plate surround. Just using this around a switch plate will simplify life and make housework a breeze -- just look at the happy housewife on the package!After that, we walked up to the community yard sale on the grounds of the Westwood Town Hall. This beautiful old building figures in some of my earliest memories -- I used to go to theatrical productions there, and ushered when I was in middle school. The bell tower you can see in this picture is supposed to be haunted! The yard sale was great, there were about 50 sellers there and they were really bargain priced! It was already very hot, but the big shade trees made it pretty comfortable. We bought so much that she had to walk back to her house and get the van to haul it all away. That evening, we all met for a cookout at my nephew's house. It was a wonderful weekend and so precious to get to see all of the family together and hang out! If you're interested in seeing a slideshow of the evening, you can check it out here.

And oh, by the way, we stopped at Jeffrey's on the way back north, too!