Bottled Up

I love old pharmacy bottles and would like to start collecting them one day when we have more room. I found this great one below at the Salvation Army a few weeks ago. It's a citrate magnesia bottle with the text embossed and a great cork style closure on a hinge. I found an incredible amount of information about apothecary bottles here on the Society of Historical Archaeology's web site, including specific information on citrate magnesia bottles (scroll almost all the way down the page here to read that info). The site doesn't give any information on the possible value of the bottles, but I wonder what the value of mine might be, if it has any. I really just think it would be fun for holding bath salts or something like that, but I do wonder if it's valuable.


The image below is small, but you can see it larger when you click on it--from the Society of Historical Archaeology.

In the last issue of Country Living (June p.53), there was an article on vintage pharmacy bottles. Some of the most valuable ones are the ones with colored glass or painted labels, but the article doesn't mention anything about bottles like the one I found.

The two pictured below with painted labels are from ebay. The bidding for these ended, and it looks like someone snatched them up for $40. By Country Living's estimates, they're probably worth $150 - $200. Ebay has quite a few others listed as well. It's really fun looking at them, but I think I'd rather hunt for them at the flea market!


The top image is a painting by Holly Farrell. I love her paintings.

Summer Salad

This morning we went to the Marin farmer's market. The bay area has a lot of farmer's markets and this one might be our favorite. It's not too big, and not too small, it has a great selection of produce, meat, dry goods, and crafts (including one vendor who was selling some really pretty handspun yarn). There's even a few bounce houses to entertain the little ones.

Today the summer fruits and veggies were on our minds. I'm craving one of my favorite summer salads--tomato, cucumber, red onion salad. My mom used to always make some version of this simple salad with with the veggies from her garden. I like it with just a dash of salt and pepper, some vinegar and maybe a sprinkling of herbs. Delish.

Portobello Road Take Me Home!

I've haven't been looking for anything new lately for my etsy shops because we might be moving soon--moving to London! I know, you're thinking, what?! I haven't said a peep. Sorry! It's just that we're going for Andrew's job, and things change often and fast when it comes to these things, so I wanted to wait until we were sure. We're about 100% sure now. Initially the move was going to be to Zurich, but London was a possibility. We like both cities, and as one friend put it, it's like choosing between gelato and ice cream--you can't really go wrong either way. Andrew feels like London will be better for him work-wise, and since that's the whole reason for us going, that's really the most important thing. I've been looking at apartments and like the one pictured above on gumtree (thanks to MLN for telling me about the site). Our apartment now just has one window in a large, rectangle shaped living room, so I'm looking forward to finding a place with more light. I love those shutters and the large mirror too. That apartment is a one bedroom, though, and we'd really like two. We need room for guests, after all! And Lois, of course.

Nobody has to twist my arm to go to London for a while. Just reading about all the markets alone makes me excited! Have you seen any of SFgirlbybay's posts from her London trip? So exciting. When we were in London a few years ago for a long weekend we went to the Spitalfields and Portobello Road markets. Both were great but Portobello Road was more my speed than Spitalfields--part farmer's market, part antique market. I'm looking forward to re-visiting it and also finding some other great markets. Maybe the Camden Market is a good one. The street where it's held, pictured above, certainly looks nice. More to come on the move. We have so much to do! We're hoping to go sometime in August, which will be here before I know it. Feel free to share any London insights and tips.

Always and Never

Lauren of Dear Golden tagged me to list my always and nevers when it comes to home and decorating. Another fun game of tag started by Anabela of Fieldguided. If I have it right this time, the idea is to list 5 things that are always important to you in your interior design style and 5 things you'd never want to incorporate.

My always . . .
1. Family pictures. I like them on tables, dressers, or bookshelves, or on one wall together in one place, (usually not mixed with other artwork).
2. Plants and flowers. For plants my favorites are grape ivy and maidenhair ferns. Unfortunately, our cat tries to eat and play with, and subsequently throw up, any houseplants I bring home. She loves to nibble on flowers too, and seems to like knocking over vases as well.
3. Hardwood floors. I don't mind carpet in bedrooms so long as it's a neutral color, but in the main living spaces I like hardwood floors. I like cement or tile floors, too.
4. Flea market and thrift treasures. I like things that have a past life, which often show wear--surrounding myself with things that are chipped and broken make me happier than most things that are are shiny and new.
5. Repurposed things. I like to see things serve a purpose other than their intended purpose, like the metal cart in Lois' room that we use as a changing table and my new flower frog pen holders. We don't have a whole lot of repurposed pieces in our place. This is more of an always in theory for now.

My nevers . . . keep in mind, these are just my personal preferneces for my own living space.
1. Overhead lighting. I like overhead lighting if it's something like a chandelier on a dimmer, but not full blast. It's too harsh for me. I prefer lamps.
2. Open closet doors. I always keep closet doors shut. If our closet door is open when I get ready for bed, I have to shut it before I can sleep. It gives me the creeps to see them open! I don't know why. I think it has something to do with creepy clowns.
3. Plastic mini-blinds. I like bamboo or matchstick blinds.
4. Beds with one or two sad flat pillows. That sounds weird, doesn't it? I like lots of pillows.
5. Beds with no headboard or backdrop of some kind. I like all kinds of things behind beds--we have shutters, and I like mantels, stained glass, a window, or shelf as a bed backdrop.

Now I tag Michelle of Armas Design and Rebekah of Little Byrd Vintage. The cute brass Home Sweet Home is from Rebekah's etsy shop.

Tea Dress

If I ever do get around to having a tea party, I'd like to wear one of these dresses from sohomode on etsy. I love the vintage fabrics and the flattering 50s cut of the dresses. Aren't they so pretty? And for Lois, this, from her sister site, sohokids.