How many of you have sisters, brothers, cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. who are into vintage like you are? I wonder sometimes how we get interested in this stuff... Without going into the nature/nuture debate, are there others in your family that like some of the same things you do?
For me, the answer is yes. My brother, for one, and several of my cousins. Obviously, my brother and I were brought up very similarly, and while my parents did not express an overt interest in the past, they were still products of their generation. Being born and raised in the 1930s-50s, probably a bit of their life experiences fostered our interest in that time period.
But recently I got to know some of my older cousins a little bit better, and found that they have similar interests. In particular, my cousin John B., who is the oldest son of my dad's brother. We were not close in age or location growing up, so we did not realize we had so much in common until now. But over the last few weeks we've been getting back in touch and really some of the interests we share are uncanny.
Here he is at age 3, loving his favorite blanket drying on the line. Now he's an architect living in Virginia.
Here's his place now- an atomic-era ranch house, c. 1955. Doesn't he have the greatest taste? I love that bullet plant stand.
His kitchen, which looks remarkably like mine, but neater!
A closer look at some of his collection:
These are Hall pitchers and refrigerator dishes from the 40s and 50s:
Red Lustroware:
A Fada catalin radio. For radio collectors, this is a Holy Grail. Back when I was really into radios, this was one I dreamed about, so he's a lucky fellow indeed to have one!
He even used to drive a Studebaker like this one!
And I especially want to mention that the Jack O'Lantern photo in the header this week was scanned by him from one of his Dad's (my uncle Phil's) vintage photos. It's great that someone cares enough for their family history to scan and save thousands of snapshots. Thanks John!
I hope you all enjoyed getting to meet him and see his collection!
I hope the genes stay true! He's got a wonderful place; it's just gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteIn my family, we're thinking the two oldest might become fans of vintage (to a degree, anyway). My sister's oldest just decided, at 13, that he wants to start collecting Coke memorabilia. (I sent him a Coke crate for his birthday...we'll see where it all leads...probably to my sister cursing me!)
I wish I had somebody in my family, or even in my life that was into vintage things. Great pics!
ReplyDeleteHe certainly does have great taste.What a lovely house & his kitchen is just perfect!The pitchers & fridge containers are wonderful too.
ReplyDeleteI remember as a small child my mum ,dad & uncle would buy old furniture,restore it & then sell it in a little antique shop that belonged to a friend of theirs,maybe my interest stemmed from there.
They're not into that anymore though so i don't have any friends or family that share my interests.In fact they look at me like i'm a little strange because of it lol.
Wow he had great taste, I want it all!!
ReplyDeleteOur family has a lot of vintage lovin' guys and gals! I think I've always just taken it for granted.
ReplyDeleteI also have almost the exact same kitchen! Mine has white cupboards with bright teal walls, and the exact same sort of scroll work above the sink, though the placement of the sink is different. And mine, of course, is littered with lots of vintage and reproduction salt and pepper shakers. Oh, how I love them!
ReplyDeleteI think that my interest in vinatge is on part my mother, a history person, and one part my old movie fascination. Everything just seems to much classier in them. For me, that lifestyle is one to emulate!