Friday, December 4, 2009

Dreaming of Cranford . . .

I did another quick hit-and-run shopping excursion today over lunch to pick up a couple of things. I needed some hostess gifts and a gift for Laura's annual ladies BINGO night. My friends and family know not to expect anything new from me. If they don't sell it at an antique mall, you don't need it!

The antique malls around KC are like other businesses; they've been hit hard by the economy. One whole section of this mall had closed since the last time I'd been. Boo hoo.

I didn't have time to make it upstairs, but did find some things on the first floor that caught my eye. I liked the "KC" and I'm still a sucker for skeleton keys. When Jason and I looked at 50+ homes this summer, we actually toured one that still had skeleton keys! It was so cool! But with all of the old electrical, etc., etc., there was no way we could have gotten a loan for it. It even had an elevator at one time. The elevator had been removed and closed off because apparently, early last century, an older sister decided to throw her younger brother down the shaft . . . creepy. I could just picture an old ghost of a boy dressed in Victorian clothing looming in the hallways (think The Shining). Yikes.

Can't get enough of the religious stuff.

And this reminded me of something my great aunt LaRue used to have in her house when I was a child. She had all this really wild mechanical stuff for Christmas like you see at Crown Center.




This is one of my favorite booths. Always something so cool. I bought one of my hostess gifts and my BINGO gift from here. I'll have to post pics of what I settled on when I have time to unwrap them.



Not sure what to say about this. I could see somebody who was considered pretty hip back in the 70's pick this light fixture for her kitchen.




I wonder how many children once played with this wonderful dollhouse. That's one of the main reasons I love old stuff. So much history to dream about.

And the name of my post is inspired by a BBC show I've Netflix-ed called Cranford. It's about a group of women living in an English country town around 1845. I am HOOKED! The character development and twists and turns are riveting. I walked around the mall looking for things that reminded me of something I'd see in Cranford.

Like a picture of an old English cottage, lavender, and old apothecary jars.

Or this most modestly dressed woman behind a chandelier I could easily picture with candles instead of light bulbs . . .

With no electricity, what would YOUR candlesticks look like? Mine might look like these.

Anything toile reminds me of all that is England, as do the birds and the urn.

And who would have guessed, Lady Ludlow herself!

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