design inspiration – In the Vintage Kitchen: Where History Comes To Eat

As soon as the pumpkins make their debut on the front porch, and the leaves shower down from the sky, and the extra-large soup pot makes its first appearance on the stovetop since early spring we know that the time is near. Our annual Vintage Kitchen shop sale is just ten days away! Mark your calendars for November 2nd, and on that day you’ll discover an extra treat – a deep discount – 40% off all items in the shop for 24 hours only.

If you are new to the blog or the shop, you might not know that we always host this sale on All Souls Day, which happens to fall on November 2nd every year. Technically a Catholic holiday, we selected All Souls Day not for its religious connection, nor its aura of spookiness given its close proximity to Halloween, but for the sheer fact that it is one of the few holidays in the calendar year that pays tribute to deceased ancestors. We wouldn’t have a shop full of wonderful heirlooms had they not traveled through other people’s lives, other people’s hands, for generations, collecting stories and memories along the way. To us, All Souls Day seems like the perfect day to celebrate vintage style.

This is our only sale of the year, so we love to make it count for shoppers looking to get a head start on holiday gifting, for decorators looking to add a bit of history to their tablescapes, and for home cooks looking for nostalgic recipes and new inspiration.

Hnadwritten notes from a rare 1920s-era cookbook.

Since no two items in the shop are ever exactly alike, no sale from year to year is ever exactly the same either. Stories float in and out of the shop every day offering glimpses into kitchen and garden life that occurred a few decades ago or a few centuries ago. Just like stories posted to the blog, every heirloom in the shop comes with its own unique tale marking its place in history.

A collection of whiteware may at first look like just a bunch of plain white dishes, but each one is actually a gateway to a bit of history. Take this photo for example…

… all these pieces represent a specific time period from kitchens that span more than two centuries…

The platter made in 1900 is antique hotelware. The botanical designs on the 1977 ceramic coasters were inspired by the Tuileries gardens in Paris. The 1891 gravy boat was made in England and features handpainted flowers. The 1850 dinner plates are a rare set of English ironstone from the pottery of James William Pankhurst, which was in operation for only thirty-three years, a mere blip in England’s long-standing tradition of high-quality dishware manufacture.

Inspiration for the 1977 ceramic coasters by Toscany came from here, Jardin de Tuileries, located near the Louvre in Paris.

As the shop continuously evolves from year to year, new faces from history emerge too. You’ll always find favorite standbys in the shop – Julia Child, John James Audubon, James Beard, Emily Post, the New York Times cookbooks, and of course all the best-loved Betty Crocker books, but each year we discover new faces from history too. This year, Carol, Daphne, Wadeeha, Agnes, Alice, Milt, Joyce, Andre and Dorothea came to the shop…

Clockwise from top left: Carol Cutler, Daphne Du Maurier, Wadeeha Atiyeh, Milt Jackson, Dorothea Barlowe, Andre Simon, Joyce Chan, Agnes Baldwin Alexander, Alice Y.

They told stories of art, literature, cooking, collecting, music, hospitality, immigration and gardening. Andre was a French wine expert. Alice was a Texas baker, a professional cake decorator, and an enthusiastic collector of cookie cutters. Dorothea was one of the most prolific nature illustrators of the 20th century, and Milt was an influential musician of the 1950s jazz scene.

Listen to the midcentury musicians featured in this book over on our playlist here.

That’s the joy of collecting vintage and antique kitchenware, isn’t it? Objects and stories intertwined together, forever making and creating memories old and new. I hope at this year’s sale you’ll find something that captures your heart. Maybe you’ll be the next caretaker of this antique 1830s-era Staffordshire bowl – the oldest antique that has come to the shop so far…

Or maybe you’ll find some inspiration among the handwritten notes tucked inside this vintage 1960s gardening book.…

Perhaps the traditional recipes of Mrs. Balbir Singh, also known as the Julia Child of India, will pique your interest…

Or maybe you’ll relate to the story of the Moses Hirsch family, creators of the 20th-century American Family Scale brand, who experienced the tricky rollercoaster ride of running a business among fierce competition, dramatic world events and kitchen modernization…

Or perhaps these two 1950s saddle tan Samsonite cases will call to your traveling spirit. Maybe they will become your dependable companions on jaunts to find the best croissants in Paris, the most delicious Spanakopita in Greece, or the most beautiful luau in Hawaii. Adventures big and small await with these two.

The sale begins at 12:01am (EST) on Thursday, November 2nd, 2023 and runs until 11:59pm (EST) that same day. All items in the shop will automatically receive the 40% discount at checkout, so there is no need to fuss with coupon codes or discount names.

Vintage cookbooks in the shop span the 19th and 20th centuries.

While you wait for sale day to arrive, we encourage you to use the wishlist feature on our site if you have multiple items that have caught your eye. Just click on the heart underneath each listing title and it will automatically add the item to your favorites list where you can then add them directly to your cart when you are ready to checkout.

New vintage and antique heirlooms continue to be added to the shop daily, so stop by for fresh finds leading all the way up to the sale. And, as always, if you are looking for something that we no longer have in stock, please send us a message. We’ll be happy to add your name and needs to our waitlist.

Having said that, I hope on this year’s sale day you will find something truly magical that makes your heart sing with joy and your space sparkle with delight.

Cheers to all the old souls who inspired our sale. And to all the cherished items that our ancestors have left for us to enjoy. Happy shopping!

It’s the middle of January. It is the middle of winter and the middle of a cold snap hitting Ms. Jeannie’s section of the woods. It’s in the twenties at night and the wood stove in the schoolhouse is working overtime. To everyone else it is freezing, but in the mind of Ms. Jeannie it is Spring. That’s right dear readers, a new season has arrived and it looks like this…

and this…

red

If you have visited Ms. Jeannie’s shop within the last week you’ll have noticed that a bevy of botanical flower prints have appeared – a hopeful little nod to warmer weather and all the beauty that is silently stirring under ground while everyone else is shivering above.

The flower prints are botanical bookplates that comprise wild flowers in America circa 1953. Printed watercolor portraits of over 400 different varieties, these beauties represent some of the most common and most exotic flowers that graced our mid-century American landscape from Alaska to Maine, from Canada to Mexico and from each and every state in-between.

Colorful, simple and classically stylish, these botanicals offer a bounty of decorating options from bright and bold to subtle and soothing. Today we are going to take a look at how you might decorate with such beauties to bring some fresh color into your space or use them as springboards to choose a room’s color palette.

You can go the traditional route and frame them in simple wood frames to liven up an accent wall like this balanced collage:

You could create your own garden cottage wallpaper…

You could pull colors together in a room with these guys as your green anchor:

You could think outside the frame and tape them up on a wall in a casual combination of beautifully messy:

Or you could incorporate them into a found object vignette like this one that represents all your favorite things…

When grouped together in a large collection, vintage botanicals help brighten up a dark space like this one…

And they help add a pop of color on a wall that is all white like this one…

They can help carry a theme of color and shape, like this arrangement…

Or help carry a vibe like this soft and soothing space…

Anyway, you look at them, from the traditional to the thought-provoking, vintage botanicals have the ability to instantly and effortlessly add personality to a room and a wall. Warm yourself up with some flowers in red and and orange. Or calm yourself down with flowers in white and green. There’s something for everyone in a wild flower whether you are looking for pretty petals or dramatic grasses, wild flowers never disappoint.