Marketplace: St. Jacobs Antiques

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I feel lucky to live so close to St. Jacobs. It’s a charming area in the Waterloo Region. The village has cute shops and excellent food. The Saturday market is vibrant and fun…with excellent food vendors. The Mennonite community is so unlike other areas of the region (e.g., the university sectors, the tech community). In addition to all of these great qualities, the antique markets are full of interesting items, and if you’re a collector of just about anything, I’m sure you can find something to add to your collection here.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve had a look around, and I’ve enjoying observing what’s “new” in the world of antiques.

I noticed white and non-white collections of:

  • wood dough bowls
  • felt pennants
  • cake plates in every material
  • Cloisonné
  • figurines
  • teacups (do these every go out of style?)
  • pottery (including a lot of crocks)
  • quilts
  • portraits
  • and more!

Design: Collecting Collections

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I’ve written about my collections fairly regularly over the years. Each collection is slowly growing – especially now that I have a whole house to fill – and I love each of them. My Eiffel Towers are currently housed on top of my dining room buffet, my menagerie is sort of spread around the house as is my silver collection, and my milk glass and Sophie Conran pieces have a new spot in a glass-fronted Billy bookcase. I also have an expanding collection of DIY inkblot paintings and mugs. How many collections is too many?

Collection-Covet-Garden-1

Covet Garden Issue 40 Collection-Covet-Garden-2

Covet Garden Issue 40

As I was reorganizing one of my kitchen cabinets this past weekend, I noticed that I also have a collection of espresso makers. How’d that happen? They’re such handy little things, so I guess I find them hard to resist.

espresso-makers-White-Cabana

espresso makers – photo by me

All my collections have their place in my home, so I feel as though it’s okay to keep adding to them. When I run out of room, I guess I’ll have to stop. Then again, I could always move into a larger home?!? 

Design: Collection of Sports Balls

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Collections…we all have them, right? But how do we know when we’re getting a bit out of control? Bob Hambly shared his story of his fascination with collecting yesterday in this article in the Globe & Mail. He’s got a collection of just about everything – vintage Thermoses, milk dispensers, Pez dispensers to name a few. His latest quest is for white sports balls.

Bob-Hambly-Globe&Mail

via The Globe & Mail

Although he has amassed quite the collection already, including an old-style wooden Polo ball carved from the root of a bamboo tree, Bob is still on the hunt for a white cricket ball and a bocce pallino. Does anyone have one that you could send to him?

Thanks to Boba for sending this my way.

The Friday Five: My Menagerie

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I recently realized that I have a growing collection of (fake) animals in my house. Right now it seems like everything I have comes in pairs…how very Noah’s Ark, right?

Lions

Jonathan Adler lion

lion paperweight

The Jonathan Adler lion was a congratulatory gift from my sister and brother-in-law. They gave it to me when I completed my Master’s. I have since purchased a matching mini JA lion ornament. My mom found the glass paperweight with the lion etching at a garage sale and she thoughtfully bought it for me (p.s. I’m a Leo).

Birds

bird

a pair of wise owls

I found the sweet little bird at a thrift store and just had to have it. I haven’t found the perfect spot for it yet though. I won the owl pitchers (or vases) over at Greige. They are happy on my bookshelf  – near a pair of owl bookends. (Honestly, I can’t believe how my animal collection has grown!)

Elephants

elephant pillow

I bought these pillows (one is an elephant and one is a giraffe) for my parents a while ago at Loblaw Superstore. They didn’t seem to like them as much as I did so the pillows soon became mine.

How about our White Cabana readers? What are your collections made up of?

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