Are you ever disappointed that you can’t have the “real thing”?
I have a few real things…..but I have LOTS and LOTS of things that are best classified as
“close seconds”.
Usually, I don’t have the real thing because it’s just too expensive.
Maybe that’s why I love thrift shops.
I can get kind of close to the “real thing” there.
Vintage but not antique, nice, but not collectible,
transferware but not flow blue…if you get the difference.
Over the years, I’ve trained my eye fairly well to spot something
that looks pretty darn good even though it’s not the
“real thing”.
Most of us DIYers are in the same position
{great eye….small pocketbook}
and that’s what is so wonderful about this blogging world!
With a bit of imagination, a good eye and some work….
we can really get that “close second” look!
Every week when I look at the Linky parties, I am so inspired and amazed!
I can’t imagine how much fun it would be to get together with some of you
and share ideas and knowledge!
Maybe someday that will happen but for now, I’ll have to satisfy myself with a “close second”….
reading your blogs and looking at your great pictures!
I’m looking forward to my Paris trip because I hope I will be able to buy something really French….
if it’s not too expensive that is!
{smile}
I cherish the real things I have as well as some of the knockoff things.
My mother-in-law had a huge (I mean towering)
long hedge of lilacs in her backyard in southern NJ.
Every year she would bring in a huge bouquet
and put them in a beautiful ironstone bowl and pitcher.
When I came to her house, I would put my whole face into the bouquet and inhale deeply.
She always told me to go cut a bouquet for myself and it is my most missed thing from NJ.
I am fortunate enough to have that ironstone bowl and pitcher now
but not fortunate enough to have the lilacs.
I’ve tried but we are too far south I am told to grow them.
I have had to settle for another close second.
A few years ago I planted a Miss Kim lilac.
It is very small and you can see that it will never fill a huge ironstone pitcher.
The scent is also pretty mild compared the the heady, to die for, REAL lilac scent.
But, I bring some in each spring and if the windows are not open,
I can actually smell it a bit in the kitchen.
My little lilac sprigs require a bit more staging than the real thing too.
I gathered some of my ironstone platters and bowls.
Found my blue mason jar with the zinc lid
and added the lilac sprigs.
Not the “real thing”
but a close second.
What “real thing” do you dream of having one day?
What’s your most cherished “close second”?
I'm Lorraine. I have a love for home & design and I enjoy sharing that passion with others. I'm so glad you're here to join me.
email: missflibbertigibbet@gmail.com
Great eye….small pocketbook = I can totally relate! But that’s where it gets fun and we have to get creative! Your ironstone bowls, blue Ball jar and lilac sprigs are beautiful no matter what!
I miss those lilacs too. My close second is burning the Yankee Candle in lilac scent and pretending somewhere in the yard I’m smelling it blow in on a breeze!
My other close second is filling my home with old linens. I never seem to find them like you lucky ducks up in Va. I have taken up my needle and am now following traditional hand-sewing methods to create a sofa full of “hand-sewn” pillows. I can maybe achieve the look of some of the pretty things I see in movies like Emma, Sense and Sensibility, Middle march etc. and at the same time fulfill my creative urge?
We had those towering lilac hedges on both sides of our back yard in our previous house. They love MN weather, dontcha know. In fact you couldn’t get rid of them if you tried! But, you’re right, you can’t beat that fresh smell wafting through the windows.
I would love a real antique French armoire. I have plans to paint our 1980’s pine armoire with ASCP, which will be my very first ASCP makeover. It will be my close (sort of close if you REALLY use your imagination) second. :@