A few new things

My grandfather is quite a collector.  He's the most generous man and loves finding old, beautiful and/or quirky things and buying them for himself and his family!  There are certain "staples" in every Colbert household that were either gifted or passed down over the years - all originating from "Pa and MiMi".  When we came home from Christmas, we managed to bring back a few of these fun things we'd been keeping in North Carolina until we had room in the car to bring back with us.  I think you'll like them!

The first is an antique copper and brass fire extinguisher.  Yep - you heard me correctly!  I love old copper things, and was SO excited about this new piece.  As you can see below, it's a restored "Buffalo Fire Extinguisher" and is beautiful!  I knew exactly where it was going to live when we got back to Boston, so I was really excited when it fit in the floor of our car coming home.

It goes really well with the other copper things around the fireplace.  See the little thing holding books beside the fire extinguisher?  I'll give you two guesses as to what that is. 1...2...ok...it's an antique popsicle mold.  See the popsicle shapes along the bottom?  There are actually 3 rows of molds, so you'd pour in your liquid and freeze the whole lot of 'em.  On the other side of the fireplace there is a large copper tea kettle I got on one of our trips to Antique Alley.  Finally, there's also a small painting on the mantle that has a copper painted frame.  Our friend, Adrian, is a fantastic artist and gave us this last year - it's beautiful!

The second thing that must be present in every Colbert household is the wooden duck.  I didn't realize until we were visiting my family in Virginia over the 4th of July, when I saw my cousin and aunt's ducks, that everyone has one of these in their house!  I love birds (ducks...chickens...little birds...all of them), so we were excited to bring this guy back to Boston.

The final thing I thought I'd share is another little bird - this time a funky black and white chicken.  When we were on vacation in the Berkshires this fall, we were in a little shop with husband's parents and they immediately scooped up the little spotted guy to go in my stocking at Christmas.  It was made in Bolivia and every one of his spotted "feathers" is made of clay.  My kitchen has lots of chickens in it, and this little guy fits in perfectly, don't you think?

What are some of your favorite accessories in your house?