Last weekend my Mom watched the Cat so I could run to the Salvation Army and look around for some treasures. When I got there, I was happy to see that they were having a sale: all clothes and knick knacks were 50% off and furniture was 25% off. I am happy to say that I found some pretty good bargains, including a vintage coat for about $4 and a cookie jar for under 2 bucks. I spent about $17 and came away with a ton of stuff. I got a gorgeous navy blue wool blazer with little pins on it that tell me it probably came from a Catholic school. It's a kid sized blazer, yes, but a big kid, so it fits.
I always make sure to take a look at the furniture and lamps, because you never know what you're going to find, and on this particular day, I struck gold with this beautiful specimen...
Now, who doesn't want the bust of some unknown man in their home? I am assuming this is a Spanish explorer, possibly Cabrillo by the looks of his helmet.
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So handsome, so austere. What's that you say? You simply don't have the room for a rather large bust of a Spanish explorer, even if he has been commemorated on a stamp? Well, fear not, my friend. This bust, nay, this art, does double duty...
as a lamp. So not only can his surly, determined, no-nonsense expression light up your life, it can also light up your living room.
You're Welcome!
~Lori
Do you ever wonder about the mental state of the original owners of that piece de resistance?? Perhaps they were a seafaring family!
ReplyDeleteLizzie, I always wonder about the previous owner... what kind of life does one lead to merit having something like this somewhere in their living space?!
ReplyDeleteReminiscing with my sister about a set of lamps we had when we were children. I was very happy to have found the exact lamp here on your blog. So grateful to see it again. We were 11 and 8 when our parents purchased the pair. We are now 52 and 49.
ReplyDeleteIt was 1978, Southern California. Mom bought them from a furniture store to decorate a Renaissance theme she had going in our living room. It was the chicest, classiest looking living room. We literally had our carpets died to match the drapes. The die smelled of "cherries".
Had them died deep red, they matched the red velvet couches and red accent wall in the formal dining area. Wrought iron accents throughout, to include candle sconces which dawned the walls. The end tables the lamps sat on were black and red marbled with gold accents.
Preferring it to the original paint that you have here she painted the lamps solid gold.
The entire home was beautifully decorated. Mom was extremely crafty and artistically inclined. Most people had a variation of the Brady Bunch or Bewitched going on during that time. Our home was nothing like that. It was amazing.
What kind of people would have this lamp? We were average in the sense that it was a stay at home mom, a working dad and four children... all loving and close knit. Not so in the box in any other way. Haha
Love that you asked and I love that I found these photos. Lost our mom in 2005 to breast cancer and our dad in 2011 to a heart attack. Being able to see these again meant a lot. Thank you.