Shelfie #8 --Another Dutch Connection

This chest of drawers top perhaps says it all about who I am. 

The chest itself is vintage, but it was my first real "paint job." When I purchased my own furniture in the mid 70's, this was one of the initial pieces. It was blank wood, but I smeared on the brown paint. As I had no idea what I was doing, for years the drawers stuck and made it pretty useless. After 7 years in our dry home, it is a functioning chest of drawers for storing extra bed linens for the guest bedroom. And the drawers rarely stick!

The hand-crocheted scarf is actually a curtain valence that I thrifted at a Catholic Missions shop in Zoeterwoude, The Netherlands back in the 1990's. There was a time when Dutch farmhouse windows were decorated with these little curtains. In fact, I used what pieces I could find to "curtain" our old farmhouse back when we lived on the Westeindseweg.

The wooden klompen (clogs) came from one of my Dutch thrift shops. I can't remember which shop,  since I have had those Dutch shoes for close to 30 years. I always liked the "modern" design. Almost too feminine for wooden shoes.

The portrait is just a print, and probably something someone found in a magazine. But I am sure that the price was in my range (around 2.50 guilders back in the 1980's and 1990's). And the girl is just charming in her native costume!

Then there is the Dutch shaving box story. Over 20 years ago, my aunt, uncle, and her relatives came for a short visit to our home in The Netherlands. My young son and I skipped school one day and took them on a tour of Amsterdam. My aunt and her sister are thrifters, so we visited a few junk shops and antique stores while crossing the city. At one shop, someone in our group eyed the wooden shaving box. When I was sure the ladies weren't going to buy it, I snatched it up and paid 10 guilders for it. That price was way above my limit of 2.50 guilders, but I saw it as a true vintage item even back then. And to this day I am still glad I bought it. ( By the way, I heard later that the two ladies found an old printer's wooden letter box out on the street curb on their walk through the city of Delft. That was a good "cheap" find!)

And about the hat? That is a local US find. Wish I could find my blogpost on that green beauty ;)