The Cottage Journal Vintage Cottage 2017

From suitcases to cast -iron beds to tiered curtains, the vintage look is back. And so, perhaps, are memories from your childhood. That fondly remembered stay with grandparents might have included a fold-out bed (which was a magical invention at my grandma’s), a pink tiled bathroom (we had one), or doilies everywhere—on pillows as well as underneath glass-topped dressers and on tabletops. Big floral wallpapers, four-poster beds, brass beds, china cabinets (did they ever go away?), tiered curtains , plates on the wall, hand-embroidered everything, and collections from the 1920s-1970s are all wildly popular today. We wanted to give you, our reader, a fresh take (albeit sentimental) on vintage style. In each featured home you will discover a mix of antiques, flea market finds, and retro, or mixed styles and…

The flags collected by Steve Winters vary from Old Glory to international maritime pennants used by sailors to communicate with other ships. Steve has researched and studied textile preservation, and collects and sells archival pieces mostly from the 1930s and 1940s—with some pieces even older. In addition to flags, he has collected textiles that include everything from swimming dresses and antique water wings to vintage suits . Buyers include decorators, collectors, filmmakers, and historians, but for Steve, it’s the process of finding, restoring, and protecting the pieces that brings the most satisfaction. He takes great pains to have each piece cleaned and has developed a style of frame construction to help preserve items so buyers can enjoy them for years to come. When searching for antique flags, Steve looks for…

When Suzy Reynolds and husband David Smith moved into their charming 1935 Cotswold cottage nearly 20 years ago, they brought with them a passion for vintage treasures. The home’s exterior is lined in cedar shake siding —a stark contrast from its more Arts and Crafts style interiors. Inside, each and every nook is filled with vintage collections that invite a cozy, timeworn charm in the form of delightful stories and colorful vignettes. Suzy reveals that it’s actually David who is the true treasure hunter of the pair. “When he was 12 years old he went to an estate sale with his dad, and bought an old cathedral-style radio,” Suzy says. “He got the bug at a young age when his dad got him interested in old things.” From that time…

Depression glass became very popular with collectors in the 1960s. The machine-produced glass was first made in the Ohio River Valley in the 1920s and 1930s and was not particularly a high quality glass. But it was often free. It was during the Depression and a piece of the glass could be found in boxes of cereal and washing powders. Even the purchase of a movie ticket would sometimes get you a free plate or bowl. The glassware was translucent and came in a variety of colors including green which is still popular with collectors today. With more than 20 manufacturers and over 100 different patterns, it’s not too late to start your own collection of this charming glass.…

From the classic clear originals to the colorfully patterned Mid-Century mod collections to the now ubiquitous glass measuring cups, Pyrex has been the choice of chefs and home cooks alike for more than 100 years. Interestingly enough, the story of Pyrex doesn’t start in the kitchen—it starts on the railroad. In 1908, research scientists at Corning Glass Works created a glass insert for railroad lanterns that could withstand extreme temperature changes. Five years later, when the wife of one of Glass Works’s researchers grew frustrated with the poor quality of available casserole dishes, she tried baking a sponge cake in two sawed-off battery jars made from the resilient material. She found that not only were the improvised dishes durable, they offered additional benefits like a shorter cooking time, more uniform…

English biscuit maker Joseph Huntley had the advantage of owning a shop located across the street from a regular stop of the stagecoach line where passengers were ready customers. Traveling by stagecoach in the 1800s in England was rough enough for people, let alone perishable cargo like biscuits (known Stateside as cookies). Huntley soon realized the biscuits needed some kind of protective packaging for safe travel, so he began placing them in metal tins. This simple idea led to the formation of two companies: Huntley & Palmers, biscuit company, and Huntley, Boorne & Stevens, a firm of biscuit tin manufacturers founded by Huntley’s son, also named Joseph. With their success, many imitators followed them into the biscuit tin business. In the late 1870s, the tins were embellished with colorful decorations…