Shelf Life...

Greetings Sweet Hearts!

What inspires you to create a room or a space the way that you do?

Is it a beautiful picture from a magazine or book?

Is it something you saw in a movie, that you fell madly in love with?

A booth in your favorite antique mall that captured your imagination?

Or maybe it's simply, one piece.

One perfect piece of something, anything, that sings to your soul & says, this IS who I am.

For me, it's my antique Round Top Texas, tin ceiling tiles.

They capture the essence of everything I LOVE.

Their subtle,  neutral color.

The tarnish & tatters of age.

The remembrance of an era lost.

The attempt of ornamentation with limited means.

The dream of their journey, until they got to me.

To me, that's the magic of choosing something old over something that's new, the story.

Looking at this sweet little wall shelf, one could never imagine the story it has to tell, but it has one.

I bought this shelf new from Pottery Barn.

It has hung on my walls for over 20 years.

It was once as white as snow, with lovely glass windows in the door & on the sides.

I have always adored it.

This sweet little shelf, once bright & new, has endured more then most people have. You see, there was a fire.

The fire was so hot, it shattered all of the tiny glass window panes & the smoke was so thick, it's snow white paint turned as black as coal.

 In despair, I flung the sweet little shelf out onto the pile of ruble that once was my life.

Un beknowst to me, the little shelf had been spared.

Someone had taken it from the ruble, still seeing the diamond in the rough.

They knocked out the remaining pieces of broken glass

& sanded off most of the black soot

that covered it.

When my little shelf made it's way back to me, I cried in joy & in grief.

I cried for the things I had loved & lost.

 I cried for something loved & lost, that was given a new life & found it's way home.

This little shelf hangs on the wall next to my bed now, filled with the little things I love.

A silver baby mirror & brush.

Old tin types & hand rolled thread.

Baby shoes & clock faces.

Business cards & button cards.

White linen & rusty tub feet.

Holy cards & an antique hair comb.

The little shelf reminds me everyday of the possibility of pain & joy,

of death & rebirth.

It's why I love my ceiling tiles & it reminds me of who I am.

Subtle but strong, living my life in greys,

rusty & tattered, enjoying the patina of age,
coming from a lost era of innocence, still looking back,

& always dreaming of the journey that waits, just around the next corner.

I am joining Debra of Common Ground for her Vintage Inspiration Friday post. There are many lovely links to visit and I hope you will enjoy them as well.

I hope all of you friends, had a Blessed & Loving Thanksgiving!
Mine was PERFECT, proving you can still teach an old dog new tricks! ;)

XOXO
vintagesusie