The Find and a Few Finds of My Own

I ordered Stan Williams' book The Find from a Toronto book store last week and yesterday I picked it up. Wow - I have a new favourite book. The Find is packed with inspiring ideas and photographs showing you different ways you can combine thrifted goods with newer items. I see things I want on just about every page and I'm already thinking about new ways to view my old treasures. What I like most about the book is Stan's writing. Usually when I buy books containing a lot of photographs, I tend to gloss over the text and look at the pictures and read the captions. Not so with The Find. Stan writes as much from the heart as the head, illustrating points with personal examples of his thrifting life. He knows what he is talking about from a design perspective, but the anecdotes pull it all together and make you feel like you're listening to a good friend sharing stories. There is no snobbery or whiff of superiority, just encouragement to search for gorgeous old things that make you happy and clever ways to arrange them. I'll be taking it to bed tonight and I'll likely stay up to finish it.

Speaking of finds, we were back in St. Catharines for an early birthday party for Duncan. On our way home, my nephew convinced my sister to stop at a gigantic Value Village where I bought this vintage sleigh dish. It was $3.99 - a small price to pay for a piece of nostalgia and a place to put red and green gumdrops in for many happy Christmas holidays to come.
The unrefined paint work lends charm. I like the gold speckles that cover the edges.
The cheerful lidless Pyrex dish was $3.99. There were no prices on the citrus-coloured Tupperware bowls. The cashier didn't charge me anything for them. I figured it was payback for all of the videos I've bought from Value Village that didn't work when I got home and wasn't allowed to return.
Where do you think these tasteful little candlestick holders are from? Denmark? Holland?
No. They were made in Prince Edward Island, the smallest and most charming province in Canada. Sorry Vonlipi - Quebec is pretty darn charming too. I was so tickled that I bought something made in P.E.I. They cost $2.49.
Here are Danish candle holders. I didn't get them today, but my P.E.I. candlesticks made me think of them. My mom bought me one of these at a garage sale in St. Catharines. Several years later, I bought the other identical one at a rummage sale in St. Catharines. These look great with skinny white candles in them.