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Okay, nobody panic: the title of this post is not some cutesy way of announcing a pregnancy or something. All I wanted to do was show you a new collection I’ve unintentionally started in my office:
I picked up this brass duck paperweight from this Etsy shop a few months ago. I wasn’t really looking for it, but it’s almost like Etsy knew that I liked ducks or something.
When I created this site more than six years ago, the blog name merely came about from the children’s tale, of course, sort of winking at the idea that someday, my house might not look like hot garbage (that link is to the very first post, complete with listing photos). But over time, I’ve grown to like the symbol and tend to get a big grin whenever I see ducks (ducklings, in particular) around. This past Christmas, my mom even gave me a small gold duckling charm for a bracelet… and I guess the idea has been sitting in the back of my mind to add a duck or duckling (or two) as decor ever since.
Not long after the first one shipped, I spotted another antique duckling paperweight in yet another Etsy shop and basically purchased it before I even realized what I was doing (let’s just be honest, there was totally alcohol involved). I don’t regret buying it though; in fact, I like it even more than the first one. So cute!
Both of these little paperweights are displayed on my office shelves for now, but they might find a new home by year’s end as I’m thinking of adding some built-ins to the living room (more on that in a future post). I suppose having only two doesn’t even make it a “collection” yet, but I also don’t think I’m going to really try to add more (I’m not much of the collector type). You never know!
How about you? Do you have a collection of anything in your home? Where do you display it?
(sources of other items in photos: buffalo skull print / teal vase / vintage ruler)
The problem with collecting things is people buying you any-old-version of your specifically collected item. I mean, if you collect brass ducklings, and then people start buying you ceramic ducklings, or duckling placemats, or any ridiculousness that happens to have a duckling on it. For me, half the fun of collecting things (in my case, cast iron birds), is finding it, and then thinking about the day spent touring or antiquing when I look at each item. That’s probably why I only have 3 or 4 cast iron birds. But I love them, and my collection doesn’t consume my decor.
Oh, and on your previous post, I cut my hydrangeas back to 6 inches or so and they pop right back in the spring. I haven’t been doing it for very long, so I’m not sure of any long-term effects.
Good point… I hope I don’t start getting random duck everything! And as for my hydrangeas, they do grow back if you cut them down, but I saw that mine were forming buds on old growth, which not all plants will do that (some will bud on old, some will simply grow new stems and bloom only from those, etc.). I’m just glad I can ignore them completely and they bloom like crazy!
This cracked me up, Sarah. I have to admit that there are a couple of items around my house that were ordered too late at night.
Love finding vintage things on Etsy. My grandfather was a professional woodworker for one of the automotive companies back int he day when they made patterns that way, and I found some clamps that matched a few i snagged from his shop before the estate sale. I put his and the ones I found on Etsy and Ebay up in a pattern over my fireplace and everyday it reminds me of him workin in his garage and teaching me how to use the tools. I opened my shop on Etsy this year and I love finding items to put into it at flea markets and garage sales. I added some brass items and working on an art series now.
Like the other commenter said though— you cant tell people thats what you collect or you get a ton of things you might not have wanted originally.
Well, I suppose cat’s out of the bag on that one, but your shop is adorable! AND you have a little brass duck? Ha.