Project #1

Living Room

The first two rooms we really started to tackle were the living room and kitchen. The living room wasn’t too bad after the couch and carpet were removed, with the exception of the carpet pad. The carpet pad which is estimated to have been there since about 1950 is now fused to the hardwood flooring. We found several boxes of antique stuff. There is a set of cast iron Hessian soldier andirons. Many old photos in frames of what can only be family members. There is also a box full of old photos and things that we plan to go through at a later date.

There were at least 5 table lamps, a stack of trays, a vase full of walking canes, an old clock, a powder horn, an old fan (which still works quite well), and an air purifier (which took a little work to figure out what it was).

Kitchen

The kitchen was a crazy experience. There were tons of fun things to find in the many MASSIVE cabinets. One of which the girls and I could fit into easily. There were TONS of old spices that we for the most part tossed. I decided to keep some of them because the tins were cool or they were things that could be used for potpourri or other crafts. I, sadly, threw away a bunch of tea because it was over 10 years old.

One cabinet held a set, or at least most of a set, of Dubarry by Johnson Brothers china. We then got slightly distracted and went through the china cabinet in the dining room in search for tea cups and their saucers. We found china bowls, finger bowls, serving bowls, and even a few china platters. A few of the pieces were made by a company in Wellsville, Ohio which was exciting to learn. I will make a whole new post eventually about all the pieces I decided to keep and maybe do some research on them.

There were tons of trays of varying sizes, shapes, and materials. Emily, Adeline, or Florence were prepping to paint or did paint these trays. I decided to keep them and possibly try my hand at it. Jane is being offered the trays with the little dutch girl and the Hampden Brewing Co. for sentimental reasons.

There were tons of various utensils, kitchen tools, pots, pans, baking sheets, baking trays, jello molds, and casserole dishes (most of which are not being kept but are fun to see). There was a very large amount of the original blue cornflower Corning-ware, which I decided to keep and use.

Green Depression Glass

I found a maker’s mark on the bottom of these green glass mixing bowls that I had planned on using. I learned so much from this one bout of curiosity. The bowls turned out to be green depression glass made by Hocking Glass Co. before they became Anchor Hocking. I also learned that some green and yellow (vaseline) depression glass was made by adding uranium oxide to the glass when making it. They also glow when under black light. Without the use of a black light there is no way to know for sure that these bowls were made using uranium. But I did find a set for sale on Etsy with the exact same makers mark and style bowl that did glow.

The use of uranium in the glass making concerned me a bit so I did further research. I found mixed results on the safety of using glassware made with uranium. For the most part the glass is safe to keep and look at. There is evidence to suggest that more acidic foods could very minimally increase the radiation exposure to those who regularly use the glass ware. And, using the glassware regularly could also just increase exposure to radiation by about 1% of the radiation you would be exposed to in a year. There is less risk of both of these with the green glass as opposed to the Vaseline (yellow) glass because of the additional additives in the glass. I decided however that I would prefer to not use them and so they are going to be living with Susan.

Mini-Update

The plumber disconnected the gas line from the stove, so the new one can be delivered on the 5th. We discovered that the gas line to the stove will most likely need to be moved closer to the wall. This is due to the fact that the current gas line won’t line up correctly with where the gas hook-ups are on newer stoves (from my understanding of what the plumber was saying). So that will be fun, the plumber didn’t seem too concerned though he was a bit surprised to see it.

I think that is the bulk of what we discovered for the living room and kitchen. Up next will be the dining room and the master bedroom.

Lots of Love,

The McMullins