Collecting American Stoneware

North American stoneware often referred to as pottery was made in the 19^th century and used daily in colonial households. Stoneware was used for anything we might use glass jars or Tupperware for today.  It held everything from water, soda, and beer to meat, grain, jelly and picked vegetables. American salt glazed stoneware was valued as not only durable, decorative housewares but as a safer alternative to lead-glazed earthenware, commonly referred to today as American Redware.

American Stoneware

Americans began producing salt glazed stoneware circa 1720.  The process began by making the item from clay, it was fired at a very high temperature, and the pottery would essentially become stone. Salt-glazed pottery is a type of pottery produced by adding salt to a kiln to create a glass-like coating on the pottery.  The sodium in the salt bonds with the silica in the clay, creating sodium silicate, or glass.

  A very commonly employed technique seen on American Stoneware is the use of cobalt decorations, where a dark gray mixture of clay, water and expensive mineral cobalt oxide is painted onto the unfired pottery.  In the firing process, the cobalt reacts to produce a vibrant blue decorations. 

Pottery with cobalt blue markings are highly collectible and can be very expensive. In the last half of the 19^th century potters in New England and New York State began producing stoneware with elaborate designs such as deer, dogs, birds, houses, people or historical scenes. These pieces are rare and a real treasure.

My husband loves to collect decorated stoneware, and we have many quality pieces for sale at our store, The Brick House Antique Center, Palmyra, NY. You can also shop through the pages of our website: www.brickhouseantiques.com to see what we have to offer.

That is all for today, from the Brick House Blogger!

American History inspires design

If you love history, you must plan to visit Williamsburg Virginia. Williamsburg is the place where George Washington and Thomas Jefferson established ideals of liberty and freedom for our country to enjoy.  Williamsburg’s legacy, as well as its extensive collection of period wallpapers and home textiles, inspired the Capel rug design team to create a line of high-quality rugs that celebrates classic American design traditions while meeting the needs and tastes of the modern consumer.  

Basketweave
Cinnabar Honey

Brickhouserugcenter.com is proud to offer this beautiful collection of area rugs.  One of the favorites of the Brick House blogger is the Basketweave collection. This collection will enhance the style of any room. The Basketweave cotton chenille braids were inspired by the traditional design in The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Collection, and best of all, these rugs are made in the USA!   Another, very traditional pattern is called Filigree, it is a plush hand tufted 100% wool rug, made in India.

Looking for the perfect in-door/ out-door rug to add beauty to your sun room or front porch, check out the Garden Maze collection, also inspired by Colonial Williamsburg.

Brick House Antique Center
Palmyra, NY

Any of these rugs will add decorative beauty to your home along with primitive antique furniture and household items.  Brick House Antique Center, located in Palmyra, NY has 2 floors of quality antiques. If you are trying to design a room full of classic furnishings full of history, please stop in or shop online at: www.brickhouseantiques.com

Lazy hammock day inspires rug design



Hammock rug offered by brickhousergcenter.com

Decorating inspired by the thought of relaxing in a hammock on a beautiful autumn day. This thought was the inspiration used by the designers when they created the new rug collection called Hammock by Capel rugs.

The Hammock Rug is made by using a unique combination of construction techniques, which add texture and visual interest to enhance each rug. Hammock is reversible, won’t shrink, is colorfast and resists water, mold and mildew.  The Hammock rug is perfect for in-door or out-doors patio settings.  And best of all these rugs are made in the USA!!

Hammock Rugs are available in five different color way, there’s sure to be one to compliment any area in your home. We love Spa if you’re more partial to blues or Camel if you would like a more neutral tone.  Outdoor living rooms are a big trend this year, and Hammock is the perfect addition to any outdoor space. So stretch out in your own hammock and relax—we’ve got you covered.

We are excited to offer such a versatile rug to add decorative harmony to your living area. When thinking of decorating that relaxing or casual space in your home, take a minute to shop through the pages at www.brickhouserugcenter.com or visit our retail store Brick House Antique Center in Palmyra, NY to look at the area rugs we offer in our rug center.

Decorating with Antiques

Tip #1.) Put thought into how you group antiques together.  Group antiques in odd numbers. It may seem funny, but odd numbers are more appealing to the eye! Marketers know this and that’s why they price things at $3.99 instead of an even $4.00. Landscapers also know this and often group trees, bushes and other shrubbery into groups of 5, 7, 9 etc. It is simply more appealing to the eyes.

Fiesta ware

Tip#2.)  Don’t scatter antiques and don’t crowd them together.  Don’t crowd too many antiques together and don’t scatter miscellaneous antiques throughout a room. Make a smooth flow of antiques from left to right. Crowding similar items together will make your room look cluttered.

Tip#3.)  Group similar objects together.  If you have Fiesta ware displayed on the shelves, don’t have one shelf full of antique dolls, then another full of Fiesta, then another full of something else. Don’t split shelves up with unrelated items.

Tip #4.)  Stick with the theme of the room. Don’t have one portion of the room be dedicated to Victorian pieces, and the other portion with primitive furniture. It would disrupt the flow and feeling of your room.

I hope these tips are helpful to you when you are decorating and looking for items to add to your collection.  When looking for new pieces stop in at The Brick House Antique Center in Palmyra, NY or shop online: www.brickhouseantiques.com. 

Hall China

We are frequently asked “Do you have any Hall dishes”?  Hall China, made by the Hall China Company of East Liverpool, Ohio, is very collectible. The most desired patterns are those made in the early 1930’s and late 1960’s.  To properly identify a piece of Hall China, more than one name is often necessary.  Most items will have a pattern name, such as Autumn Leaf or Red Poppy. In addition to the pattern name, individual pieces in a pattern will also usually have a shape name. An example of this is a red poppy tea pot might be an Aladdin or New York tea pot.   They are both tea pots, but are different styles and shapes.

My feature photo displays 2 patterns that we have available at the Brick House Antique Center. A covered casserole in the Gaillardia pattern “Radiance” style, and many pieces from the Silhouette or (Tavern) pattern.  The Silhouette pattern is an all back decal containing two figures seated at a table on two high-back bench-like chairs. 

Pick a pattern you like and start collecting. What a fun way to spend weekends shopping at Antique stores, flea market, or thrift shops looking for the next addition for your collection.

Made in the USA

I recently watch a TV news show with interest. The subject line was a family that had agreed to allow the reporters to remove everything from their home that was not made me the USA.  I was surprised to see the family return to an empty home.  I said to my daughter, “if they had shopped at the Brick House Antique Center, they would have rooms full of stuff”.  My husband and I own and operate the Brick House Antique Center in Palmyra, NY.  We purchase the items we sell from auctions and household sales in the area.  We specialize in quality antiques, most which are made in this part of the country!    Some items, like Hall pottery, is marked USA. Other items have no markings, but we can identify the part of the country that they were made by the type of wood and style.  We have Lyon’s jugs for sale which are highly collectible and were made 20 miles or so down Rt 31 in Lyons NY.

We recently added a new line of area rugs.  The braid rugs are made in North Carolina! These beautiful rugs are made with the finest wool, cotton and performance blend fibers.   Please take time to look through our website: www.brickhouserugcenter.com to see the variety of rugs we offer.

When you are thinking about redecorating a room in your home, challenge yourself to purchase items made in the USA.  Another challenge----shop in Antique stores, flea markets, and thrift stores. If you make a purchase you will be recycling and reusing unwanted items.  Let’s work together to keep Americans employed, and our planet as green as possible.

Buy American made!!!   Recycle and reuse!!! 

That’s all for now from the Brick House Blogger.

Recycle and Reuse!

In this tough economy I know that many of us are looking for creative ways to add charm and character to our homes.  It can be very expensive to purchase new items at department stores.  Many of the customers we service at Brick House Antique Center are looking for used items to decorate rooms in their homes.  I recently ran across an article in a magazine where they took old house shutters, cut them down, and made them into a glass top table! What a great idea. We have many sizes and styles of shutters available. They sell in our store from $6.00-$20.00. I have also had customers purchase shutters for room dividers or a decorative area to hang artwork or linens.

Shutters and other items availabe at the Brick House Antique Center

Our Antique Store is filled with 2 floors of recycled items, once loved by one or many families. We search high and low in many of the surrounding towns and counties in Western New York to find antique’s that we can purchase to sell to our customers.  We have fun doing it, and enjoy offering such a great variety of items to the public.  We offer many of the items on our website: www.brickhohouseantiques.com.  Visit us on line, or stop in to see us at The Brick House Antique Center, 247 East Main St. Palmyra, NY

Loving Lodge Décor

A Cozy Lodge or Cabin retreat gives many a feeling of comfort and peacefulness. These looks can be duplicated an any home in any part of the country.  Much of the Lodge decorating originated in the forest regions of Europe and Scandinavia. Log-building and woodworking skills date back to medieval times. When immigrants fled from Europe for the New World they left much behind, but they did bring along their skills at log crafting.

   Lodge decorating does not have to be expensive to duplicate. You can find many treasures at local Antique shops, or Flea markets. Thrift stores are also a great place to search for gently used items that will fill that décor gap in your home.  

At the Brick House Antique Center, in Palmyra NY, you can browse the 2 floors of antiques and find cabin decor from hand carved decoy’s, vintage snow shoes, wooden boat oars, and lanterns.  Let your imagination help you design a room full of Lodge décor that you and our family can enjoy every day! Featured below is a sample of the Cabin Retreat rug we offer. This is one of our best selling area rugs. Lodge cabin décor seems to be all the rage! Let us help create a cozy family room full of lodge decor. Give us a call or log onto one of our websites: www.brickhouseantiques.com , www. Brickhouserugcenter.com., Call us toll free at: 888-999-3883.