About

I am Jane and Welcome to the latest in my long string of blogs, Vintage Homemaking! I am a 34 year old housewife currently living in Wisconsin. I was born in Santa Monica, California. My family moved from Marina Del Rey, California to my father’s hometown of Jamestown, New York before I turned one. I was raised in Jamestown and the surrounding area of Chautauqua, New York. There are many reasons why I feel like I was born in the wrong time. One of the biggest was being raised among the Victorian mansions that line most of the streets and ring the lake where I grew up. The majority have been turned into apartments now, but the whole area oozes history and if you are receptive to it, it is very easy to be sucked in. (If you have Netflix, check out this documentary about the place where I grew up called Chautauqua: An American Narrative.) Another reason that I’m so old-fashioned is that I was adopted and my parents were a good ten to twenty years older than all of my friends’ parents. The “when I was your age” stories I heard were something completely different than what everyone else was hearing at home and it definitely effected my outlook on life. My father’s family was the first family in their town to have a television, while the parents of my best friends I’m sure never knew a time without one. I learned a lot of by-gone skills and a lot about history and culture that other’s weren’t exposed to. This helped to really spark my lifelong interest in history that invades every aspect of my life still to this day!

Growing up in our home was interesting and even though I was raised by a single dad (my mother passed when I was 5 years old), I would never trade it for the world. My father fostered the need for books and PBS as well as an awareness of family history and a love of travel. He  owned a catering company and a restaurant when I was a child; this ensured that there was NEVER a dull moment in our house. It was a wonderful childhood and I have had so many great experiences. When I was in the 8th grade my father decided that the winter weather was no longer for him and we relocated to Tallahassee, Florida where I completed high school and lived off-and-on until I moved to Norfolk, Virginia in 2004. Loving Husband & I met in Norfolk and were married a year later (2006) in St. Augustine, Florida in the courtyard of the Lightner Museum. Since then we’ve lived in Chicago, Illinois, Jacksonville, Florida, Tallahassee, Florida, Bedford, Indiana, Pensacola, Florida and now we find ourselves in Kenosha, Wisconsin. In addition to all of our moves, we’ve traveled the length of the U.S. multiple times and LH has been all over the globe. I envy his solo (aka Navy) travels, but at least he brings me home some pretty things!

Loving husband is a sailor in the U.S. Navy, but prior to that he attended culinary school and specialized in baking. His knowledge and expertise comes in VERY handy when I’m trying out recipes for the blog. You will see him mentioned from time to time, especially now that he is on shore duty instead of being deployed all the time. The photo of him below was featured on the Navy’s official website a few years ago. He baked this nine foot long scale replica of the amphibious assault ship U.S.S. Saipan for the ship’s anniversary. It’s all edible, not mostly Styrofoam like the cakes in those extreme cake shows you see on TV. I’m very proud of him.

Being a Navy family hasn’t ALL been a piece of cake though. We have been moved about once a year (for various reasons) and Loving Husband has somehow managed to draw the short straw no matter where he’s been stationed and has ended up averaging a seven month (or more) deployment every year since we were married. I know other Navy Wives whose husbands have never been deployed and have been in the Navy for 10+ years. Even when he hasn’t been on a deployment, it seems that they have sent him away for months to go to various technical schools that are hundreds of miles from home. He is finally on shore duty though, so we have had the opportunity to settle in and spend time together. Several of the projects on this blog are things that we had been waiting years to try and just never had the time.

In November 2008, for my birthday, Loving Husband bought me this 1912 foursquare in his hometown of Bedford, Indiana. These photos are of the original structure and owners before the addition was added onto the back in the 1920′s. 100 years and half a ton of aluminum siding later, it isn’t as lovely as it once was, but one day it will be beautiful again. I majored in Historic Restoration in college and I can’t wait to actually put what I learned to use once we are able to move in (when we are no longer a Navy family) and start seriously renovating it. We’ve completed a few small projects and have posted about them. When activity at the house picks up expect to see many more details and DIY projects. Most of the interior is untouched and original. Everything from the hand pump on the basement sink to the copper door hinges are intact and help create the perfect environment for living a “vintage” life!

I’ve had a few jobs in my time, none of which I would call a career and none that I’ve enjoyed as much as I do being a seamstress & vintage fashion dealer on Etsy and of course, being a blogger. I have generated revenue from blogging, so I feel that after many years I can finally say that it is a job… It doesn’t pay well, but it’s a job! Digging through piles at estate sales suits me much better than sitting in an office all day writing obits for the newspaper or assisting lobbyists for the state legislature like I used to do. After High School I volunteered to work at the Knott House Museum in Tallahassee, Florida. That was probably the most fun job I had had until now, mostly all I did was sort vintage linens and polish silver all day, which is right up my alley. I love to do volunteer work and have always been eager to help out any worthy cause. I can’t always give money, but I try to give as much time as I can. Currently I assistant LH with coaching his U13 girls’ soccer team. While practices are always fun, it is very time consuming and I usually end up sitting on the sideline writing blogs in a notebook. LH and I don’t have any children of our own yet. We’ve encountered some medical difficulties, but we are still trying for at least one child. We do have a dog, which is like a child to us. Our baby is Brooni (Brunhilda Myrtle) who is four years old. We have no idea what kind of dog she is; we found her at a last chance shelter and fell in love. She is still a little skittish even now after 4 years with us. She isn’t your typical “pretty” dog, but we think she’s awful cute! She doesn’t have a lot of hair, so she has a vast collection of sweaters. She likes to steal my bobbins or puzzle pieces when they fall on the floor and carry them off under the bed and hide them.

About This Blog

The inspiration for this blog of course comes from my years and years of self imposed study of history, especially of subjects that concern the home. The old (and surprisingly often more simple and efficient) way of doing things fascinates me. I love almost anything historic. To me nothing is as breathtaking as a restored or preserved home that has survived for a century or more. Who lived there? What did they look like? What was their profession? What kind of personality did they have? I feel such a connection with old places and objects. I like to imagine everything they’ve been witness to. I am an avid collector of antique books, sewing supplies, furniture, tableware, kitchen items, etc. We almost never buy anything new. Loving Husband has a massive collection of vintage records and militaria. The two of us have never met an antiques auction or estate sale we didn’t LOVE! Going and looking at everything is sort of a hobby of ours. Even if we don’t purchase anything, we still love looking at items and examining them. It’s an inexpensive good time! I want to share the excitment of a great vintage find with all of you and I hope to convey some of that feeling of unearthing a treasure with each post you read.

I have had other blogs, some of which were very successful. I anonymously authored a Navy wife blog that did extremely well and my most recent blog before this one was actually generating revenue. Something in me always grew tired of them after a while. I wanted to focus more on what I loved: History. No matter what other ventures I’ve become involved in, I always came back to “vintage living”. There are many fabulous blogs out there that deal with sewing from vintage patterns or wearing a different vintage outfit every day, and believe me I avidly read those, but I wanted to do something different here. I wanted to explore subjects like historic housekeeping methods, the use of proper manners, heirloom recipes, antique décor and the principles of rationing, economy and thrift. I will get into clothing throughout history, hair styles and shoes too, but I would like to have a nice balance of subjects. Also, I am too big for vintage clothes and my hair is too fine to hold a good victory roll!

The final decision to go ahead with this project came when my Aunt Judy gave me an antique book on homemaking. It’s called The Successful Housekeeper: A Manual of Universal Application and was written by F.B. Dickerson, published in 1882 by M.W. Ellsworth & Co. Everything about the book is beautiful from the decorative type used to the binding and the illustrations. The BEST part, which she didn’t even mention to me when she gifted it, was the inscription inside the front cover that reads “Rhoda A Perry Jamestown Chautauqua Co. N.Y.” in big beautiful red letters. I am always lamenting my lack of family heirlooms (usually when I’m watching Antiques Roadshow and remember that all I have really is a metal garbage can my grandmother painted) and here was one in front of me. Rhoda A. (West) Perry was my Great-Great Grandmother! This was the final sign that I needed to make up my mind to start this blog!

So many books, documentaries and museums have influenced me when it came to what I wanted this blog to offer the readers. Among my greatest inspirations is, Ruth Goodman, a social and domestic historian who is featured in several BBC documentary serials. She does consulting for films, television and museums. Her incredible knowledge about how we used to live our lives is something that I could only hope one day to acquire. Another hero to me and inspiration for this blog is Her Household Highness, Martha Stewart. It might sound odd, but growing up without a mother and with a very busy father; Martha helped me become a proper housewife. When no one else was there to show me how, Martha always has been.  I can’t think of anyone who has influenced my personal decorating style more. She made it okay to go to thrift stores and hunt for treasures. When it comes to culinary skills and decorating, no one else compares to her. I have a vast collection of Martha items including a copy of every single issue of every US magazine she’s ever produced and about 75% of her books. They serves as wonderful guides and instructionals. In addition to all her crafty knowledge, she is one of the most successful business people in the world. She is definately more than just a pretty face with a glue gun and I love that! Finally, I would like to mention my Aunt Judy again. She is so smart and in my family, her standard of education has always been the rule by which everyone else was measured. When I was growing up I always felt a need to try to live up to her intelligence level and I feel like that bit of extra pressure spurred me on to bigger and brighter things. I’m not sure that SHE knew her works and knowledge were the high standard in our house, but she has always been encouraging when we spoke. She is a published author, recently releasing a great little book of poetry called The Wind Turning Pages (by Judith Slater, PhD) published in 2011 by the Outriders Poetry Project. I thought to myself, if she can publish a book when she’s in her seventies, why can’t I get off my duff and create the blog that I really want to? After all, the blog is a lot less work to publish.

I hope that you will read and enjoy my blog as well as participate in lively and peaceful fellowship in the comments section. I hope that I can teach some people and learn from some people along the way as well.