Before and After - Arlo

Ah, America loves its before and after photos, doesn't it? I admit they are a guilty pleasure. So I will be showing you some fore and aft pics of furniture that has been re-fabbed.
Here at Yellow Dog, we love strays - animals, furniture and bric-a-brac.
And of course, the difference between a stray and a cherished item is a name.
So, for your consideration, I offer Arlo.
My friend, Amy and I were hurrying to a neighborhood yard sale, when Amy spotted the homely table sitting by the side of the road. We screeched to a halt and immediately scooped him up. The woman who put him up for "adoption" flagged us down and gave us the drawer that was missing.

Ella immediately made the new stray feel at home and gave us the inspiration for his new look - linen-white paint and a crystal and chrome knob.

Isn't he refabulous?

Yellow Dog Collectibles loves strays!

After a few decades of collecting and reusing junk that I have found on the side of the road or at yard sales or thrift shops, I filled up my house - and shed - and my friends' basements and....well you know how it goes.

Since I have a horrible fear of becoming one of those hoarders who has to carve paths between ceiling-high piles of crap just to get around the house, I started Yellow Dog - where strays become loved. It's all re-fabulous!

If you are looking for an item that completes you (for me, it was a chrome penguin ice bucket just like the one my parents used for all their fabulous parties) drop me a line. I'll keep an eye out for it on my jaunts.

So far, I've been asked to look for metal TV tray tables, Fransiscan apple pattern salad plates and Hall creamer and sugar bowl sets. Give me an exact maximum you would pay for the item and don't forget I'm in North Carolina - so shipping will set you back if you're not from around here!

You can check out my Yellow Dog booth at Katy-Did Antiques and Gifts, 140 E. Main Avenue, Gastonia, NC.

Soon, I'll be posting more pics of some of my favorite stuff - and history geek that I am, maybe a little background. Or, maybe just some project that I couldn't part with and still have in my house.

For now, how about a pic of an iron Virginia Metalcrafters Hunter doorstop. Beautiful detail - such delicate ankles! It's dated 1949 on the back and has been initialed twice by its artist! It could be yours!

These door stops were made in the Blue Ridge Mountain town of Waynesboro, Virginia. After metal production started up again after WWII, Virginia Metalcrafters hired an artist named Calvin Roy Kinstler to produce horse-themed gifts. Kinstler initialed this doorstop on the front and back. Guess he was proud of it!

Virginia Metalcrafters is still in business and you have probably seen their work in homes and gift shops in Williamsburg, the Smithsonian, Monticello, Old Salem and Charleston.

Hope you'll check back in soon to Yellow Dog - where quirky is as quirky does.

Hello,
I swear that starting a blog was not my New Year's resolution.

So relax.

Let's have some fun.

I prematurely declare that 2000-2010 will be known as the Decade of the Scrawny Hero. Look at your favorite movies and TV shows. Skinny, pasty, short dudes abound.

Uh. huh. Giovanni Ribisi, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Milo Ventimigilia, Heath Ledger, Toby Maguire, James McElvoy, Cillian Murphy, Matt Damon. Not your classic Hollywood Leading Man. Thank goodness. Men are not threatened by them and women think they would definitely have a chance with them if they met at a bar.

Power to the People!


Oh, yes. I've created a new word. You know the dudes who have to have the very best skiing, running, kayaking, camping equipment, and the Thule rack and the Subaru to put that rack on and the GPS and high tech gadgets? HAUTEDOORSMEN. Feel free to use it.