Barbara Pagani's Tresor Cache 101

Here are some of Antique and Vintage office supplies and hardware This was my grandfathers from the early 1900's in its original case.  These were your standard pencil case that was made of wood  I had a similar one in grade 1-4 when they started making plastic ones that were lighter to carry.  It stored your pencil, eraser, and nibs if you were using a fountain pen.  There was a time when all the mail that came into an office was stamped the date received and then it was sent to the appropriate dept for their review and then stamped again when it was received there and possibly another stamp when the paper was concluded. So most company admin people had these carousels on their desks for the various stamps required in the dept.  Displayed in the above picture is stamps with felt pads on the bottom which are used for scrapbooking with distressed inks and oxides Every Dept. had a sharpener till the motorized ones started replacing the manual ones.  This...

I came across this wonderful article about cleaning up old door hardware on Design sponge. I have lived in this house for 28 years and there are a few doors that could use a facelift so I will have add them to my do list of a million things to do. http://www.designsponge.com/2013/01/before-and-after-cleaning-vintage-hardware.html#more-162307 The good news is that stripping and cleaning old metal hardware is really easy and more or less free! It’s a small project, but these details go a long way toward making your whole space feel clean, polished and fresh. All you need are a few basic  supplies (that you might already have), and you’ll be on your way to beautiful hardware that nobody will ever know endured such a traumatic past. Supplies needed: For a doorknob, the first thing you’ll need to do is remove the knob. There should be a small screw at the base of the knob holding it to a central rod that runs through the mortise mechanism inside the door. After the screw is rem...