Antiques, Frames and Design Dilemma

Today has been a fantastic day! First, it was a planned vacation day from work for 'me.' No spa, hair or nail appointment unfortunately, but an extra hour of needed sleep, running errands, shipping a painting, restocking on art supplies and a little antiquing. Some amazing finds today...some went home with me and some are on my 'revisit after house is unpacked' list to see if they will work.

First, I scored two vintage picture frames. I would have come home with more, but some were odd sizes that wouldn't work for my art. The frames will be posted on my Vintage Frames page if you are interested, but mostly this will be for buyers in my Etsy shop to view if they want framing.

Here is the first...date unknown unfortunately and it has been freshened up a bit already.

The second gold frame is a prize. It will be for one of my largest pieces and dates mid 1900s. It will be a restoration project this weekend, but I am excited to see how the white textured inner border works perfectly with one of my larger abstracts in the works.

Because framing at a shop or craft store (even during a promotion/sale) can be expensive, I will also start doing some custom framing for some of my paintings--vintage and new. For my own home, I ordered a larger frame and then warmed it up with some gold to tone down the silver. Hard to see the gold in these pictures, but I also need some help deciding whether to go serene or color in my front room. What do you think?

For reference as I'm still unsure on the Mexican antique on right b/c of visual height.

Mercury candle holders are definitely keepers!

See, a bit of a pickle.

My final last antique score today is a 1950's Italian gold and white magazine holder. Oh, it will not be for magazines, but rather as a file folder holder in my new home office. I still need to put in my new, white lacquered desk, which is quite modern. This magazine rack will work perfectly mixing a little old and new together.

Isn't she beautiful?