Here are my finds from Aunt Tillie's crawlspace.
A box of old Christmas lights. There are lots of strands of lights and a few scattered reflectors. I will remove the bulbs and use them for projects. I won't use the old light strands as the old wiring scares me.
A good amount of old white garland and a few more Christmas lights with a fun shape.
I did bring home some of the Avon. I liked these old empty powder containers.
I also brought home some of those plastic flowers. I use them for crafting. Mary Jo and I found a pair of these great green pottery pots..one for her and one for me.
A wonderful old galvanized unused waste can with lid.
Old gardening catalogs from the 1950s and early 60s. The graphics are spectacular.
Women's magazines from the 1950s.
An old metal cooler (with a great spigot but no lid) and a slew of old cottage cheese container lids.
I am excited to sort through the box of lids. There are a huge assortment of varieties and graphics.
Some old tie around uniforms Mary Jo thinks were from a canning company that Aunt Tillie worked for. Great label at the neck.
I did take one pair of work gloves from the two boxes that we uncovered.
Some old metal trays that came with mosaic kits.
As I said before I was hoping for a crawl space of vintage Christmas. My heart pitter pattered when I pulled not one, not two, but THREE boxed ALUMINUM CHRISTMAS trees from the space. At first in the dark crawl space I thought the box said Angel PINK...I about keeled over when I thought they were PINK trees. I then realized it was an E and not a K in pine. I will take the silver kind tho!
In addition to the trees in the boxes, there are either one or two more stands and branches. I need to put them together and figure that out. Grand total..four or possiblly five trees!
FIVE revolving tree stands. 3 in the original boxes. 2 large and three smaller.
One electric color wheel!
Mary Jo wants a couple of the trees, but I took them home to make sure they are complete. What a crawl space adventure. I could not believe the aluminum tree hoard. Aunt Tillie did well with those.
Well my crawl space dream has been fulfilled. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Digging through boxes with no idea what they contain is a big rush. I am so delighted there was some vintage Christmas. I am ready and waiting for my next crawlspace invitation!
Oh, a color wheel! Takes me back to my childhood.
Posted by: Mary Ann | October 03, 2013 at 05:32 AM
Awesome finds! Those trees remind me of my Aunt Gen. My uncle was a scrooge and never really celebrated xmas with her so she bought one of those silver trees, revolving stands and the color wheel and had it on her hearth every year. I thought it was so cool! Hugs! karen....
Posted by: karen | October 03, 2013 at 06:13 AM
Neat stuff-- like those old magazines! Amazing what people keep!
Posted by: Diane | October 03, 2013 at 06:54 AM
It looks like it was worth putting your body into fun positions sorting through the crawl space. That was some serious digging. I can't believe how many aluminium trees you found! Five revolving tree stands!! You do wonder why she had so many of them? They look to be in fabulous condition. I really want you to put a tree together so that we can all drool over it.
Posted by: Musings from Kim K. | October 03, 2013 at 06:54 AM
I can imagine the rush you must have been feeling finding those boxes of trees!! Color wheels to go with them too? Love those gardening catalogs! Well if I ever need someone to go "digging" with me in a crawl space, I'll make sure to call you :-) What a wonderful friend you have too.
Posted by: Doreen | October 03, 2013 at 07:01 AM
Holy Moley! I was excited with the cooler and the small trays but then came the aluminum trees...with stands! I would be insanely jealous, but I was lucky enough to get one at an auction this summer. I was also lucky enough to get a revolving tree stand for $1 at another auction. I am missing that color wheel, though! I think Aunt Tillie gets a pass for being a hoarder!
Posted by: Shelley Germann | October 03, 2013 at 09:20 AM
I am glad you were rewarded for all your hard work. It must have been exciting! You should have a t.v. show. "She's small! She's excited! She's ready to go all honey badger on your crawl space!" I'd watch it.
Posted by: Janet Johnson | October 03, 2013 at 09:21 AM
So glad you got your rewards!! Many fun things. I love the old garden catalogs. The pictures in them are so lovely and since I am a lover of all things "garden" they are my favorite!
Posted by: Annette | October 03, 2013 at 09:56 AM
Wow!! What awesome finds and the aluminum trees are so neat!! Especially the color wheel! It was worth crawling through a tiny space! xo Heather
Posted by: Heather | October 03, 2013 at 10:45 AM
You must be the Luckiest person on earth! :-)
Congrats on your finds!
Dorothy
Posted by: Dorothy Crutchfield | October 03, 2013 at 11:57 AM
Aunt Tillie knew what to save, that's for sure. I love that old galvanized ash can and it is so fun to flip through old magazines. While watching an aluminum Christmas tree, or 3, change colors !
Posted by: Kathy | October 03, 2013 at 12:31 PM
When I stayed at my Grandma Patta's house, she would entertain me by saying, "Let's look in those boxes under the stairs" or "let's explore the attic today!" OMG was that fun! I always took home a bag of goodies and treasures from those expeditions! I would love to dig through some crawlspaces with you...even vicariously! =D
Posted by: shirley hatfield | October 03, 2013 at 02:36 PM
How exciting and there was treasure to make it all worth it too.
Posted by: Danielle @ Blessed Serendipity | October 03, 2013 at 02:55 PM
Aw man! I was so excited for you to finally get ahold of a pink tree! I would trade in all of those silver ones for just one pink one if I could. I can't believe you found all that stuff in a crawl space! Definite treasures for sure. I would say this would have to be one of those times in your life where you love your height! Thank god you aren't 6 feet tall :-)
~Erica
Posted by: Erica | October 03, 2013 at 03:51 PM
Four or five aluminum trees? Be still, my heart!
Posted by: Linda | October 03, 2013 at 04:13 PM
How wonderful! I have been wanting an aluminum tree - lucky you :)
Posted by: Linda | October 03, 2013 at 04:19 PM
How fun for you Laurie! I just don't get all the work gloves...everything else kinda makes sense, even the avon...who knows maybe a good friend of her's was an avon lady & she was just supporting her friend...but the gloves? What's up with them? I love the color wheel & silver trees. Growing up I had an "aunt" who had one I thought she was sooo "mod"...hugs patti m :)
Posted by: Patti M | October 03, 2013 at 05:16 PM
I'm rotating in green envy with those color wheels!
Posted by: tammy | October 03, 2013 at 07:10 PM
Yippie for aluminum trees! You can never have too many! Or maybe we have all learned a lesson this week...and you actually CAN have too many of a good thing! But any way...I'm so glad they are now yours. I spent an hour on the Hoarders blog last night. So interesting, and my heart hurt for those two little ladies and their families that had to deal with the resulting mess.
Can't wait to see your trees all decked out though! Ahhh! I still need a color wheel!
Erica :)
Posted by: Erica | October 03, 2013 at 09:32 PM
Only one word...SCORE! We just won a bid to clean out a hoarder house, it also has a loong deeep crawl space. Thats jam packed. To the very low ceiling. And its dark, no light. If I can get past my very real terror, I hope I score too!
Posted by: Marci | October 04, 2013 at 01:41 AM
Those lids are terrific, not that the rest is chopped liver. I could see those being made into a 4th July garland.
Sheryl
Posted by: Sheryl Remy | October 04, 2013 at 06:44 AM
We are so glad you garnered such finds for your spelunking efforts!!!
thanks again.
Posted by: Gary | October 04, 2013 at 08:10 AM
Jealous of those utterly awesome vintage christmas finds! If you could part with a revolving tree stand for my aluminum christmas tree... I haven't been able to track one down yet.
Posted by: Melissa's Antiques | October 04, 2013 at 10:22 AM
Love all your sweet finds!! There's so many goodies!! :) xo Holly
Posted by: Holly | October 04, 2013 at 10:39 AM
Yeah Aunt Tillie ! Oh those trees ! I've got one that I have so much fun with . Good for you Laurie ! And I am glad that I am not the only one who does not like to use old light strings .... Seems risky somehow.
Posted by: Lisa W. | October 04, 2013 at 10:12 PM
Just love the old reflectors; we had those when I was young. What great finds Laurie; well worth the work, no?
Posted by: Maureen | October 05, 2013 at 10:47 AM
How fun! I would love to go through a crawl space too! It seems worth all the work you went through, but I wish your trees had been pink!
Posted by: Mitzi Curi | October 05, 2013 at 03:48 PM
I probably would have started hyperventilating, and possibly crying too, if I thought I had my hands on a PINK aluminum tree! What makes it OK that it wasn't a pink tree? Finding out that there are 5 silver ones!!! Yay Laurie!
Posted by: Carol @ Old Glory Cottage | October 07, 2013 at 02:59 PM
A mass discovery of aluminum trees? Only you, my dear. Only you. (Sorry to have been so MIA. Looking forward to seeing all the tons of stuff you must have bought the last few weeks!)
Posted by: barbara | October 07, 2013 at 06:28 PM
At least three trees?! Holy crap, that's awesome! Way to go to Aunt Tillie for buying such cool stuff I bet those magazines will have good Pyrex ads. I love going through old magazines. Have fun!!!
Posted by: Melissa | October 08, 2013 at 06:30 PM
Great Stuff - as usual!! So fun to see.
Posted by: KayteeJane's House | October 09, 2013 at 01:34 PM