American Pie -- Pie Safe that is.

So you may remember my previous post were I drooled over the "quilt cupboard" posted by The Painted Quilt. Well I did not find what I was looking for at WLYS (world's longest yard sale.) In fact the only thing I did find was...

a Happy Apple!

I was so excited to find this little apple! I had one growing up and so did Mr. PD. I had found one about a year ago at a flea market but the seller wanted $15 for it and wouldn't budge!!! Well, at the WLYS a nice old man had this one for sale. He was asking $3 for it and let me have it for $2! You have no idea how happy this Happy Apple makes me. Not only does it bring back lovely memories but I love the music it makes. I held this in my hands on the drive home loving the sounds it made as we hit every bump in the road!

Sadly he's already gotten abused lovins from my daughter. I have had to re-attach the left leaf with super glue. So now he sits on a shelf and is a special toy to be played with gently.

Something I should have bought:

I love these vintage ball jars! The blue aqua color is amazing. I'm kicking myself now for not having bought 2 or 3. I can't get the beautiful blue hue out of my head and I will now be on the search for these vintage jars. At the moment I didn't think Mr. PD would approve of spending $5 on a jar so I didn't even try to talk the lady into letting me have 3 of them for $12. Well now I have time to research the actual going rate for these jars for the next time I come upon them.

So back to the title of the post... I did a little more research on the cabinet I liked and found that it is basically a pie safe that has the door panels replaced with glass. Pie Safes were used to cool down straight from the oven pies - thus the name! The doors usually had panels that were either screens, or tin with punched designs on them. These doors allowed for the goods to cool down while keeping out flies, mice, and children!

So I started researching pie safes online and my spirits were crushed when I realized these babies run anywhere form $300 to $800 and up! There is no way I could afford that anytime soon, but that didn't keep me from looking :) And that is when I stumbled upon this on CraigsList:


I had to drive 1 hour and 20 minutes each way to get this lovely pine pie safe. But it was so worth the $67 it ended up costing me. The lady was asking $75 but she lowered the price - it doesn't hurt to ask! This is a very substantial pie safe at about 51" tall and about 45" across made of solid pine. It's not authentically old but it will look like it when I am done!

I'm not a big fan of the heart shaped panels but I think I will be able to pop them out and replace them with glass, or maybe some chicken wire - or maybe both! The question now remains what color to paint/stain this. I'm not a big fan of the orange-y pine.

I'm thinking black, but I'm not sure if I'm ending up with too much black in my home.

Plow & Hearth Country Pie Safe $700

Massie Furniture 6 Tin Pie Safe $700-$800

Lately I'm drawn to shades of aqua and peacock blue.

Fable Porch Lousiana Pie Safe

Source unknown Blue Pie Safe

I also love red - sometimes.

Fable Porch New York Dry Good Pie Safe

Source Unknown Red Pie Safe

I was also thinking of painting it in an off-white distressed look with black hardware. I couldn't find any pictures of what I'm talking about.

In this rental home the pie safe sits in the right hand corner behind the dining table.
This room is in the process of being decorated in greens (I have to work with the current curtains), browns and teal/peacock blue for an added pop of color.) If we ever get to move back to TN it will sit in our living room which has off white walls, a cherry colored piano, a dark brown man chair, and a dark sage green couch. So it has to be able to work in both rooms.

So... If this was yours what color would you paint it?







PS Click on over to Serenity Now for a Decorating Dilemma Party