The Shafter House

Shafter is in fact, only a street here in Oakland. But the little hand tooled sign posted over the door of a house holding an estate sale yesterday seemed to still chuckle at the play on words; I like it when a person's sense of humor can linger from beyond the grave. As the advertisement read, "Family home of an architect, shopper and foodie," and the house was only 20 blocks or so from our place, it seemed like it could be a good one. And for me, an eerie foreshadowing of what my own house might look like someday if all my current plans do hatch.

It was a great little house, full indeed of tons of kitchenwares. Sadly the accompanying cookbook collection was mysteriously absent and the architecturally relevant items were fairly out of my budget. I came away with two rather lovely pieces all the same. One, a Corningware bake & broil tray like the one pictured here which was buried under a stack of unremarkable serving platters. The other this precious tart pan, ceramic and unmarked but along the lines of what I've begun to consider the Retro NoCal chic.



They are all a speckled ceramic with brightly painted or printed flowers. My kitchen aesthetic has already shifted since moving; there's a lot more Earthenware in my cupboards than there used to be. I'm just afraid if I live here too long I'll end up with quite the collection of these, as they do beckon! We're adorable they say. I'm just not my other east coast self would agree.