living in the past

Favorite reproductions - Crosley record player

2011-11-20T12:47:00.004-06:00

Sometimes ya just got to get a reproduction. For years I have been on the lookout for a working 1950s LP record player that could also play 45's. Never found one. So about a month ago I decided it was time to throw in the towel and get a reproduction. My inspiration? I wanted to be able to acquire and play my favorite Christmas record of all time - Phil Spector's "A Christmas Gift for You". If you've never heard this album, I think you can hear it on youtube. Its 50's / 60's Christmas awesomeness. Anywhoooo, I got a turqouise Crosley player from Urban Outfitters. Its wonderful, wonderful, WONDERFUL. I also got a reproduction 2009 pressing of the Phil Spector Christmas album (but it displays the original picture on the cover). The sound is great, and I take comfort in knowing I can get a replacement needle if needed. 3 Holiday Cheers for much needed and useful reproductions! Thanks Megan for the direction!

Good-bye crappy year, hello Heywood Wakefield

2011-11-13T22:51:00.003-06:00

I haven't been blogging much this year... because the year has really sucked! In the 36 years I have been on this earth, it has been pretty much smooth sailing and the good life! Well this year was a year where a family member was lost, and a companion was given the boot. Now, its time to turn it around. My Dear Friend Megan has luckily moved 2 streets over into her own little house of vintage goodness. Its a blessing to have someone so awesome so close. I also going to start treating myself to some not-so-shabby vintage goodness. What luck, yesterday my neighbor was having a garage sale. Megan bought up all the vintage prizes, but left a Heywood Wakefield china cabinet alone. So I SNAGGED IT! I have never had a HW, and am very excited about the condition of this one. Its great, and looks great with my parents Blue Heaven china! I think I may have to search for more, it appears to be built quite well, and I love the date stamp on the back from 1952. I needed a new one, as booted former companion owns the old one.
Thanks for the message, Mick. I am back in the groove again! I am looking forward to a new year.

mad men clothes line at banana republic...

2011-07-27T13:18:00.003-05:00

hmmmm... can't decide if this is just 'vintage inspired' overpriced crap, or maybe it will be really cool. Anyways it will give me a reason to go into banana republic for the first time in 5 years! Also, why are these models so damn skinny? Get a real person to wear these so you know what it looks like on a full grown man, and a curvy real woman. Jeez. Maybe their sizes don't go above X-Small.
http://www.stylebistro.com/Fashion+Forum/articles/qujwqZ7YSoE/Banana+Republic+launch+Mad+Men+Collection

Sentinel radio redo

2011-07-07T22:20:00.003-05:00

Not that I have time to play around with redoing anything other than my living room, I found this old radio at an estate sale today. It was banged up bad, and I figured it would give me something to do after work. So, some turquoise spray paint, white spray paint, q-tips for the lettering, and some gloss coat spray paint... and tada!. I made myself a nice little shelf ornament...

say hello to my little friend..

2011-06-19T23:00:00.002-05:00

Greetings from red hot Texas. Its hot.

Haven't been blogging lately because me and the roommate are busy remodeling living room #2 (the disapointments room). We did make some time on Friday to do some garage sailin' with Megan. I picked up this 50s asian lamp. I love it, i just wish it had some marking so I knew who made it. Seems to be Chalkware.?.? He has a female mate, but the owner said he accidentally broker her in the 1960s. Anyone have any ideas what company this could be from? He cleaned up really well. Now the hunt begins to find his female counterpart!

Kroehler and other fun finds

2011-04-10T18:41:00.003-05:00

The estate sale i went to last weekend wore me out. I didn't feel like going to any sales this weekend at all. Ever feel that way? So here is more stuff from last weeks sale that I saved from going to Goodwill:

Starburst wall plaques. Never used. Oh they will be used now!

50's patio table

A set of these tea bag holders. I have seen these on ebay and thought they were always so cool, but pricey. I snagged a set of 5 with holder.

Kroehler sleeper sofa. It great condition. Its currently sitting in the work room, waiting for its resting place in the office, which will now double as a guest bedroom!

And last but not least, a neat old MCM table in great condition:

Bunting Lawn Lounger -

2011-04-03T18:16:00.007-05:00

We went to a mid-century estate sale this weekend that I could tell a hundred stories about. From the two witches that were first in line that felt the need to take price tags off all the furniture so they could claim it all, to the extremely friendly estate sale company that gave me fee stuff, and gave me unreal deals. One of the items i bought was another Kroehler sofa (this one is a sleeper!). I'll post about that and the other great stuff later. I showed up to pickup the sofa about an hour before they closed yesterday, which was the last day of the sale. This chaise lounger was still there!! The initial price on it was way high (which was weird, because everything else at the sale was priced really well), so it was left alone by the dealers. Seeing as this vintage beauty was about an hour away from being donated to Goodwill, the estate sale company sold it to me for $25. It is in excellent shape, I absolutely love it. There is a problem though..... I don't want it outside to blow around, I don't want anyone to see it and steal it, I don't want it to get rained on, I don't want it to get sun bleached, I don't want birds crapping on it. It's one of those things that I love so much I don't want it serve its real purpose! I have the same problem with the parent's wedding Blue Heaven China dishes. I know some of you have vintage loungers... do you leave it out in the sun and leave it exposed to the elements? Maybe I should wheel it into the house and only bring it out for special occasions like a bbq. Its so comfortable. I'm sitting on it now as i type. Let me know what you think... as for now its going back in the house!

MCM swag clock. I love you.

2011-03-28T21:09:00.005-05:00

I swear the last 3 estate sales I have been to, I have showed up on the last day when the prices were slashed to find that the stuff I wanted was still there. I find this happens on a lot of mid century or 50's pieces - the sellers see the potential value, they mark them up, and therefore no one buys them until the last day when things are marked down. In my neck of the woods, when an estate sale company is running the show, most of them won't even look at you if you try to haggle price. Luckily this one did. I got this beautiful hanging clock. I love it. I love how it lights up. You can see by the pics throughout my blog that our house is a mix of 1950's, and MCM. This clock fits in well with our little mix of styles. I love it above the 50's Kroehler furniture.
this was my only find this weekend (other than an extension cord). Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Megan's cool DIY vintage candles

2011-03-25T23:47:00.003-05:00

My good friend Megan is so cool. She's crafty and loves vintage. Put the two together and you get her latest project, vintage candles from one-off glasses. She loves to pickup lonely Melmac, Federal and other glassware that has no pair. Take a look at her blog, it has a complete tutorial on how to make these candles yourself for any one-off vintage glasses or planters you have lying around. Enjoy!

Auction observations and estate sale finds

2011-03-23T09:47:00.011-05:00

Well last Thursday's auction was defenately interesting (my first auction). I walked away with nothing. Why? Well I have a dollar amount in my head on what I am used to paying via thrift stores, garage sales and estate sales for MCM / 50's pieces that are in good condition. Welllllll, when MCM pieces at this auction went up for bid, dealers were snatching things up, like sideboards and Credenzas for around $400 - $600 dollars a piece. My piddly little $250 limit on what I am used to finding a great condition MCM credenza with matching end tables was blown out of the water in the first 5 seconds of bidding.
I have never seen anything like it! It was pretty much the same 10 people bidding on everything MCM, and then when beautiful 1920's pieces would come up for auction, they would sell for around $50. JEEEZ! What happened to the price of 'real' antiques? Anyways the whole thing was very interesting. MCM is hot right now, and dealers need to keep inventory coming in to their booths, so there is lots of competition. Dealers also have to haul the furniture, and pay for the space at the stores, so I can imagine the markup needed to make a decent profit. As an example, in my last post there is a picture of a credenza that sold at auction for around $600. The next morning, that same credenza was on Craigslist for $2200.00. WOW! So all in all it was a great experience. I know that I am going to stick with my current method of collecting.... thrifting, garage and estate sales. There is that thrill of hunting every weekend and looking for a buried treasure, or finding that beautiful piece of MCM furniture in someones garage that they think is tacky, but is beautiful to me. It seems that what I do is also a hobby as well. I will leave the auctions to my dealer friends that acquire lots of inventory at once...as I understand it is a necessity in order for them to keep their booths stocked.
So, the day after the auction I was back to my normal method of collecting. And I was thrilled to find a pattern of 50's china that I have seen others have, but have not come across myself. It's the coffee mugs/creamer/sugar container in the first picture. Does anyone know who the maker was or the pattern? each piece was 10 cents at a garage sale.
Then it was off to an estate sale, where I FINALLY found a mens 1950s cooking apron!
it needs a good scrubbin'.
I also found a mint, unused 'Magic Hostess' ice crusher. I bought this mainly because I accidentally bought a bag of coffee beans that was not ground. I was hoping this thing would grind coffee as well. DUH, nope, doesn't grind fine enough. OH well, i have a vintage ice crusher whenever i need it. Finally, at the sale i snagged a large, gravel art piece. its on a wood backing and is about 4 feet tall! I love it!
All in all I would say that i enjoy the thrill of the hunt, and the results. Even on weekends where I come up empty handed I enjoyed driving around, and rummaging through someones vintage house.

So what is your method???
Auctions?
Thrifts/garage and estate sales?
All of the above?

My first time at an auction

2011-03-17T16:09:00.004-05:00

I'm very excited about tonight. Over near where I work there is an auction full of mid-century stuff. I went today on my lunch break to check things out, and it was like being in a furniture store warehouse circa 1964. There was about 50 large mid century pieces, and in very good shape. I couldn't believe there was this much inventory, so I asked the lady at the front desk if they usually sell mid-century and she said yes, they have to have an auction every 3 weeks or so, they get too much merchandise. WHAT???? I asked from where, and she told me from England. Something about there being a lot of this type of furniture in England because during WW2 everyone had to burn their furniture to stay warm, so for the next few decades there was a large production of furniture. I feel some relief knowing that I don't HAVE to bid on stuff tonight, there will be more in a few weeks. So, I may just sit and take it all in and see how much these nice pieces really go for. I am sure there will be a ton of dealers.

it aint much, but I love it. My Hazel Atlas bowl.

2011-03-15T12:33:00.003-05:00

The past couple of weeks have been blah when it came to thrifting and garage sailing. The one thing worth mentioning is this cool Hazel Atlas bowl. I really love the color of the pattern.
This bowl isn't a shelf sitter, its being put to work. Already being used for home made pizza sauce! YUMMmm. Cooking is always more fun when you use old stuff.

Today's fun find, 1940's patio chair

2011-03-04T22:45:00.007-06:00

I needed a day off from work. Its been real stressful. What better way to relax then to hit some estate sales. This morning I picked up this ultra-rusty vintage patio chair. I absolutely love old patio chairs. They are so easy to bring back to life. Megan was with me, and so we used today's great cool weather to do some good old fashioned restoration. I got to work on my chair, and Megan got to work on her old Cosco work table.

It looks like this chair had two previous colors, a jadeite green, and then a forest green. Coincidentally, I got the almost identical jadeite color from Walmart. This is my favorite "vintage" spray paint color. I did some major scrubbin' with a few steel wool pads to smooth out the old paint and rust. And a few hours later.... a beautify of a chair! Megan's table turned out super duper as well!

Washing machines of yesteryear - the best

2011-02-22T10:39:00.005-06:00

I recently researched modern day washing machines thinking that I may want a HE front loader. Glad I did my research because I realized that the washing machine that I want isn't made anymore. Why would i want a machine that uses low water and washes everything in a gallon of water? gross. I would rather have a slightly higher water/electric bill to have a washer with tons of water, sudsy soap, a great agitator, and most off all the now extinct lint filter.
Why did they do away with the waterfall of recycled water flowing into the lint filter? Just goes to show things were made better back then. My next washer will hopefully be a beat up old piece of crap machine with a light-up control panel, tons of buttons and tons of charm! (no offense to front-loader HE fans).

neat little vintage phone table

2011-02-17T22:07:00.002-06:00

Ugh I can't wait for garage sale season. I've been so desperate for some new vintage stuff that I risked being an hour late for work today so I could go to an estate sale. It was worth it, I picked up this 50's phone table. I have absolutely no place to put it, so for now it is floating around in living room #1 (living room #2 is currently the "disappointments room", but I'm not disappointed in this purchase). I love it!

Anyways, being at this estate sale was like watching soft porn. This was a small small house, and I have never seen people rubbing up against each other in a frenzy to get by each other and fit in these small rooms. This was a survival of the fittest type of sale. When I was squatted down looking at this table, one very old lady simply shoved my ass to the side with her shin so she could get to a hand held can opener before anyone else got it. Jeez.

some vintage reading

2011-02-10T14:00:00.002-06:00

When I get bored I like to search the net for pictures of abandoned buildings. I love the occasional abandoned piece of furniture and other odd old finds that are left behind. Anyways, while looking at pictures of an old abandoned insane asylum in New York, I saw that a former patient authored a book back in 1949. Readers had some good stuff to say, and so I bought it for 50 cents on Amazon. I am so hooked on this book now! It's about life in that hospital through the eyes of the author back in the 1940s. Crazy stuff. If you like old books, this is a good one. The Snake Pit by Mary Jane Ward.

Vintage cards with my favorite card

2011-02-05T23:25:00.007-06:00

Its been yet another crazy winter in north Texas. Another week of ice, lots of snow, electric blackouts and 10 degree temperatures. Today was the first day the roads were drivable and I could not wait for some good old vintage fun. My favorite card of them all, Megan came over and we do like we always do, sit, talk, play cards, and use only vintage things. Tonight's setup (in the picture) was a friendly game of gin rummy with classic finger sandwiches, lemon cake (I ate half of it) and hot tea. Let me tell you those vintage Pyrex carafes with the candle cradles are one of the best inventions ever. They keep hot water hot for a pretty long time. It was a great time as always, a nice change from being snowed in for a week.

vintage chip & dip and stackables

2011-01-08T23:45:00.002-06:00

We have some great friends, two of them being Leila and Jordan. They have been coming over often for a few years now. They have always admired vintage goodies, but didn't start buying and collecting until they saw my place :) . They caught the vintage bug from my house, and now their place is becoming a haven of Pyrex and mid century madness. They have quite an eye too, a while back I found the pictured chip and dip from a garage sale. For Christmas they found the matching stackable canisters in the same design! I had no idea these existed! I think I am going to fill them with peanuts and cashews.

bathroom redo finished! I'm so tired.

2011-01-03T20:02:00.005-06:00

First off, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! December was a heck of a month. Even though I had half of the month off for vacation, It was the most stressful month of the year. I have a month's worth of y'alls blogs to catch up on. The guest bathroom redo was complete the day before Christmas Eve (the day before I had a house full of family). Phew! I got some awesome vintage gifts from Megan this year. In the picture, checkout the lamp and turquoise pyrex / carrier. I have wanted a lamp like this for a year now. I bought one on ebay this summer, but it arrived in 50 broken pieces. Megan found this almost exact one in a chartreuse color. I love it!

The guest bath looks awesome and was well worth the work involved. The total cost to remove all the floor and wall tiling and replace it with subway tile / vintage hexagon tile was still less expensive than having the contractor strip and re-paint the original tile. Tommy took it upon himself to remove the upper cabinet doors and line them with bead-board. It turned out amazing. We just need to find some vintage bottles to showcase on the shelves.

In this pic you can see the wall subway tile and floor hexagon tile. All bought for a very good price at HD. The floor was extremely hard to do because we chose to lay the tile diagonally instead of straight lines. this helped give a more vintage look, and helped to hide any imperfections that would be seen if I had not lined up the black dots in perfect lines. Also, the shower now has a curved shower rod. I HIGHLY recommend these, they add so much more elbow room in the shower.

Once again, Merry Christmas to all. Can someone please help me take these decorations down now? I'm worn out from last month...

Miles of tiles

2010-12-12T20:12:00.003-06:00

All i can say is I've been tiling for days. Who knew tiling could make your muscles ache? subway tiles are very time consuming, but I am already pleased with how things are looking. I'm also pretty impressed with the magazine rack/ toilet paper holder my roommate made to take the space of the removed wall furnace. I can't wait for this project to be over!!!!

the 50's pink bathroom I never knew...

2010-12-06T21:34:00.002-06:00

I'm sure my guest bathroom was once a beautiful site. Pink tile with elephant gray bullnose trim. When i bought the house 4 years ago the tile already had a few layers of 'tile paint' applied to it. As the years have gone on, the paint has chipped revealing the beautiful tiles that once were. Unfortunately the tiles were all scoured so the paint would stick. I made a tough decision last week. I had a tile painter come over and give me a quote on stripping all the paint and repainting the tiles white (keep in mind there is NO restoring these tiles, they are all scoured). After getting the EXPENSIVE quote, I decided I could redo this bathroom myself and give it the vintage honor it deserves for about the same price. So thirty minutes after the tile painter left, I started chipping off all the old tiles. Here as some pics of half way through, and after they are gone and the floor is leveled. Notice that back in the 50s tile was laid on 1 1/2 inch slabs of concrete (even the walls!). To give my house the vintage guest bath it so badly deserves, I am going to go with white subway tiles on the walls, with black subway trim tiles as an accent. The floor will be black and white octagon tiles. The hole in the wall left by the wall furnace (my skilled plumber removed this and capped the gas line) will become a built-in magazine rack.
The original tub is staying. The original toilet is forming a crack, and so it must go. Anyways, I'm sad that I'm removing tiles that were apart of an original 50s pink bathroom, but I am also excited about having a fresh new bathroom that compliments the days of old.

Megan's Kroehler slipper chair

2010-11-26T21:07:00.007-06:00

Lucky Megan! She found this Kroehler slipper on Wednesday at a local thrift. Today she brought it by and we washed the upholstery. Busy day of re-doing chairs (her chair and my chrome chairs). After all was said and done, I needed a couple of these:

50s Formica Dinette Chrome Chairs re-do

2010-11-25T22:13:00.005-06:00

3 done! 3 more to go. I have to say on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the most difficult), this project is an easy 2. The vinyl came in a few days ago, and I LOVE the color. I got 3 yards at $5.85 (got it here), I got way to much, I probably could have been fine with 2 yards for the 6 seats. The aqua color looks great with the original gray cracked ice chair backs. The backs are in good shape and therefore I'm keeping as is. Anyways here are the first 3:

before:

Time for the formica dinnete chairs redo!

2010-11-16T12:20:00.005-06:00

I have been contemplating this redo for a while now. I love my formica dinette, and want to keep as much of the chair vinyl as possible since it is original gray cracked ice. I've decided that the chair backs are fine, but the chair seats definitely need to be replaced since they are all ripped. So, I am going to only replace the seats with an aqua vinyl. Believe me, the replica cracked-ice vinyl they make now a days looks like it would be a mistake. See my original post for the issues with replica cracked ice vinyl.

So, I ordered 3 yards of aqua vinyl, at a great price of $6 a yard plus shipping. This is extremely inexpensive compared to other online vinyl, so I hope I don't get screwed. The sample swatch seems very nice and durable.

Now, what are my chairs going to end up looking like? Hopefully close to the picture below that i snagged off the net. I think the aqua vinyl seats will add a real cool color splash to the overall dinette.

I really hope I don't **** this up.

It's beginning to look a little bit like Christmas

2010-11-15T20:23:00.003-06:00

I only have a couple things out right now, but I couldn't wait. Sad part is I put these out a few days after Halloween. There is much more to go. Have y'all put anything out yet??

Vintage woes......

2010-11-08T21:00:00.005-06:00

the sales have been hit or miss lately. We have found a few things, but some have not turned out so great :( . Sometimes a vintage item that you pickup doesn't always workout, and when that happens in this house, it goes in the "disappointments room" :). The disappointments room is worth it's own posting, but for now I'm writing about a few items that are making their way into that room, and eventually into another loving home.

Last weekend I found these Jadeite casserole dishes. They say Fireking on the bottom, and needless to say I scooped them up and took them home.. and my roommate says 'Did you see it says "Fireking ... not microwave safe.... 2000"'? Ugh I missed that! Is it awful that I don't even want to use them now????

Then there is this Lux clock. I love the shape of it and its overall look. Problem? every minute on the minute you hear the number flip. I can't get used to it!

...and finally, Tommy found this set of 8 curtain panels in excellent condition. We just don't know if they are vintage enough for any of the rooms, or would really fit the style of the house.

What do you think? Am I being overly negative about these thing? I just feel if I don't reeealy appreciate something, it should go to a home that would love it.

vintage glasses and 78rpm records!

2010-10-25T20:36:00.005-05:00

Once again I had no luck this weekend... but my roommate and Megan did! I'm so glad we all keep an eye out for each other when we are at sales.
Since acquiring a 1940's working record player, I have been on the lookout for 78's to play on it. Megan hit a sale this weekend and found a very cool vintage 78 holder with about 50 records in it..... all for a buck!

We've got hours of fun old music to listen to! Megan also found me a Pyrex carafe to add to my collection (also a dollar), and Tommy found a set of 5 vintage drinking glasses....

Thanks kiddos!

Craigslist woes....

2010-10-25T10:11:00.003-05:00

this is just a quick post to rant. I am selling my old (modern) bedroom furniture to make room for the 50s bedroom set that I want use. So, I posted it on craigslist and a girl called and really wanted the set, we made plans for her to come yesterday at 6pm to get it. She even texted me in the morning to make sure everything was still on schedule. So, I clean all the bedroom furniture, move it out into the kitchen so it will be easier for her friends to move. They NEVER show, and they didn't answer any of my calls. So finally I said screw it and me and Megan go have sushi. Later last night, the girl called at 12:35 AM!!!!! I didn't answer, and the voicemail she left was just people talking in the background. I've had ok luck with craigslist, but this is my first brush with a seemingly irresponsible person. I HATE that someone I don't know now has my number, address and my first name.
ok thanks for listening.

back from Maine

2010-10-23T21:48:00.007-05:00

I haven't posted anything in more than a week because I got to go back from a visit to my "home".... Maine. I am originally from this unbelievable state. Its absolutely beautiful this time of year, and I love the cold, windy beaches. My parents also headed up there for my Mom's 50th yr high school reunion. We all ventured up Hwy 1, and if you have never been there there are lots of antique stores and 1950's motor courts. Take a look at the 1950s pink bathroom at one of the motor courts i stayed at!

I love staying at old motor courts:

I got my fill of lobster rolls and steamers. When I finally got back home to Texas I was ready to get out the Pyrex and whip up a nasty casserole! Hope everyone is doing great!

HUGE mid century modern lamps, lucite dinette and other finds

2010-10-11T21:07:00.012-05:00

I can't say I had much luck this weekend...

so all credit for this weekends finds go to my rad retro roommate Tommy, and Megan for calling him frantically Saturday morning to tip him off about an unreal estate sale.

This is what he found!

Giant MCM lamp..... its 5 feet tall:

and this giant lamp table.... It's almost as tall as me:

This near MINT surfboard coffee table. It has a label of 'Brown Saltman of California':

At the same sale was a 6-chair Lucite dinette in great condition (seat cushions are going to be redone). The table is grayish brown glass. I couldn't take a picture of it because there is absolutely no room in the house for it, its in the garage disassembled.

Also found, a set of 25 turquoise/gold glass set, MCM ashtray, and recipe box:

We decided the Lucite dinette will need to be re-sold to another MCM home after we sew the vinyl cushions. Its a little too MCM for this house (if that makes any sense at all). We are still deciding on whether or not to keep the giant lamps. It's times like this that I think it would be best to open a booth at the local vintage store!

smoky estate sale...

2010-10-04T22:36:00.003-05:00

Hit a really good estate sale this weekend. The house was a little smoky to say the least. But hey, loving vintage means you may occasionally find something you love that is smoky, moth bally, or just old smelling. Usually I can get the smell of smoke out of stuff I have bought, but nothing is getting these shapely pillows smoke-free. I love the shapes of these old things, they go perfect on my couch. They fluffed up really nice after their long soaking, but peeee-uuuuu its gonna take some drastic measures to get the stink out of these. Next step - sealing them up in a plastic back with Bounce dryer sheets. Hopefully a couple days will do the trick.

happiness is...

2010-10-04T12:30:00.002-05:00

entertaining friends using nothing 'new'.

1950s Kroehler furniture

2010-09-24T23:57:00.003-05:00

I love Kroehler. Sometimes you can find it at an estate sale for super cheap (I have a 1930's Kroehler char i got for $20 bucks at a garage sale), and sometimes they go for a pretty penny. I have always wanted a chair /sofa set but can never find them. Finally this week at a vintage store I found a set, and after some haggling I grabbed them up! I love this set so much, I love the color, and the little gold flecks throughout the fabric. Im going to rent an upholstery cleaner from the store and clean these up (I can easily cause a plume of dust to come up if I pat my hand on them). So here they are, in the living room ready to be loved. My other vintage furniture that was in here is now in the second living room, which doubles as the vintage dumping ground of things i need to find a place in this house for. That's a whole other blog!
Anyways, hope everyone is doing great!

todays surprise find..

2010-09-18T19:49:00.002-05:00

I have a thing for 50s lamps lately and what sucks is i rarely find them at garage sales, and never with a fiberglass shade. Until today! I found this little slice of 50s heaven for $8. It needed some cleaning up, and i re-wired it. It now proudly shines it all its turquoise glory.

Also... Lilly and her nasty frog say "hello!"

We've got some catching up to do...

2010-09-16T21:53:00.008-05:00

Work has been crazy busy. I usually spend my evenings at home on my laptop working. The joys of a career in troubleshooting software bugs. That, combined with the fact that I couldn't find my camera for a week left me helpless. So I finally found the camera, here is whats been going on around here lately....

I've been lamp crazy lately. Bought this pair (ebay) for the master bedroom redo. They are in the living room right now.

Had some pyrex luck. I've been waiting a year to find some butterprint pyrex at a garage sale. This past week I found two garage sales with them! Also got some pink gooseberry fridge dishes for my friend Megan who has put me on a quest to find her pink pyrex. This makes 3 pink pieces so far!

...and on a sad note, i bought this beautiful turquoise lamp on ebay. It arrived broken. I was seriously sad about this, the lamp was beautiful. This is a photo of the back of it, it was broken in 2, and lots of little pieces broken off. Luckily, the seller was very honest and kind, and refunded the full amount. Hooray for good ebay sellers.
Hope everyone is doing well!!!

Venturing out of the neighborhood

2010-09-07T18:17:00.008-05:00

I realized this weekend that my neighborhood isn't the only place in the world that has estate sales. I took friday off from work, and me and a car full of vintage loving friends drove 20 minutes south, into Dallas. Oh my, did you know that the really rich neighborhoods tend of have even nicer vintage things? Well hell who knows what I have been missing out on. Not only did we all find good stuff, we all left happy and I bonded with a couple of guys that were running one of the estate sales. Its nice to have career dealers on your side. One of them may sell me an old Kroehler chair that has been sitting in their garage. Anyways, here are some finds and purchases from this weekend. Thanks Megan for the huge butterfly pyrex casserole!!

Pyrex starburst with warmer. If you love Pyrex, you know why I'm scared to even touch it
(pretty rare).

$4 gravel art. I finally have one!

Pyrex and Douglas glass tea pot

atomic magazine rack.

Carlo of Hollywood art

2010-09-01T13:20:00.003-05:00

I can't believe I found these by a dumpster.

Kidding! I would just like peoples opinion on his art. I don't own any Carlo works, but am debating weather or not i want to. The thing that I am attracted to is the frames. They come in trapezoid, distorted shapes that I love. So, am i up for paying $150 just because i like the frame? Or perhaps I haven't found the right Carlo piece to fall in love with? These go for a pretty penny on ebay.

Anyone own any of his pieces or frames? My fear with buying art on ebay is the condition it will actually arrive in (water damage, etc), so I may have to search locally. I do love his frames though, I wish I could make something like this.

this is not pink, its salmon.

2010-08-30T20:54:00.003-05:00

I've been short on blogging time lately due to me remodeling the master bedroom. Major pain, but its almost done. Time to start picking out some stuff for the walls. I found this beautiful SALMON colored plug in light. Where am I going to put it? Well right smack dab above the headboard, centered. Easy access for some late night reading. I loooooove this light, i think it will make a nice contrast against the jadeite walls. I got it on ebay, and actually had an above average experience... I bought a few things from this seller who combined my shipping, and then actually REFUNDED part of the cost after the shipping didn't turn out to be quite as much. I never saw it coming. Glad to see there are still great sellers out there.

is it too early to put these up?

2010-08-23T21:00:00.004-05:00

another hot day today in north Texas, the rain storms lately are short and furious, blowing over trees and barely watering peoples yards. Days like these make look forward to the coming months filled with week after week of cool weather and reasons to bust out the vintage holiday decorations. I love old holiday stuff. Right now I am admiring some of my newly acquired Halloween decorations. Some of them I bought because we had them when i was a kid. These little dudes will only be locked up for another month before they are put out to add some old Halloween charm in this vintage house of mine. I kind of want to put them up now...

mid century art.... and a baby chair?

2010-08-16T21:09:00.004-05:00

got a hold of some mid-century art this past weekend at a garage sale. I really needed this stuff cause some of the walls are looking bare. the back label on one of them says 'Turner Wall Accessory". They look nice, and compliment the mid-century sofa. I'm always glad when I find stuff i really need. Now the flip side of this story is that a few weekends ago me and Megan got a ton of stuff at an estate sale. there was a cool old baby high-chair with cracked-ice vinyl that was $20. It was nice to look at, but neither of us wanted or needed it, so we didn't give it a second look. The other day I was driving by that particular house and they had a bunch of trash on the curb. I saw the baby chair sitting there waiting for the garbage man!! No way I could let this be lost forever in a landfill. I grabbed it, and I have absolutely no idea what I am going to do with it. Megan is creative, I'm sure she can take it home and repurpose into something cool that I would never think of. Anyways, glad i rescued this, even though i don't need it.

unselfish thrifting

2010-08-13T13:28:00.004-05:00

This summer I have been on the lookout for pink Pyrex for my friend Megan. Believe it or not I actually found a casserole dish this past weekend at a garage sale for $4. It was in an old box, next to a jar of Peter Pan peanut butter (still had peanutbutter in it), with a 'best by' date of 1985. yuk. Anyways Megan freaked over her Pyrex..... i don't know whats better, finding a vintage treasure for yourself, or finding a vintage treasure you know a friend will love.

WHAT A DAY!!!!!

2010-07-31T21:55:00.005-05:00

WOW what a day! Megan came over at 8 oclock this morning, and her myself and my roommate hit the garage sales. We managed to find another Cosco cart, Cosco stool, vintage chip and dip set, Fireking mugs, 40's napkins, tablecloths and s&p shakers, 1910's postcards and the list goes on. Take a look at the pics. After garage sailing, Megan and I spent the afternoon restoring her new Cosco tray and I restored one of mine thats been sitting in the garage. We also cleaned up her Cosco stool. I turned my cart yellow, and she restored hers to pink. Befor and after pics are shown. What a great day! To celebrate, Megan is now cooking us up some good old fashioned cheeseburgers and fries. Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

another year goes by...

2010-07-29T21:38:00.005-05:00

Wellll i turned the big 35 this week. We had quite the party this past weekend. Megan made me these awesome embroidered dish towels. Each towel has the day of the week with a cool 50s lamp on it. And of course she made one that says "Livin' in the past". She is so thoughtful and always makes beautiful things.
Thank you Megan, I promise I'll never use these to wash a dish!

50s folding chairs

2010-07-26T22:07:00.002-05:00

I hit a good garage sale this weekend. Bought a couple things off of a very nice, loud drunk woman (it was 8am). I totally love this set of 4 folding chairs. will come in handy when friends are over. they are in great shape, and I love how they look. Also found these two cowboy frosted glasses... maybe they are Hazel Atlas? Only spent $6 bucks this weekend. Phew.

the overpriced craigslist sofa set

2010-07-21T20:03:00.003-05:00

So there is this CL posting in my area for a 50s sofa and chair. I love the shapes and have wanted a sofa like this for a while. I see you all can find them in usable shape for around $50. This listing is honest and says the upholstery is shot and needs to be redone. So I emailed the seller and told them that reupholster would be around $1000 for the set, so I offered him $50. He is asking $300. Of course he hasn't written me back, but I don't think its really worth anything at all due to the cost of the redo. I thought I'd give it a shot since I don't come across these that often, but i guess i'll keep on looking...

Don't judge a garage sale by all the baby clothes

2010-07-18T20:57:00.004-05:00

This weekend, in order to save time my roommate and I took two separate cars and hit the neighborhood looking for garage sales. He took the north side and i took the south side. My section had a few sales here and there, and I didn't bother stopping at a few because they looked mostly full of baby clothes and stuffed animals. I managed to find an aqua snowflake covered pyrex dish (I already have one of these, so this one is going to Megan), and a 1940's-ish cast iron colander. After about 45 minutes i went back to the house and drove up to the carport to see a groovy vintage chair and a Cosco stool in my driveway. My roommate, who decided to scope out my section of the neighborhood found these things at a garage sale I had snubbed my nose at. The chair and stool must have been hidden behind the piles of clothes. This makes me wonder how many things i miss out on because I judge a garage sale by what I can see from the window of my car. Maybe I should get out every time? What does everyone else do? Do you hit every garage sale you see? Or do you do a lot of window shopping from your car?

Sputnik atomic bulbs!!!!

2010-07-16T22:57:00.005-05:00

Finally! i have been waiting to find a reasonably priced listing for these things. Everything on ebay is like $20 for a 6 pack. Well I only needed 2. I found a listing on amazon for Westinghouse star bulbs for $1.99 each. They came in today and replaced the xmas lights i had stuck in the 3 bulb lamp. See the little bulbs on the sides?? What really makes me happy is that if i carefully twist the star part it separates from the bulb itself... so i can reuse them if the bulb burns out. yay! if you need some they have a few left, get while you can here! **I do not know the seller of these bulbs**

Formica dinette cracked ice vinyl redo dilemma

2010-07-14T20:35:00.003-05:00

First off I LOVE this dinette that the fridge seller "threw in" for free. The vinyl on all the chairs needs to be redone however. This is fine because it give me the chance to carefully attempt to redo the vinyl in another color other than gray. My preference - cracked ice turquoise. Only problem, the they don't make it. So my choices for cracked ice are red, gray or yellow - thats all they make now. I sent off for some swatches and they just came in. I have to say that the cracked ice vinyl of today is somewhat different then then how it used to be. The crack patterns have a copy machine look to them. If you look at the swatches very closely, it looks like someone made a photo copy of the cracked ice pattern, then turned it into vinyl. Its hard to describe and it doesn't really show up in the photos. It looks like pigment dots are all over the pattern. like an old timey comic book. So I sent off for a swatch of plain old solid turquoise vinyl to see how that would look. that should be coming my way in a week or so. But I reeeealy want cracked ice. Im in a pickle because of these pigment dots. If i were to choose, I would pick the red cracked ice because not only is it my first color choice of the 3, but also it is harder to see the pattern i am talking about. If you are about two feet away you can start to see those dots.

So, is anyone going to really stick their face two feet a way from the chairs and care about any dots? Am i going to get used to it and it eventually won't even matter? Maybe I should just go with solid turquoise. Has anyone redone their vinyl before with replica cracked ice? Any suggestions or ideas? Please let me know!!!!!!

My vintage loving friend Megan

2010-07-13T21:14:00.005-05:00

I often talk about Megan. She is me and my roommates good friend that comes over often to sit around the old vintage living room to kill a few bottles of wine. She is also a collector of all things vintage, her place is overflowing with retro goodness. So much so that she is selling some stuff on Etsy now. So, if you want some good old vintage stuff from a house where its been treated properly checkout her shop. She has pyrex, kromex, fabrics and other oldies but goodies. I guess her stuff is so cool that it got featured on the front page of Etsy.
I tried to sell some stuff on Etsy and it bombed miserably.

A rainy weekend in north Texas

2010-07-11T21:05:00.002-05:00

Not much of a garage sale weekend, it rained a TON here. Probably for the best, we needed the rain and I need to save money. So this weekend I was able to sell my original fridge on Craigslist, it made up for most of what I spent on the 50s replica fridge. I did manage to spend 5 bucks at the only garage sale I ran in to. there was an old VM record player with a built in clock. The clock works, but the player doesn't. I thought it would look good on a shelf. One of these days I hope to find an old player that really does work, i have some old records I would love to play!

Last weekend's cheap fun finds

2010-07-04T21:54:00.008-05:00

There were NO garage sales this weekend. YAY! I need to stop spending anyways. So here are last weekends finds that I was to busy to write about. Last weekends garage sales were good and cheap, take a look...

Vintage carafe find thanks to Megan!

Vintage wardrobe thing. thought it would help me stop throwing close on the floor (notice that clothes on the floor around the wardrobe thing). $5.

vintage projector for Megan. original box is full of vintage home movies! It is sitting on another Cosco rolling tray! this one has awful contact paper on it. It will be easy to redo, and it has an electrical cord connected to it. $5 for projector, $5 for cosco cart.

Matching Kromex canisters with paper towel/plastic/foil holder and matching bread box. $5 for all. I was so happy about this.

$8 lawn chair. This one is in the process of becoming red!

Hope everyone is doing well and is having a great 4th of July!!

Elmira Northstar Craigslist deal

2010-06-30T20:19:00.006-05:00

First off, thank you so much for everyones emails and advice. It helped me negotiate the final price. So, my roommate and I went to the guys house last night and really liked the fridge. The man was very nice, and lived in a huge country mansion. He was converting his 50s kitchen to Tuscan (yuk), he said his wife is making him do it. So, for $740 I got the fridge that retails for $4000, and the guy threw in the formica dinette with 6 chairs and leaf, and a pedestal sink!! I really need the pedestal sink for the master bath redo I am doing. That saved me $200. The dinette is really nice, but some of the chairs need to be re-done. I ordered cracked-ice vinyl swatches to see what I like, but thats a whole other blog because I am going to try to redo them myself (yikes). So far I am very happy with this deal, as I got a pedestal sink that I need, and I just listed my regular fridge on Craigslist. Also, two months ago all i wanted was a formica dinette.. and now I have two. I am not sure what to do, I was going to put one of them in the formal dining room, but my roomie says that the nice 1940's wooden dinette needs to stay there. What to do, what to do. Thanks again for every one's help!!!!!

Please give me your opinon! Elmira vintage fridge

2010-06-29T13:44:00.003-05:00

Just found an ad for a vintage style Elmira fridge. 8 years old, works fine and has an ice maker. $1000.00. I was not willing to pay that much. I emailed the seller about the condition, and also asked them if the formica dinette in the picture was for sale. The seller wrote me back and said that if I bought the fridge he would throw in the formica dinette which consists of 6 chairs (one is ripped). So, is this a good deal? has anyone owned one of these fridges? are they good? I asked the seller if me and my roommate could come over and look tonight. I could probably sell my old fridge for a couple hundred, bringing this deal down to $800.00. HELP i dont know what to do. 6 chair formica dinette and retro fridge for $1000.00.

Forget the fact that I am not supposed to be spending money.

**UPDATE**. Because of the age of the fridge (8yrs), the seller agreed to $750 if i pickup the fridge and dinette tonight.

vintage kitchen restore... DONE!

2010-06-23T21:03:00.005-05:00

this weekend i had the parquet floor in the kitchen/breakfast room professionally redone. The rest of the room (woodwork/molding/painting/de-popcorning the ceiling) was done by myself. I even spend a day re-texturing the ceiling with vintage swirly circles that are common in my neck of the woods in old homes. I tried to take a picture to show the ceiling swirls. In fact I tried to take an 'after' picture of the room, but you will notice its dark. So why would I take a picture of a room I am so proud of without the lights on? Well, the day after the project was officially done, i turned the kitchen lights on... and then ...pop pop pop.... the lights in half of the house go out, and so does the air conditioning. Circuit breaker is fine. Long story short, 3 new circuit lines have to be wired in the attic and walls this weekend. The AC, kitchen, dining room, fridge, and courtyard were all on the same circuit... BIG no no. Gotta love old-fashioned wiring jobs. Anyways during the day everything is beautiful, and i have the AC hooked up to an extension cord (very ghetto). Happy hump day! I'll post some decent redo pictures when the lights are back on.

thats what friends are for...

2010-06-16T22:19:00.004-05:00

My friend Megan strikes again... she always manages to find great things at goodwill and thrift stores. I only have luck at garage sales/estate sales. Today she brought over for me two pyrex/corning pieces that match other dishes that I have. In fact, all of the blue snowflake things I have are from Megans finds! She also snagged a vintage fondue pot. This is the final piece to the vintage fondue party we are going to have very soon to celebrate the kitchen remodle finally being done (just waiting on the floor people to refinish the floor). I grabbed some vintage fondue forks a couple weeks ago. I am supposed to be on the lookout for some pink pyrex to make up for all the things she finds for me. Talk about a need in a haystack!

vintage end table and lamps

2010-06-13T21:26:00.002-05:00

Im really trying to stick to my guns and not spend much because of my master bathroom redo that I was planning on paying a contractor to do. So this weekend I once again walked away from a few things that I wanted, but didn't need. I really do need lamps, so I snagged this pair for $18.00 (i know, not exactly garage sale priced, but the lady was an ex-antique dealer). I also found this vintage end table for $3 (thats more my kind of price). I cant believe i forgot to take a picture before i started restoring it, but oh well. This picture is in middle of the restore, I haven't done anything to the legs yet, and there is only one coat of stain on the rest of it. The brass cleaned up extremely well, it was black when i bought the table. The backdrop of the picture is the un-remodeled, scary, off limits, eye-sore of a second living room. This room stays dark when guests are over. It's awful. I will take pictures one day for everyone to see. I have grand plans for it though! Ok I am rambling...

Hope everyone is doing great!

Virtue Brothers stool and other fun finds

2010-06-06T20:17:00.004-05:00

It was so HOT this weekend, I was surprised there were any garage sales at all. I managed to find quite a few, and I am not sure why I went because I am trying to slow down my vintage spending. I talked myself out of buying quite a few things, but did end up spending ten bucks. Not bad. I first grabbed a vintage kindling holder. Why would I need this if I don't have a fireplace in my house? For magazines or rolled up towels in the guest bathroom of course! I also got some vintage fondue forks. Why would I buy these if I haven't eaten fondue in 10 years? So I can have a vintage fondue party with my weekend posse! (Megan, lets search for some recipes). Finally I grabbed a Virtue Brothers stool that was in great shape. It wasn't even for sale, but when someone has a garage sale in their driveway I tend to get nosey and peek in their garage to see what else may be available for the right price. I spotted this stool and asked the owner if he wanted it, and he said "I thought about selling it but didn't think anyone wanted something that old and ugly". hehe little does he know...

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Here I go again...

2010-05-30T21:10:00.003-05:00

I did not want to spend money this weekend. $200 later I bought a 'few' things. There are some weekends where I walk away empty handed, and there are weekends like this one where there were treasures at every garage sale. These are times where I tell myself that I won't ever find these things again, so I better get them. For starters, I found some Frankoma pottery. I didn't know what this was, but I knew it was cool. Also found some matching salt and peppers shakers for my Blue Heaven china set. The best find of all was a buffet with two matching end tables. VERY danish modern, and really look good in the living room. I don't regret anything I got this weekend, well maybe this vintage WESTCLOX wind up clock that I really don't need. the buffet and end tables are so cool, and are in great shape. Take a look. I hope everyone is having a great holiday weekend!

The changing colors of my vintage glider

2010-05-27T21:07:00.008-05:00

Well, it wouldn't be one of MY projects unless I ended up repainting something I already painted. And so goes today's project of restoring the my vintage glider. Here is how today went...

Started out rusty and a blotchy yellow.

I then primed it.

And finally, sunny yellow! I DIDN'T like it.

So then, turquoise! I LOVE IT! I spend more on spray paint then i did for the glider.

In the middle of all of this, I found time to de-rust and polish the chrome on the formica dinette. Its a humble beauty!

I took today and tomorrow off from work to 'relax'. I don't think I've been so tired in all my life!!!

Vintage glider

2010-05-26T21:02:00.002-05:00

Just like with the formica dinette, when it came to a vintage glider I am glad I did not rush out and buy a replica. I've really wanted one of these for a while now, and they haven't turned up at any garage or estate sales. So, I once again turned to Craigslist and posted a 'wanted' ad. A few days later I got a response for a double glider for $35. My roommate and I had to drive 45 miles on Sunday to get it, and the place looked like a meth house, but it was well worth it! I'm now just trying to decide what color it should be..... I think its time to venture away from Jadeite and Turquoise. I think I am actually going to restore this to its original color, yellow. I'm off work for the next 5 days, and I hope to de-rust the formica dinette chrome, and get to work on this bad boy. I hope to have some 'after' pictures to post soon!!

Out with the new, in with the old!

2010-05-23T21:18:00.006-05:00

This has been the busiest and craziest week and weekend ever. Its been super busy at work, and this weekend we had a garage sale (or should I say a mid-century carport sale). I have cleared my house of 95% of its "modern" decorations that I have had since i graduated from college. The "new" stuff went on sale at my garage sale this weekend, and stuff sold like hot cakes. I think I will have another one this fall. Garage sales suck to run. Its was hot, humid and people love to haggle (YEP, I got a taste of my own medicine). Someone even tried to switch price tags on items... can you believe that????? Anyways I am very thankful for the much talked about Megan, and my roommates brother for helping. So, now that this new stuff is out of the way, I have room for the wonderful old things that I have recently got that I had no room for. Friday I picked up this 3 bulb lamp. I wish it had a manufacturer marking on it. I need to get my hands on some sputnik bulbs for the two sockets the current hold xmas lights.

Also got this 40's dish set with the coolest garden patter on it. I don't need to use the plates for anything other than display, so I gave half of them to Megan so she could enjoy them as well.... And another beautiful Pyrex carafe/warmer came my way thanks to Megan's thrifting skills. I'm dead tired from this weekend... hope everyone is great!!!

The gift that keeps on giving!

2010-05-19T20:45:00.003-05:00

Thank you ZuitsuitMama and my friend Megan! I received my giveaway prize from ZuitsuitMama - this awesome bowling ball lighter! It came wrapped in a vintage curtain. Now I couldn't let that curtain go to waste could I? Thanks to my handy dandy friend Megan, the curtain is now oxy cleaned and made into two pillows! Take a look!! I am so excited!

FINALLY! My own little formica dinette

2010-05-17T21:34:00.005-05:00

Last week I was supposed to buy a formica dinette from a co-worker that is moving out of the country. Unfortunately that didn't work out... the formica was in pretty bad shape. So, me and my roommate headed over to Craigslist. Ideally I would have loved a turquoise dinette.... you know the ones that have the silouette of a steaming tea pot in the formica. Well those cost a pretty penny, and until I stumble across an under priced one at a garage sale, I found the next best thing! Formica dinettes are a lot cheaper of you buy the table and chairs separately, so we got the table from one person, and a set of 5 turquoise chairs from another. The cracked ice formica is in GREAT shape. the chairs are also in great shape, other than the chrome needs to be de-rusted (not hard to do). Take a look at the pictures, I have an extra chair floating around the table, but it adds to the breakfast room. The chrome isn't done yet on the table or chairs, so please excuse that. And PLEASE excuse the floor, after years of work I am almost done with the kitchen/breakfast room, but I have not restored the floors in it yet. Floor is a TOTAL embarrassment, but I absolutely LOVE MY PIECED TOGETHER DINETTE!

A formica dinette could be in my immediate future!

2010-05-12T20:28:00.002-05:00

I was mentioning my struggles to find an original 50's formica dinette to a co-worker that is moving out of the country with her fiance. Would you believe she has one? And come to find out her house is mid-century modern filled! I knew she was cool but come on! She is selling a lot of their things that her fiance's company won't pay to ship. I am going to her house tomorrow after work to see what could be mine. I can't wait. Don't know if I'll sleep tonight. She said I can have first pick of everything since her moving sale isn't until this weekend. can't wait can't wait can't wait.

To buy or not to buy....

2010-05-11T20:52:00.006-05:00

I was just thumbing through the internet searching for a formica dinnette. I stumbled upon the Target website and was surprised to see replicas are starting to surface. I guess retro is really 'in' these days. They even have Cosco chairs with step stools. Interesting. I Don't think I am going to buy any of these because the thrill of the hunt is half the fun, and then actually owning history is the other half... but it's kind of cool to see that some things are coming back. One 'new' item I am considering buying is the vintage glider/ patio chairs that Lowes carries. Not sure if all of this stuff has been on sale for a while now and I am just now finding it. I am sure most of us believe "they don't make 'em like they used to". Makes me wonder if these things can last as long as their original ancestors.

Giveaway in DeluxeVille!

2010-05-10T21:06:00.003-05:00

If you haven't seen it already, go here and take a look: http://welcometodeluxeville.blogspot.com/2010/05/400-follower-giveaway.html . Mary Deluxe is over loaded with lamps and is giving one away! If you never have seen her blog, get ready for hours of great reading ahead of you!

I found a box of pink bathroom tile.. IN MY GARAGE

2010-05-05T21:59:00.006-05:00

I still can't believe this. I have a storage room in the 'garage' that is full of old paint cans and 'stuff' that the old owners left behind. They left a lot of stuff behind that I have yet to clean out. Behind those old paint cans is a box. It says Dal-tile. In the box is a pot of gold. Many Many pink bathroom tiles and elephant grey border tile. This changes everything. I am assuming these tiles are the leftovers when the original master bathroom (now a guest bath) was built. Over the years this bathroom and it's pink and grey tiles have been painted over. I briefly thought of stripping all the paint off, but I know there are a few cracked tiles, and the paint hides it. But now there are tiles that have been quietly waiting for 57 years to be used. Now I want to have the bathroom professionally stipped of all its tile paint. I can replace the few broken tiles myself. I can't imagine how much it will cost to have it professionally stripped. Should I try this myself? I hate the way the paint stripper smells, and its a major pain in the butt to do. I don't know what to do, part of me wants to put wainscoting over the painted tiles to hide the paint job, and NOW part of me wants to restore the whole thing. what to do...what to do...

retro redo - paper towel/ tin foil holder

2010-05-03T22:43:00.002-05:00

So this weekend i got this cool vintage aluminum foil / paper towel/ wax paper holder at an estate sale for like 75 cents. It was nasty, but I saw potential. When i got it home i got to work stripping it, cleaning it, and giving it a fresh coat of paint. I even (i tried my best) got the lettering highlighted in white paint. THAT was a pain. But now it looks great in the kitchen, and holds all my tin foil and plastic wrap! so much more to restore... so little time....
I reeealy wish i could find more 'retro' spray paint colors, but the best i can find is this turqoise and a muted yellow. Anyone know of any great retro spray paint colors out there please let me know. My local hardware stores pretty much just have the basics.

What a day! More rolling trays and a tv lamp!

2010-05-01T21:20:00.003-05:00

I went to an estate sale first thing this morning, and without a doubt I got there before any dealers or other vintage lovers showed up. When i walked into a bedroom the first thing that caught my eye was a Kron siamese cat tv lamp sitting on a table in the corner. I quietly said "oh s**t", calmly walked over to it, saw a $1 price tag on it (i think i said another bad word), and quietly left the room. I felt like i had found a stack of 100 dollar bills and I didn't want anyone to try to snatch it out of my hands. I then walked into the kitchen and right in front of me was another Cosco rolling tray (I blogged a few months ago about the first one i found and restored). I thought I was going to freak out. Also in the kitchen was this cool paper towel/tin foil/ wax paper roll holder. It was rusty but that's not a problem. Also found a large serving dish that matches my dish set. By this time my roommate showed up to the estate sale and heard him say 'hey Keith', from that first bedroom I was in. I walked in there and he goes 'why didn't you take this one?', and I looked down and there was ANOTHER COSCO ROLLING TRAY. I then passed out. Just kidding. Me and my roommate have our work cutout for us restoring the old rolling trays, but that is seriously fun to do. I got started today restoring the paper towel/tin foil roll holder, so don't let its decay fool you. Take a look below. What a great day!!!!!

Westbend cake carrier - today's fun find

2010-04-30T17:46:00.004-05:00

Not once have I ever looked for a cake carrier. Where the heck would a carry a cake to? Hell, I've never baked a real cake. BUT NOW, i have a mixer! And I do believe that the vintage spirits were telling me something by putting this old Westbend cake carrier in front of me at the thrift store one week after i buy a mixer. It was 4 bucks. So I asked myself - do I really need this? No, but do i need half of the vintage things i buy? I can re-purpose it into a bread box. Sold! So, my new little cake carrier may say 'Cake' on it, but inside you will find home made bread and biscuits whipped together via my new mixer. Life is good :)

the worst part of living in an old neighborhood

2010-04-29T23:16:00.004-05:00

Well it happens every year, as soon as it gets warm. These critters appear on and around my house, and all I can do is put them in a cup and stick em in my neighbors yard. My neighbor who has lived here since the 50s says they've always been in this neighborhood, probably because there hasn't been any construction in this area for years and they just settled here. By the way the neighbor told me to put them in his yard when i find them :). I know tarantulas are harmless and help control bugs, but I just cant stand to see them. Ugh. Heebeejeebees for the next hour.

I cheated!

2010-04-27T21:58:00.004-05:00

OK the mixer dilemma is finally over. I got my money back from the ebay fiasco and decided something like a mixer is too high of a risk to get via mail. So, I cheated and didn't get a vintage one. I went to Target, applied for a charge card so I would get 10% off, and I bought a new Kitchenaid Classic. It works, nothing is broken, the power cord isn't cracked and best of all I can return it if something goes wrong. I had to do it. It has a classic look and I love it. I would have loved go get it in yellow or another vintagey color, but they cost WAY more. I love this mixer, I've used it every day!

Ok no more big spending... back to the garage sales...

On a happier note... PYREX! TRAYS! CLOCKS!

2010-04-20T20:12:00.007-05:00

I've been so wrapped up in this ebay mess with the mixer that I haven't written about the good stuff. I'll carry one with the mixer story later, but the seller told me i should have bought insurance. I filed an ebay and paypal claim. Anyways - I have gotten some nice things lately via a Church rummage sale, junk store, and my great friend Megan. Nothing says "great friend" better than someone showing up at your door with some old pyrex for you that they found at the Salvation Army. YOU ROCK MEGGERS. Here is what's been added to the 'almost done' kitchen. I'm still painting it :(

Pyrex carafes - can't get enough of 'em.

Pyrex casserole divided dish - goes well with the new wall color!

old GE clock so I know when my tater-tott casserole is ready!

Old Pineapple S&P Shakers. And beautiful old Pyrex creamers and sugar holder.... thanks again Megan!

I've had the middle big tray for a little while, but found some smaller ones to keep it company.

The rest of the kitchen looks like crap, but I'm working on it!

Ebay... the saga continues....

2010-04-19T21:13:00.004-05:00

I guess there is a first for everything and this is awful! The mixer I ordered came in today... or should I say what used to be a mixer arrived today. The mixer's parts were rapped in bubble rap, and put into a box with nothing in between the parts to stop them from shifting and moving around. So I open the box and find the juicer cracked, and the handle and power switch completely broken off and in pieces. Little metal parts were at the bottom of the box, not sure which broken piece they go to. The body of the mixer itself was also terribly scraped from some sort of contact (was not like this in seller's picture). I emailed the seller and asked what they were going to do now. I am going to wait to see what they say before I file a claim or leave bad feedback. I am mortified.

Oh yeah, this was the seller that asked for more shipping money after the auction ended... we agreed on each paying 1/2 of the extra shipping. I should have taken a refund.

Hope everyone else had a better Monday!!!

2 bad Ebays in 2 days

2010-04-16T19:43:00.002-05:00

UGH. Listen to this and tell me what you think. Yesterday I got in my two salt an pepper shakers. They are beautiful... however the rubber stoppers on each are non functioning. One of the stoppers has turned solid, almost like glass and can not be budged. The other stopper appears to be inside the shaker, also solidified because it makes a rattling sound. I bought these shakers to use them. The seller did not post that they were not functioning or showed pictures of the bad/missing stoppers. So I wrote the seller and they responding saying I should have asked if it was functioning because most people just collect these for display. I wrote them back saying that on ebay ANYTHING not functioning should be disclosed. I would not have bought them. They asked what I wanted them to do and I said reimburse me for a pair of earplugs that I will attempt to use in place of the stoppers (if i can get one of them off). I have not heard back yet.
Situation #2. Today i receievd an email from the seller of the vintage food mixer i won and purchased exactly SEVEN days ago. Today they tell me that there is a problem with the shipping and they can't fit it into a regular box, and thus need $12 more dollars to cover the additional shipping costs. They also said they could refund me the purchase if I wanted.
So what do you think? Should I be upset in either situation? For one, when I buy something on ebay i expect to work unless otherwise stated. I also expect to not be asked for more money after I pay for an auction fair and square, not to mention they didn't try to ship this for a week. Should I blow it off? RRRRRrrrrg.

Anthropomorphic stuff

2010-04-13T10:39:00.005-05:00

Anthropomorphic - I still can't say it correctly, the word itself sounds kind of weird, but actually this is one of my favorite key word searches on ebay. The definition of it means giving human characteristics to animals or objects. The amazing thing about loving vintage is that every garage sale/ estate sale find that you take home can lead to a whole new world of something wonderful you didn't know about before. An example would be my previous post on Cosco serving carts - I had no idea these existed, and after doing research on it i want more more more. I also now have found the world of anthropomorphic kitchen "stuff". How did I ever get by without this salt/pepper shaker pair?

Same for the apple/ pair dishrag holders (the have little hooks at them bottom of them). I got these on ebay. Many of these old salt shakers were made with the Py stamp on the bottom and were made in Japan. I have now found another thing that I will no longer pass up at garage and estate sales. They are usually very cheap too!!

50s Cosco rolling serving cart

2010-04-09T23:48:00.006-05:00

This ALWAYS happens. I started painting the kitchen and working on the crown molding today, and I get side tracked. In fact, I took today off from work to work on it but I found something at a garage sale. The first time I walked by this old rusty cart I passed it up because I wasn't sure what it was disguised in all its decay. The only thing that sparked my attention were the little clear wheels with silver flecks in them. I knew when I saw those it needed some TLC and a place in my home. So I paid the little old lady $4.50 (the cart was $4, and the silver fruit tray also pictured was .50 cents). I got it home and me and my roommate got to work on getting the rust off the chrome and polishing it. 2 cans of aqua spray paint later and its a born again serving cart. I can not believe how well this turned out. I owe it to my roommate, he showed me how easy it was to get rust off chrome with this weird cotton stuff (he freaked out when I told him at first I was going to spray paint the chrome). I love this cart. I can't believe it. Take a look at the before and after pics. It will look so good in the kitchen.... if i ever finish it....

What every vintage kitchen needs.....

2010-04-07T21:23:00.003-05:00

a vintage mixer! Why have I put off getting one? Probably because my kitchen is not the best part of the house, its been a work in progress for the past THREE years. So, this weekend I am making a hard effort to finish the crown molding and re-paint it (the kitchen has been 6 colors since I bought the house, this years new color is jadeite). This being said I am going to retire my old hand mixer and get a Hamilton Beach, Sunbeam, Dormeyer or some type of mixer. I absolutely love all the possibilities with the attachments.
Please tell me, what type of mixer do you have? Color? What are your fav attachments? what type of bowls do you have... clear, milkglass or jadeite? Did you carefully put a new coat of appliance epoxy on it? I love this, its like shopping for a new car.

Need advice! Pleeeease

2010-04-06T20:09:00.003-05:00

I think I am at a dead end with this one. I need to replace my out door motion flood light, which I am ok with because it is UGLY. I want the new one to be vintage, preferrably for an old ranch style (you know, the cone shaped ones with pinholes). It also has to be mouted from the ceiling of one of the eaves. I have searched and searched and can only come up with the same run of the mill flood light. Has anyone had any luck with this? I am guessing there is not much demand out there for a flood light with some vintage character.

Vintage one night stand leads to love

2010-04-04T18:03:00.005-05:00

Ever go to multiple thrift stores, can't find anything you want and you get so desperate that you pickup and take home the closest thing to vintage that you can find? Even though you know you will regret it tomorrow? That's what almost happened to me Tuesday. I found two "ok" things that were super cheap and decided to take them home. My intent was not to keep these, but to give them to other vintage loving friends this weekend, or hell just sell them. First - a 50s tea set with turquoise pine cones. I liked the pine cones and the oh so wonderful 50s gold flecks around the rim. It was super cheap but I was thinking that I'm really not the type of person to have a tea set. Oh well I want something vintage and I want it now, so I bought it. Also spotted 38 pieces of matching Corning/Pyrex plates and mugs. At this thrift store you cant just buy a few plates, you buy the whole set, or leave it. End of story. Once again these were super cheap, but maybe too 1970s for me. I bought them as well.

So here I sit days later completely in love with these purchases that I took home only because I was desperate for vintage. No more mixed-matched 50s dinner plates, I at least now have a full set of "70's ish" dinnerware even down to the 8 coffee mugs. As for the tea set, I'm not ready to give this up to a better home either. Pictured are my little finds (only about half of the dishes). They are keepers.

I love these things... where did they come from?

2010-04-01T21:52:00.005-05:00

I am lucky at finding these 50's dishes (candy dishes?) and vases that have gold flecked rims and flecked paint. I love them and now I don't pass them up when I find them. NONE have anything identifying the company they came from, just some hand carved numbers under the base. Does anyone else collect these? What is this style of gold flecked paint called? Does it have a name? Are they ugly and that is why I keep finding them? Was there a particular company that produced these things? Thanks for any help! Oh yeah, the picture shows them on my new little coffee table I found "on clearance" at an antique mall. I love the pattern on the top, but it doesn't show well on camera.

Hope everyone is doing great! Its been so busy at work.. I've been trying to catch up on everyones blogs... busy busy. I've been a total flake too, Mick from Everyone goes to Mick's emailed me to let me know I somehow turned the comments off on my other posts. WTF is wrong with me? :)

Reeealy good estate sale

2010-03-25T20:05:00.005-05:00

Its been a busy week, haven't had much time to do anything but work. I haven't had much time for garage sailing or thrifting either, but it just so happened there was an estate sale down the street from my house last weekend. Ever been to an estate sale that has so much stuff that you keep going back to see if you missed anything? And you keep going back to buy things? Thats what happened to me, this place had some great stuff, and the people had everything priced to sell. I finally filled up this 3rd bedroom I have with some beautiful old furniture. I was able to score a bed/headboard/footboard, two night stands, dresser, chest of drawers, two lamps, two chalkware figures and an old suitcase for $170. Fills the whole dang room up. I don't completely care for the lamps, but the seller wanted to get rid of them so she threw them in. I am so pleased with the whole thing. The furniture is late 50s (or thats at least what the lady told me that grew up in the house), and its in good shape. I finally have the guest room setup, except for replacing the floor trim, but hey thats for later. Best $170 I ever spent!

Goodwill goodies...

2010-03-18T21:27:00.003-05:00

I got REAL sick of sitting an my desk at work yesterday. I took an extra long lunch and headed out to the nearest Goodwill. Much to my surprise i found a few things buried in the dish aisle. First thing i found was this one old Syracuse Carefree Nordic pattern plate. Believe me, i dug and dug but could find no others like it. So i grabbed this one, along with an old Corning plate that reminds me of the set my parents had when i was little, and a Pyrex carafe. I love those old Pyrex carafes. I was happy when i left, definately worth taking a long lunch....

50's Lamps!

2010-03-14T20:28:00.013-05:00

this weekend was a great lamp weekend for me. I visited this retro store that was having a moving sale, so pretty much every booth was 50% off. I was kind of ho hum about spending anymore money today.... until..... i saw these two lamps. Since they were pretty much buy one get one free, I snatched them up. I love them oh yes i do. the turqoise ovals with gold starbursts are pure eye candy. If only these beautiful pieces of history could talk. I have this bad habit of giving retro lamps and other retro things seniority... so some other 'older' retro lamps got bumped to a spare bedroom, and these took their spot. It seems I always put my new finds in the living room, where they are featured for a while, and then move to a different space. I think these lamps will wind up in the master bedroom anyway since they are a great pair. In addition to these, i found this orangish one for practically nothing at a thrift store. As you can see by the picture it currently sits in the 'extras' room waiting for its permanant space. I don't have a decent shade for it, and I can't tell if its too 70's or not for my liking. Either way it looked like a treasure in need of rescue, so now it lives with me :)

What time is it? vintage CAL-DAK TV Tray time!

2010-03-12T10:36:00.006-06:00

i FINALLY got in these CAL -DAK tv trays i ordered off of ebay.. took 3 weeks to come in! I could write a blog about how freaked out i was that they were lost or stolen in the mail.. how the seller forgot to mail them for a week... blah blah but they are finally here and i am soooo happy. they have the coolest time pieces / clocks all over them, with the traditional gold fecks from yesteryear. They are in perfect shape. Now all i gotta do is whip up some tater tot casserole to eat off of these beauties! Our friends that come over every weekend will now be eating off of these as opposed to the dinner table... i hope they don't mind, but who wouldn't want to stare down at these bad boys while your eating???

$5 rule goes out the window

2010-03-07T17:19:00.003-06:00

Well, so much for my rule about not spending more than $5 for something for the next couple of weeks. I found loopholes in my own rule.... I found two things I wanted, but one of them was over $5, BUT, the sum of both was under $10. So does this make it ok? Well screw it, if I want them I'll just buy them. So this morning I got these two little goodies, another vintage serving tray (I just love these things), and a 50's wire fruit holder. I seriously need some ideas on what I am going to put in the wire fruit holder. I'm not putting real fruit in it, and no glass grapes. I am thinking about multi-colored salt water taffy candies (you know, the kind that are pastel colored and are wrapped in wax paper). Should I try to find vintage wax fruit? Does anyone have one of these? what did you put in it? In my eyes this thing is beautiful on its own, but I would love to find something retro to put in it. Maybe i should flip through some old magazines.....

50s serving tray saves the day

2010-02-28T16:47:00.000-06:00

We hosted a fun filled casserole party last night. Our friends ROCK! The one thing that was missing this weekend though was a retro find. I'm trying to save money right now because I'm having 5 new big energy efficient windows replaced in the house. However if I find something 5 bucks or less then its fair game. I swear I searched and searched and came up empty handed everywhere I went. I found a beautiful Pyrex carafe at Goodwill with gold sunbursts on it. Was pretty excited until I saw the big crack around the rim. Oh well... left it there. The last stop today was at an antique mall, where I found this old serving tray. I love that it has turquoise in it, and the price was right. DONE DEAL, all mine. You saved my Sunday, little old tray!

Thank you Mick at Everyone Goes to Mick's!!!

2010-02-25T20:44:00.000-06:00

I was tired all day today and just wanted to get home to watch the Olympics. However my day was made much much better when I found a big cardboard box waiting for me! I recently won Mick's giveaway prize which he gave out when he celebrated his 76+ followers. Everyone Goes to Mick's ( http://egtmicks.blogspot.com/ ) is an awesome blog of the cool retro happenings at The Casablanca. I now have a beautiful record candy dish that will be put to use this weekend!! I also receive a formal invite to his 5 year anniversay of The Casablanca! Thank you so much Mick!!!!

I am very greatful for all the new people I have met on this blog site, its so wonderful to know there are others out there that appreciate the things of yester-year. Its been a lucky week for me! Monday I recieved Mikes giveaway price from Cul-de-sac Shack. Maybe I should pay the Lotto before the week is over??

Thanks again Mick!!

Happiness is....

2010-02-24T21:12:00.000-06:00

...Tater tot casserole in a vintage dish, and a Cherry Coke Zero in an old glass. Thats all I can say.

Thank you Missouri Michael!!!!

2010-02-23T19:55:00.000-06:00

Micheal at Cul-de-sac Shack ( http://cul-de-sacshack.blogspot.com/ ) recently celebrated his 25+ follower count. He had a giveaway of awesome annuals and pepper starters.... of which I desperately need. Luckily I won! I now have have replacements for my plant carcass field (my front yard) that was devastated by our recent foot of snow. Congrats on your great blog and thanks a million Missouri Michael!!!

Vintage West Bend percolator, how I love thee...

2010-02-21T15:39:00.000-06:00

Garage and estate sales were slim pickins this weekend. However I did come across the most beautiful retro percolator. It was scuffed, and the inside was grimey with some rust. It spoke to me though..... it said "please take me home and clean me up, I promise I still have many brews left in me". I told it I didn't care if it worked, I was going to buy it and forever let it live proud in my kitchen (I don't normally talk to appliances). I had a feeling I could clean this thing up. Usually this soft plastic/rubbery material from the 50s can be cleaned up just by rubbing it down with dry cloth. So I threw down my $5, went home and got to work. A little soap, water and some CLR is all it took to make this thing look absolutely perfect. It works pefect as well. When something old still works it's like it still has a little beating heart in it that wants to live on (no, I am not drunk). This little find made my weekend :)

Cool 50's Kitchen - SNL

2010-02-17T20:25:00.000-06:00

Saturday Night Live has its moments. I LOVE this skit that pokes fun at a typical 1950's housewife. I love it because of all the cool retro props in the background.... I believe I see an aqua pyrex butterprint bowl! The kitchen scene has all sorts of cool things, I really love the formica table. The chairs are also cool in the living room.... anyway have a look for yourself.. its also worth a few laughs. I watch this skit like once a week (yes, I'm easily amused) Link below:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/109030/saturday-night-live-a-ladies-guide-to-party-planning

thanks mom and dad....

2010-02-16T21:27:00.000-06:00

... I'm taking these home with me. They never care if I take their vintage things and so these are mine :) They are now in my dining room facing the awful coffin clock. My Mom said she things she got these in the early 60's, and she has had them up in the house ever since, well not now of course. I remember when I was little I would try to play things things on the wall. Vintage things are wonderful, but they are even cooler when they have some history in your life. I guess thats why I can't manage to eat off of the Blue Heaven dishes. My folks have boxes of old stuff they haven't gone through in a long time, I can't wait to see whats in store!!

Julia Childs retro dinner party

2010-02-14T13:47:00.000-06:00

We have some great friends. Especially Megan, Sara and my roommates brother, Michael. Usually every weekend people in some combination come over and we all eat drink, play games and have a good old time. It was decided that this weekend would be set aside for recipes from the Julia Childs cookbook (of course served in Pyrex and Fire King). Everything tasted AMAZING. The one thing about these recipes is that they appear to take all day. My cooking usually consists of casseroles and dips, so I was in charge of the alcohol and dip. Megan made this awesome beef bourguignon with seared fingerling potatoes, and Sara made the best desert I have ever had - chocolate mousse with biscotti at the bottom. Both recipes have booze in them, and we were drinking while we were cooking and eating, so by the end of dinner we were all completely tanked. We of course had some retro music in the background, and Sara gave us a lesson on how to do the pony. If anyone has some time to kill one day you should give these recipes a try, and have yourself a vintage Julia Childs dinner party... it was WONDERFUL!!!!

Happy Winter from my old house to yours

2010-02-11T19:44:00.000-06:00

Ugh. There is like a foot of snow here. Good casserole cookin' and beer drinkin' weather. It's also good weather to browse ebay for vintage goodies. I reeeealy can't wait for Spring. I've got about 20 different types of rose bushes that I am dying to see come back to life. This weather is always fun about once a year, but I'm ready for it to be over. I actually would give anything to be able to mow my lawn. We'll maybe not. The seasons in my neck of the woods (just north of Dallas) are sometimes crazy.... snow, thunderstorms, tornado warnings, drought. I really love it here though. This little historic area has some beautiful retro homes...tudor, craftsman, prairie, ranch, queen-anne victorian. You name it we got it here, and an awesome retro downtown square to boot. Did i mention the awesome estate/garage sales? I need to take pictures of this area and blog about it, but for now me and my roommate are stuck in the house. Time to open another beer!

Fire King vs. Pyrex

2010-02-10T12:33:00.000-06:00

Up until a couple of weeks ago, I only really liked vintage Pyrex, and with that I only liked a few vintage patterns on Pyrex. Alot of those that I like are hard to find (like "eyes" mixing bowl), and when I do find them they are priced pretty high. So I decided to open my mind up a little to other patterns, and to Fire King. I really have fallen in love with the not-so-liked Kimberly Mug (pictured). I think the texture and colors are really cool, I can see myself drinking more hot drinks just to use them. I am now adding these to my list of things to watch out for at garage sales. I also just purchased on ebay a set of Fire King Blue Heaven soup/custard and mixing bowls. I know these are not apart of the original Blue Heaven line by Royal China, but I like them and I won't be as afraid to use them as I am with my real Blue Heaven china. My love for Pyrex hasn't changed, I am just going to be more open this garage sale season to different patterns and types.... if garage sale season ever gets here. Snow for Dallas tomorrow. Ho hum. So what are some of your favorite Pyrex / Fire King items and patterns? Or do you like a different glass company?

Best estate sale ever

2010-01-31T18:11:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I happened to drive by this house that had an estate sale sign in the yard. The sign was hand-made which means to me that it wasn't being run by some estate sale company that prices everything in the house like an antique store (I hate that). I think I was the first person there because there was some awesome vintage stuff absolutely cheap that easily would have sold. I snatched up an old mustard yellow living room chair, I LOVE IT, its so comfortable. Also got an aqua blue big-armed chair that is also very comfortable and the arms rests add to the comfort. Next to be snatched up by my greedy self was a vintage Zenith hifi am/fm radio/record player. Also got an old radio and xmas lantern. Found some cool dinner plates as well, I am actually going to eat off of these. Don't you love the feeling of finding great vintage things for great prices? Only bad part is cleaning the uphostry, but it needs to be done!

the awful coffin clock

2010-01-24T19:25:00.000-06:00

Went to an estate sale today. Everything was pretty much picked over, and the seller was being very reasonable with people. Soooo I thought I would take a chance on a poor retro wall clock that no one wanted. The motor is broken which is no big deal, easy fix. It resembles a coffin, its dark green, but I like it..... i think. It's not 50's, maybe it's 60's, I'm not sure. It's retro, unique and therefore it's going in the dining room :) It doesn't match anything around it (right now its next to an old Tiffany lamp). Hopefully I can find a good spot for it, otherwise it could join the stack of retro things that have been found/bought that may need to find a better home. What do you think? Awful? It was $1.25.

I never buy from department stores..... however....

2010-01-16T18:55:00.001-06:00

one of the best mid-century replica couches that I have seen for the past couple of years has been at Macy's. YEP. A couch is one of the few pieces of furniture that I decided I did not want to buy an original of, mainly because I never have found a good old sofa on craigslist or at estate sales that I would not have to re-do the fabric. I don't know how to do that. So I have been looking around for a while and finally decided to get the Carona sofa from Macy's. I LOVE IT. I am a little scared because I have read mixed reviews that after 6 months the cusions start to go flat. I dont mind stuffing them with a little more sponge if needed. I love the mid-century legs, the vintage fabric pattern, and the pear color. As always, I am frugal, so here is how I got it for the lowest possible price: It is listed for $699 here in Dallas. If you have it delivered it's an extra $100. Forget that, I told them I would pick it up at the warehouse.... so I did and saved some money. I also applied for a Macy's card which took another 10% off (I cancelled the card right after, I don't do department stores). Soooo, the $699 sofa cost me $705 after taxes. I had to haul it 35 miles, but hey it saved me $100 bucks.... cheap cheap cheap. Here is the sofa in the pic... I love it and so far i recommed it... but lets see how it holds up!! And yes, its comfortable!

Ebay buy - from bad to good

2010-01-10T18:32:00.000-06:00

In my last post I mentioned that I just bought a 50's lamp on Ebay that I really liked, but was not happy with the seller. Normally when I shop on ebay I look for things that are in need of some slight TLC or repair, and I bid accordingly. If the bids get to high then I just let it be. In this case the lamp looked like it was in great shape, so I bid what I thought was a good price, and I won it! The seller expressed that the lamp itself was in excellent condition with no repairs needed. When it came in the mail there was a little problem, the turn switch that turns the light on was missing. I tried to take one off of another lamp in the house, but didn't fit. I was able to turn the switch with a pair of needle-nose plyers, but started getting a little miffed knowing that I was going to have to pay for a new switch. After a day or two of fretting if should contact the seller, I finally did. I explained that I would not have bid what I did had I known the switch that turns the lamp on and off was missing. I did not leave them a rating because they had a 100% rating and I explained that I was not the type of person to add negative feedback over this, but I most likely would not buy from them again. After a couple of days I got an unexpected email from the seller. She apologized over and over and explained she was out of town and that a helper had posted the lamp and shipped it, and that it is not like her to let something like this slip. She also gave me a $5.00 paypal credit. COOL! I wrote her back thanking her very much for doing that. The cost pretty much covers a new switch.

I have bought quite a few things in Ebay, and have never had a bad experience (knock on wood). This is the first time something was not 100% as described. I am thankful that the seller was willing to rectify the situation!!!! I love this lamp!!!!