Updates--Part III--The Living Room

Another quick blip to get you up to date on the living room!  When last we spoke about it, I'd showed you the 'Wilt Chamberlain' sofa and it's massive revamp.  Since then, I've rearranged the room completely, added a few pieces...most notably a fantastic Brasilia-esque rug!...and made some pillows for the back of the sofa.

 I finally found the perfect pillow fabric at Joann's.  I thought I'd never find something that didn't look, well, cheap.  This is a lovely poly crepe.  I still need to make one more, but for the moment, I'm using the 'Dodge City' souvenir pillow my grandparents brought back from their big 'Western Tour' of 1964.

Closeup of the carpet...Pip approved....

 

This was taken moments before he 'claimed' the rug as his own...if you know what I mean.  Don't worry, I didn't kill him.

I switched the two stereos, Deano and Danno.  Danno now acts as the tv stand.

I love this mirror!  I found it at a local thrifty for $15.  I didn't buy it the day I saw it and regretted.  I regretted it even more a couple of days later when my newly referbed living room suit was delivered and I realized that the pink on either side of this mirror was a match to the upholstery I'd chosen!  Of course, I rushed back with fingers crossed.....SCORE!  It was still there waiting for me!  Once again, I'll say how lucky I am to live in a place where no one gives two doodles about deco or mid century!  It makes the finds few and far between, but boy oh boy the prices are always right (most of them will pay YOU to just take it away!) and there's never much competition!

Updates--Part Deux--The Brady 'Kitschen' and Dining Room

Well the short post yesterday worked out well...aka, it didn't take me 3 hours to get my computer to cooperate.  So we'll try the same format once again, shall we?

I don't think I've posted any recent pics of the Kitschen and Dining Room.  Everything's a work in progress and even tiny changes make a HUGE difference, don'tcha know.

 To make more room in the dining room, I took the leaf out of the table and reduced the number of chairs around it to four.  I then used the two 'leftover' sweet Sculptra chairs at the breakfast bar.  I like this set up much better....and it saves me from having to recover the three stools which had been at the bar...I bloody well hated those things anyway!

 Some of my first paintings on the wall above the buffet/hutch and a sweet little aqua 'Jamaica' tea towel to cover up some of the scratches on the top of the Sculptra table until I can refinish it...poor little lamb wasn't respected and was abused before I adopted it.

The vintage barbecue pitcher I bought a couple of months ago looks sooo cute on the counter!  Needs some daisies or black eyed susans in it though!  And how cute are these little owl salt and pepper shakers?  Even though the laundry is the 'owl' room, I just couldn't let these poppits out of the kitschen!  They were my great-grandmother's and sat in her kitchen as long as I can remember...my dad assures me that they also were there as long as he can remember as well!  Their little orange waistcoats and jade jackets match the 'kitschen' perfectly!  They remind me of the old 'Owl Jolson' cartoon.....

The pantry sits in the space between the kitschen and the living room.  When they installed the laminate flooring, it made the floor so high that we couldn't get the pantry door back on!  So I have to keep the thing uber neat and tidy!

 I adore this spice chart!  It tells you which spices work best with what dish!  The date at the bottom is 1967.  Check out the psychedelic graphics!

 My birthday was a week ago.  NO.  I will not tell you how old I am.  But I WILL introduce you to our new housemate here at the Brady Ponderosa.....the sweet sago palm mom got me as a present!  Fits perfectly in the hairpin legged plant stand...which I think I'll be painting black soon.

 As I was taking these pics, I realized that I have never shown you the inside of the revamped mid-'60s Hotpoint fridge!  Well, here he is......

I soooo love the cooling panel in the back!  Looks so cool!  The shelves were quite rusted when I found them....in various places around the basement.  So I painted them aqua to match the butter panel in the door.  It's a slightly darker aqua than the rest of the door....

 Here's a closeup of the starburst and diamond pattern on the butter door.  I think it may be my favourite thing in my kitschen....

Stay tuned!  Living room tomorrow!!

Updates!--Part I--The Laundry Room

It's been ages and I've once again been neglectful, but I still put the majority of the blame on this horrid computer of mine.  It just gets worse and worse and I dread doing a post as it takes about 10 times as long as it should and there's script errors and lock ups galore.  So I'm going to do a few short posts instead of one long post and see how that works out!  Here goes...

I've finally got my upper Youngstowns up in the laundry/utility room!  Oh the storage space I now have!  I'm dyin' over here!

 As you can see, I've begun displaying some of my dollhouse collection on top of this set of cabinets...I thought the 'Woodseys' were especially fitting for the Owl/Mushroom/'70s theme of the room!  Did any of you have the Woodsey collection as a kid?
And yes, that's Holly Hobbie and her best friend too!

They were a family of squirrels that lived in tree trunks and logs and had their own books to go along with them.  They were too flipping cute!

 

 

I was amazed at how well the cabinets fit the space!  They're not in perfect condition, and I'm considering painting them.  Maybe white again...or maybe pink and yellow and orange...

 I've moved a few things and added a couple of things to the corner since I last posted this room.  There's still an open spot under the tree that I need to find the perfect piece of kitsch for.  I'll find something!

PIIIIIIIGS IN SPAAAAAAAAACE---1969

Not THOSE pigs!....

THESE pigs.....

The Lay's Pigs.  It seems that, in 1969, to tie in with the actual Lunar Landing, the Lay's company put out a few of these as a promotion.  How many were actually distributed, I don't know.  But I could only find one for sale and GEEEEEZ LEEEEWWWWWEEEEEZZZZZ at the asking price on that baby!

I got my little mitts on this one as a kid.  One of the local high schools always had a barbeque supper to support it's booster club.  My entry ticket won me this beauty at the tender age of about 8.  I knew it was old then...and that's what I loved about it!

It's a super cool game!  The instructions read as follows:

THE OBJECT OF THE GAME is to be the first player to make a Lunar Landing on the moon.  A Lay's Three Little Pigs Astronaut Team mans each spacecraft in the race to the moon.  Up to four craft may enter the race at one time.

TO BEGIN THE GAME
1.  Each player should choose his spacecraft.  [I was always red!]

 

2.  Shuffle the stack of 32 cards [would you  believe they're all still there??]
3.  Decide who shall play first by spinning the Space Dial.  The player who spins the highest number of "Move Forward" spaces plays first.

4.  The space race begins at the Blast Off area on the Lunar Landing Board.

 

TO PLAY
1.  A player spins the Space Dial and does whatever it instructs him to do.  This will be one of three things:
     a.  Move Forward a certain number of spaces OR
     b.  Move Back a certain number of spaces OR
     c.  Draw a Card
 (IMPORTANT:  From BLAST OFF through JETTISON STAGE 3, a player accepts only FORWARD spins because the space craft has to go fast to free itself from the pull of the Earth's gravity.  [see what they did there?  A little bit of rocket science thrown right atcha!]  The player is to ignore orders to MOVE BACK and number of spaces or to DRAW A CARD until JETTISON STAGE 3 is completed.)

2.Directions on a CARD are to be followed immediately, except in the case of a LAYSer BEAM CARD. ["LAYSer Beam!  Oh, the clever word play!!]  All CARDS should be placed face up in a separate stack after they are played.  

3.  Five of the CARDS are LAYSer BEAM CARDS.  A LAYSer BEAM CARD can be used at any time.  It allows a player to ignore any instruction that might delay his lunar landing.  However, a LAYSer BEAM CARD can be used only once.  The player should keep his LAYSer BEAM CARD by his place at the Lunar Landing Board until he wants to use it.  A used LAYSer BEAM CARD is placed face up on the used deck of CARDS.

4.  When all the CARDS have been drawn, reshuffle the stack, place face down by the Lunar Landing Board and continue playing.
5.  Players should follow the directions on the Lunar Landing Board as indicated.

 

6.  Once his spacecraft has gone into orbit around the moon, a player continues in orbit until he gets a spin that stops him right on MOON PATH, the only space that permits a landing. (For example, if he is 2 spaces away, and he spins a "Forward 3 Spaces," he must "fly by".)

7.  When his craft stops on MOON PATH, the player must stay there until he spins a "Forward 1 Space."  He ignores all other instructions on he has landed on MOON PATH.

8.  The first one to land on the moon is the winner.

 I can tell ya that this is one of those games that, while it seems simple enough, can eat into an entire summer afternoon!  It is a LOOOONG game to play!  But it's super fun and was always one of my favourites!

I leave you with The Muppets....and Luke Skywalker....

Ad of the Day--A Whitman's Sampler for Mother's Day, 1952

Mothers are like a Box of Chocolates.  You never know what you're gonna get.

How Rockwell-ish is this ad????  Frankly, I've always hated Whitman's chocolates.  They're crap.  If I got my mother a Whitman's sampler for Mother's Day, she'd likely disown me.  We're more of a "See's" family, thanks.

My Sweet Embraceable Dakko-chan

A couple of weeks ago, I was flipping though an issue of Life Magazine from 1960 when I saw a semi-familiar face.  No, not her....

....although she's what caught my eye first!  I mean, how fab is that outfit?!  Truly?  But no, the face that caught my eye was the little cutey at her ankle.  To be fair, it was the skirt that sparked the recognition in me.  Didn't I used to have a toy that resembled that???

Yes.  YES!  I was sure of it!  It was a hand-me-down from my mother's own childhood.   And it did indeed latch on to your arm...or a lamp...or a bedpost....or anything really.  I eagerly read the story about the Dakko-chan.

It seems it was the 'fad of the year' in 1960.  Created that year by the Takara toy company (yep, the one who later created Transformers), these clingy little babies were all the rage in Japan and the popularity had spread to America.  Their name means 'embraceable' or 'embrace me' and that's just what they did!

Every 'with it' young girl wanted one, from Tokyo to New York...and even to Baileyton, Tennessee it would seem!

 

 

 

 

 

The toy went out of production in 1988 because of claims that it was racist....uh, yeah...ya think?!  I must admit though, as politically incorrect as the doll is, it's darn cute!  And who doesn't love a toy that grabs onto things?  Especially if it's your arm or leg?  Remember those weird monkey puppets with velcro hands and feet that everyone had in the '80s?

Anyway, the more I read about the Dakko-chan, the more I doubted that my memory was correct.  The toy I remembered was sort of a brownish gray.  And it was plush, not inflatable.  And, while I remembered it wearing a skirt, mine also wore a beret and didn't have a curl in the middle of it's forehead.  Perhaps I didn't have a Dakko-chan after all?  And just where on earth had that thing...whatever the hell it was...got to anyway???

My questions....well some of them....were answered just the other day!  I brought home several bins from my parents' house.  They were full of, well, my childhood basically.  About mid-way through the first bin, guess who's little eyes peered out and winked at me for the first time in years?.....

Yup.  My (well, my MOTHER'S really!) Dakko-chan!!  Isn't it the bee's?

I asked mom about his history and how she'd come by him.  She said that a boy had won the Dakko-chan for her at the fair when she was in her early teens....around 1960 or '61.  She said they were all the rage and were marketed as 'bedpost dolls' and that this little bit of sweetness hung on her bedpost until after high school.  She said it was originally an aqua colour...you can kind of see it in the joints at it's head and legs!  

I've searched all over and can't find any reference anywhere to a plush, blue version of the Dakko-chan.  His only marking is his teeny tiny 'Made in Japan' tag.  Surely this isn't the only one out there?  Any of you seen one of these little moppets?  Do you have any hand-me-down toys from your parents?

This Week's Haul: Tables, Fabric, Patterns, Appliances, And A New 'Hazel'!

I know.  I'm still slacking, but I swear it's because this stupid computer is so slow and buggy that it honestly DOES take hours to do just one post.  It has more brain farts than Albert Einstein at a Mexican restaurant!  So annoying and I'll likely throw it out the window shortly.

I haven't done a 'Haul' post in a few weeks, so I'm going to throw all my recent finds into this one...I hope you'll forgive me!

I finally snagged a new 'Hazel'.  That's the name of my dress form I had while I was in London (and 'Hazel II' was my final collections dress form at uni).  I sold Hazel when I graduated and hadn't found a replacement for her until now.  Yayyy!

She's actually about a size larger than sample size at her smallest, but she'll do for the moment until I can find a smaller, better form.  And for $24, it was a great deal.  I love her!  And the fact that she's aqua just makes her and even more fabulous mid-century diva!

She's 'Pip Approved'.

I've also gotten a few new patterns at Habitat.  I used to buy TONS of them because they were only 25 cents each, but for some reason they've raised them to 50 cents and mentally I can't wrap my tightwad head around it, therefore I usually buy less---both volume and $$ wise.  Marketing stupidity there, Habitat.

Anyway.  I also got a nice HUGE curtain panel there, I'm estimating from the late '50s.  They didn't have it marked and I was told they'd price it at the register...again, not a very good marketing plan as it made me instantly on edge expecting to be taken advantage of.  Luckily, it was only $2.50!

There's a good four or five yards!  It'll make something fab!

I found this great tray at my favourite thrift store and knew I had to have it! 

Of course, I looooooove the graphics.  They're too cute and oh so 1970's/'80s Japanese cartoon luciousness...which is my childhood in a visual nutshell! 

I keep a lot of my loose hair pins, clips, and ties in a box in the top drawer of my bathroom vanity and it's hell digging through in search of something...especially while holding the hair the elusive accessory will hold in one hand...you know what I mean, ladies, we've all done it!  I'm happy to report that, after arranging them in my new tray,  yesterday I was able to find what I was looking for in record time!  Not bad for a dollar!

I got these tables at the same time....

I'd seen them on a previous visit, but didn't buy them.  This time, I only saw the two end tables and thought maybe I'd imagined the coffee table.  I asked and the owner assured me that the coffee table was around somewhere, but we'd have to look for it because she couldn't remember where she'd put it!  We found it underneath another taller table in a corner.  I remembered they weren't very expensive from the last time I was there, but couldn't remember the exact price.  I was thrilled when she said, "I've got them marked at $15".  I was even more thrilled when she went on to say, "...but they've got that yellow dot on them, so they're part of the 20% off sale."  What?  $12????  Yup.  $12.

They're not very heavy and aren't in pristine condition, but they're a killer style and I've been looking for a set of tiered end tables to either use in my living room as additional table-idge or in my bedroom since my current bedroom suit is sans nightstands.  I haven't decided where they'll go, but they'll for sure be painted first.  The coffee table will go somewhere as well, but for the moment, they're all three in the 'moving in room', aka, junk room!

This great starburst footed platter was bought off a local facebook selling site for $8.  Love it! 

  

I've since found out that it was originally a chaffing dish, but is missing it's 'chafe'.  It's still fab and will come in handy I'm sure!

The next couple of 'finds' weren't bought, but simply brought to my house from my parents' house. 

These two pictures were in my house (my grandparents' house) to begin with and were taken out by my mom and I while renovating so they wouldn't be ruined or lost.  They've made their return and appear quite happy to be 'home'.

This is a pic of my grandparents themselves, Grover and Bertha, freshly married around 1942.  Don't you just love the soft tinting on old photographs?

This photo of my mom, around 1963, hung in my bedroom in this house when I was little.  I love the pattern on this dress!

When I got home from work the other day, I found this in Pip's 'Staying at Gran's House' bag...

Mom had apparently decided I needed it for my laundry room!  This is a '70s original and made many moves with my parents and me.  It's been in my parents' current laundry room since I was 12, but when mom called the next day and asked if I'd found it, she said it was just screaming to be in my owl and mushroom laundry!  I can't wait to install it!

I've realized this morning that I never posted any pics of a 'haul' from before Christmas!  My late '40s General Electric kitchen appliances!

They're in my basement at the moment in the canning kitchen from which I snatched my current mid '60s upstairs oven and fridge.  I plan on using the unfinished basement as a tiki bar/billiard room and will of course need an extra kitchen for that...well, maybe not NEED, but it'll be nice!

I haven't done much cleaning on them yet...except for the inside of the fridge...but now that we're having some warm weather, the basement is more tolerable and I'll be getting them ship shape soon.  Then I can put them in proper position in the room.  At the moment, they're just sort of sat in the middle of the floor!  I may eventually paint the refrigerator because it has a little spot of rustiness showing ever so slightly through a corner at the bottom.  I'd LOVE to take it to someone to professionally paint it and if I do, it'll end up either pink or aqua and that's all there is to it!

Check out the inside!  It's pretty much all there.  

I think, upon doing a little spot of research, that the only thing missing is the glass topper of the 'Meat' drawer.  Everything else is intact and in great condition...the 94 year old original owner (a friend of my mom who is preparing to move from the house she's lived in since the early '50s into an assisted living flat) even found the original manual as well as the release lever for the ice aluminum ice tray for me!  She and her husband brought these appliances with them when they moved into the house!  They moved them into the basement in the early '60s when they redid the kitchen....you should see the GE oven they replaced this one with!  It's one of the cute ones with the push buttons!  And don't even get me started on the kitschy wall paper behind it!  I should get a photo next time i visit!  I've told her to make sure that whoever buys the house has my number and knows that I will buy that oven from them if they take it out...as well as the Youngstown sink in the basement that matches the cabinets I bought from her!

The Airliner oven is officially non-working right now and not in as good condition as the fridge.  I say OFFICIALLY because mom's friend said that it had a short in it and she'd unplugged it because of that.  TECHNICALLY though, I think it's probably perfectly fine.  When I went to pick it up, her son and I were looking at it and he said he never knew until I'd asked to buy it that it wasn't working.  He turned and asked his mom what was wrong and she again stated that it had a short in it.  When pressed further, she said that she'd been using the oven a few years ago and it had 'shocked' her when she touched it.  He and I looked at each other and at the same time said, "Not grounded?"  Probably.  Because when we pulled it out, there was no grounding wire.  And since the basement was never a proper kitchen, the outlet itself was unlikely to be grounded either.  Since she just got a little shock...and lived!...it's unlikely to have caused anything to short out, so it's probably just fine!  Of course, I'm going to have a professional come look at it before I plug it in, just in case.

It has its original soup warmer and it even has all of the inserts for steaming several things at once!

If it turns out that she is in working condition, the only real issue she has is the broken face on the clock/timer...

Well, that's it for now!  Any of you scored some good stuff lately?