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!

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?

Work In Progress--Who Whos and Shrooms Laundry Room

Hello my dearest darlings!  I hope you've all had a loverly week!  Other than working, I spent a good bit of mine in the laundry room.  Not actually doing laundry...well, I did a bit...but trying to get the room itself in a bit better order decor-wise so that I could make some larger decisions about some changes
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The house, as a whole, is being taken down into the sixties.  My hope is that, eventually, the house will have a "brand new in 1964" look to it.  A lot of the original features, though put in sometime from the early-mid '70s will be easily absorbed into this look.  Others....not so much.

Case in point, the laundry room, which I've decided to keep as the one room that retains much of the early '70s vibe of the house...at least for now.

The main feature of the room is the carpet.  While a good bit of the carpet in the house has been pulled up and replaced with hardwood, my budget for doing so was a bit short, so the rooms with carpet in better condition have been left.  The carpet in the laundry room is pretty darn pristine....and oh so late 60s/early 70s flower power...or is it starbursts....or maybe snowflakes???!.....

 

Whatever they're supposed to be, they're bloody brill and that's all there is to it!

I took the original curtains from the kitchen because they just screamed tacky '70s and put them in this room in place of the heavy butter yellow pleated pretties that were there.  

It lightened up the room instantly and the browns and oranges look so right in here!  Mom told me the other day that she'd seen the same curtains in an old movie from the '70s, but couldn't remember which one!  Think, Mom!  Think!!

The washer and dryer that were in the room when I moved in were the originals.  The washer was, unfortunately, done.  Something about a bearing...or baring...I don't know.  Not my area!  So we had to get a new one.  The dryer works, but my grandfather had stacked junk on top of it and there were some areas of rust on the top.  Not only did it look bad, but it presented a stain hazard to any clothing that might get put on top of it.  So I had an epiphany....cover it with flowers!!

 I'd bought some old '60s shelf liner months ago and decided, since there wasn't much of it, I could just cut out bits to cover the problem areas...

 Cute, no?  I still have a bit and will probably continue with one or two here and there on the cabinets and such once they're all installed.

Speaking of cabinets, I bought these Youngstowns from a friend of my mom who, at 93, is preparing to move out of the house she's lived in since the '50s.

They'd been relegated to her basement in the early '70s, so they're not in perfect condition...but close to it.  They're also from two different time periods.  Two of the larger bottom cabinets (and two of the wall cabinets as well), while they're the same model # as the boomerang handled ones, have very art deco handles as well as black tops instead of the grey cracked ice of the others.  

I think I may try and find more of the boomerang handles and when I eventually paint these guys, I'll swap them out so they'll all match.  The tops of all of them are a little rough, so I'll probably replace them all with a lovely formica.

There's also a bunch of upper cabinets that are at the moment sitting in my basement until I can get my dad to come help me install them.  If he doesn't come soon, I may just go ahead and paint them all...if we can ever get some warm weather!  Any suggestions for colour?  I don't want to keep them white...that's just boresville!  I've been thinking of bittersweet, maybe.  Or aqua just to add a big pop of another colour into the mix?  Or maybe a mixture of bittersweet, green, and white?

Another cool piece that seemed meant to be in this room is the swivel rocker I found one day while I was moving things from my parents' house to here.

I decided to pop into one of my favourite thrift stores on the way.  As I pulled up I saw this tacky cutie patootie out front.  I thought to myself how loverly she'd be in my laundry room and when I realized what great condition the cover and it's great orange, yellow, and green print was in (it seriously looks brand spanking new!), I decided that I loved it.

"Ok," I told myself.  "If it's less than $20, you should get it.  Surely it won't be more than that."

The price tag (a sheet of notebook paper taped to the back), had blown backward from the breeze that day and as I approached, I noticed that it looked to have a lot of writing on it.  "Great," I thought, "Someone knows this is pristine mid-century colonial revival.  Guess it won't be coming cheap."

Imagine my thrill when I flipped the paper over and read:

'Free to a good home.  Please take me with you!'

I literally RAN into the shop and asked if in fact this gorgeous little lemon was really free!  It was!  The lady offered to help me with loading it into my car.  When she saw that I drive a Mini, she had her doubts.  When she saw it was full of boxes, she doubted even more!  I assured her that I was the queen of Mini Tetris and that it would indeed fit!  After a good ten minutes of scooootching and shifting, the little darling was in!  SCORE!!

Look at that print.....

The wooden arms are a little worn and I'm tempted to paint them either orange, green, or white.  We'll see....

Since there was so much owl and mushroom decor in the house originally, I thought I might as well use it in my happy '70s laundry room, especially as the colours tended to be the same browns, greens, and oranges that were already creeping into the room.  I've already mentioned that my grandmother was a kitsch queen...here's a little of the incriminating evidence:

 

My mom actually made these cute little crewel mushroom pictures back in the early '70s!

  

She also made this mushroom wall hanging.  She said she made it for herself from a kit and used it in this house when she and my dad lived in it in the early-mid '70s while it was being built.  She left it (as well as the two above) when they moved out in early '77.  My grandmother apparently didn't like this one when she moved in and was selling it in a yard sale in the late '70s when my OTHER grandmother fell in love with it and bought it from her.  It hung in the space between her kitchen and the door into the hallway for most of my childhood.  I found it boxed up when we were cleaning out her house and now here it is, back where it started:

 The copyright on the back of the burlap reads:

Columbia Minerva Corp.

Erica Wilson 1971

Mom can't take credit for this monstrosity though!  Isn't he horrible?  And lovely?  The mushroom towel is from a set I found and kept from my other grandmother.

I want to frame these guys eventually, but for now the little string hangers work fine!

 And more owls:

Mom made the 3-D 'Owl In The Plastic Bubble' for my grandparents in the late '70s.  There's a pheasant that matches it!

So there's the happy '70s laundry room so far.  I'll keep you posted as it comes along!

Hope you have a loverly weekend, chickens!

XX

This (Past Few) Week's Haul---Lamps, Kitchen Kitsch, and More!!!

Golly, chickens, I didn't realize how long it's been since I did a 'Haul' post until I began the photo-taking today!  I've got such a lot of goodies to show you!  Here goes!

This little gem of a China Craft vase was unpacked by my boss while I was helping her set up at the Antique Appraisal Fair in town.  I immediately asked her how much, and was given the 'retail' and the 'Dolly' price.  I told her to try and sell it for the full amount, but that if it lasted the weekend it was officially mine!  Thank goodness there aren't many MCM folks round here and this lovely of lovelies is now residing on the Sculptra hutch in my dining room.

 

And the coolest thing?  It matches perfectly the China Craft bowl (that I picked up at Habitat almost a year ago for $3) that sits on my coffee table.  I'm debating moving it to the dining room table, but haven't talked myself into it as of yet!

 

This handsome big eyed Artful Dodger impersonator was won on a local horse rescue's facebook auction page!  I love him!  Sorry about the darkness of the pic...we've had so little sunlight lately and it's in the foyer which only gets a tiny strip of light from the 'slit window' in the carport door.

Look at the little four leaf clover in his mouth!  Too adorable!

Another dark and foreboding pic!  A super retro vintage metal shelf.  Another facebook find, but this one on a local buy/sell page.  And it's gorgeous!  Perfect condition and unfortunately just the right size to fit just about anywhere, ergo, it's been playing musical chairs round my house and hasn't yet found its 'home' yet! 

 

This little number came with it!  I'd been searching for one for ages and this one is terrif!  Would you believe it even still has the original rubber feet.  I was most surprised that it retained its original removable metal mesh insert.  Usually you find them without it.  And it's in almost perfect condition...just a tiny spot of rust on the insert, but that can be shot with a little black Rustoleum and it'll be good as new!

 

The lady I bought the shelf and magazine/record rack from had bought a couple of things from me recently on the same site and had mentioned that she had a thrift store.  

When I laid claim to these, we decided it was the perfect opportunity for me to see her shop and so she held them there for me to pick up.  WHAT A THRIFT STORE FIND!!  Wowwy wow wow!   

I love it when you find a thrift store that is just chock full of stock...and chock full of great goodies...and at great prices!  This was one of those....and it's only about a 15 minute drive from me, I discovered!

While I was there to pick up the shelf and rack I, of course, had to do a little shopzies.  Talk about a score for the Brady Ponderosa! 

The fist thing I came across were these bad boys....

I'd seen some on Etsy a few months ago when I was perusing MCM wall cover and loved them.  Here they were for $5 the set!  Aren't they divine?

As I was checking out, we began discussing 'The Ponderosa' and as soon as I said, "Brady Bunch orange countertops, she was off!  She returned with these sweet little mod niblets....

I know.  They're tremendous.  And only 50 cents each!  They match my mod wine glasses a dream:
 
Now I have a complete mod dinner set when I pair them with my Pyrex Crazy Daisy dish set!  It has cups and saucers with it, but I like these better!

I found this sweet little Scottie Dog creamer as well.  I already have one...well, two actually, but my mom's knicked one of them!...so I was glad to find a second!

In the back room, I almost missed this little baby!  I'd seen a pink one on ebay a year or so ago, but didn't bid on it because, not only was it going a little high for my taste, it had been printed a little low and the scottie dog was half cut off by the lip of the bottom tray when it was together.

This one ain't pink, but it's just as fab!  And the little scottie is VERY prominent, as it should be!  Pip's impressed.  I was most impressed that you can actually carry TWO deserts in this!  While one cake sits on the bottom tray and is covered by the middle section with the graphic, a second pie or plate of cookies can then be sat on top of the graphic tin and covered by the little rounded top!  How sweet!

Speaking of scotties, I'm doing my sewing room in them.  And red and black.  And as much Art Deco as I can get my little mitts on.  So when I found this frame on the bottom of a stack of frames at work while cleaning, I was smitten!  I asked my boss how much it was as it wasn't priced.  She said she couldn't even remember where it came from let alone a price, so to just take it!  Yaayyy!

The dog food advert is one of the two I told you about in the Life magazine I bought at work a few weeks ago.

Looks like Pip's profile!...or at least it will when he's full grown!


Not long after, I won this great MCM pitcher with a barbecue motif from the same horse rescue site I bought the big eyed waif from:

This'll be great with summer flowers in it sitting on my counter!


When I was out and headed to the grocery store the other day, I remembered that there's a little consignment shop down the road that I've never had the chance to get to.  I whipped in and found not only a great shop with a pretty darn good selection of antiques, but also a kindred spirit in the lady who owns it.  She, like us my dears, loves vintage.  Also, like me, she's most fond of the '60s and '70s.  We talked for ages.  She'd been to the sale that we'd done when my grandfather moved out of the house and was thrilled when I told her I was keeping everything very mid century.  But when I told her about my kitschy '70s owl and mushroom laundry room, she quickly asked if I'd seen the clock in the back of the case at the register.  Of course I had!  I asked her how much it was, just in case I decided to come back and get it and she proceeded to take it out and give it to me.  She said that she hadn't cleaned it up and it didn't work, so she hadn't even bothered to price it yet, but that she'd done really well selling the rest of the set...so I should just take it!  What is it about me that people are always giving me things?  Not that I'm complaining!  I took this home and cleaned it up.  It'll need a new mechanism, but it'll look fab with the canisters I got a month or two ago!

We've had a few warm days lately and I've been slowly trying to get my vintage set of outdoor saucer chairs ready to go.  I've been looking for ages for a table to go with them and a couple of days ago at work, it hit me that this single stacking table/stool would be perfect....and it was only five bucks!  I'm most likely going to paint it to match the chairs.  Don't worry, it's a repro!

I've saved the best bits for last.  The lamps.  Oh, the lamps!
The lady at the thrift store (of the shelf, rack, carrier, scottie, and pictures) rang me and told me she had a lamp that I'd just love and to come by and see it.  She sent me a picture and I told her to hold the phone!  It was the ugliest, most fabulous lamp I'd seen in a long time!  I wanted it and would be by to pick it up shortly!  Here's he is now:

And in a gratuitous close up:
  

The last time I was there, I'd spotted this little poppit:

It was still there, so I snatched it up too!

Last, but not least, THE LAMP.  I mean the greatest lamp ever! 

I'd seen it the first time I was there, but the lady was keeping it for herself.  When I returned, she said she couldn't get the shade off (she hated the base) and if I wanted it I could have it for...wait for it.........$20!!!  How quick do you think I grabbed it up and held it close lest someone else in earshot get a split second to snatch it for themselves??!!
The base IS weird.  But it's weird in a good way I think.  I'm pretty sure it's carved plaster.  It's white, but has been lightly rubbed with a greenish gold wash in places.  I love it!

I love the striping effect going on on the shade!

Well kids, that's the scores from the last few weeks!  How've you lot done on the thrift?