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!

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

The Week's Haul....

Hello Loverlies!
I've spent far too much money that I don't have this week.  Really.  But you know how it is when you come across something that's perfect for a specific room or spot in the house or for a project you're doing and you just can't let it slip away!  Well that's what happened to me this week....although it happened to me more than once.  Here's the haul:

All three of these little dumplings are for my laundry room.  It's the one room in the house that I'm designating as pure '70s chic.  Owls and mushrooms all.  In shades of brown, green, yellow, and orange.

1970's Mushroom Pitcher...yes, those are actual plastic flowers from the '70s as well!
1970's Owl vase/planter...is he not just the cutest thing you've ever seen?  I love his drippy left eye!
1970's Owl figurine...I had to buy him.  The drippy eyed one said he'd eat my brain in my sleep if I left his friend behind.  I believed him.  Cost for all three: $18.50.  Not exactly 'thrifty', but not bad!

This little sweet pea was too perfect to resist!  Not only does she match my salt and pepper shakers (CiCi and Pierre), but the gold tag on her back reads, "Souvenir of Virginia".  So she fits into my travel souvenir laden kitschen decor like a dream!  I've named her 'Pebbles' because the bone she's holding and that top knot make her look like a canine version of the spawn of Fred and Wilma Flintstone.  Cost: $1...yeah, that's right!  $1!

The smaller chalkware puppy is the 'new to me' darling.  The larger one belonged to my grandparents.  Don't they make a handsome pair?  Chalkware Lassie...$1

This little gem of a late 50's-early 60's Paris souvenir plate is honestly just gorgeous.  And it better have been for the $3 price tag at the thrift store.  $3???  At a THRIFT store????

As I mentioned, I have a new Scottie puppy named Pip.  He turned 4 months old yesterday.  My mother also has a new Scottie named McTavish.  He's 2 1/2 months old.  They don't get along.  Mom watches Pip while I'm at work and she didn't mind until they got Tavvy.  Now, with the two of them barking at one another nonstop, she'd rather not.  Today, she was kind enough to look out for Pip while I was doing errands.  One of them was to go and check out the new antique shop that a friend just opened.  On one of the shelves was this cutie patootie of a vase as well as a cute figurine of two scotties.  I gave the figurine to my mother in gratitude for dealing with the two 'little men' all afternoon and kept this one for myself!  It's for my sewing room, which is the art deco room of the house...and also the 'scottie room' for all of the vintage scottie 'stuff' I've acquired over my life of collecting it.  Scottie vase: $5.

Here we have a swatch of the mid century table cloth that I found at Goodwill.  Normally I boycott Goodwill, but today I made an exception and I'm bloody well glad I did.  I've got three stools that sit at my bar that need recovering.  I've gone through all of my fabric and, since I don't know that I'll be keeping the stools in the end, I hesitate to waste good fabric on them.  This however is perfect and was a steal at $3.  It's one of those textured vinyl table cloths with a fabric backing.  Not something I'd use as a tablecloth or even in one of my designs, so it's perfect for the project!  And the colour and pattern both fit.  Plus, I like the pattern so much that I may use what's left over to make a couple of outdoor appropriate throw pillows for some saucer chairs I'll be refurbing once spring gets a little closer.  Actually, looking at it this way, a portion may look nice framed and on a wall in my dining room?!!  Maybe??

Have you lot bought any goodies this week?

xx