50's, cathrineholm, chalk ware, dishes, friendship pyrex, haul, jadeite, mid century modern, pyrex, target, taylorstone cathay, thrift, thrift haul, vintage

Thrift Haul!

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It’s been awhile since I’ve done a thrift haul partly because I’ve cut down on my thrifting and partly because I haven’t found a lot of amazing things lately. I’ve been thinking more practically and that I need to clean, organize, and donate the stuff I already have before acquiring anything new. So I wasn’t really doing any heavy thrifting for a couple months. Of course during those months I didn’t actually make any cleaning and organizing progress so… that’s still a work in progress. But, some spring cleaning is definitely in order (only a few more weeks till spring y’all, hopefully). Anyway I’ve made my way back to the thrift stores in recent weeks so I figured I’d share some of the things I’ve found recently and that I found a while ago but have yet to share.

1. Cathrineholm bowls.

 I got both of these bowls at a vintage store near Milwaukee last fall. I went on a mini road trip there to visit the SC Johnson HQ where they have some Frank Lloyd Wright buildings (more on that in a future post). Anyway we went to a flea market near Milwaukee and though it was a cool market there were hardly any of the vintage goods we were looking for. But, we had noticed a sign for an antique store nearby so we went and I found these bowls for $15 buck (total). The lady that ran the store wasn’t really into mid century stuff so she had great reasonable prices. The bowls aren’t in the best condition but for $15 bucks I couldn’t say no.

2. Chalk Figure Wall Art

I don’t exactly know what these are called but I stumbled upon them a couple months ago at Value Village and had to have them. It’s not often I find such cool kitschy stuff at the thrift store so when I see something I like I pounce. These are also in rough condition but I actually don’t mind that. They’re totally cool and were pretty cheap so I’m totally OK with the cracks and nicks.

3. Embroidered Wall Art

I fell in love with this embroidered wall art when I first saw it on Smile and Wave (here and here) . So when I saw it at Savers a few days ago I knew I had to get it. It’s huge but I really like it, just have to find a place for it.

4. Kitchen Wall Art

I  saw this while browsing a new Goodwill in my neighborhood. I really like the graphics, colors, and look of it.


5. & 6. Friendship and Jadeite

I pretty much only pick up Pyrex if it’s in a pattern I like/love. I see a good amount of it but I just don’t think it’s worth it if I’m not into the pattern. I do however love the friendship pattern so when I saw this bowl I immediately grabbed it and true to it’s name it came with a couple of friends. Tucked inside the larger friendship bowl was the smaller friendship bowl and a slightly larger Jadeite bowl!!! I’ve been looking for Jadeite in thrift stores ever since I saw Martha Stewart’s envious collection in a magazine and wanted to start collecting it. Though I’ve seen it a lot at Antique/Vintage stores I’ve never popped on them. So I was very excited to find this one hiding amongst the pyrex.


7.  Target Frame

I bought two prints from my best friend earlier this year and have been searching for frames for them ever since. If you’re into the art you can buy some of her prints here on her Etsy page (NSFW). I found this one and originally had it in mind for another print but this one ended up working in the frame better.  It’s a simple frame from target that I got at the salvation army, the salvation army and goodwill are good places to get cheap Target frames (at least in my neck of the woods). I may find a better frame for it in the future but for now I like it and the search for a frame for the second print continues.

8. Taylorstone “Cathay” Dishes

I’ve found a couple other dishes in this pattern before, so when I saw a good amount of it at a local thrift store I knew I had to get at least a couple of the dishes. Of course I ended up getting the whole set. Unlike Savers and the Salvation Army this thrift store doesn’t bundle like dishes so I was afraid it’d be more money than I wanted to spend. But after adding up all the prices It ended up being fairly reasonable. I don’t have a complete set but I’m definitely on my way!

As always I’m linking up with A Living Space, Sir Thrift-A-Lot, and Remnant. Be sure to check out all their cool finds too!

50's, 60's, 70's, Elvis, Graceland, kitsch, Memphis, Mississippi road trip, road trip, Tennessee., travel

Mississippi Road trip: Memphis pt. 1 Graceland, the main house

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         I have a weird fascination with Tennessee, I’d never been until we went on this trip, but it just seems like a cool place to visit. Someday I’ll visit more of it go back to Memphis, Nashville, go to their big flea market and maybe even bonaroo (not all at once though). Anyway once I checked out where Springfield was and that it was relatively (but not really) close to Memphis I immediately wanted to add it to the itinerary. The number one reason I wanted to go to Memphis was, of course, to see Graceland! I love vintage kitsch and Graceland is like the holy grail of vintage kitsch. It’s a time capsule house of Elvis. And oh boy did Graceland deliver! Oh my god I would go back again, it was soo cool!!!! so worth the long drive. I highly recommend it if you’re in Memphis.  The house isn’t very big compared to today’s McMansions but it was in Elvis’ time. It was also named Graceland before Elvis ever lived there, he bought it from a doctor who named it after his wife. Anyway there is SOOO much to see at Graceland so I’m going to break it up into a few posts. So here are the pictures of the main house. 

Front of the House

The Living Room :

Check out those groovy peacock stained glass room dividers

And so begins one of the motifs of Graceland, Mirrors EVERYWHERE.

Sputnik chandelier in the Hallway? yes please!

  
Elvis’ Parent’s Room:

Amazing purple bathroom with…

Poodle wallpaper! mama like.

closet

Hallway/ Stairs to the 2nd Floor

Visitors aren’t allowed on the 2nd floor so this is all you see of it. Notice the mirrored wall.

 Dining Room:

The Kitchen: 

Carpet in the Kitchen?

I saw one of those canisters in the thrift store and immediately picked it up because I remembered wanting it but put it back because I didn’t remember why I wanted it. I wanted it because I saw it in Graceland!!! doh! Next time.

Preview of the Jungle Room:

The TV Room/ Bar :

Mirrored Bar

If you didn’t notice the color pallet for the TV room/ bar is bright yellow and navy blue. Interesting choice.

After visiting Graceland I’ve developed a need for white ceramic monkeys, don’t judge.

The headset said Elvis saw someone that had multiple TVs (possibly the President) and decided he needed three as well, which is great in the days before the DVR.

MORE MIRRORED WALLS!

 Game room/ Den:

check out that crazy patchwork wall tapestry

I’m kind of obsessed with the circus tent treatment to the fabric walls, I  kind of really love it.

yes there is a matching couch

 The Jungle Room: 

The Jungle Room is hilarious. It is an semi- Tiki /Hawaiian style, has green shag carpet on the floor and celing,  large wood carved furniture and faux (yes faux) fur upholstery.  

MORE CERAMIC MONKEYS!!!!!

The back of the house

There is way more Graceland to come. The Grounds have multiple buildings full of Elvis goodies which I’ll try to fit into one post and of course his planes (which are also amazing), stay tuned for more.

50's, 60's, coffee, estate sale haul, estate sales, fish, haul, kitsch, lamps, Mad Men, mid century modern, Peggy, pitcher, pyrex, thrift haul, tv lamps

Mid Century Estate Sale Goodness

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          As I mentioned before I haven’t been thrifting as much in the last couple weeks in part because of a sweet mid century estate sale I saw posted on estatesales.net last week. I’m a sucker for mid century anything and once I saw the pictures online I knew I’d have to go. I was mostly interested in a pair of mid century Reglor Lamps that had the original shade. I got up early the first day of the sale to try and get the lamps but by the time I got there they were gone. Everything was reasonably priced but all of the lamps were a tad out of my price range. They had a lot of cool mid century lamps but they were all around $125-150.00, not bad really but I was only really ready to pop on them if they were under $100.00. We  were also planning to go to a big garage sale the next day and I didn’t want to spend so much money on a pair of lamps. The woman running the sale said that sale was just the tip of the iceberg that in two weeks there would be another sale of even more stuff. I guess the owner was frequent estate sale attendee and ebay-er, my kinda guy! But he has so much stuff he decided to sell some of it, awesome. So since there’s so much stuff I may end up getting some cool lamps at the next sale. We did end up with some cool stuff anyway. Most of it is actually my mom’s, she went with me to the sale and I bought her some stuff as presents for Mother’s day and her birthday which are both coming up. Anyway here’s the cool stuff we walked away with.

1. This Snowflake Pyrex casserole with lid and cradle. My Pyrex enthusiasm has waned in the past few weeks. If I find a cool pattern/color for a good price I’ll pop but I find myself passing them up more and more. This was only $5 bucks so I figured I’d get it. Plus it’s a color and pattern I don’t have and haven’t seen in a thrift store.

** Also Peggy and I have the same casserole

image via Tom and Lorenzo

2. This restaurant style coffee pot.

3. This cool Mid Century light was the item I got my mom for mothers/her birthday. It goes with our living room and she really likes it.

yup it lights up

4. Probably the coolest thing we got was this fish TV lamp. They had about 7 or so of these at the sale in various colors. We’ve seen various TV lamps before but never these funky fish, so we had to get it. It’s pretty cool right?

The fish illuminated!!!!
one of the marbles fell off

This week I’m also linking up with Her Library Adventures’ Flea Market Finds and Apron Thrift Girl’s Thrift Share Monday so you can check out what other bloggers found recently. Did you go to any sweet sales last weekend? Find any cool items?

50's, 60's, Betty, Joan, Mad Men, OOTD, Peggy, Roger, style, TV

Mad for Mad Men

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Image Via AMC

If you like television like I like television, which is perhaps a bit too much, then you’re probably just as psyched for the return of Mad Men today. I didn’t actually start watching Mad Men until 2010, I’d heard so many good things about it and its style but just hadn’t put in the time to get into it. Anyway I totally got sucked in and quickly caught up on seasons 1-3. So, when I heard last year Mad Men wasn’t returning until 2012 I was bummed.  Though I tried to quell my thirst for the Drapers with sub-par 60’s dramas (*cough* Pan Am *cough*) there’s nothing like the real things, and I’m glad It’s finally back! So of course I had to do a Mad Men post in celebration of the 2 hour season premier tonight.
     
        Mad Men is pretty well known for it’s style so what better way to celebrate its return then through a post celebrating the style of it’s leading ladies.

Betty Draper

 First up is Betty Draper ex-wife of Don, disgruntled housewife, and WASP. In other words the ultimate 1950’s housewife. Mad Men is of course set in the 1960’s but Betty’s style is most definitely informed by 50’s fashion, including the classic 50’s circle skirt silhouette. When she’s not in a skirt or dress she goes full WASP in her classic equestrian chic look.
And of Course what would a Betty Draper post be without disheveled Betty.

Anyway here’s my take on Betty’s look. This is actually my Halloween costume from 2010 when I went as a 50’s housewife.  Betty’s look is very 50’s housewife with pearls, circle skirts, cardigans and heels. She is always dressed to the nines and never skips a beat, even when she’s sad Betty.

Cardigan and Skirt: Vintage  Shoes: Urban Outfitters  Necklace and Earrings: Target  Bracelet: Marshall Fields (before Macy’s took over)

Joan Holloway aka Joan Harris

 The second and probably most iconic look of all the female Mad Men Characters is Joan. Sassy, in charge and sexy Joan is the office Marilyn and always dresses the part. With Christina Hendircks’ fabulous curves Joan’s style is sleek, tailored and sexy. Joan is an ace at knowing what works for her body. Unafraid of color Joan’s look incorporates bold color with slim silhouettes that accentuate her tiny waist and lovely curves.

I have a couple looks that would work for Joan but I haven’t blogged them yet and want to save them for future posts. This entry from the skirt challenge, though, works equally as well.  What makes it very Joan to me is the pencil skirt, bold color and highlighted waist. When letting out your inner Joan highlighting your curves is of the utmost importance as is incorporating solid bright colors.
 Shirt and Skirt: Thrift Shoes: Urban Outfitters Necklace: Target

MARGARET ‘PEGGY’ OLSON

Finally we have Peggy the smart, modern, working girl carving out a place amongst the men at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. Peggy’s style is very 50’s school girl but seems to be evolving into a bit more of a mature style, with a few school girl touches. Despite being in her 20’s her style is fairly Juvenile. Peggy is often shown in more muted tones with bold, simple patterns and higher necklines.

Peggy’s style is the hardest to translate for me but I think this dress works well. Peggy doesn’t work as many brights solids as Joan but she’s sort of the middle point between Joan and Betty. Peggy incorporates both full and pencil skirts, bright and muted colors and a variety of patterns. Though it’s a tad brighter than Peggy’s general palate and the neckline is a bit lower then Peggy’s normal ware I think this dress works fairly well for a Peggy look and it’s also my OOTD for today. 
excuse the floors that need to be sanded

Dress: ASOS Scarf: Thrift Shoes: DSW  Bag: Thrift (originally from Target)  Scarf: Vintage
And just for shits n’ giggles I had to add a picture of my favorite male character and silver fox on the show, Roger Sterling. Le swoon. 
*all Images via google images and AMC
Whose style do you like the best? Which TV characters do you wish you had full closet access to?

50's, elephant, green, haul, planter, shop your house, thrift haul, vintage

Shop Your Home

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        Shop your home is a phrase I first heard on the Nate Berkus show a few year ago. It refers to changing up your interiors by moving furniture and home decor items from their current locations to different areas of your home. It also refers to re-discovering things packed away in basements and storage. I’ve done this a few time in my house. I found a few bedside tables to put in my room a few years ago and dug up some of my mom’s vintage clothes. Anyway, we recently had another shop your home moment when my mom brought up the above planter from the basement.

 After my our mini road trip to Red Wing Sunday my mom dug up this little gem. A few weeks ago we went to an estate sale that had this planter (though a bit bigger) as a lamp. While at the estate sale my mom exclaimed she had a very similar planter at home. We didn’t end up getting the lamp. They wanted around $250.00 for it and that’s just out of my price range. So, the next day I tried to find it but had no luck.  Thus, I was super happy when my mom brought it up from the basement Sunday. I’m kind of obsessed with it. I just have to figure out where to put it!
Tang also likes the planter.
Have you ever shopped your home? What did you find?

50's, prada, spring/summer

Retro Summer Dreams

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       Despite it still being February I can’t help but daydream about spring/Summer and a time when jackets are unnecessary and skirts and dresses can be worn without leggings or tights. As I live in Minnesota and the weather can be rather unpredictable the arrival of spring is always a guessing game. But, given the incredibly mild winter we’ve had so far I can only hope we’ll have a quick jump to spring weather soon. In the meantime I’ve been soaking up all the 50’s inspired Spring/Summer fashion editorials and ads around the web. I’m as sucker for anything 50’s/60’s inspired, especially clothing. I’m always looking to add 50’s inspired element to my wardrobe, so when I saw this Prada ad and the L’Officiel editorial my mind was buzzing with inspiration and longing for summer heat. Enjoy!

*All images from  L’Officiel Paris February 2012 via Fashion Gone Rogue

20's, 50's, 60's, atomic lamps, dental cabinet, haul, junk bonanza, lamps, metal cabinet, pin up, thrift haul, vintage

Junk Bonanza

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          So as I mentioned two weeks ago I went to the Junk Bonanza, which we randomly heard about through my mom’s co-worker. There were tons of vendors from all over the upper midwest and was full of cool stuff. Unfortunately I’m a bad blogger and didn’t take any pictures while there, I’ll try and work on that. Basically it had a flea market type set-up with lots of different vendors that, I believe, were all antique dealers. There was a lot of distressed shabby chic-esque furniture, which really isn’t my thing, but there were also a lot of other cool stuff including mid century and art deco items. A lot of the stuff was a bit too pricey for us but we did get a lot of cool ideas for using vintage items in different ways, refurbishing old furniture and checked out some really cool antiques. Aside from what we bought there was a really cool old dental cabinet that looked exactly like this, it had tons of little drawers with cool ceramic organizers. It was $2100.00,  a little out of our price range, but it was really really cool and while drooling over it we thought of a million cool ways to use it. We’re seriously still drooling over it, maybe one day I’ll have the money to get one. Antique dental cabinets, who knew?

        Ultimately we did end up buying some stuff including two really cool atomic 50’s lamps, a 20’s metal cabinet and a pin-up photo. I love 50’s and 60’s era stuff and I’ve sorta started collecting 50’s and 60’s lamps. A couple years ago I stumbled upon two retro 50’s atomic lamps and fell in love. Now I’m sort of obsessed. I’m always on the look out for cool 50’s and 60’s lamps at garage sales, estate sales, thrift stores and any antique stores. So far I’ve only found ones that really appeal to me at antique stores and estate sales, which depending on the pricing at the store/sale can be a good or bad thing. All in all it was a pretty cool experience and we’ll definitely be back next year.

20’s Cabinet:

Cabinet closed with 20’s vignette (picture, bowl and lamp) that my mom styled. 
close up of vignette
cute feet

50’s Lamps:

ceramic deer in vessel. I think they look like they’re at a Drive in movie, but maybe that’s just me.

ceramic cat I bought recently in hopes it would bring me some job luck, jury’s still out on whether it’ll actually help.
close up of lamp trim

lamp base

Pin Up (possibly NSFW):

Black woman pin up

And finally I thought I’d introduce my other cat Diamond. When I was taking the above pictures she was sunbathing on the floor so I snapped a few pictures of her.