Catching Up

I didn't realize how long it has been since I posted to my blog until I looked at it yesterday.  We've found some really sweet things in the last couple weeks so I'm inspired to post.  As things would have it, we won't be moving which is good!  My dear friend isn't leaving town after all which makes me so happy! We've refocused and are doing some much wanted landscaping and other outdoor projects at our 50's ranch!

We've been hitting the thrifts about once a week.  Here are some of the things we've recently found and some from earlier in the year (all from thrift stores).

These have got to be some of the cutest critters yet.  These little condiment containers are about two inches long.  The little spoons stick out as stingers!  Each have a Japan sticker on the underside.

I was beyond excited to find these acrylic and abalone dolphin wall plaques--never removed from the box!  The small bathroom has always had a marine theme, but all that is being replaced with mid century finds.  These are some of the best of these I've seen.  I like the way the heads were left free of abalone so you can see the faces easily.  Also, I prefer the smaller pieces of abalone opposed the the larger chunks found in many other sets.

Isn't this gorgeous!  There was only one of these bookends but one is enough!  Love it!

 

These two chubby cuties are pink and mauve with an iridescent coating.  They are decorated in gold and white frost.  The label is difficult to read.  Best we can tell it says "Made in California, dist. by Naveth Enterprises" but we can't find any information  on the internet about them or the company.

And now I have two!  Found a Weil Ware vase to match my covered container.

Asian accessories for the bedroom...

 

Pottery (I believe) deer marked Japan.  Stands about 12".  Another one of my favorite pieces.  Cost a whopping 99 cents!

 Another one of my $5 lamps that I couldn't resist!  Wish I could find out something about this lamp.  There are no markings. 

The woman carries a bowl on her head, a pitcher in her hand, boats in the water, a structure in the background and palms.  It has a crackle effect and wood top and foot that needs sanding and oiling and it also needs rewiring.

Here's my current pot collection.  The largest is a steamer with removable basket that also has a removable divider within it.  I'm looking for enameled pots (in very good condition) with a white interiors and black handles.  There are a lot of pots and pans at the thrifts, but not a lot of the ones I'm looking for.  It's a lot of fun hunting for them and a great surprise to find one!

Busy Bees and more!

It was a fun day thrifting and going out to lunch.  The weather is beautiful!  I was good and spent about $6 on the following.  It was stuff I just refused to pass up!

I have a weakness for textiles and these two vintage bee towels are painfully cute!  And we know my Pyrex weakness.  Hubby came to find me with this snowflake refrigerator dish (including lid) at 99 cents, well that's enough to make any Pyrex addicts day!  Salem North Star saucer at 49 cents. I have some of the hottest 50s pottery patterns and one Hopscotch sugar bowl bottom.  I don't NEED any thing else, but I just had to have this one North Star piece!

While I'm here, I'll add a barkcloth curtain I bought on line.  I deconstructed it and am considering resewing it into a valance.  This fantasic pattern is labeled as "Cynda".

Today's Finds - Fantastic Fish and Pot!

Just got home and wanted to get this posted before I got distracted by something else.  Hit the thrift stores today and didn't find much (not that I NEED anything).  Hubby scored with a set of vintage ceramic fish, one of those things we desperately want but not willing to buy on line.  The mama fish has been broken and glued in a couple places, but who cares, especially at the price of $1.50! 

My other find is a pot.  Yep, a pot.  I am sooo bored with my cookware.  I've had it about 14 years now, plain old stainless.  Not that it's not nice and still good enough, but I've been drawn to the colorful stuff at the thrift stores.  Mom had German enameled steel from the 1970s on and I have a soft spot for it.  So today I found the piece that will get the snowball rolling.  Love the style and nice ergonomic handle, works great for my little hand!  And it's in fantastic shape--$3.75 was certainly reasonable.

Vintage Painted Tile - Lotus Plant

Just cleaned up my latest find and broke the camera out, just made it as the battery light was flashing.  This piece is larger than the set of four scenes I posted a while back measuring roughly 7.5" x 25.5".  I was just thrilled--it cost me next to nothing.  Retains the import sticker indicating Japan CDCG.

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Planning for the New House

Gosh, it's been forever since I posted anything.  It's been one thing after another.  I have still been thrifting usually once a week, but I have cooled down especially since we have decided to move to a smaller home (and we have more stuff than we need already!)  The house we will be moving to, hopefully by end of summer, is a cute 1965 ranch that has most of its original charm.  We know this house pretty well as it belongs to dear friends of ours who will be moving out of town.  So I am in the midst of planning the renovation and decorating of the new place, as well as downsizing our current household. I decided that with this new house I would start with the windows, in my current home I kinda left them for last, and in some cases never truly finished some to my satisfaction. 

I purchased 4 yards of never used incredible vintage bark cloth on an ebay 'buy it now', it had been listed for about 20 minutes! I couldn't believe my luck!  It has me written all over it!  I'm not much of a seamstress, just a compulsive creative type--and I constructed a patio door valance and two window panels.  Dead set on a very modern clean look, I came up with a way to hide the continental rod making the valance look more like a cornice board.  There was enough fabric leftover that I also made a pillow cover and 2 coasters.  Still an odd piece left...I'll just hang onto it for now.  Got a couple other awesome atomic vintage bark cloth curtains for the kitchen window too!
 
I've named this pattern "Atomic Asian"...here is a close up of one part of the pattern.

Here are the valance and window panels I constructed for the den.  So glad to get that behind me.  Next step will be to settle on a paint color for the room itself.

Christmas Trees and Kitsch

The Christmas season started off with a beautiful flocked Christmas tree.  I love flocked trees with C7 lights, they just glow wonderfully.  Here is a picture of the sun coming through the window shining on the tree.  You can see the beautiful Inge glass mushroom ornament from my friend.  This year I had much better luck finding vintage mercury glass ornaments.  I purchased a complete box of Shiny Brite for $1.99 and you can see one of bells at the lower right.  To the left of the bell is a vintage diorama ornament from Japan--I purchased one off ebay this year and now have a set of 4 one each red, blue, green and gold.

And what did Santa bring me this year?  I musta been a good girl because that aluminum tree I've been dreaming of the past 4 years arrived!  It was purchased on Christmas day and after the flocked tree came down the vintage tree went up!  I also purchased a color wheel and the same musical turning stand that we had in the 1960s, it is a little different than I remember, but an old picture confirms it.  The picture here just doesn't do this tree justice.

Some fun inexpensive vintage Christmas must haves that I picked up over the holidays.  Eleven dollars bought the following 3 blow molds, stuffed deer from Japan, floral arrangement from Hong Kong and a newer German/Austrian woven doily with Christmas candles and sprigs border that the German girl in me just couldn't pass up.

My Putz

Here is the beginning of my putz village.  It's been a lot of fun and I still have plans to make more structures in the coming weeks.  I had a great time over the past weeks scouring the thrifts for vintage accessories.  Little figures such as the snowman, deer, chenille angel, skating Santa, a lighted lamp post with bottle brush tree are the little treasures included in my putz so far.  Oh and not to forget, the vintage glitter felt that the village is sitting on.

Thanks to Retro Renovation for the mid century house patterns and Little Glitter Houses for the house with with bay window pattern!