Atomic Amour

Howell Dinette Set (Too Bad I Like My Chromcraft set too Much)

2011-05-20T16:07:00.000-05:00

I stopped in a goodwill while out browsing around for a new apartment and my girlfriend and I stumbled upon this little beauty! It is a wonderfully comfortable Howell Dinette Set w/ table and 4 chairs. The chairs were superbly comfy and I really enjoyed sitting in them. I really liked the funkiness of them and the whole set was only $80. Although I could probably resell it for more, there just simply is no room for it right now. I also really love my Chromcraft set far too much to trade it out for this one. I really liked those roller wheels on the bottom of the chairs. Those sphere rollers work amazingly on carpet and never scratch the floors. Click "Read More" for more pics!

Here is one of the chairs and as you can probably tell just by looking at it, It is super comfy. I really wouldn't mind having these things but I can't afford to buy this and then where would I put it? But they were pretty awesome if you ask me. They just were begging to come home with me but I couldn't pull the trigger.

I had never heard of Howell until I saw these chairs so I didn't know if they were valuable or not. Upon further research when I got home, I found out that they aren't really that valuable so I'm not upset about leaving them behind.

A Mr. Milo Baughman for Thayer Coggin (Spotted out in the wild)

2011-05-13T23:37:00.000-05:00

I stopped at the St. Clair Antique Mall again about a week ago and too my surprise I spotted this fantastic looking Milo Baughman for Thayer Coggin lounge chair in there! It most definitely wasn't in there last time. This one is in pretty decent condition but not nearly as good condition as my 100% original Yellow Milo Baughman chair that I bought a couple months ago for $20. This one is in a black vinyl and it was a little beat up on the back but it was definitely a usable chair. The wood on this one was a bit more worn than mine but all in all this black one was in pretty decent shape. I was pretty stunned to see another Milo Baughman chair in person so soon to me buying mine. This one makes me want to keep mine even more! I definitely prefer mine over this one. Mine has a much more cozy feeling than the black leather one I think. The burnt yellow colored wool fabric on mine is superb and I can't get enough of it! The one thing that blew me away with this black one was that it was a whopping $1200. I was stunned since I only paid $20 for mine. Man was I lucky! Click "read more" for more pictures. I was in a rush so I only snapped a couple.

Here is the chair and as you can see, the wood is a bit more worn and slightly dinged up. Mine is in a bit better condition. Is the $1200 price tag justifiable though? Not for me it isn't! I love my Milo Baughman chair and would take mine over this one any day! I still do have a soft spot in my heart for this chair though even at its crazy price. I liked how there was a sign that said "do not sit" posted on it. I totally would have sat in it if there was no sign.

I apologize for this blurry pic. I don't know why I have trouble taking pictures of tags... I guess I just need to practice taking pictures of tags more with my camera. As you can see though, the tag does actually say $1200. I would say that is the maximum worth of a Milo Baughman chair around here.

Merry-Go-Round Bar (A Jigger in a Jiffy)

2011-05-12T08:14:00.000-05:00

First of all, I would like for everyone to know that I am back! No I didn't go anywhere but I needed to take a break from blogging for a week since it has been really stressful lately and super busy. It is exam week this week and since things have slowed down significantly, I am once again able to continue my posts and will strive to continue my One Post Per Day goal that I set earlier. I'm trying to turn over a new leaf since I am a pretty lazy person and I hate being lazy because it causes so much stress at the last minute (Especially in college).

Anyways, Back to the post. I stopped in a local thrift store that I have been in numerous times and found this little gem tucked in the corner dusty and unloved. I never noticed it before but I knew it looked really cool and I needed to have it. It's a 1950's Merry-Go-Round liquor bar. It is made by a company called "Park Industries, Inc." But I've never heard of them before. It is amazingly complete and has the original box that came with it. I think this thing is really cool looking and would look great in a Mid-Century inspired room. I wish I could keep it even though I don't drink alcohol but I will probably be selling it to make a bit of extra money for college. Here is the same exact one on eBay for $115 buy it now and I don't even thing that one has the original tag or box to go with it. I will let you know on Monday what the status of this thing is. I will probably start by putting it on craigslist. Anyways, Hit the jump for more pictures!

Here is the liquor bar compared to the size of my Ipod Touch. It's not a very big Liquor bar and it looks pretty cool just sitting there. There are no flaws in this thing and all functions properly. Even the rubber seal on the bottom of them pump isn't cracked or aged. The tag is in excellent condition as well and I'm pretty sure this thing was never used.

Here is the box. All of the cardboard that holds the glass is still in there and in pretty good condition minus one tear on it. The outside box however is still in excellent condition and the label is in decent condition and is about to fall off. There is some tape on there that someone used to put it back on but that has lost its stickiness as well. Regardless, it is still there and in pretty good condition. I like the little saying on the label though that says "A Jigger in a Jiffy."

All five of the liquor glasses are there and they are in excellent condition with no chips or blemishes. I really like the roundness of the little glasses. and the liquor bottle is pretty neat-o looking as well. I really like the look of this thing all together and it will be hard to let go but I need to not get emotionally attached to things. I do need to clean them all up a bit though.

Here is the pump with the tag still attached to it. The pump is in excellent condition with no blemishes and the tag is not damaged either. I like the gold color and I think it looks good with the whole set. The pump will probably need cleaned if you are going to use this but that should be relatively simple to do. Again, the rubber seal is in really good condition as well.

1960's Vintage Club Aluminum Pots (Loving the 60's Brown Brownishness)

2011-05-05T22:11:00.001-05:00

First off, Sorry for not posting anything in a few days, but unfortunately this is literally the last week of classes and I've been diligently working on late assignments and trying to pack up my room and move stuff. It's been quite a hectic week lately but I'll just leave this post here.

I stopped in the local salvation army to snoop around and see if there were any wonderful items in there and wouldn't you know it! I stumbled upon some neat-o vintage Club Aluminum Pots and pan! I really really liked them and at $2 each, it was hard to pass these little gems up! I notified the girlfriend of the find before i spent more money on stuff and we agreed that they would be pretty sweet to have so I picked them up. I love the shiny-ness of the pots, but they didn't come like that at first. They were a bit dirty and blackened when I got them but thanks to the handy dandy internet I was able to determine the best way to clean them up. I boiled some water with high amounts of lemon juice in them to help alleviate the stains on the aluminum and remove any blackened areas and then I gave them a nice hot bath in the sink with more scalding hot water and lots-o-lemon juice. After letting them soak for a while I took out some steel wool and gently scrubbed any remaining troublesome spots. Whallah! they came out nice and shiny!

These pots are in surprisingly good condition considering how old they are and it is unfortunate that they are missing the lids but you know what? I sure don't care! I'm going to use the heck out of these Pots and Pan! I seasoned up the frying pan and it worked wonderfully the other day when i cooked me up an over easy egg. I really like the brown-ness and the cool looking design on the bottom. I wish I could have cleaned the frying pan up a bit more but it was obviously the most used and abused of the bunch but it has a very long life ahead of it in my hands. :) Hit the jump for more pictures!

Friday and Saturday Thrifts (Passed on some good stuff unfortunately)

2011-05-01T11:25:00.001-05:00

This Weekend Has been another hectic weekend! My girlfriend and I moved most of my mid century furniture over to her house for the time being and I packed up loads of my other stuff for the move. I did manage to squeeze some time in for thrifting this weekend and I saw a few things that I liked but unfortunately, I have no more room for anything until I get an apartment or get rid of something. That is unless I find an Eames Chair or something awesome like that! Anyways, hit the jump for more Pictures!

I really wanted to get this desk! It looked amazing! Unfortunately there were no makers mark on them and they weren't the best quality. But just look at those legs! Those legs made me really want that desk. I love a nice set of round legs like that on some Mid Century furniture! The desk was only $25 and I almost bought it but due to lack of room at the moment I decided to pass. If I could have snagged the dresser and the desk for $40 together I may have bought them. The dresser was $40 by itself though. I wish I had more room :(

This was another tough call for me. I really really wanted to buy this set of Salem Biscayne but I kept telling myself I didn't have the room and that I really wanted to save what little room I had left for some Salem North Star instead. It was all in really good condition though. The plates were $1 each the tea cups were 50¢ each the saucers were 30¢ each and the bread plates were 50¢ each. It was really tough to pass up on this set. I know it was a great deal but I couldn't pull the trigger. If anyone wants them I will tip you off on to where they are.

Next Up we have a Drexel Dresser. This thing was in excellent condition but unfortunately it isn't much my style. I believe it was only $40 and I know it is worth a lot more than that but I didn't have the room and I didn't need it.

Right next to the Drexel Dresser was this Kroehler Side table. This was a blonde colored side table and it too was in pretty good condition but I din't need it so I passed. It was on sale for only $15 though! what a deal!

Here is a really cool set of Tupperware Stacking Spice Shakers! I thought these thing was really cool and they cost me 10¢ each! what a deal! I really like them and I don't think they were ever used but I will definitely be using these for some confectionery treats!

I also bought a Sun-Valley Melmac Plate and an Aztec Melmac Cup for 25¢ each. Then I also snagged some wonderful Flatware! starting from the left there is; a Mardi-Gras Knife, an Ekco Eterna Knife, 2 Aqua Blue Castle Knives, 2 Aqua Blue Castle Grapefruit Spoons, an Aqua Blue Castle Fork, and a light green Castle Spoon. The blue castle flatware was 10¢ each and the other 3 items were 25¢ each.

Retro Board Games ( Operation & Monopoly)

2011-04-27T18:22:00.001-05:00

I stopped at a local resale shop today and found these two little gems. They are both in nearly Mint Condition and I thought they would be really cool to have. They both were only $3 each so I thought why not? Before I bought them I opened them up and saw that most of the pieces were there and without actually counting them all I decided to take a chance on them so I bought them and when I got home I checked to see if all the pieces were indeed in there and they were! Its pretty cool finding old complete board games in such wonderful condition like this. The Operation Game was made in 1965 and the Monopoly game was made in 1961. Hit the Jump for more Pictures.

Operation

This Game is a classic. The Box and game board are in excellent condition with extremely minimal signs of wear and tear. I haven't put any batteries in it but I'm fairly certain that it still works. My girlfriend and I may bust this game out later and play it!

All of the pieces are there including 4 rubber-bands for the leg-to-knee bone. Ive very surprised that all of the plastic parts are in there since more often than not they are missing.

Monopoly

I love Monopoly. Although it is a very time consuming game, It is definitely one of the best board games ever made. I'm glad I found this one that is complete and in excellent condition because I will definitely be sure to take care of it and use it too. All of the property, railroad, and utility cards are there as you can see.

There is no damage to anything in this game. All of the money is seemingly there as well as the game pieces, houses, hotels, and dice. I did notice that there are 2 irons though which is a bit odd. The manual is in excellent condition as well as the instruction board.

Last Weeks Thrift Store Finds

2011-04-26T08:57:00.000-05:00

Last week I did manage to stop at a few thrift stores. There were some cool things that I wanted but the things I wanted, I didn't have room for or they were too expensive for my liking. I just hit up all the local thrifts to see what they had and even though I didn't buy anything big, I did manage to snag a few more Melmac pieces for cheap! Hit The Jump for more pictures.

I quite liked this Mid Century Looking chair and I almost bought it but luckily my girlfriend talked me out of it. It was only 5 dollars and I thought it would look pretty decent next to my Milo Baughman Chair. Unfortunately, The chair was pretty cheaply made. It was sturdy enough for me and my girlfriend but it was a bit rickety. There also were no makers marks on it other than a faint "IL." Needless to say, we passed on it and I never looked back.

Up next, we have this quite tacky (if you ask me) Broyhill sofa. This is the first 4 person sofa that I can recall ever seeing and it was only $40! I told my girlfriend that we could maybe fit it in the Scion xb jokingly. We didn't get this couch, but I showed my grandma later and she says she should have gotten that one instead of the not so comfortable leather couch she says she paid a small fortune for about a year ago.

Here we have a buffet which is missing the top. I could see a faded outline of where it used to be. This Buffet was only $40 though and I passed since it also had a broken knob on the top drawer. Other than that, it was it pretty decent condition. Just the normal wear and tear. On the back it says it was made by Thomasville Company in 1959.

We stopped back at a not-so-local thrift store where I bought that Chromcraft Chair for $7 and the other 2 were still in there. It was hard leaving them for a second time, but I didn't need them! So my girlfriend and I left empty handed.

Here is a pretty neat Bookshelf that I liked, but not for $11. It had a great Mid Century Look to it. My girlfriend also liked it because of the slanted shelves on it. She suggested that we could paint it if we did get it but I'm still not too sure about that $11 price tag. It's a little beat up, but if it was $5, I probably would have bought it.

Here is the Melmac that we bought last week! We got one Branchell Divided Dish, One orange Color Flyte Plate to match my Set of Color Flyte, and one no name yellow plate. The divided dish was $1 and both of the plates were 50¢.

Fabulous Fiesta-Mania!

2011-04-24T15:29:00.001-05:00

So this weekend has been really very busy. My dad and I continued to clean out the Back barn at my grandmas and I packed up loads of stuff and moved some of my apartment stuff over to my girlfriends house for the time being to free up some space. Sorry for the missed posts the last couple of days but It's been super busy for me lately. Also, My Birthday was yesterday :)

Anyways, while we were cleaning out the barn, my dad and grandma said that there was a bunch of Fiesta-ware in boxes toward the back. after much and much cleaning we stumbled upon the glorious boxes of Fiesta-ware that had been sitting in the boxes since 1988! This Fiesta-ware is the real deal! All of the stuff in the boxes was the pre-1986 Fiesta-ware. My grandma only collected the originals. There was so much in the boxes that i was just in shock. It was amazing to go through all of the boxes and unwrap the pieces from the old newspaper. The boxes were just trashed from the years of being down there and surprisingly, none of the Fiesta-ware was broken! I didn't count how many pieces were actually in there but I would guess around 350 pieces just out of the boxes. If you are familiar with Fiesta-ware, you would know that it is quite expensive stuff and I can see why! If I'm lucky, My grandma may let me have most of it! My favorite colors out of the whole lot would be the Turquoise, Light Green, Light Blue, and The famous Radioactive Orange. NONE of this is for sale. Hit the Jump for more info and pics!

Here is the whole lot of Fiesta. This stuff it so cool! I love all of the colors and I would love to have this on display somewhere and not all wrapped up and stored in boxes! This is some of the most beautiful dinnerware ever made and It needs to be seen! In these Pictures you can see one of the famous "Radioactive Red-Orange" Bowls which I really love. The color is incredibly vibrant. I also like the little sugar and creamer sets in the pictures too.

As you can see, there are a lot of pieces here and there are some very rare ones in the bunch like that divided dish in the corner which is really hard to find. They only made these from 1936-1937 and haven't made them since. I really love those light green (Chartreuse) vessels down there. I presume they are for gravy and something else but I'm not sure. I love all of these colors!

There are also some really hard to find demitasse cups with the matching saucers. Also there is a lot of pink and gray in there. The light green is pretty cool to look at as well as the orange and light blue.

My Grandma really liked to collect the pink and gray colors. Those were her favorites. She even has a whole entire cabinet of just pink and gray sitting in the kitchen on display. I will post pictures of that set later. She has a bunch of really rare Pink and Gray Fiesta-ware in there.

Here is a pretty interesting Item that was my grandma had sitting somewhere else in the house. This too is Fiesta-ware but it didn't come from the factory that way. Someone had drilled holes in the different sized Pink Plates and made and snack tray out of them. This truly is a one of a kind piece. Wouldn't the pink and light blue and Light green mesh really well on display together? I really would like to have this whole set one day! That would be amazing! I would never sell it and I would greatly appreciate it for the rest of my life!

Here are all of the old newspapers and boxes that held the Fiesta-ware on my grandma's back deck. That is a lot of trash! We burned all of the old paper in the burn barrel as well as all of the other dead bugs and ants that were in those boxes.

Help Me Out Readers! Should I go back and buy this?

2011-04-21T12:59:00.000-05:00

So I went into my local Salvation army about 30 min ago and saw this Mid Century Looking Coffee Table with Matching End Tables. I think they look very modern but I didn't see and makers marks on them. I have no Idea who made them and I'm not entirely sure how much they are worth! The only info I could find on the coffee table is here. None of the glass is broken in them and they all have swinging tops on them. I think they look pretty wild but they aren't exactly my taste. I prefer more Mid Century wood coffee tables and end tables but should I get this? I could probably resell it for a lot but I have no Idea where I would put it. Am I missing out on a good deal? Please help me out readers. Hit the Jump for more pictures.

Crazy Storms + Around the Interwebs (Sorry for the Lateness)

2011-04-20T08:39:00.000-05:00

Last night was a pretty crazy night. My girlfriend came over after work and we started packing up my collection of old video games since we are moving soon and then we made some dinner. It wasn't long after we were making dinner that her mom called us saying that huge storms were on the way and that we needed to get into the basement. We decided we were ok and that we would go into the basement if we really needed to. We started to watch Toy Story 3 and then the sirens started going off and then the power went out soon there after. We lit up some candles and headed down to the basement to hang out around the Chromcraft Table. I went back upstairs to grab my old Ms. Pac Man Board game to play since we were bored, but we gave up on that since the instructions were too difficult. We waited and waited but the power never came back on and we just pulled out my laptop to watch a movie while the storm passed. When the storm did pass, my girlfriend left which was around 11:30-12:00pm. There was no power anywhere when she left but she made it home ok. My power at my house is still out and at least 70% of my town still has no power. I'm sure it will be back by the end of the day. Here is a picture of the tree that fell down across my street. Hit the Jump for the Around the Interwebs post!

Blog of the Day

Welcome to Mr. Modtomic! This is one of my favorite blogs! This guy right here is who I give credit to for inspiring me to create my blog and pursue all things mid century. If it wasn't for him I may never have discovered the true awesomeness that is Mid Century. Ive learned all sorts of things from Mr. Modtomic since I have started to collect these wonderful things. Mr. Modtomic is definitely worth checking out. This blog is great and he makes one post a day and even sell some of the stuff he finds too! What an amazing blog!

Craigslist Add of the Day.

Here is an interesting ad. I really like the end table in this ad. I think that it is pretty wild looking and If it were any closer I might consider getting it. The only problem is that its all the way over in Norfolk Virginia and the pictures aren't very good. It looks like it could be a pretty awesome piece for $40 but I'm still not too sure about this one. Here is a link to the original ad.

eBay Ad of the Day

I absolutely LOVE this chair! It looks fabulous on so many levels! The red! The Wood! The Angles! The Curves! They all come together in such a beautiful way! I just want tao plop my buttocks down on that chair so badly! I wish I could have this one to sit right next to my Milo Baughman chair but I simply cant afford the price tag that has been bestowed upon this chair. It was styled by none other than Vladimir Kagan and it is incredibly beautiful. The seller has it priced currently at a "Buy It Now" at $9750. That's more than my car cost, but man is this chair beautiful. Check out the original ad here.

Let's Do The News! (4/18/11)

2011-04-18T22:56:00.001-05:00

So this weekend was quite exhausting. My dad and I cleaned out a ton of stuff out of my grandma's back barn. There was so much stuff back there that needed to be moved around and thrown away. Luckily It wasn't hot outside so we didn't sweat too much. It's good to get most of that stuff cleared out since it will only get hotter this summer. While we were digging around out there, we found some pretty interesting stuff that I liked such as that RC Cola Grill but I left everything vintage there in the barn for later. I did manage to find my missing box of N64 controllers down there with a couple original Pac Man and Ms. Pac Man Milton Bradley board games in the bottom. I had wondered where those missing items of mine had gone when we moved out here from Virginia. Anyways, we are getting closer to being done with this cleaning project and then we have to move almost everything out of this house so my dad can sell it. This week my girlfriend and I are going to try to move all of my mid century apartment furniture over to her house for the time being till we get an apartment. I'll be sure to snap some pictures of the move! Also check out this sweet ~~1950's~~ 1960's Western Flyer Tandem Bicycle that is hanging in the rafters in my grandmas barn. My girlfriend and I are going to get it down this summer and clean it up so we can go ride it! That will be fun!

Royal Crown Cola Barbecue Grill (Found in a Box of my Dad's Cleaning out my Grandma's Barn)

2011-04-17T21:18:00.001-05:00

My dad, Grandma, and I spent all weekend cleaning out the back barn at her house to get rid of junk and sort through things while also making room for cars and furniture since my dad is moving shortly due to his new Job. I found a bunch of things that I liked while we were cleaning it out this weekend but the highlight is most definitely this RC Cola Barbecue Grill! The story goes that my dad bought this a number of years ago at a flea market or yardsale (he can't remember for sure) for about $5. What a deal that was because I think this is the second coolest grill I have ever seen! My favorite still remains the ol' Ball-B-Cue that Mr. Modtomic kindly pointed out to me. I really do love this little grill though. My dad says he may give it to me someday but I have my fingers crossed that he will let me bring it down to my apartment when I get one soon. This will be perfect for a few hot dogs or burgers for me and my girlfriend! I'm pretty excited to use it! It was a bit dirty when we pulled it out of the box it was in but I cleaned it up as best as I could and it looks super cool. I have never seen one anywhere else before so I have no Idea what it is worth. Hit the Jump for more pics!

This grill is super neat-o! I love it! The top of it looks like a bottle cap and it is all aluminum except for the grill rack. This thing is in really great condition too and I have no idea how old it is or where it came from. My dad suspects it was probably a promotional item and I agree that that is probably what it was.

It has been used before and I cleaned it up as best as I could with a Brillo pad. It still looks really good... good enough to eat off of! Haha I crack myself up sometimes :P It says there on the bottom that it was made by Balcar Carrollton Texas. I just found this similar Pepsi Grill that is currently for sale for $245! Even though this isn't a Pepsi one, I think this one is still rather valuable. I still would probably cook off of it though. If I have it why not use it? Then Again I may just display it somewhere whenever I find me a Ball-B-Cue!

It's hard to say this thing isn't cool and if you think it isn't cool, you better check your pulse. I would love to use this thing all the time and I think this would be great for some apartment cookouts with the girlfriend! I also love the instructions on the inside of the lid. Pretty straightforward and easy.

More Melmac + Ekco Flatware (Thrift Store Finds)

2011-04-15T11:09:00.000-05:00

So my girlfriend and I went down to Carbondale Il yesterday to look at apartments and the college down there and we decided to stop at the local Goodwill in Marion on the way down there. We were casually strolling through the kitchenware isle and out of the corner of my eye I saw a stack of Orang-y Orangness! I reached over mediately to see what it was. Sure enough, It was more of the "Color Flyte" line by Branchell! I knew I needed to get it and at 50¢ I couldn't pass it up. There was a pretty big stack of dishes there and I noticed some saucers in there so naturally I looked for the mugs that went with them and they were sitting with all of the other glass mugs that were in there. I went and grabbed a cart while my girlfriend watched over our find. We loaded up the cart with everything and then we looked around some more and I found some Mid century Flatware that I instantly fell in love with! I needed them too and at 25¢ I couldn't leave them! As we were about to leave some strange lady came over and asked me if I was buying all of that to donate somewhere. We found that very odd but we said that we were buying them for our apartment and she just said "oh ok." We think that she was wanting to buy the stuff we were getting but we got there first! Hit the jump for more pictures!

Here are all of the Color Flyte dishes that we bought. In total there are 6 side dishes 3 full size plates and 7 saucers for the 7 mugs. I love the colors! Now I need to find some of the lime green ones! Everything was only 50¢ except for the full size plates which were $1 each but I wasn't leaving those there. I think we got a killer deal and we have decided that these kinds of dishes are perfect for apartment living! as long as we don't put them in the microwave. :P

Here are the Mugs that we got. There are 7 of them and these too were only 50¢ each and I had to have them. I know I probably have somewhere in the vicinity of 20+ mugs now but I needed those bright orang-y mugs! My girlfriend says we are not getting any more mugs unless I sell some of the others. That is perfectly fine with me! I could just unload some of the Brown Melmac Mugs I bought a while back! All of the Melmac cost us $16.50 which we both agree was well worth it! We just need more plates.

Also while we were in that Goodwill, We found these fantastic looking Ekco Eterna Canoe knives forks and spoons. I instantly fell in love with these. I love the mid century look and feel of them. They are very good quality and really strong flatware. They were only 25¢ each and well worth every penny. I do find it odd that there are 6 knives 4 forks and 2 spoons. Oh well, I'll be on the lookout for more!

I stopped in the local Salvation Army yesterday and Picked up a full size yellow Melmac Dish by Stetson and it is the same size as the Branchell one's that I mentioned earlier. I figured it would be a good investment for another plate since I only had 3 so I bought it for 60¢

Also In the Salvation, Army, I bought a set of Boonton-Ware salt and pepper shakers. They are similar to Melmac but a different brand and they were only 50¢ each so I bought them. They were a little dirty but I liked them and the cleaned up pretty well. Now I can put them on my Chromcraft Table!

Treasure Hunting in My Grandma's Barn (Bascal and Emson-Ware)

2011-04-14T10:22:00.000-05:00

Last weekend, My dad and I went to my grandmas to help clear out the piles of junk the my Grandpa had accumulated over his lifetime so that we can use that space as moving storage. We spent all day Saturday and Sunday cleaning out nearly one whole wall in the barn and as we were going through the junk I found some neat-o Aluminum cups! We opened an old barrel that had been there for who knows how long to see what was in there and there were some old glass coffee pots but as we dug deeper, I saw these fantastic Aluminum cups in there! They looked much like the ones I already had but I also noticed 3 mugs that I had never seen before! The aluminum cups are all Bascal except for the silver one which bears no makers mark and the aluminum mugs are made by a company called "Emson-Ware." Hit the Jump for more pictures.

Here are the Bascal Aluminum cups that I found. I really like these cups but the develop heavy condensation when you put cold drinks in them which kind of a downside and they also get pretty cold when there is a cold drink in them. With these 8 Bascal Cups My collection of them is not up to 19. I will have to post the other ones another day because I have a bunch of other colors. These are just the ones I found in my grandmas barn.

Here are the really unusual aluminum cups. I've never seen these before. I really like them too! I would definitely prefer using these over the Bascal because these have handles on them so that the condensation wouldn't be too much of a problem. I think these things are fantastic! They are made by Emson-Ware and are seemingly uncommon. I love them! :D

Monday News Update! (Discovery)

2011-04-11T16:11:00.001-05:00

So this weekend was super hectic! On Saturday and Sunday we worked to clean out the part of my Grandmas back barn that hadn't been cleaned in years! My grandpa was really a pack-rat and he really didn't like to throw anything away or get rid of anything really. I find that a bit odd since he had an antique shop for as long as I can remember but he never really sold much. As we were clearing out the back barn for the first time, We unearthed many things that I liked. My grandpa really liked the Victorian era furniture the most so there isn't really any Mid Century goodness that I knew about. As we went through the piles of just I discovered some long lost Bascal Aluminum cups and Emson-Ware Aluminum cups that were left in a barrel since 1975! I thought it was pretty cool to find those things! It's hard to believe they were in there for that long. At least thats what the date on the newspaper was when we unwrapped them. It was a pretty cool experience finding those things. I will post them on Thursday when I do my personal item day. I really like the colors of the Bascal Aluminum cups. Hit the jump for more news!

While we were cleaning out the back barn, we found a pretty cool Mid Century Portable oragan that I think looks wonderful! We couldn't get it to work and I can't remember the name that was on the front but It had all four legs and even thought we couldn't get it to work I still thought it was brilliant looking. I liked it quite a bit. The only problem was that there was years of bird poop on part of the top since birds used to make nests in that barn. I will take pictures of it next time I'm down there and I'll also be sure to snap some pictures of what I found.

I also didn't manage to go back to the place that had those Saarinen Knoll chairs because I had to help my dad and grandma out but I will try to head up there next Saturday If my schedule permits. I really hope they are still there and are cheap!

The Wright Treasure (Fantastic Store!)

2011-04-10T19:39:00.000-05:00

Welcome to The Wright Treasure! It is owned and run by Lisa Hughes. I went to this amazing store yesterday that I had never been to before! This place was so cool! I've driven past it so many times and yet I never knew it was there. My girlfriend pointed it out to me last week so I decided to stop and see what it was all about. Man was I in for a surprise! I walked in there and saw so many awesome things in there that I wanted to buy! I may go back and get a few things when my girlfriend has her next weekend off. This place was so cool and the lady in there was super nice! We talked for over an hour about all sorts of Mid Century items that she had in there and that she used to work near my old home town in Virginia. She was pretty ecstatic that someone from my generation has found a love with all of this Mid Century Goodness! She even gave me her card and told me she would call me If she found any really cool Mid Century Items at any auctions she goes too! I forgot to take a picture of the front of the building but Hit the jump for more pictures!

Take a look at this awesome chair and foot rest! I'm loving them both! Lisa told me that a lot of people have been eyeing that chair and that a bunch of people in her family wanted it but she couldn't give it to them all so she decided to just put it in her shop. I really wanted to but that chair but I'm afraid my dad would kill me if I brought home another chair. I was contemplating getting that foot rest too but I need to save my pennies for college! The chair was $30 and the Foot Rest was $15. Pretty good deals!

As soon as I walked into the store I saw this wonderful looking Philco Record player! I didn't know what ti was exactly until Lisa lifted the top and showed me. This thing is in nearly perfect shape and I loved it. I think it would look stunning with an old Predicta TV sitting on top of it. Lisa said that would be awesome too and said she will have to look for one now. She said she would sell it for $40 but it doesnt work. I really love the knobs on the inside of this thing and the front speaker fabric was perfect!

Here is a gold mid century end table that is pretty cool looking. It was a pair of them for only $30 but I would rather have a nice pair wood ones for my couch. I also saw this nice set of vintage glasses and a pitcher on top of one of the end tables. I didn't catch the price.

Here is a pretty cool Mid century corner table that I quite liked. I don't know how much she wanted for it but I'm sure it wasn't much! I also liked this pinkish Chromcraft Dinette set! It's pretty cool looking and I liked the copper and chrome trim on it. It was only $60 and well worth it!

I really liked this Green Ottoman! This thing is pretty cool and it was only $5 which is pretty decent. I might have to go back and get it. I also really liked this wood magazine rack and I wanted to get it but I need to save my pennies! It was only $10 though which is really tempting and it would have been so awesome sitting next to my Milo Baughman chair!

Check out this cool Mid Century Zenith Record player! I love it and I also liked this little side board that she had it there. It was only $25 which is a pretty good price!

Here are a couple of lamps that I saw in there that I liked the black one was $50 and I didn't catch the price on the other one but I thought it looked pretty 50s.

Unbelievable finds today! (Only 2 but well worth it!)

2011-04-09T20:49:00.000-05:00

So today was a pretty interesting day. I woke up at 6:30am due to my dad telling me there was a rummage sale at my local college. I stumbled out of bed and made my way to the shower still half asleep and almost fell like 3 times. When I finished up my shower and was about to leave my dad said it was about to rain, and sure enough it did! It was a heavy downpour. It brings a whole new meaning to "Raining Cats and Dogs." I literally felt like I was driving through a category 5 hurricane. There was lots of wind and I couldn't see 300ft in front of me due to the insane amounts of rain. Anyways, I made it there and I found something amazing! I've never seen one before and I cant find one on the internet anywhere! I knew I had to get it when I saw it. Hit the Jump for more pictures and the second half of the story!

This is the item I purchased at the rummage sale. It is what appears to me a Salem North Star display dish or Salesman Sample! This thing is really small. I also love how it says "Now Only 9¢" on it. I can't believe I found this little gem. I have taken its picture next to a regular North star side plate to demonstrate how small this thing is. It measures 3.5" across and the Side plate is 7.25" across. I think its funny how this is one of the first few North Star dishes that I have bought and it appears to be pretty rare! If you have any more info on this please leave it in the comments! I bought this small dish with 4 other random dishes for 50¢ and I didn't want the other dishes so I went to drop them off at the local Salvation army!

Little did I know that when I went into the Salvation Army that I would find the Hairpin End Table that I saw in there the other day. I thought this thing was gone! Apparently someone had moved it to the other side of the furniture section and I must have over looked it when I went back to get it before. I can't believe it was still there. I knew I had to get it! I knew I had no space for it but I will find some space somewhere. I may sell it but who knows. I love it. But I have to remember to not get too emotionally attached to things :P

Thrift Store Friday! (4/8/11)

2011-04-08T18:01:00.000-05:00

I went and hit up the local thrift stores today during my lunch hour but I din't see much. I saw a few notable things but I didn't get anything today. I bought a lamp and some more Melmac Dishes earlier on in the week that I'm posting here today. Other than that there just wasn't much this week. Hit the jump for more pictures!

Here we have a pretty cool looking retro end table with the "Hairpin Legs" maybe I should have bought it? But I decided not to since I don't really have to room anywhere and I want a better pair of end tables for my Love Sofa! Also sitting next to it was this cheap brass colored umbrella rack which I also quite liked but I decided to pass on since I didn't need it. The table was $5 and the Rack was $4.

Here is another two tier end table which i quite liked too. I didn't really want this one though since it wasn't real wood and it was wobbly so I passed on it. It was only $7.

Here are the Melmac dishes that I bought. I paid 50¢ for all of them and there are 5 saucers and 4 small plates but I can use them all as small plates. I absolutely love the colors! I think I'm going to just buy up as much Melmac Brand stuff as I can! It's super cheap and great for a college kid! Only down side is that they can't be microwaved... oh well. These particular ones are part of the "Color Flyte" line by Branchell.

Here is another cool find I got! It is what appears to be a small mid century desk lamp. I really like this one and I only paid $1 for it! It works great too! I love this little lamp! Its made by a company called "Tensor" and the name of this particular lamp is "Monitor." What a cool find!

Finally Bought a Buffet! (Unloved & Rough)

2011-04-07T12:29:00.001-05:00

So yesterday I went out to some thrift stores looking for a piano bench for my girlfriends new keyboard that she bought. I found a perfect one that we are going to repaint and re-upholster. It's not mid century really but I'll still post a detailed rebuild of the piano bench at a later date. While I was out, I spotted this wonderful looking buffet sitting on the outside of a local junk shop. I knew it was beat up and wasn't a name brand buffet but I just fell in love the with way the drawers were designed. I asked the guy how much He wanted for it and he told me $30. I wasn't sure if I wanted it for $30 so I offered him $25 and he said sure. He helped me load it up and I knew my dad wasn't going to be pleased I bought this rough looking buffet. There isn't hardly any room left in the house. Sure enough, he wasn't very happy. I have decided that I will modify this thing for use as a TV stand. It's pretty cheap anyways so no big deal if I drill holes in the back or anything. I may paint it someday but I'm not sure. Maybe some funky colors? I quite like the wood veneer though so I'm not sure. I'f I can't get it looking any better I might have to paint it. Just think of the possibilities! Anyways, Here is my new project! Hit the link for more pics!

This thing definitely has its bumps and scrapes but It needed a good home and I will use it whenever I move out. If I ever find a better one for a great price, I already told my girlfriend that I will be more than willing to part with this one to get the better one. I found one similar to it over on apartment therapy that was $100 and in much better condition so I think I got a good deal on it. You can see that one here. Here it is stuffed into my car. Its a tad bit longer than the Love Sofa I bought last Saturday but It still fit in pretty easily after I unscrewed the legs.

The Buffet isn't too heavy which is probably because it isn't exactly the highest quality. I vacuumed all of the dust out of it but It does smell like smoke which I will have to take care of later. It's not too hard to get rid of a smoky smell. I hate smoke smell so the quicker I get rid of it the better. It looks pretty good from a distance but when u get closer to it you can see its flaws.

You can see the chips and scratches on the bottom corner and the top has some stains and scratches on it but I think I can make those disappear with a little elbow grease. We will see how that pans out.

Here you can see the most notable damage. All of the legs have a fair bit of damage to them but this one is the worst. I think I can sand them down and re-stain them to bring back its former glory. The other terrible part on it is that it is missing quite a large chunk of veneer on the front right of the buffet. I may just replace that whole strip. That shouldn't be too hard but we will see. This is why I think it might be better to just paint it. If I can fix it for cheap I'll just do that though.

The drawers are pretty nice but there are a few nicks on them. I think I can cover them up with a bit of stain though and the back is just some cheap board that I could drill through to put wires for a TV in. the possibilities are endless! I can't wait until I can modify this thing to my likings! It will look pretty cool as a TV stand so I'm pretty sure that will be its future use unless I find a better one like that Kroehler Buffet.

Around The Interwebs! (4/5/11)

2011-04-05T16:40:00.001-05:00

Welcome to Around the Interwebs! Now I don't usually make 2 posts in one day, but due to my late Monday news post I feel obligated to not push back my Tuesday post. Today I have a few pretty neat things from around the internet to show you! I wish I could afford some of theses things but someday I may be able to! Hit the jump for the Craigslist ad and the eBay ad!

Blog of the Day

Welcome to The Fabulous Find. This blog rocks! They are located all the way up in Canada and man do I wish I could go visit this place! They specialize in everything Mid Century Modern and I love it all! There are several pieces that I would absolutely love to own but they are all a bit out of my price range. Hopefully I will be able to snag some similar items over the years if I am lucky. But for now I can just window shop and drool! I highly recommend checking this place out!

eBay ad of the day

Here we have a pretty sweet looking Kindt Larsen styled Danish Lounge chair. This think looks fantastic! It bears a striking resemblance to my Milo Baughman chair. I love the look of these kinds of chairs and this one looks flawless! Not much info on this one but the starting bid is $99.99 and it is located in Southern California. I would very much like to find a chair like this to go with my Milo Baughman Lounger!

Craigslist Ad of the Day

Here we have a pretty sweet pair of Mid Century Sofas located in Chesapeake Virginia. These things are really cool looking I think and they are pretty reasonably priced! One of them has a fairly noticeable tear in it and it is for sale for $160 and the other one is nearly perfect and costs $240. If you were to buy both that is only $400! Not bad at all but I would probably just buy the one with the tear since it is cheaper and I would use it and cause wear anyways.

Late Monday News on Tuesday!

2011-04-05T09:22:00.002-05:00

Sorry for the late news post but I had a huge pile of homework to do yesterday so I had trouble squeezing it in. Anyways, this weekend was a pretty awesome weekend! I got some cool new furniture for some really great prices and my Girlfriend and I hung out the whole weekend. I would say it was the most fun I've had on a weekend in quite some time! It was truely a blast this weekend except for all of the homework I had to do yesterday. I still can't believe we got that Love Sofa in my car on Saturday. It was a fun weekend. I also cleaned up that Chromcraft chair that I got on Saturday too. It cleaned up pretty nicely. I polished it up and took the back off of it to clean in between the seat and the back and it was really dirty back there but it is good as new now. I also took the crummy wheels off of the bottom so I will need to order some more. I'm thinking about getting some of the wheels that are on my Brown Saarinen style chair for it. I really like those wheels and they work great on carpet. I also haven't been able to go check on those Knoll Chairs I saw last weekend yet. I haven't had time to drive over there and see if they are still there. The store has weird hours that they are open so I'll just have to go on Saturday again. Hit the jump for more!

I hope this week goes pretty well and that I find some more killer deals! I could always go for another Milo Baughman chair or another sweet couch! I really really really want a couch like the one above! It may be a while before I can find one but you never know really! My girlfriend and I are also on the lookout for a piano bench for her so she can sit at her keyboard more comfortably. There is one at a local thrift I saw a week ago so I hope it is still there. We are thinking of reupholstering it as our first reupholster project! We think it will be fun :)

Weekend Finds! (Pretty sweet stuff!)

2011-04-03T09:08:00.001-05:00

Welcome my readers! Here I bring to you all of the wonderful things my girlfriend and I saw while we were out on our escapades on Saturday. We saw some pretty awesome stuff that I would have liked to have but due to the love sofa we had crammed in the Scion yesterday we were a bit lacking in space. I did manage to snag up another Chromcraft chair at a thrift store. but that was about all we could fit in the car. I t was a pretty fun weekend and we had quite a blast finding all these things. Sorry for the not so great pictures, I forgot to bring my camera so I used my cellphone. Hit the jump for more pictures!

Here we have a pretty cool looking "B. Brody Seating Co." table and chairs. I liked the way they looked and I really liked the faux wood table! I really liked this set but my Chromcraft table and chairs is much better quality. The chairs here were pretty cheaply made but that table was so awesome looking! The table was $75 and the chairs were $15 each. Too much.

Here is a pretty neat looking chair. I liked this one. It was more yellow than it looks in the pictures but I liked it and it was pretty comfortable. It was only $10 and I wanted it but there were no makers tags on it so I left it. This chair was at the same place we bought the Love Sofa. We opted for the sofa instead. There wasn't any room left in the car.

Here are the Chromcraft chairs I saw. i really wanted to get them all. My girlfriend talked me out of 2 of them but I got the best looking one. The other 2 were pretty beat up and I didn't feel like re-upholstering them. The one I bought has 2 broken wheels which you can see in the picture but Those are easy to replace. The vinyl is in a lot better condition than the other 2 were. I paid $5 for the chair! What a deal! I love it! :D

Deal of the day (Kroehler Plaid Love Sofa)

2011-04-02T18:04:00.003-05:00

So today me and my girlfriend went out thrift storing and cruising the yard sales and we saw some pretty awesome stuff which I have decided to post tomorrow. Instead I will post one thing we bought today. We stopped in the local Salvation Army over in Belleville, Il. We looked around and we noticed this really neat looking plaid love sofa sitting there. I noticed that the love sofa had been marked down from $49.99 to $34.99 to $24.99 down to $12.49. I thought $12.49?!!? That is a steal! And since I like sitting on everything couch and chair related I decided to plop my buttocks down on the love sofa and see how it felt. My buttocks was instantly pleased. It had never before felt a comfort of this magnitude on a love seat! My girlfriend sat on it too and was overwhelmed by the comfort it brought to her buttocks as well. We then decided to get it but there was a small problem. I had driven my small Scion xB to Belleville that day and we weren't sure If it would fit... Hit the jump to read the rest of the story and see more pics of the crammed love sofa into my car!

I thought to myself I know this thing can fit in here. I don't know if you guys have ever seen a Scion xB, but these cars are not very big at all. They look tiny but they are very roomy on the inside. I thought I could fit it in there and so I ran out to my car to measure arm lengths to see if it would fit and I believed it would fit since I had previously fit my Chromcraft Table and Chairs in there. My girlfriend still had doubts that it would fit but I asked the store persons if they had a measuring tape I could borrow. They did and so I checked to dimensions of my car and the couch and confirmed my arm lengthing technique. I knew it would fit! We then proceeded to buy the love sofa and they told me to pull around back. After I pulled around back, the two employees that carried it out started laughing because they thought it wouldn't fit. I assured them it would and that I measured it and so we all worked to cram it in! Sure enough it barely fit in and we were on our way!

This love sofa may not be too Mid century-ish but I still like it and it was a killer deal! Me and my Girlfriend are definitely going to be using this to watch movies on! It is super comfy! Its got a few dings here and there but it is otherwise in really good condition. It's pretty dusty so we are going to vacuum it later and it should be good as new! This love sofa is made by Kroehler which is the same company that made the Buffet that I mentioned the other day. I really like this thing and the plaid-ness is pretty cool to me. Cant beat $12.49!!! What a deal!

Thrift Store Friday (Bought a sweet Clock!)

2011-04-01T16:54:00.003-05:00

Hello my dear readers. Today i went to the local thrifts around my town and I didn't see much in them today. I did hit up some other thrifts throught the week and saw a few cool things but I didn't get anything. The only thing that did manage to snag at the thrift stores this week was this really sweet 60s era General Electric wall clock! Hit the jump for some more pictures of the things I saw!

This general Electric Clock is pretty awesome! I only paid $5 for it and I think that was a stellar deal! It works marvelously and it doesn't have that "hum" that a lot of old electric wall clocks have. The face of this clock is in excellent condition and there are hardly any scratches on the front. On the back there are quite a few scratches that were created from constantly trying to hang this thing up over the years and there are also a few cracks in the plastic on the back but they aren't too serious and you can't see them from the front at all.

Here is a pretty cheap retro looking cabinet. This one was only $5 but it was really really cheaply made. This would have been a bad buy so I left it. There was a sticker that said "Zenith" on the inside but it looked more like a schematic for a TV. I'm not sure why it was in there. Also there was this really cool looking Retro adding machine with the box! I didn't need this so I left it but it was only $6.

Hey look! Another Mixmaster! I keep running into these things! This one was only $11 but I already have a better looking one. This one was missing too much and too beat up. I thought I would take a picture of it anyways though. I also saw these aluminum cups and I would have bought them but I already have like 15 of them somewhere and I didn't need anymore. They were $1 each I think. I also saw a bunch of Raffia-ware cups and a misc serving dish like the one I saw at Thrifty Treasures. They were all only 50¢ each.

Retro Burlap Dessert Cups

2011-03-31T16:52:00.000-05:00

My dad bought these really cool looking retro burlap dessert cups a while back. I really like the colors adn I don't think he paid too much for them. I really like using these things and we have used them mostly for flan which is delicious by the way! These little Dessert cups are really cool! I believe they are made by Raffia-Ware but I'm not entirely sure. It doesn't say anything on them at all. Check out the other pictures after the jump!