Idiosyncrasy by Design

Rubber duckie, you're the one...

2011-02-13T20:56:00.001-05:00

Welcome to our bathroom in it's 1950 glory. It's full of chrome- chrome shower doors on the tub, chrome medicine cabinet, chrome (okay, plastic pretending to be chrome) light above the medicine cabinet, even the inside door knob is chrome (all the others in the house are brass). It also has nice creamy white wall tiles with matching fixtures. And octagon and dot floor tile in faun/suntan. And bright blue with black outline wallpaper... which does not go with the floor... at all... After hunting through many, many wallpapers, I found one that matches the not quite pink, not quite beige floor- one from Thibaut (taped over the blue fun). Just need Mom to come show us how to hang wallpaper!

Photo from RetroRenovation.com

Our bathroom contains the one fixture that was upgraded since the house was built- the sink. Unfortunately when they decided to spiff the place up a bit to prepare it for sale, they took out the original (no doubt chrome-aplenty) wall hung sink with a big moose of a modern pedestal sink. It's way too big for our modest room and still doesn't help the fact that the only storage in the room is the medicine cabinet! So at a pilgrimage to New England Demolition and Salvage, we picked up a NOS 50s tile-in sink. I'm going to build it a cabinet inspired by this American Standard ad... and we'll probably add some chrome or glass shelves on either side of the medicine cabinet to hold spare towels. We also found this fabulous vintage NuTone exhaust fan with light to round out our chrome collection. Just need to find a nicer vanity light for above the medicine cabinet to round it all out.

Now you're cooking with...

2011-02-09T08:27:00.000-05:00

...gas? The one thing I regret from our house buying experience is not calling the gas company... We asked the agents and a bunch of houses on the street have gas... so no problem, right? Wrong. There are 2 (yes 2) gas mains on our street... both approach our house... but then they stop... about 90 ft away... How much is it to extend a gas main 90 ft? $9000! Yikes! Our hopes of having a gas stove and super efficient (tax credit qualifying) boiler were dashed... So this past week we had the nicest oil boiler we could find installed- our first major upgrade to the house.

But what about cooking?? We nearly got rid of our old 39" Hotpoint electric stove when we moved in (above)... except it's 39" and a 40" stove wouldn't fit... which turned out to be a blessing... it's a great little stove with a built in dutch oven and the best oven ever... That thing gets to 500 degrees easily and makes the best pizza and bread! Now I see where people say you should live with things for a year and then decide what to do to the house... We've embraced our little friend... Unfortunately, a couple weeks ago we went to make our famous pizza and the bottom element was dead! Oh no!

Fortunately we found another Hotpoint (also 39") nearby on Craigslist (above left)... This one has a drop-down deep well cooker (so you can use it as a dutch oven or normal burner), 2 ovens, and push-button controls... Supposedly push-button is super cool, but I worry about it since that's a LOT of switches! This one's been sat in a cellar for a year, so we need to clean her up and hope everything works.. If not, we can take some parts from our old one. It's sad after 60 years of service, our trusty girl is being reduced to being a parts car... but it's impossible to find parts for these things. We'll miss you, old friend! And we're sorry we ever thought a modern stove could replace you...

Stir until the ingredients combine into....

2011-01-30T16:58:00.000-05:00

...a blog post! Yes, yes, I know. My New February resolution is to catch up and be more regular with posting. It begins with me offloading pics from my camera finally!

Our 50s house often reminds me of the house my grampa built in the 50s... and my gramma's kitchen! Especially around the holidays, I am struck by the urge to stop and make some family recipes (read as: cookies!). The same way gramma did... the hard way... I have many of gramma's cooking tools and when it comes to making the lebkuchen (a German spiced cookie), only one thing will do... the meat grinder.

Yep, that's right folks... to make the best Xmas cookeies ever, you need a meat grinder. So I dig out gramma's meat grinder to grind the almonds and citron. In the box gramma stored the grinder in is a hand written note about which piece was needed to attach it to the counter correctly... I know most of gramma's notes were just reminders to herself, but they're happy surprises that make me smile when I find one... and they're everywhere... so I know there'll be more to find.

Did the cookies turn out like gramma's? Not quite. There's two recipes that made it to me, so maybe I picked the wrong one... or maybe it's gramma's adjustments that never did get written down... but I do know I got one thing right- the minute hint of metal and elbow grease.

Shake shake shake...

2010-11-08T19:13:00.001-05:00

We went to a 70s house estate sale this weekend. Find of the day? Vintage Star Wars wallpaper... Only problem is some pushy lady jammed in front of me and found it first. :( We got some other vintage paper and enough parque floor for a room in the basement out of it though. Mostly the stuff was a bit bizarre- like this green gilt bed and one snazzy entertainment center! It would be fab for disco night with dance dance dance revolution, etc. ;)

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Everything is Illuminated....

2010-09-16T21:31:00.000-04:00

The subtle curves, the hard edges, cool metals, soft fabric, luminous glass... and then, you add light... and the fixture.. and the room are transformed.

Usually estate sales are to clear out everything not tied down... but sometimes you just have to ask... and bring a screwdriver ;) I haven't been so lucky as to get someone to let me whip out the screwdriver just yet, but I know someday they will... and I'll be ready... in the meantime, I've captured some treasure at the latest house in photo form. And they're inspiring.

This house was built in ~1955 and was, like our ~1951 house, actually lovingly maintained... ie barely touched. All... and I do mean all... of the light fixtures were original to the house. These guys were the cream of the crop. Double stacked circline fluorescent in the kitchen... like a chrome and fluorescent layer cake!

The two bowl lights: the pink was in one bedroom upstairs, the dove blue in the opposite bedroom I loved how they had designs on both sides of the glass to give even more depth. And I just love the shape of the pink one. I get home and find the IKEA catalog waiting for me and what do I see? I know that lamp! Now we all can have one...

What we did come home with will be the subject of many future posts to be sure... also original to the house, but underappreciated, as I fear these light fixtures will be... I just hope the future owners will be kind enough to rehome them so they can live out another happy 50 years.

Seek and ye shall find....

2010-09-08T15:55:00.000-04:00

This whole pile for $10! and a surprise on top :)

I know I can find it cheaper... I can find a better, cooler, funkier one than that... I can rescue something and give it new life... I can find a truly unique treasure...

...if I just keep looking.

Not to say we shouldn't appreciate what we have, make due, reduce, reuse, recycle, etc... but the thrill of the hunt is great. Especially when you add a dash of creativity to the mix. As long as I can remember, we always went out garage-saleing, auctioning, and/or antiquing most weekends. You never knew what diamond in the rough would be waiting for you. Perhaps a new-to-you toy. A $500 antique in the $5 box lot. Some vintage fabric. A cool old book. Treasure. Cheap treasure :)

Maybe (okay, yeah, definitely) it's a bit OCD, but it's also a thrifty way to get stuff you need and be entertained along the way. Stepping back in time at an estate sale into a turquoise tiled kitchen full of chrome... Listening to the call of a good auctioneer who can roll on, keep the bidding going and joke at the same time.... A living room with a wall (and I do mean a full wall) of martini glasses straight out of Mad Men... Finding dodads and gadgets to do things you never thought you needed a specific tool for... it's fun.

So yes, ultimately this blog is about creating, but sometimes you need raw materials to work with. And the sourcing doesn't have to always be work. So next time you need something or need some laughs, try out an estate sale, go to the thrift store... generally think outside the (big)box. And I'll be sharing some of the stuff we see and find... some of which will just have to come home with us. :)