Lucky in Lighting

Hello friends, it's good to talk to you again!

I hope I remember how to do this blogging thing...haha! Anyway, I have been spending a lot of time on facebook and I realized that 1) while fun, it is not the best venue to go into lengthy detail about my projects and finds, and 2) probably a lot of my "regular" friends do not care about all that stuff. But all my blogger pals might and I miss you guys! (And if you want to be fb friends leave a comment below, and I will message you.)

Of course I still thrift a lot and frequent as many yard sales and flea markets as I can. In the last couple of weeks I have been really lucky to find some really cool stuff that I wanted to share. One of the things I love to find is cool mid-century lighting.

Now, the thing about lighting is that if there are any issues with the wiring you have a situation on your hands. A bad one. So I always make sure that the wiring is good and replace it if necessary. It is a good thing my brother is an electrician because he is always on hand to advise me!

I have been looking for a cool atomic lamp for our bedside table. Actually I would have loved to have found a pair of lamps, but anything was better than the crappy 80s brass faux-Stiffel lamp my husband was using. (Did I mention he won it in a poker game? Well, game ON!) Anyway, I grabbed this awesome lamp at a flea market for $3. It was marked "Miller 1955" on the turquoise ceramic part. It was also covered in mouse poop and super nasty.

Yeah, that bottom is supposed to be shiny metal. I think I actually hosed it off with a pressure washer- clearly it had to be re-wired in addition to completely cosmetically restored. 

I took it apart and repainted all the metal parts with gold spray paint. Instead of going to the hardware store and buying a $10 lamp kit, I went to the thrift store and bought a donor lamp with a good socket and cord for 99 cents.

After putting it all back together and testing it out- success!- it was time for the fun part: trying on shades. I may be a bit of a vintage-lampshade-hoarder...

 I really wanted the larger tiered shade to work, but it sat too high. I may try again if I can find a smaller harp. I ended up going with the green fiberglass shade on the right. I actually like the look quite a bit and to my relief, the light in the room is not actually green.

Since we have a lot of green, including the bedspread, in our bedroom, it works well.

 My second lighting score was just the other day. I went to a thrift store I haven't been to in a while. (Basically they price everything "vintage" ridiculously high, like 3x ebay prices, so I just haven't bothered going.) But for some reason I decided to go. And whadyya know, I actually found a something!

I bought these two Mid Century Modern pendant lights for a song. They even have their original ceiling plates. After doing a little research, it looks like they might be by designer Paavo Tynell. They would be so cool in someone's MCM house, so I listed them in my Etsy shop. Here's hoping Katy Perry buys them, lol.

I did test them out and they work great!

Now, my third adventure in lighting is a little bit different. No fab modern pieces here- just trying to update a fixture on a budget. We have a bit of a rustic vibe up at our cabin. At least I have been trying to get that going. And clearly this fixture above the sink that my mother-in-law picked out was not working for that look. (She picked out all the finishes for the place about 15 years ago after she retired from working at a bank, where she was in charge of the appearance of all the bank branches. I tease her that her house even looked like a bank.)

Maybe it's because I grew up in the 80s, but I cannot stand that shiny brass look. So now that the place is all ours, I have been doing what I can to get rid of it, but without spending a lot of $$. I discovered Rust-o-leum hammered bronze spray paint, and painted all the shiny brass cabinet knobs last year. I figured, why not try it on the light fixture as well? So I took it down, lightly sanded it and painted it. I left the frosted glass globes off entirely and swapped the bulbs for Edison bulbs, I think it came out pretty well, and definitely cost less than a brand new fixture!

Ain't No Cure for the Summertime Blues

Hello Friends, it's good to have you here!

Well, summer is here and it brings with it a lot of change. First of all, of course the kids are home. And soooo bored. Hehe, I knew that was coming, so we have plenty of things to do, like 5 different camps for my daughter and my son is opening his own Etsy shop! He is following in his mom's footsteps, but selling things a nine-year old boy thinks is cool. Mostly he is going to be restoring and selling customized bathroom scales, which is a project we started here. Look for the grand opening of JaysonsKustomHouse in a couple of weeks!

For now, I am also trying to keep as busy as I can, and trying to do as much selling as I can in my antique booth and my Etsy shop. So, hey, help me out a bit and see if there's anything you like! Be sure to use the coupon code PIT20OFF for 20% off your purchase!

Maybe it's a coincidence, or maybe not, but I have been finding a lot of blue items lately. Yard sales and thrifts have been very good this month, and I have been finding tons of cool junk and Pyrex, of course.

First up, I found yet another milk glass cake plate. This makes 3 in the last 6 weeks or so. It's wedding season, so hopefully it won't stay in the booth long! And I thrifted my first set of clear bottomed Pyrex- I usually pass on these, but with Pyrex prices on the rise I thought it might be a good idea to get a set now. They are various shades of blue and are very pretty; hopefully someone will love them.

The same day I found this stack of 401s at an antique store. Now, I almost never buy things at antique stores (I mostly window shop- "doing research" I call it) but I couldn't pass up five bowls for $10.  The three primary blues are all unnumbered; two are in good condition, but one is pretty poor. (I'll make that a daily user, maybe I'll dishwasher it into a faux opal?) I am always trying to make up other Primary sets to go to the booth, and can definitely use the good ones. The pink is poor as well, but this is my first pink mixer in the wild, and it will display OK for now. The orange flameglo is pretty good; I haven't decided if I want to keep it yet.

 I also found my first piece of JAJ in a thrift store, a pattern called "Tuscany Vegetables". Altogether, it was a good day for Pyrex, with the clear bottom set, the stack of 401s and this JAJ all coming from two stores that day. Plus, these huge veggie salt and pepper shakers- I love Mr. Corn's jaunty moustache! 

Last week I went to a great yard sale- it almost made The List. (I keep a mental list of the top ten yard sales I've ever been to- this one was somewhere in the top twenty, for sure.) It was my favorite kind of sale- an older person in an older house in an older neighborhood. I bought some Pyrex, some other glass and the coolest lamp.

The Pyrex I bought was this snowflake 043, which came with a lid and is absolutely mint. I almost didn't buy it- it seems that the word has gotten out, even to the little old ladies, that Pyrex is collectible. The sticker on this had a price of $5, which the cheapskate in me thought was too much for a yard sale. Then I came to my senses and realized I would probably pay that or more in a thrift store in a heartbeat. And I didn't have this color in my collection yet, either, so duh...buy it!

And while word has gotten out about Pyrex being hot, apparently Hazel Atlas is still flying under the radar (at least at this yard sale). The pink, turquoise and yellow plates are all HA, as is the matching mug. The green is FireKing jadeite, and get this- they were all 10 cents each!

Then I bought this lamp from the same lady. I used to see these around every so often, years ago and never bought one. But they are few and far between anymore, so I popped. Good thing I did, because they are going for crazy money on Etsy! So guess where this is headed, LOL.... I also found a cool angular fiberglass laced shade, which for some reason I didn't photograph. I have quite a collection of these shades anymore; I never leave one behind that is in good condition and reasonably priced (like 50 cents!). Now I need some  more cool lamp bases to go with them!

Green seems to be a theme of my finds as well- on the same day I bought this vintage tablecloth at a thrift store. It still has its Simtex tag on it. Plus, it is large enough to fit my table- not always so easy to find in vintage linens!

And a little bit of green Pyrex, of course! This is the "Green Salad" promo from 1972, otherwise known as "Square Dot". Normally it is hard for me to get to thrifts right when they open, which I have always assumed is the best time to go. But this day I was able to get there early and found this gem on the bottom shelf. (And I did look all over for the matching salad utensils, to no avail.) It is absolutely mint and I love the color shading. Seeing this online, I never thought I would go for it, but in person it is stunning. For some reason lately, I am totally drawn to the brightly colored Pyrex- like Friendship and New Dots, and this will fit right in. Definitely going to keep this around for a while!

And  how about this amazing fan? I found it amongst the appliances at a thrift store. It was a little more than I like to spend, at $20, but it works great-totally a keeper! I just keep telling my kids not to put their fingers anywhere near it; a trip to the emergency room is not the kind of excitement I'm looking for this summer!

Yard Saling Away

Hello Friends, it's good to have you here!

Finally, the weather has warmed up and yard sales are sprouting everywhere! I had some great luck this past week. I hit a couple of rummage sales Thursday first.

I found a couple of vintage Hawaiian shirts at the first rummage sale- I thought it was going to be a bust for the longest time because I started in the housewares section and there was literally nothing but crap. I scoped out the clothing as a last resort and came up with a couple good ones- they are already listed in my Etsy store here.

I got to another rummage sale later in the afternoon just before it closed. And that means it was bag day- everything I could fit in a paper bag was $2. It also means that stuff was kind of picked over, so I definitely didn't pack the bag full. But I picked up a couple books and puzzles:

Also grabbed these art pieces. The oil painting is another vintage landscape for my collection at our cabin. That is really coming along, and I should probably do a post on that sometime. The empty frame is a simple but elegant art deco picture frame, which I always pick up whenever I find them. So much nicer than the frames they have at Michael's!

The little Hazel Atlas Moderntone sherbet glass was part of the bag sale, as were the cute fork and spatula. The fork is the Corningware Country Festival pattern. The speckled bowls are actually confetti Melmac, and are the first I have ever seen in black and white. Maybe they are "RARE HTF"? LOL  They will be listed in my Etsy store eventually too. 

This was another item I put in my bag- I'm going to let you guess what this is and then show you what we did with it later!

My husband took the kids to our local bike rodeo Saturday morning and I got to go driveway shopping. My son won 2nd place for his age group; I think he hasn't taken off his medal since then. But my prize was these pieces of Guardian Ware. I got all three for $1 each. The roaster is really huge and will bring a nice bit of $$ online.

I got these PBN horses at the same sale- it was a dollar sale, so everything there was $1. So, 5 paintings, $5! I am hoping to sell these as a group, I think they make an amazing "instant collection"!

More from the dollar sale- the Shiny Brites, lampshade and Homer Laughlin bowl. That bowl is the most stunning piece of stoneware I have ever seen. It's got a raised pattern of trees all around it. I don't know much about Homer Laughlin other than Fiesta, but I want to know more about this style. The only bad part is it has a bit of a chip on the rim and a crack there, but will be beautiful holding fruit on the table.

The Ponderosa plates are the only pieces of Pyrex I found. I have never seen the plates before, only the mugs. I'm sure these will go quickly in my Etsy store when I get them listed. The little brass swans were only a quarter; I actually have a couple of these already, they used to be my mother-in-law's.

It is hard to find bakelite radios anymore. I used to see them all the time and now they are definitely few and far between. I bought one a couple of months ago and now found this one- the only ones I've seen in a long time. It's an Admiral- doesn't work, but for $5, will definitely look great on a shelf. The alarm clock was only a quarter and that one works!

So that's the wrap up of my first real good weekend of yard sales, now here's what we did with that mystery item:

It's a bike rack! My husband painted it white and put it on my bike as a Mother's Day present. ;)

Red White and Blue and Bo Duke Too!

I've had a good run lately at the thrift stores. It's been a while since I found so much quality merchandise, and I'm thrilled to show it to you!

I found this amazing TV tray (it even has legs for breakfast in bed!) from the Dukes of Hazzard show. It was in the dreaded "antiques" section of the  thrift store (= higher prices than normal), but since the store was having a 25% off sale, I was able to get it for $7.50. Not too bad, and when I get tired of looking at the boys, I can resell it for a nice profit, I think.

The stars and stripes milk glass mug (37 cents!) is my new favorite coffee mug, even if it isn't Pyrex. I LOVE it, and don't know how anyone could get rid of something like that! Plus it matches the tray- bonus!

As you may have guessed, my obsession with Pyrex is always high on the list right now. I found this Pink Gooseberry 471 (1 pt) casserole the other day, which completes my set of those casseroles, minus a couple of lids. 

I also found two Colonial Mist 441 Cinderella bowls. Not my favorite pattern, but at $1.50 each I couldn't resist. I was surprised to learn that the white glaze on the outside is fired on- that seemed to me like and unneccessary step for a bowl that is already white, but I guess if Pyrex didn't do that, the pattern would have looked like those ugly Glasbake bowls with the blue flowers I always see. Well, I learned something! LOL, another cameo by the stars and stripes mug, plus a Butterfly Gold Pyrex mug (75 cents).

This next one was a bit of a splurge, but I have never seen anything like this:

A triangular shaped casserole with atomic snowflake design and stand! It is made by Inland Glass and in mint condition. It is definitely going to be a display piece in my collection, even if it's not Pyrex.

I got this really neat orange and green planter for $3. I have never seen an orange planter before, so had to get it because my living room is orange and green.

I did find some vintage clothing finally. These antique safety glasses are so amazing- still in their original box.

And this 1940s crepe dress was found in an small town thrift store in upstate PA for $4. It's incredible and in perfect condition- watch for it in my Etsy store!

Rummage Sales Everywhere!

This is my favorite time of year! Yard sale season is heating up, people are doing spring cleaning and donating to thirfts, but best of all, church rummage sales begin!

I have been doing a ton of shopping (probably too much- when does one cross the line to becoming a hoarder?) and have loads of goodies to show you all, so I'll probably have to do a couple posts to catch up.

Thursday was my town's big semi-annual church rummage sale, where I always have good luck. I usually get there before the doors open at 9, and as I was standing in line, I noticed a few familiar faces- some friends and some local dealers. I guess I can include myself in that group as well, since I have the antique booth and some of these things will end up there.

These are ceramic wall hangings; I LOVE these so much. They are staying right here with me. The background is a really pale green that will be so pretty in our bedroom, right next to my Turner airbrush painting.

I've been collecting these biscuit tin "baskets" for a while, but they're not usually cheap anymore. This one was, though- only $1!

This sweet family of ducks (and one chick, or is it the 'ugly duckling'? LOL) are candles- all for $1. Going to the Etsy store!

Since I was one of the first in the door, I scoped out the Pyrex first (I'll get to that) and the vintage tablecloths 2nd. I took all they had- three Christmas ones. Now, I need another Xmas tablecloth like a hole in the head, but am definitely keeping this first one. (The others may go to the booth.)

I love the old timey Holiday vignettes, and Santa dancing around the tree!

These two are more typical of mid century linens, not much to note about them except the price- $2 for the top one (a couple stains) and $5 for the bottom one. Of course the one with the stains is the only one that actually fits on my table....

And the Pyrex. The Verde (or is it Spring Blossom/Square Flowers?) Cinderella bowl was $3, which is astonishingly high for this sale.  It's not even in great condition- quite a bit of wear to the handles and utensil scratches which came out with a little BKF. It just goes to show that people everywhere (even little old church ladies) are onto those of us that collect it!

Friday I went to another church rummage sale. Thankfully the lime square baker was only $1 at that one. Apparently those little old church ladies are still in the dark! 

This is my second piece of lime (found the round cake pan about a month ago) and my 4th utility dish-  I have a flamingo lasagna pan and lidded casserole. But do you think I could find a pink or lime pie pan? No... still looking after all these years!

Rummage Sale Haul of Awesomeness, Pt. 2

Well, now that you've had enough time to digest part 1, let's move on to the miscellany and clothes I picked up from the semi-annual rummage sale. 

Last year, I put a moratorium on my own buying of vintage Christmas items- I have probably 15-18 dozen vintage Shiny Brites I bought back when no one wanted them. But now that I have an antique store booth, I need the holiday inventory ;). These sweet handmade cloth ornaments are just the thing- and only set me back 25 cents for all.

These plastic flocked window wreaths are still in their wrappers- 50 cents for all. I have done well with these on Etsy- should get them listed soon.

I paid 25 cents for the tin and it happened to be filled with tiny craft supplies- a win-win! The sharp-looking object is actually a vintage plastic icicle ornament. I have a little collection of those as well, this was like a bonus find.

This is one of my favorites- a bunch of 7 1980s vintage T shirts- $2.25 for all. These have great vintage drinking-theme graphics. They'll be making their way into my Etsy shop for all those ironic hipsters at Xmas...

Let's take a closer look at the one on the lower left- it's my favorite! 

I think I mentioned before on this blog how much I love vintage flight bags. I have a couple that I use for actual trips- they are still the perfect size for carry-on luggage, and fit a laptop as well! I grabbed these while I was still waiting in line to get in (all the suitcases and lawn items were outside) for $1 each. The TWA one is from the 80s, but the red white and blue one is so 60s. The logo is from the ILGWU and it is mint! It's going to be hard to let this one go, but I can't keep everything.

If you see anything you like, watch my Etsy shop or leave a comment with your email and we can work something out. As always, blog friends get a 20% discount when you enter the coupon code PIT20OFF at checkout.

Summer's End Thrifting Adventure

Since my kids go back to school in the next few weeks, we took one last thrifting adventure as a family today. And as much as I never thought I would say it, it will be bittersweet to go thrifting alone the next few months. My son, aka Eagle Eye, is always such a great help, and believe it or not, my daughter was actually good and did not cause me much stress until she started whining about how hungry she was (OK, it was past lunchtime and she is four, after all.)

I was glad we went today; I really think we got some great stuff. And now with both an online store and an antique mall booth to stock, I really have a good excuse to buy stuff! 

First was this embroidered fish with felt and bead flowers. I've bought a couple of these types of artwork lately for the booth. I don't know if they are going to go over well with that clientele or if I need to eventually list them on Etsy. I really love it though, and hope some others do as well.

This hammered aluminum platter is also going to the booth. I already sold some of the hammered aluminum I had in there, so I hope this will be a quick sale. I love the deer running along the border.

I picked up these ceramic mugs at a Goodwill on a recent trip to Lancaster. I think they were both 97 cents. The squirrel is just too funny.

This print I bought for myself. It is going up to the cabin (where I need to do a little re-finishing of the frame as well.) It was ony 99 cents and probably dates to the 1940s. We have a bit of a bird theme going on in the bathroom. ;)

 

I couldn't pass up this chalkware planter for $2.00! It's in fabulous shape and gigantic- and heavy. Definitely going to the booth- I'll put some fall goodies inside and hopefully someone will take it home with them!

I have had a bit of a Pyrex drought lately. I think it's pretty well documented that thrift stores and private sellers are onto those of us that collect it, so when I do find it, it's way overpriced. But every once in a while I find some for a decent price. This Early American 401 mixing bowl was $1.97 at the Lancaster Goodwill. It's not a pattern I collect, so will be heading over to the booth. Incidentally, I saw a 403 for this set today at the thrift store- they wanted $17 for it. No thanks! (I also saw a set of Woodland mixing bowls at the same store for like $35- obviously they are still there.)

I bought this mint condition yellow 501 fridgie at another thrift store. I think it was $2. I always buy these if they are reasonable, regardless of pattern. I use them to store all kinds of things, mostly condiments and small bits of garlic, etc. And since I do collect primary, this was a no-brainer.

This was a bit of a splurge at $5, but I have never had a patterned lid casserole before. I do love the green color and it was in great condition underneath a boatload of grease and dirt. It's a 1 qt bake/serve/store casserole in a promo design called "Vintage" (apropos, no?) and supposedly came with a cradle, which I will have to find now! Interestingly it's from the same store with the crazy prices above- just goes to show that sometimes different people price things very differently, even at the same store!

These last shirts are huge scores and will be listed in my Etsy store shortly. Almost makes me wish I wore Hawaiian shirts because they are so cool. They would probably fit me too, but I'll pass them on to someone who will get some more use out of them.

This shirt is patterned with a motif of all the Hawaiian landmarks of the 1960s- it's like looking at a Waikiki phone book from 1960. There's Trader Vics, Hilton Hawaiian Village, The Embers, etc. all immortalized in one incredible loop-collar Aloha shirt. It is so killer.

This is from the same lot- the size and cut are the same, but this shirt is red with black and gold accents. It is really nice! Once they are listed, don't forget that you guys are all entitled to a 20% discount in my Etsy store- just use the coupon code PIT20OFF.