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!

Stove Update #3

I've had a few people ask me about my stove project lately, so I thought it was due for an update! For those of you new to the blog, last summer (about a year ago) my modern oven door just fell off and shattered in the middle of the night. Long story short, I took advantage of the opportunity to fulfill my long-held desire to acquire a vintage stove.

My stove as it sat in the seller's basement.

I bought a 1950 Westinghouse double oven off of Craigslist. (For you I Love Lucy fans, this is the same stove she has on the show. Why? Because Westinghouse sponsored the Lucy show.) It worked and was in good shape, but once we got it home it was clear that the wiring needed to be totally replaced. 

 I started that project last fall and as the weather got colder we moved the stove from the garage to the basement and my husband took it over.

Ever try carrying a 300 lb. steel and porcelain appliance down a flight of stairs? :) But the good part about that was that we could set it up near our electric panel to test it before moving it upstairs.

Once the re-wire job was complete, my brother, an electrician, came over and drew a 220 V line directly from our electric panel and hooked it to the stove. See the 4 wires coming off the panel? Best to leave that job to the professionals!

It's alive! All four burners, both ovens and broilers live again.

Even the 120 V circuits for the lighting and outlets work. 

The funny thing was, all this was happening around dinner time and I had to cook dinner. I had some summer squash and tomatoes and onions to saute and went about my usual prep work and put the pan on my existing stove (which still works, it just doesn't look pretty). I turned on the burner and went about starting something else- it took me about five minutes before I realized the veggies weren't cooking! 

Apparently, my brother had taken the existing 220 line from our working stove and jumped it onto the project stove right about then. I had no power at all to the modern stove. So I promptly took my pan down the basement and plopped it on the project stove to "test" the burners. I don't think our basement ever smelled so good!

My husband makes his first appearance on the blog showing off his wiring and cooking skillz...

My next step is to take the chrome pieces to be re-chromed. (We were waiting to make sure it worked before embarking on that considerable expense.) Then we will need to cut our countertops out in the kitchen to make room for the wider stove- will probably have to get new countertops as a result. I can't wait to show you the finished project- we're getting there!

Thrifted Thursday: Tons of stuff!!!

As I mentioned before, I have been doing a lot of thrifting lately. For pure tonnage in the thrifts, January and February are probably the best time to shop- a lot of people are decluttering for the New Year! I also have the added incentive of having to outfit a new kitchen at our cabin. I've been buying the usual clothing for the shop and also have been shopping for kitchenware for the first time in years.

Since it's been about 10 years since I really had to buy kitchenware, I have the opportunity to establish a new vintage look. And since this is a cabin, I'm going for a rustic, Adirondack style with lots of enamelware and cast iron. I love, love, love enamelware as it is, so the opportunity to buy more and to put it to use is really exciting to me.

I'm going to try to do the whole place without buying anything new or plastic (save the odd piece of jadeite green Tupperware). I think the entire contents of the wire basket cost me about $10. I bought the crinkle wire basket from an Etsy seller, and that was probably the mot expensive thing I've bought so far at about $20.

I got a pair of these sheets for $1 each, and I am thinking about turning them into curtains. Or I might move them into the store...they are really pretty.

This suit I originally bought for the store as well, but after I brought it home, I realized it would fit me. It's brown nubby wool with flecks of red and purple, in mint condition (and only $10!). It's so classic I am having trouble dating it (I'm thinking 1980s does 40s?). I love the cutouts on the collar and the placement of the buttons. It fits me like it was custom tailored, and I have already worn it once!

I found my first pieces of confetti lucite also- these two bracelets and the earrings below. Too bad they don't match- they were found at 2 different stores. The bracelets were $5 each and the earrings were $2.

These boots are about as close as I can come to Uggs, which I refuse to wear. They were brand new, still with the $60 Kohl's tag on them. I paid a little more than I usually do ($15) but they are suede and I needed something like this. They are really warm!

This last one is probably my biggest score. I needed a tea kettle for the cabin, and was looking for one of those old, classic aluminum ones. But then I saw this enamelware one for $6 and was sold.  It had never been used. Not until I was in line at the register (and realized how freakin' heavy it was!) did I notice what was on the bottom...

Score!

A Little R-n-R part 2- the goodies!

Okay, now that I got that last post off my chest it's back to the fun and frivolity! On our 10th anniversary get- away post last month, I mentioned all the great antiques stores we stopped at in Adamstown, PA. Since I am so cheap, most of the time when I go into an "antiques store", it is purely a research project. As in, how much can I get for my stuff if I put it in my Etsy Store, and laughing at the prices some folks will pay.

But there are always a few bargains to be found, I guess, and particularly when you are faced with So Much Stuff! Don't get me wrong, there were things in there I wanted to buy, but I just don't have the money to spend $1200 on an amazing lithographed tin toy from the turn of the century.

My outift for our 2nd day out- wide legged sailor jeans, saddle shoes and  my 49er.

So what did I buy? Well, since selling vintage clothing has become my business, I naturally looked those racks over pretty carefully. And those of you of like mind and taste will probably agree when I tell you that most of the older stuff I saw was either in poor condition or had a sky high price tag. There were plenty of newer items from the 60s and 70s to be had more reasonably, but those just aren't my style. And on a trip like this, I buy for myself- I can't make enough money re-selling things that are on the high side to start with.

So I found this gem of a handmade day dress:

It's never been worn, has the original belt and I loved the cute cotton print fabric. But at $15, it did have one flaw: all the buttons melted when it was pressed! They aren't melted onto the dress, thankfully, just into flat disks that are no longer functional or pretty. Eventually I will find some nice vintage buttons and replace them all before I wear it next spring.

My next find was blue and white also. I recently became an official Pyrex collector, and besides the primary color set, I have been working on a Butterprint mixing bowl set. I had bought the large 444 last fall at a Goodwill ($2.99) and hadn't really found anything else cheap and in great condition (my two priorities, in that order!) But at one of the antique malls I found a little booth of only Pyrex and Fire King, and they had the 441 there for only $4. (There were actually quite a few booths with glassware and kitchen items; some were so spectacularly staged I could have lived there- wish I had my camera to share them with you.)

The 442 was at the booth as well, but not in as great shape, and for $6, I think I can do better eventually. The thrill of the hunt is really why I'm in it, anyway. 

And my final purchase was totally one of those splurge deals, for something that I would normally laugh at my own stupidity for paying the price, if it weren't so gosh-darn perfect:

I bought a set of rabbit ears for my TV-quarium. Late 40s/early 50s RCA antenna, with bakelite base and red tips on the antenna. It is so perfect, that for $18 I didn't think twice. (The other item on top of the set is not a radio, it's a UHF tuner which came with the original TV for $1. I have a couple TV lamps that I'm playing around with as well; still haven't settled on the perfect 'look'. But the rabbit ears are definitely staying!

Stove update #2

Hi everyone, things have been kind of crazy around here (it's deer hunting season- I am a hunting widow...). But I do have a stove update, since that's what I've been focusing my free time on.

I found a great place for parts and wire, and best of all it's local! Bergey's Electric in Hatfield, PA was a life saver for me so far. At the urging of my mother-in-law (the Bergeys are her cousins) I gave them a call searching for the right wire (heat resistant, right amperage, etc.). I highly recommend them, and if you're tackling a similar project, do not hesitate to give them a call: 215-723-5518.

I had not had much luck with the other local places I had called, so I was not expecting much. (Because no one actually repairs appliances anymore, they just tell you to get new ones!) I know some of the parts are available over the web, but I much prefer to support local businesses and it's so much nicer to deal with people face to face.

Not only did they have the right, OEM wire in stock, I had the owner and the appliance repair man there to help me get the rest of my shopping list. I needed the burner wires- they had the original spool wire there and cut it to my measurements- the heavier gauge wire that goes to the oven elements, the connectors, and also as a bonus, an original ceramic recepticle for the burner itself.

The burners plug into a ceramic connector which is wired directly to the knob. I had one that was cracked and they just happened to have an identical one on the parts shelf. And guess what? They gave it to me!

And here's the neat part- know why they happened to have that original part on the shelf? They were the original and only licensed Westinghouse dealer in the area. Chances are that they were the ones that sold my stove when it was brand new. The owner said that if I can track down the name of the original owner, they can probably locate the original bill of sale. Now, if that's not a reason to shop local, I don't know what is!

A hole where the heat should be

Here's the first stove update:

Egads! Major dissassembly. I've pretty much removed everything I could get off for a thorough cleaning and investigation. I've taken off the drawers, the burners, the chrome rings and all the back panels. (That 1946 GE radio is for listening to playoff baseball while I'm working- go Phils and Tigers! On a good day I can pull in WJR from Detroit.)

Thank goodness I have a garage to work in!

The door handles are going to get rechromed, and I'll be re-wiring the burners. Here's why:

Those tangled up wires are all dry rotted and brittle. Not something I want to cook on! 

Hopefully rewiring will be straightforward- I can clearly see where all the wires are supposed to hook up to and where they come from. As long as I can get the right wire this shouldn't be too hard. I have a little experience in rewiring and my brother is an electrician so if I get stuck I have some help. The burners themselves are not as bad as I thought they were- I am planning to put them same ones back in.

I'm hoping not to have to do much to the oven wiring- that looks pretty good from what I can see. I'm excited to get past the cleaning stage- that was pretty yucky!

Check one off the bucket list

Ain't she sweet?

As she sat in the seller's basement- obviously this is not my kitchen!

I have wanted a vintage stove forever. Certainly as long as I have lived in our current place -going on 9 years now. With the vintage kitchen I have, it was one of the biggest missing pieces.

But I had a modern stove that worked fine and was perfectly acceptable until recently. As a matter of fact, it still does work, it's just not pretty to look at. So this was the perfect time to start looking for the vintage stove of my dreams! I can have the luxury of taking my time with a restoration project, but still with the motivation that it needs to get finished and get put in ASAP.

Plus, it was relatively easy to convince my husband that we shouldn't spend so much on a brand new stove that I didn't really want anyway. I used my own money on this stove and will continue to do so for the restoration, which probably will include new counter tops, since this stove is 10" wider. (Thank you to those of you that have shopped my Etsy store- your purchases made this little project possible!)

So what did I get? A 1950s Westinghouse stove with double oven, three burners and a deep well cooker. I haven't figured out the exact year yet, but I'm guessing sometime around 1954-56. The double oven was #1 on my list of "must haves"; the deep well cooker, not so much. I don't yet know if I'm going to love it or hate it. But it does have plenty of "counter space", as well as two outlets if I decide I want to add an extra burner or two.

It works great- the knobs are super cool. They change from green backlit to yellow to red as the burner gets hot.

I do want to completely rewire the burners, and probably the oven elements, though, for safety's sake. And I have already taken some of the chrome pieces (door handles) off to get re-chromed. (We have always wanted to restore an old car, and this is kind of like my own version of that.) So it will be a bit of a learning process for me. Hopefully everything isn't too tricky to find and to fix; I really don't want to spend tons of money on professionals.

I will keep everyone updated on the progress, and hopefully you all will be as interested in this as I am! In the meantime, enjoy this c.1960 commercial for Westinghouse appliances featuring the cast of I Love Lucy.