Friday, September 30, 2011

Mystery Cone Lamp

If you are a yard saler, picker, thrifter, you know that you find some of the best stuff on the hottest days and in the sketchiest parts of town. This was one of those days...
I typically make a list of the sales I want to go to on Thursday mornings while drinking my coffee and checking out the listings on Craigslist. I came across a listing that was just south of the downtown area. A pretty sketch area, but it was listed as an estate sale for a couple who had passed 20 years ago. The son had left all of the belongings in a double garage, was now remodeling the house (his childhood home), and wanted the stuff gone. Doing some quick math...well, if they passed away in their 80's and that was 20 years ago, and 2011 minus 20 minus 80 would equal...you get the point! The sale started at noon, so I was out of the house by 11:30 on my way to Lord only knows where. I was greeted by a neighborhood of boarded up homes, scraggly landscaping, and $500 cars with $2,000 rims. Saw a dumpster with a small yard sale sign next to it. I spotted 2 other people going to the back of the house so I headed back. The man running the sale literally threw open the garage door and said to have at the glorious heap of retro! It had clearly been stored there for the said 20 years. It was hot, dusty, and musty. This sale was now straight out of the show American Pickers. Thankfully, I had my hand sanitizer. I picked up some cool vintage dolls, tag on Mad Men style dresses (which can be seen in my Etsy store Vintage Dreams), and a cukoo clock.
This brings me to the pick of that day: Way in the back of this shack of a garage I spotted it...a very cool looking lamp with its original box. I started wading through the dusty, spidery, heaps o'stuff and scooped it up, it was mine! Here's the photo:
The box is labeled Snyder Mfg Co, Philadelphia, PA and states that it is a Stand-Op (yes, 'O' 'P') telescoping folding lamp. It seems from my Google search that the Snyder Co. no longer exists and I cannot find any photos of a lamp exactly like this one anywhere. I have seen photos of other tripod lamps but not like this one. I am trying to figure out if this lamp has a special name in the MCM world, you know like Noguchi or artichoke light. I know it is neither, but one could dream right? So my friends, any ideas?
Also, if any of my mid century blogger followers have friends who may know, please pass this post along to them.

I would love for you to share any fun MCM lighting finds you may have in the comments section, thanks!



Thursday, September 29, 2011

Retro Green Chair Wonderfulness and an Eyeball

Ahh, yes, the Flexsteel chair steal of the mid-century! We have been looking for more furniture to fill our living room. I was thrifting and walked up to the Goodwill and locked eyes with this fabulous chair. Fist thing I thought, whats wrong with it, and, it probably smells like old people or cat pee. Gave it the sniff test, and smelled like nothing. Ok, now what brand is this, and are there mice living in the bottom. Flexsteel and no mice. This is going well! Now where is the price tag? Went inside and asked employee and the next thing he said was music to my frugal ears, $4.99. I will take it!!! Didn't know how I was going to get it in the sedan, but I after some twine and leaving the trunk open while driving with a possible rain storm on the way, this piece of vintage heaven was home!
I am now waiting to find clearance upholstery fabric to the tune of about $3 a yard or less, 4-5 yards needed. The fabric will be a lighter color as the room is feeling a bit 'heavy' with our darker furniture.

See the eyeball lamp behind the chair? Came from an estate sale of a gentleman who owned his own candy shop back in the day in downtown. $10, I might keep this one. A little rust on the base and some minor scratches on the lamp head. Nothing that can't be solved with some black spray paint. Chrome is mint. If anyone knows the maker of this lamp, post it in the comments section por favor.
I also have some new items up in my Etsy shop Vintage Dreams check them out!

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

My first blog post, WOOT!

This blog will be about my thrifting finds both vintage and current and the story behind the pick! You will also learn if I am reselling, upcycling, reusing, or repurposing the item.

About me and how this all started...

Well hello there and thanks for checking out my blog! I never thought I would be a blogger, but here I am. My thrifting and picking started shortly after my wonderful hubby and I decided it was time to have me stay home and create a nest for ourselves and our future children.
Up until this point I had worked a very busy job in the medical field and was at work close to 50 hours per week. My hubby had just landed a management position and was working more hours too. We were like two ships passing in the night. Or house was a mess. We had lived in the house for a year and a half and there were no personal photos or artwork on the walls, hardly any furniture, and a whole bunch of stress from too many hours worked. 
When I started to stay home, I cleaned and purged, it was a great feeling! My mother called me and said she had been purging the storage areas at their home as well and she had a bunch of my baby and early childhood items to hand over to me. She didn't care what I did with it. Throw it away, donate it, sell it, she didn't mind either way. I went to help her with the purge and we had so much fun together! Finding old artwork from grade school, My Little Pony, Barbie, Jem, Sesame Street. I loved going through the memories! Many things that were unusable to someone else were thrown away, nicer items were given to Goodwill. A few were kept for my future children and select pieces were put on Ebay. Ebay was a new venture for me, I had never done it. I just figured I would leave up the items until sold and that would be it. Well, the items started selling, and very well I might add! I decided this might be a nice way to have a little extra income since I was at home and would keep me as busy as I would want to be. After my kid stuff was sold, I started selling some of my massive stockpile of shoes, purses, and clothes that didn't fit or I didn't wear anymore. This Ebay thing was going well!
In August my hubby mentioned that our house just felt bare and not warm and cozy like a home should. With a budget of practically nothing, I started visiting thrift stores, yard and estate sales searching for items to fill up our home. My price range is free or dirt cheap. I cannot believe the treasures I found! I will begin posting a few here soon along with the price I paid, unless I am going to put it up for sale of course. If I am going to sell it, I will let you know if you can find it by my Ebay name~memorylane80s~or my Etsy shop~Vintage Dreams~.
Vintage? Yes, vintage! I like selling my newer items on ebay, but I especially love searching for vintage items to sell via my Etsy store, namely a little something some call mid-century modern. What is mid-century modern you ask? Think of the show Mad Men or Pan-Am and the decor and dress from that time period, 1950s and 1960s and that's what I am talkin' about!
So, I have two stores, one for current new and used items which are on Ebay and a store on Etsy for fabulous mid-century stuff.
Woosh, yep I love to talk and tell people about my finds, so here we go!