Atomic Inspired

Any Thoughts?

2011-03-29T18:47:00.000-07:00

I picked up these chairs at the Salvation Army for $7 each.

I really liked the cool backs and I thought they could be a fun re-do project.

So here's where you, dear reader, come in. I already know I want to paint these chairs and recover the seats, and I've got a few ideas. The first idea I had was to paint the chairs white and reupholster the seats is this fabric:

"Plume" by Thomas Paul for Duralee in peacock blue- I love love love this fabric, and the peacock feathers are really huge (about the size of your handprint). I got it for an absolute STEAL last Thanksgiving in Boston, and so I ended up carrying 23 yards(!) back in my luggage.

Perhaps paint it lacquered red and upholster the seats with this cool Ikea fabric:

Or maybe black with some colorful fabric? Any other suggestions? I'd love you input. I think I'd like to fix them up and sell them at an upcoming flea market.

Catching Up

2011-03-28T19:18:00.000-07:00

I've been a bit preoccupied lately. For those of you that don't know, I only moonlight as a thrifter/reseller...in fact, my "day job" is as a nuclear engineer. I've been following the events in Japan very closely, especially because I have friends and colleagues directly effected by the earthquake, tsunami, and resulting nuclear emergency. Also, Marc (my dear husband and my very own Mr. Fix-it) is a structural engineer specializing in seismic (earthquake) design. It looks like he's going to be heading to Japan to survey the damage, so we have definitely both been preoccupied.

This weekend was pretty slow for estate-saling in the East Bay. Marc and I braved the rain (it's not supposed to rain in California!!) to hit one in San Leandro on Saturday morning, but we walked away with nothing. So after visiting the post office to ship an item purchased from my Etsy store (yay!), I motored on over to the close thrift stores in Hayward. And here's the bounty:

A stainless dry good canister set! I almost didn't get it, but then I found the matching breadbox:

They were both pretty dirty and rusty:

But after a good scrubbing with Barkeeper's friend, they're nice and shiny again!

Formerly rust-spotted area from before:

But the real find of the weekend was this beautiful Gucci scarf with red/purple poppies:

There are nine different poppies on the scarf, each one rendered in vibrant colors and exquisite detail:

Sorry for the lack of focus on the blog lately...I think I'm ready to get back into the groove!

Some Groovy Finds for Thrift Share Monday

2011-03-06T21:01:00.000-08:00

Marc and I rolled out of bed early on Saturday morning. Our first sale wasn't supposed to start until 8, but I had a funny feeling about. I told him, "Let's leave early...I think this sale might open before 8." We ended up arriving around 7:30, and sure enough, the garage was open. Only one dealer in sight, though, so I managed to scoop up some fun things. Here's the haul (mostly from that first sale):

The sale was of a lady who LOVED dolls, and in fact all the bedrooms were filled with dolls of all shapes and sizes. I only managed to pick a few that interested me, if you can really call them "dolls":

A set of foo dogs and two geisha girls

I found another cool stainless cake saver, and since I already have one, this one is for sellling. I spotted some orange-themed things for my kitchen, including a cool orange-printed bottle and a really nice embroidered bowl of oranges:

I finally found a chip and dip bowl. I found the top, smaller bowl and the gold clip on the dining table, and so I went hunting for the larger bowl, which I eventually found in the china cabinet. I felt so victorious!

These little suitcases are in great shape and would great as a funky briefcase.

Finally, my favorite purchase of the day was found by Marc. This plant stand was sitting in the living room and I had even picked one of the "violet pots" up. It wasn't until I saw Marc being so fascinated that I thought they might be worth getting:

There are four of these pots, and everything, including the violets, leaves, and terra cotta pots are knitted. Including the "drip catchers":

After thinking about it a bit, I agreed that they were pretty cool.

So we decided to take them, plant stand and all.

I love buying these kind of things at estate sales. Just thinking about all the time and effort that went into making them makes me love these items all the more.

The Gift of Thrift

2011-03-01T18:55:00.000-08:00

I love being able to use my thrifting powers for good. I especially love finding the perfect gift for friends and family. My younger brother, John, is a physics teacher at a specialized science-focused high school in New Jersey. His students are required to wear uniforms, so he always likes to wear ties in the school colors of blue and yellow. Ties are constant in the thrift stores I frequent, so I began looking out for nice, clean ones in shades of blue or yellow. Well, it only took a month or two to amass quite the collection:

Only the best for my little bro...

8 Thrifted Ties: $12.50

Shippng to NJ: $10.20

Having your brother win "Teacher with Best Ties": Priceless!

My First Etsy Sale!!!

2011-02-28T19:34:00.000-08:00

Hoo-ah! I am so excited for my first Etsy sale! And it's so fitting that it was these:

my beautiful little aqua bird wall plaque trio...they were my initial inspiration to open a shop on Etsy, so I'm glad they were picked first. My little birds are flying to Michigan later in the week!

Visit my Aqua&Orange shop on Etsy! Also, to celebrate, I think I'm going to have to do a give-away, probably after next week's Thrift Share Monday! Mark your calendars!

Wow, What a Weekend!

2011-02-27T21:25:00.000-08:00

This was a great weekend for thrifting! It was cold in the Bay Area (ok, so it was only 32 degrees, but we did have SNOW predicted on Friday night- very unusual!) but that didn't seem to deter anyone from heading to estate sales. Here's one of the first things I picked up at the first (8 am) sale:

A cool, rusty, weather-beaten, old ladder. My brother and sister-in-law have been looking for one for their place in San Fransisco for a while. But what do city folk need with a ladder? Well, I think they'd like to do something like this:

I get it! A place to store my ReadyMades! I like it! Maybe I won't be so generous, although rusty and weathered isn't really my style...

And of course we found some of the ever-present Pyrex...I actually really like these two patterns, so I am keeping these:

Aqua snowflake divided dish. Tiffany, aka DFWGirlieGirl Housewife, had an ingenious idea for using these dishes to their full potential that I think I might steal in the near future.

These gorgeous "Daisy Cinderella" casseroles have such sunny colors, they are an instant mood lifter!

I did find some stuff to sell, and I have finally set up my Etsy shop! Presenting AquaandOrange! It will be a little bit vintage and a little bit of a project outlet. All the rest of the my finds for the week are destined for the shop! Some are there now...

Blue Dansk Kobenstyle Lasagna Pan (I collect these enamel pans, but in aqua so this one is for someone else!)

Aqua and Orange trivets! I wonder why I was drawn to these...

Orange, Yellow, and Aqua Enamel Paella Pans, never out of the box!

Blue Danish wooden candleholders! So cute!

A set of 8 red floral glasses.

I also found something a little too big to go in the Etsy shop:

This AMAZING danish modern sectional couch! I saw it (and it's tiny price tag) and immediately told Marc we had to get it. He balked...we had no place to put it. But I knew it could be sold pretty quickly, for a pretty decent profit (ok, an INSANE profit), so I convinced him. Look at the beautiful wood sides:

....it's graceful curves:

...those dainty feet:

Oh, yes, it would be mine....at least for the 12 hours it took to flip it on Craigslist. Let's just say I made enough to make get that embroidery machine I've been eyeing. Yes, it was a good weekend!

Adventures with Craigslist

2011-02-25T19:29:00.000-08:00

My husband is a very good sport. About every two weeks or so, I'll see something AMAZING on Craigslist. (Since we live in the San Francisco Bay Area, where Craigslist started, everyone uses it to find jobs, apartments, significant others, and to buy and sell things.) Our conversations usually go something like this:

Me: "So, Marc, do you fancy a drive?"
Marc: "What'd you find now?"
Me: " A really awesome ______, and it's only ________!"
Marc: "How far is it?"
Me: "Um...only 10 (more like 20) miles."
Marc: "Is it going in the garage, because (that's my space) there is no more room in there?"
Me: "No, I'm sure I can fit in my craft room/the guest room/the upstairs hallway/(out of the way in the garage)"
Marc: "Ok...I'll get my keys..."

Last week, I saw an ad with this picture:

She had described it in her ad as a "George Jetson's light fixture (kinda retro 90's)" and was asking $25! I recognized it immediately as being an iconic PH5 Pendant Lamp, designed by Poul Henningsen of Denmark. I recognized it because I really wanted wanted one for over my dining table and finally bought a knock-off on eBay two years ago. Turns out, this lady had just bought a house and didn't like the light, so I bought it from her on Craigslist. The crazy thing was that as I was leaving with my prize in tow, the seller mentioned to me that she really loved the Ikea esthetic. Seeing as Ikea is obviously so influence by mid century Scandinavian design (a la Poul Henningsen), I found it really ironic that she was selling a great vintage piece to replace it with a contemporary "interpretation." As much as I don't understand those who don't see the value in "old" stuff, I just have to remind myself that they're the reasons I can buy such great stuff so cheap!

It's Raining Pyrex!

2011-02-23T20:17:00.000-08:00

Marc and I were visiting his dad and stepmom in Pompano Beach, FL this weekend, so I didn't get much thrifting in. However, I alluded in my last post to a crazy Pyrex treasure trove I discovered at an estate sale two weekends ago. The sale, in Livermore, CA, was advertised as "%90 Vintage" and turned out to be the estate sale of an antique dealer. There was great stuff piled EVERYWHERE in this house! I filled two boxes, mainly with Pyrex, including TWO sets of these beauties:

Pyrex primary color mixing bowls!

They were first made in the 1940's and my grandmother had a set (Pyrex numbers 401, 402, 403, 404). My dad asked me to be on the lookout for a replacement set for him (he had some unfortunate accidents with two of the inherited set). I actually already gave him a set for Christmas. These sets are uber-collectible, and they consistently go for between $50-$80 bucks on eBay. And I found two sets of them! One set is in in near-perfect condition, while the other one has obviously been loved a bit more. I also picked up three of the 403 green bowls (for making sets in the future):

And the Pyrex craziness is still not done. I also found another Butterfly Gold bowl (a white 402 one this time) to go with my bowls I found a few weekends ago:

I also found these lovely pastel cake pans (in near perfect condition):

And finally, my first ever refrigerator set, in the Verde color pattern (with the glass lids):

All in all, a pretty great haul!

Inspired Pot Rack

2011-02-16T21:06:00.000-08:00

A few years ago I saw this picture in Domino magazine:

And all I could think was "wow", now that that's a pot rack! I immediately started being on the look out for something I could turn into such a cool pot rack. Marc and I frequent a bunch of salvage yards around northern California (our favorite being Ohmega Salvage and Urban Ore) and we began looking for old iron gates. After months of finding pedestrian parallel bar gates, one day, we found this:

I loved it! It started out white and this is what it looked like after stripping MANY coats of paint (that was a real pain). I then had Marc cut off the non-flush ends and weld four eye hooks on the side (below). Have I mentioned lately how much I love a man with power tools?

After priming (really important for metal that's going to see lots of use), we spray painted the entire thing a bright orange with enamel spray paint. Then, it was all about hanging it from the ceiling and arranging the pots:

I think it's a pretty good interpretation of the inspiration photo. It's definitely got a lot more pots on it now. One great thing about the location of the rack is that we can just hang up pots after washing and let them drip down into the sink. Genius!

A beautiful weekend in SoCal: San Diego and the Rose Bowl Flea Market

2011-02-13T22:00:00.000-08:00

This weekend found us in Southern California, as we were visiting my college friends Edny and Christine. Edny just bought the cutest little Spanish style house in San Diego and invited Marc and I down to come see it and help her fill it with vintage finds. So we both played hooky on Friday and seeing as there were a few local sales in the area, we hit those before we got on the road. The first sale I went to was in Castro Valley and said it opened at 7. I arrived at 6:30 only to see the familiar cadre of dealers carting out boxes already....sigh. Anyway, I was still able to find some cool stuff, although the best was some enameled cast iron cookware from Copco, Michael Lax, Denmark:

I love enameled cast iron pieces. I think I might keep the orange one, but I think the yellow one may be destined for resale.

It's actually in really great condition, although I doubt it's worth $1000 (I found this link while doing some research). I need to get off my laurels and start that Etsy store! Marc and I did hit up another estate sale, and got a bunch of stuff (pyrex, Pyrex, PYREX!!!) but I'll post about that sale separately later this week. We also bought an orange enameled cast iron Le Creuset-esque dutch oven that made a great house-warming gift for Edny.

Friday was mostly taken up with driving, but we got up early on Saturday to indoctrinate Edny and her husband Tazo into the joys of estate sale shopping. Unfortunately the first two were duds, but the last two actually turned out pretty well. It turns out the Clairemont district of San Diego is where to find the mid century mojo. I picked up this amazing chinese-print screen:

It's about six feet tall and has cool hinges that can be opened both ways (fancy!)...

One side is definitely sun faded, but the other side (pictured) is pristine.

I also found some other random items at those two sales, including a complete fondue set (with forks!) for resale:

And an ashtray to add to the collection:

The real reason we drove down south was to go to the Rose Bowl Flea Market in Pasadena. I'm sure many of you have watched the Rose Bowl or seen the parade on TV, but did you know that every 2nd Sunday of the month they use the venue for a flea market? L.A. is somewhat of a mecca for mid century design, and the Rose Bowl Flea Market always has AMAZING vintage finds in beautiful condition. I think it's much cheaper than the Alameda Pointe. Needless to say, Edny was impressed and I think she and Tazo will be making the 2 hour drive from San Diego in the future. I totally scored at the Rose Bowl. I bought both of my things at the same booth. First, I got this amazing Paul McCobb designed platter for $5:

The top side

The bottom

But truly, the biggest score of the weekend was this great little painting:

I was drawn to it first because of the color palate (yellow, black, and white):

Don't you love the poodle and the black gloves? The dealer who sold it to me said that it had been hanging in his bathroom for the last twenty years, and then quoted me the absolute steal price of $25. It's signed Alex Ross, and after doing a little digging, I found out that he was a commercial artist who did lots of advertising work from 1940-1970. In fact, he drew almost every cover for Good Housekeeping for 12 years! My search was complicated in the fact that Alex Ross is also the name of a modern-day comic book artist. However, I was able to find some other paintings by Alex Ross (the mid-century illustrator) that sold for over $2000!!! Of course, Marc was really excited when I uncovered that information, but I think I'm going to keep it in the our guest room because it looks like it was destined to be there. Here's a sneak peak of the guest room (by the way, everything except the curtains in this photo were thrifted):

It's perfect! What should I name her? I think she's needs a great name....

I Heart Vintage Photos

2011-02-08T20:50:00.000-08:00

I'm always amazed when I go to estate sales or flea markets to see old family photographs being sold off for next to nothing. It always makes me wonder, "Why didn't anyone (in the family) want these?" And while I guess I could ask the same question about all the "treasures" I buy at an estate sale, photos seem so much more personal than all the other things. Well, I recently received a lot of vintage photos of my own family, and so I thought I'd share my favorites.

My Grandma Dorothy Marie (Taylor) Webb (mom's mom), in her high school graduation photo, circa 1947. It says in the corner, "To the family with love, Dorothy Marie."

My Grandma Dorothy with her sister Mary Jean and a frisky-looking dog. I love the edging on the photo- I think it's about 1940 or so. The picture appears to have once been glued into an album and then later ripped out, which is why the edge is torn.

This is one of my favorite old photos- I'm not sure who everyone in the picture is, but I definitely recognize Dorothy about to fall out of the boat in the back of the photo!

This photo looks like an old Dr. Pepper advertisement to me, with that canoe paddle looking like it was placed there by a propmaster. I think that's my Grandma and Grandpa on the right.

My grandmother on my dad's side, Grace Irene (Zeller) Goff, almost made it to 100 when she died in 2008. After the funeral in Riley, KS, we all went back to my Aunt Martha's house to reminisce and look at some old pictures. I liked the next two so much that I had my aunt scan them. The first one is my grandmother leaning on an old truck with a corn field behind her:

This picture was probably taken in the mid 1920's (she was born in 1909). I really like it because I am struck by how much I resemble her, especially in the nose/mouth/chin area (ok, yes, this is an old photo, but it's the most illustrative):

The other photo I was really taken with was my grandmother's wedding photo:

It's sort of a bad scan, but what a picture! Where do you start? Those beautiful hats at fashionista angles? That mermaid-flair dress my Great Aunt Elda is wearing as a bridesmaid? The adorable flower girls? The dashing tuxes? Or how about those WHITE SHOES my Great Uncle George is wearing? Yep, I agree- those shoes are off the charts!

Thrift Share Monday and White Elephant Part 3

2011-02-06T18:23:00.000-08:00

The cool thing about the White Elephant Sale is that it goes on for about two months. As long as you bring some goods to donate (worth $50), you can get in to the WES warehouse and shop Tuesday-Saturday. This place is big enough and they put more stuff out daily that it's worth it to go back multiple times. I went back on Friday (my day off) and found this:

Architectural cookie cutters from the Museum of Modern Art in New York (one of Marc and my favorive museums!). We'll use these to make the most high-brow cookies you've ever seen! My favorites are the Sydney Opera House and the Guggenheim museum:

It was actually pretty light this week in terms of estate sales. We only went to three as there weren't many sales near us. The first sale, at 8 am on Saturday, was less than a mile from our house and yielded our best finds of the day:

A collection of Pyrex bowls! I usually don't find much Pyrex at estate sales, as usually the dealers tend to descend on it pretty quickly. For some reason, there were no dealers in sight at this sale. Marc and I were the first ones there at 7:55. Here's some up close views of the finds:

Two "Butterfly Gold" bowls

Nesting "Spring Blossom Green" Bowls

Green 403 mixing bowl, "Spring Flowers" Dish, and "Verde Cinderella" Oval Covered Dish

For 50 cents a piece, it's hard to go wrong! (Thanks for the pattern info, Pyrex Love!) We also went to the Alameda Pointe Antiques and Collectibles Fair (aka "the Pointe" or "the Alameda Flea Market"), which is held on the first Sunday of every month. We sold here back in March, and we'll probably be doing it again soon to make room in the house! I actually didn't buy anything, as we estate sales have ruined us for prices, but I like to go for the spectacle and to get some inspiration. I almost left with this, though:

Wouldn't this look great in a kitchen? The seller wanted $60, which I think was reasonable (it's over 2 ft square), but unfortunately I have no space for it in my current kitchen. It's in the mental file for the future, however. I also loved these glass paperweights, displayed in a lovely aqua blue cosmetics case:

The sunlight hit these just beautifully. Finally, the last item I wanted but didn't ~~need~~ buy was this great tin dollhouse from the sixites:

The roof lifts off and all the wallpaper, rugs, windows, etc, are printed on the tin.

What really sealed it for me was this great white brick fireplace, complete with sculptures and fire tools! Also love that wood paneling and the picture of a roaring fire.

Pretty great, huh?

Lemon Party!

2011-02-06T16:35:00.000-08:00

When a friend's dad gives you 400 meyer lemons....

you break our all your Pyrex bowls (some of which you just purchased!)....

you invite over a lot of friends who think zesting and juicing 400 lemons is a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon....and have a LEMON PARTY!!!

Zac scrubbed...

While Erin, Lisa, Karen, and Marc zested their little hearts out...

Rich was the juice-man, using an old juicer I found for FREE at a church rummage sale!

That's 5 gallons of lemon juice and an entire bowl of lemon zest. But what do you do with all these lemons?

How about my personal favorite, lemon curd (recipe in the link)? I first had lemon curd, believe it or not, at the Ritz Carlton in Boston during college. We went to "Tea at the Ritz" and they served this incredible concoction of lemons, eggs, sugar and butter (seriously, how could it NOT be good?) with their scones.

Or what about lemon bars (basically lemon curd on a shortbread crust- again, how could it NOT be good)?

Strawberry-lemon marmalade? Check!

I've been wanting to make preserved lemons (basically lemons cured in salt for a month) ever since I saw a recipe for tagine that called for them. I think I've got those covered as well, and I got to use my thrifted hinged jars:

Why, yes, that is a big bottle of vodka in the last photo- that's for limoncello, but I've got to wait a week for the lemon zest to infuse the vodka.

The hearth in front of the fireplace is a great place to stage everything (especially hot jars right out of the canner) and frees up space in our small kitchen.

Finally, I made an oven full of lemon meringues to use up some of the extra egg-whites left over from the lemon curd.

I'm still got another batch of lemon curd to make yet, but for now it's Superbowl time!

White Elephant Sale Part II

2011-02-04T22:29:00.000-08:00

As promised, here's the second installment of my White Elephant Sale finds. All this stuff came from the "nick-nack" section of the sale.

Most of the items are Syroco or Burwood wall plaques and picture frames. Syroco (a combination of Syracuse and Rococo) started out making hand-carved wall decorations and sculptures in the 1930's in New York. Sometimes I find Syroco pieces that are made of wood, like the two branch wall shelves shown in this picture:

However, as plastics started to be more the rage in the 1950's and 1960's, Syroco (and later Burwood and Homco) started mass producing their decor pieces out of hard plastic resin, like this clock:

and these wall plaques and picture frames (I found eight of both!):

And yes, I do realize that they are ~~very~~ a little hideous in their current form. However, I have recently taken to painting these Syroco/Burwood/Homco finds in all sorts of bright colors (orange or aqua, anyone?), and it really improves them immensely. I currently have quite the collection of these gaudy gold treasures going, as they seemed to be very popular at a lot of the estate sales I frequent.

Other items I found were these cool ceramic quails and turtle. The only thing that Marc liked out of this whole bunch was the dandelion puff in the epoxy box (on the left side of the picture below), and I agree that it is pretty cool.

White Elephant Sale Part I

2011-02-01T21:11:00.000-08:00

Every year the Oakland Museum of California does an amazing fundraiser: the White Elephant Sale. They collect donations of houswares, furniture, books, knick knacks, art, (basically anything and everything) for months and a legion of volunteers sort and price everything. The WES is in held in a gigantic warehouse and they don't just have everything you could imagine, they probably have five. My blogging friend Terri and I got to their preview sale this Sunday at 9:30 (they opened at 10:00), and we were literally about the 500th people in line. This sale is BIG.

I did VERY well at this sale, so much so that I've got to break up my scores into multiple posts. My first post is dedcated to these beauties:

Pegged Votive Cups (peglights) and LOTS of them...

So many styles and colors...

I have been looking for these votive cups with the pegs for about a year now. They are suprisingly hard to find (I don't think they are made anymore). In fact, after a year of keeping my eyes open at estate sales and thrift stores, I only managed to accumulate about 30 of them. And then, at the White Elephant Sale, I hit the motherlode and found 44 of them...all for $5!!!

But what do you do with them? Well, here's a hint:

Wall sconces! How about red and aqua?

Or purple (never seen one of those!)

But I'm a big fan of the orange and aqua!

How about the pink double sconces with white frosted votives?

Blue's pretty nice, too...

Back at the Blog for Thrift Share Monday!

2011-01-31T19:31:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, it's been a while since I've posted, but that doesn't mean I haven't been thrifting! And what better way to make my triumphant return to cataloging all my thrift finds than to post on Apron Thrift Girl's Thrift Share Monday (a cool blog I've been following for a few months now). This week my husband (Marc, aka Mr. Fix-it, who can usually find some tool in his collection to repair just about anything) and I hit some sales on the Peninsula (south of San Francisco) and in Fremont, CA (south of us, east of SF Bay). So here's our haul:

We don't usually hit the Peninsula, but it yielded some cool finds for us, including:

this awesome vintage Bocce ball set, with avocado green and yellow balls, plus some VERY retro graphics.

The day we went was actually the second day of a PACKED estate sale in Burlingame, so I was kind of surprised the Bocce ball set lasted so long. Marc and I have been wanting a Bocce ball set for a while, so this was a great score. The next sale was in San Mateo, and I found a bunch of canning jars with hinged lids, a great find for 50 cents a piece (the seller threw in the beans for free- seeing as I have no clue how old they were, they were promptly composted). I bought them to help us deal with the plethora of lemons our friends so graciously gave to us. I'm thinking Moroccan preserved lemons in these. We also found some empty Patron Tequila bottles, which I'll use for limoncello.

But who wants to hear about Bocce balls and too many lemons. I know you're really wondering about the CHIHUAHUA PORTRAIT in the center of the first photograph. Well, the East Bay did not let us down and the last sale we visited was the home of a dog lover (who, by the way, had great taste in furniture- mostly danish modern!). This painting was done of one of her beloved pooches, and would you believe that it was still there on the second day of the sale?

Marc and I were able to get some great deals, not just on the puppy portrait (I think we'll be selling that one). We bought a complete dining set, complete with a table with three (!) leaves and four chairs, plus a custom-made protective cover (shown folded up on one of the chairs below):

But our biggest score of the day (sorry chihuahua) was this great mid century chair we found at the same sale. The upholstery is in perfect condition (it was definitely recently recovered), and so even though I'm sure it would look great with some more funky fabric, I'm holding off on the demo for a while. I'll wait for the "perfect" fabric to come along.

So that was my Saturday. Sunday was the Oakland Museum's White Elephant Sale and boy, was it a doozy, but let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet....

Super Secret Recipe #2: Chicken Tagine

2010-02-23T20:48:00.000-08:00

I've promised a couple of people this recipe and so I've been meaning to post it. When I was in college, I lived in a big house with 50 girls and we would cook dinner every night. Tagine, a spicy Moroccan stew, was one of the house favorite meals. It's infinitely adaptable, and can be easily made vegitarian (just add more veggies and chickpeas). This version is one of my favorite recipes for weeknight dinners. Chop up everything the night before, stow it in the fridge overnight, and cook it in the slow cooker all day on low. When you come home, make some couscous (5 easy minutes), and you've got dinner. This is also tasty with lamb.

Ingredients

5 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 1 pound total) with bones
5 cups chopped vegetables (onions, sweet potatoes, zucchini, carrots, chickpeas)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
1/2 cup dried apricots, coarsely chopped
2 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons garlic salt
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1-1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups couscous, cooked
Toasted pine nuts for garnish, optional

Directions

Layer chicken, vegetables, raisins and apricots in a 6 quart slow cooker. Mix chicken broth, tomato paste, lemon juice, flour, garlic salt, cumin, ginger, cinnamon and black pepper in a seperate bowl. Pour over chicken and vegetables. Cook 5 hours on HIGH heat or 8 hours on LOW heat. 4. Serve over cooked couscous. Garnish with toasted pine nuts (optional). Enjoy!

Stainless Steel Finds: Ooooh, Shiny!

2010-02-23T20:09:00.000-08:00

I've been working some overtime at work, so unfortunately the blog has suffered. I want to catch everyone up on some of the great things I've found at estate sales lately. I seem to be on a stainless steel kick of late, which was definitely popular in the 50's and 60's and is of course popular again. The best find recently had to be the cool matching set of dry goods canisters I found for $5 at an estate sale this weekend. They even came with free sugar, flour, and tea! The jury's still out on whether I should use it or not...

Flour, Sugar, Coffee, and Tea...what else do you need?

Close-up of the sugar container

At one of my local thrift stores, I picked up this amazing stainless steel cake saver. It was half-off day, so it was $2.50!

How about some cake?

Just in case you don't know what you're supposed to carry in this thing...

Finally, the last stainless item- a three-tier tidbit tray that was in awful condition when I first picked it up. Near the end of the day, we hit an estate sale and the lady running the sale basically told us we could just take anything we wanted. I saw this in the garage, completely rusted out (we were afraid of getting tetnus just by looking at the thing). A little Barkeeper's Friend and it finally looks good enough to eat from. That Barkeeper's Friend is magical stuff!

Unfortunately I forgot to take a "before" picture- you'll just have

to take my word for it that is was pretty dirty.

Thanks, Barkeeper's Friend!

Practical Encylopedia of Good Decorating and Home Improvement

2010-02-07T22:23:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the short hiatus is blogging- last week was quite busy around here. I am back to the computer and have decided show my appreciation for your patience by showing you one of my favorite ever finds: The Practical Encyclopedia of Good Decorating and Home Improvement (do you hear angels singing?)! The PEGDHI comes in an 18 volume set of full color retro glory and was published in 1970.

Want to know how to decorate with plaid or important things to consider when designing a vacation home? This is the perfect set for you! My copy is rife with Post-it flags that mark photos I liked. In the future, I'm going to try and post up a picture a week and tell you what I liked about the room or idea. Here's a few photos to get you started.

This book is certainly unafraid of color

What an awesome rocker for a nursery- and those green cribs! I think they might be unsafe...

Neat wall treatment, although it migh induce seizures. I think it would be cool to do something similar with polyurethane instead of two different paint colors so it wouldn't be quite so hard on the eyes.

Collections: Salem North Star

2010-01-30T13:01:00.000-08:00

Almost four years ago, I picked up my first two Salem North Star pattern small berry bowls at a San Leandro, CA garage sale (once a year, in May, the entire city does a yard sale- really fun!) for 50 cents. Of course I was immediately hooked by the cool atomic-inpsired starburst pattern (in aqua, no less!) and have been on the hunt for more ever since. Just recently I picked up an ice bucket at my favorite local thrift store, Thrift Town, but I've mostly had to grow my collection with the help of eBay. This acutally is my everyday china, as much as it pains me to put it in danger of being broken. What's the use of collecting something as functional as dinnerware if you're not going to use it?

I love the teapot and the fact that some pieces are solid aqua and some have the starburst pattern.

One of my favorites- the free-form gravy boat.

I occasionally make unnecessary gravy just so I can use it.

The salt and pepper shakers are cool, too.

And you can never have to many serving bowls.

I think 12 might be enough of these mugs...

They look great in the cubboards

My most recent find- the ice bucket. Now I need some tumblers.

Super Secret Recipe #1: Tiramisu

2010-01-23T22:19:00.000-08:00

I definitely enjoy thrifting and estate-saling, but I actually do put this great vintage kitchware to use by cooking on occasion (I especially like to cook on the weekends when there's no pressure!) This weekend I dusted off a recipe I hadn't used in a while- Tiramisu. This is a modified Giada De Laurentis (of Food Network fame) recipe, and I think you'll be pleased with the results. Most large supermarkets carry the Stella D'oro "Original" cookies (at least Safeway in CA does)- look in the cookie/cracker aisle or the international foods aisle. The cookies have an amaretto flavor and turn into the perfect cake-like consistency when dipped in the espresso and Bailey's. This recipe is not hard! If you're intimidated by the double boiler, you can skip it- I'm just a little queasy about raw eggs. Did I mention that this dessert is incredible with port?

Tiramisu

- 6 eggs, separated into yolks and whites

- 16 oz mascarpone cheese (soft, creamy white cheese)

- 1/2 cup sugar

- 1 cup strong espresso (quad shot from Starbucks plus a little water works great)

- 1/4 cup Bailey's Irish Cream or Dark Rum

- 2 boxes Stella D'oro Original cookies (Breakfast Treats)

- Dark chocolate or cocoa powder (for dusting on top)

- Double boilder set-up (I use a metal bowl over a pot of boiling water)

- Separate yolks and whites, being careful not to get any yolk in the whites. Combine sugar and yolks in a metal bowl, place on double boiler, and cream together. Leave on heat for approximately 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Add mascarpone cheese and 1 T of cooled expresso, beat with a wisk until smooth. With a mixer (or a wisk if you've got mad skills), beat egg whites until fluffy (soft peaks). Lightly fold egg whites into mascarpone mixture.

- Take remainder of espresso and Bailey's or Rum and mix together in a large bowl. Take the cookies and quickly dunk into espresso (1-2 seconds). Arrange dunked cookies in a single layer on a 13x9 baking dish, cutting cookies if needed to cover the entire bottom of the dish. Pour half the mascarpone mixture over the cookies and spread in an even layer with a spatula. Place another layer of cookies on top, and finish with the remaining mascarpone.

- Refrigerate for at least 2 hours (I find it's better the second day). Before serving, grate some dark chocolate or sprinkle cocoa powder over the top. Enjoy!

Estate Sale Scores: Orange Kitchenware

2010-01-23T21:34:00.000-08:00

In last week's post (about the buttons), I lamented "the orange Le Creuset pot that got away." Well, this week I found another (almost as) cool vintage orange enamel paella pan with lid at another estate sale. It will look great next to my orange sauce pots and my orange teakettle- all finds from the past two weeks!

Very lightly used ORANGE paella pan with lid

So much better than a boring silver tea kettle, don't you think?

My Dream House- It's Prefab!

2010-01-21T20:16:00.000-08:00

When I was a kid, my mom was a little obsessed with "kit houses"- prefab houses that are built offsite, dissassembled, and then reassembled on your site- specifically log-cabin looking houses. Well, her obsession must have rubbed off on me a little, as I have found my absolute dream house, and it's a kit. Albeit a modern, absoutely amazing kit house. Each Flat Pak house is specially designed by a firm in Minnesota based on your specifications. Basiscally, every eight feet of wall, you make a decision if you want windows, brick, concrete, etc, and you get some amazing results!

Original Flat Pak in Minnesota

Flat Pak house in Aspen- I love the walls of windows!

Back of a house in Woodstock

They're also beautiful inside!

My absolute favorite- Seperate garage, and see that little side house off to the left- can you say two story workshop, with a wood/metal shop downstairs for Marc and a project/sewing room upstairs? How great would that be?

What a great workshop this would make!

Estate Sale Scores- Weekend of January 16th

2010-01-19T20:14:00.000-08:00

This has been a bit of a slow new year for sales. I think I only found four this weekend, and one of them was actually a garage sale mascarading on Craigslist as an estate sale (grrr...). However, I did get some cool stuff, so I thought I'd share. The best find of the weekend was definitely at the first sale of Saturday morning. 8 am in "the boonies" (as Marc insisted) of Castro Valley, CA, it was me, Marc, and the now-familar cadre of local dealers. We've taken to nicknaming them (more creatively than W's "Slim" or "Super-Slim"), but unfortunately "Elvis" was not in the building that morning. Anyway, the family was doing this sale and they looked totally bewildered at all of us nut-jobs outside 15 minutes before opening time, and when they let us in it was a mad scramble to grab the good stuff. Unfortunatley I missed a flame orange Le Creuset pot (it sold for TEN DOLLARS!!!), but I did manage to score a crafter's dream: a treasure trove of vintage buttons. My mom had a fun collection of them when I was young, and I loved going through and picking out my favorites (of course the gawdy rhinestones were top of my list then). The buttons were in two boxes and I think in total I came away with 10 assorted-sized jars of them (all sorted by color, no less!). I also picked up a cool sewing box (to store the buttons in, of course!), some miscellaneous thread and scissors, an aqua Fiestaware creamer, and a cool vintage starburst juice glass (sadly, there was only one- I looked!). Grand total: $10. Who needs that orange pot, anyway?

Nifty box...

but it's what's inside that counts, right?

I loved the fact they were sorted by color

The fourth from the left is full of gawdy rhinestone buttons!

Sets of buttons are tied up with string, like the pretty red rosette buttons.

You can never have too many colors of thread- it's great for when you have to repair something and you want to match colors, say, when you want to sew on a button?

There's my color again...and a glass with starbursts, no less!

Latest Reupolstery Project: Slipper Chair

2010-01-18T20:45:00.000-08:00

One day last fall Marc and I hit an estate sale up in Walnut Creek, CA. We went late in the day (around 2pm is LATE for estate sales) and we weren't really expecting too much. However, as we pulled up, I spotted these beauties in front of the garage. Two mid century chairs with beautiful teak wood bases (one shown below). We thought $40 for the pair was quite reasonable and we snapped them up, destined for a place of honor in our master bedroom.

Alright, so you have to look past the frumpy cushions and past-its-prime upholstery fabric. After spending months searching for the perfect fabric (tip for all you ameteur upholsterers out there- eBay is your best friend for cheap, high quality upholstery fabric), I finally got down to business over the Christmas break. I've still got one to do, but it feels great to be done with this one. I think since I've got the blog going, I think I'll do a little step-by-step how-to, so look for that in the future.

Begin the demo!

The great wood base, with the tag from 1967 still attached!

Ah the upholstery stapler with air compressor, a MUST have for upholstery work. Have I mentioned how much I love being married to a man who loves power tools?

The final result- although I think I might add a few buttons to the back.

Ashtrays as Art?

2010-01-17T21:21:00.000-08:00

Now, I can't take credit for this idea, as it was really my friend Ashley who inspired me on this one. She has a retro/mid century kind of vibe to her decorating style, and when I went to her house for the first time, I was intrigued by some of the cool objects d'art she had decorating her place. They were being held up by plate holders and displayed like decorative plates...could they be?- yep, they were ashtrays. While I was (I must admit) a little disgusted at first, I realized that they were actually really cool and kinda, well, pretty! Many of them had all kinds of neat colors and glazes, and were really designed to be shown off in the fashionable mid century home. After I opened up to the idea, I started to see attractive ashtrays during my treasure hunting. What really cemented ashtray collecting with me, however, was the one we were given by Marc's grandmother (who is forever trying to give us things), which says "The Perchers" and had graced her home for over 40 years. Now I've got a small collection that I, like my good friend, display on plate holders in my house.

Our family heirloom ashtray

A great score: it's orange, it's fiestaware, and it's radioactive!

I swear the aqua things just find me now

I'm not sure this one is an ashtray, but it's pretty nontheless. It's made by Jacquin and has beautifuly jewel-toned crackeled glass along the rim.

A row of funky-shaped ashtrays graces our wine glass rack in the dining room.

My Atomic Color Palette, Color 1: Aqua

2010-01-17T20:33:00.000-08:00

Walk into my living room and something will become readily apparent- this girl likes blue! But not just any blue- aqua blue, THE iconic mid century/Atomic Era color. One of my first aqua finds is probably my coolest, and in fact it plays a large role in my blog banner: my little aqua microscope. I picked it up a few years ago in the Salvation Army in San Leandro, CA (RIP), and it even came in it's own cool wooden box with some microscope slides and vials of questionable cleanliness. Now it has a place of honor as a bookend on my nifty room divider in the living room (a $30 estate sale score), and has served to inspire the room's color palette: aqua with pops of orange. More on orange in later posts!

Room Divider with open shelving, creates a bit of a foyer when you walk in the front door

Little aqua microscope finds a home

Perhaps our only "new" purchase from a furniture store- Our couch from Sphere Designs Furniture in San Francisco. The cool lamp came from a local consignment store.

Lane Acclaim side table in perfect shape- thank you estate sales! Check out that dove-tailed action on top...I'll devote a post to this line later- this is only the tip of the iceberg...

More Lane Acclaim- this time a side cabinet, and an estate steal at $5!!!

More cool dovetails...it's a signature of this line.

Knock-off RAR Eames Rocker with a cool eyeball chrome lamp. Check out those groovy I Dream of Jeannie lamps on the mantle

My husband's crowning acheivement- built-ins and a great mantle! I helped design it and do the finishing work, but he did all the heavy lifting.

Next project: Replace the beige marble fireplace surround with more mid century-esque white stacked stone.

Building up for my Etsy Store

2010-01-17T14:05:00.000-08:00

Last December I met my friend Terri, who is a fellow East Bay treasure-hunter (as she terms it) and has an awesome blog, La Dolfina. Terri was really inspirational to get me to start blogging and get an Etsy store going as an outlet for my projects. Well, I'm currently building up inventory for my store, but here's a sneak peak of what's to come!

Pretty dark raspberry pink sconces- don't they look great with aqua votives?

My aqua birdies...

A matched set of lilac mirror and clock...I might not be able to part with these on Etsy...

How I Became a Thrift Store and Estate Sale Junkie

2010-01-17T13:42:00.000-08:00

A lot of my friends think I'm crazy that I drag myself out of bed at the crack of dawn every Saturday to be first in line at an estate sale or that I can't pass a thrift store without itching to get inside to do a bit of treasure-hunting through a big bin of someone else's cast-offs. But as I realized during my college years, there's good stuff at those sales and in those stores. And not just good stuff, but good, cheap stuff! I remember moving to Berkeley to start grad school and realizing I needed everything for my little studio apartment. Craigslist and thrift stores were my saviors. I was raised in a "do it yourself" household, so I didn't mind buying used items that might need a little bit of elbow grease to make them new again. I decided to teach myself to sew and upholster furniture, and when I met my husband, who came with a woodshop and (later) a metal shop, it was a match made in heaven. We discovered we both had a love for mid century design and all things vintage, so we've now been feathering our nest with the treasures we find during our hunts. We're still not afraid of taking on projects, and this blog will hopefully serve as a way to catalog our pursuits and triumphs.