Collections: Salem North Star

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

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

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!

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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.