Why I Love New Years Eve DAY (somewhat unrelated but keeping in the mid century time frame)!

Three words:

TWILIGHT ZONE MARATHON !!!

I am a huge Twilight Zone geek. It's rarely on, but when it is, it's usually on the SyFy channel and it's usually in a marathon or mini-marathon. I will stop everything I am doing and watch for as long as I can, even though I have seen every episode repeatedly.

Rod Serling ~ the original Don Draper, and a writing genius.

Yesssss. So anyway I'm touching up the color in my hair (blue) in preparation for NYE dinner (and drinks!) tonight. It will be a quiet NYE this year, I'm feeling home-y as opposed to raucous. Plus it's cold and slushy outside; I hate being out in that  wearing a dress and heels. Everyone be safe and have fun tonight!

Things I Collect, Specifically and Purposely (part 1)

As opposed to the multitude of things that seem to collect themselves around here, like lamps and barkcloth...!

•  Cardinal Pottery

I've actually ceased actively buying, as I think I have everything they ever produced in the style that I like. It started with a candy dish:

"...its a 60s post modern gingerbread house."

(Google-image search that phrase for some really outrageous gingerbread houses!)

Happy post-holidays to all! Well, NYE is coming up but that never invokes the stress and tension of Christmas, does it? While I cannot say that my Christmas went off without a hitch, I can say that the house looked lovely and festive, the food was delicious, and that old cliche of picking friends over family sure rings true.

Vignettes of Christmas 2010:

 the entrance table (aka the old record cabinet) displaying some of the cards, one of a pair of my Grandmother's electric candles, a christmas cactus, my new green lamp, a vintage runner from Denmark, and a vintage Christmas Card box with index cards still inside to keep track of sending/receiving.

oh! the bugbabies!

A few posts back, I casually mentioned the "BugBabies" in reference to some vintage Christmas ornaments I have. Well the BugBabies are unpacked and up on the extra (tabletop) tree in all of their creepy glory.

I don't know much about these other than I suspect that they are similar to examples of what came out of Occupied Japan during/after WW2?   Every year, a few different lots make their way to ebay and I must admit I almost put these on Etsy to sell because they're just so darn creepy! But kitsch won out, and The BugBabies are here to stay. They were 75 cents, a true bargain for the shock of unpacking them every year and getting a surprise scare!

week of annoyances -or- why ebay is really the devil

Long story short, I was browsing ebay and my computer started to collapse into itself and eat itself alive. Something on one of those pages gave me the shittiest computer virus ever (bankerfox.a) and I was down for a few days to make sure my system has been cleaned out 100%.  Holy guacamole what a mess.

My promised groovy orange layout is not finished yet, I made this Xmas one up quickly but I'm not fond of it. It will be gone by Dec 26th.

We did 2 auctions this week and found some crazy sweet stuff! But I'm behind in my photos so here are the pics from last-last week's crazy sweet stuff:

This & That

I have 2 custom layouts for this blog coming SOON, one for xmas and one for the rest of the year... is it sad that I'm excited about it? Anyway please excuse the eyesore of this layout, my spanking-new and groovy orange one should be ready by tonight.

Speaking of orange, this is the little lamp that I blame for starting the whole orange obsession.



Purchased in Germany (on this amazing miles-long antique market that runs along the Rhine in the city of Köln) and transported home wrapped in a super padding of dirty clothes. Now, it was purchased when I was looking at another table of goodies and I was honestly perplexed as to why Partner-In-Crime would buy an orange lamp.  His justification was that it was only a little bit orange. True enough, and it didn't offend me in the least. We have a stash of outlet converter thingies so the lamp got plugged in and I do use it.

Everything went downhill after Die kleine Lampe.

♩ ♬ it's beginning to look alot like.. something 'round here.

Drunken Santa beckons you ....!

On Local Architecture and Eye Candy

I initially wanted to use this blog as a showcase for the mid century (modern and modest... mostly  modest) architectural gems that I see in my daily travels. When it came down to carrying my camera with me and taking stealth-like shots of people's homes in order to post on the internet, well... I confess I chickened out.

Not knowing the legal and/or ethical ramifications of doing this, I'm going to wait until I can do some more research on the subject. In the meantime, since real estate listings are online for the public (and since there are 2  'famous' houses on the market in my area for sale at the moment) and businesses are public as well, I will showcase some of my favorites and some of the examples of MCM[odest] architecture here.

On the guest bathroom. Also Stacey learned how to make Text Cuts!

Mr. Modtomic asked to see more photos of the guest bathroom, and it's been something I've been meaning to do anyway, as the little details are fabulous. Please excuse the crap photos, I'm hungover.

[ usually have rugs and towels in there, but they are in the laundry right now.]

On the holidays

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!

New pieces en route - or- Why I love the internet!

The past week wasn't very happening in the way of purchases, save for the little bits I found thrifting [Xmas time = amazing 1950's/ 60's kitschy decorations and used cards - photos to come!].  I was fine with this, I spent some quality time doing a few repairs, upgrades, and then finally wrapping my Granparents' coffee and end table set in shipping blankets so that I can store them in the attic.

This is the set, from a super old photo, and located on the left side:

Virtual Tour

I wanted to photo blog some of the cleaning of bits I did, and what I used to clean things like chrome and brass, however after a 10 year old's birthday party this weekend my camera battery is dead. While it's charging, I found the photos I took after we closed on this house. Fair warning - there is alot of glaring white walls ahead! I don't have many "after" photos but I will work on those. Right now we are in furniture flux and I don't want to take photos until I am convinced I have the perfect arrangement going on.

Non-Furnishing Post but Still Relevant.

Maria Elena Holly is at it again! Auctioning off a collection of Buddy Holly's clothes and some memorabilia. The auction is open to absentee / internet bidding for the next 12 hours on today, November 13, 2010. It's rare that I wish to to have unlimited, disposable income but today is one of those kind of days I could use an extra pile of cash to acquire one of these shirts. I am a huge Buddy Holly fan, and I would rock that green one pretty hard I think. :)

The link to online bidding is HERE.  



Guide To Creative Home Decorating circa 1954

This book isn't exactly the guide I need, however it's been a great source of joy for me to flip through every now and again. Particularly the guide to styles page where the difference between "classic" modern and "organic" [danish] modern comes into play.

Apologies for the photos, they are actual photos as I can't figure out how to work our scanner yet. The glares are terrible, I know.



This Weekend's Fun Finds.

I'm hoping to be able to post every Monday or Tuesday with the weekend's finds. Just about every weekend we've been visiting the better flea markets or vintage shops in our area. During the week, we pour over craigslist ads looking for treasures, as well as eBay. And I'm not above mentioning that I have grabbed things from curbs that were meant for the trash!

This week's finds are a combination of  sources, sans trash-picking. If I ever post the price of anything, it is only because I feel it was a great score/deal and I'm not bragging by any means. (Although, I don't see how $5 items would lead anyone to think that my pockets are overflowing!) If there's anything I love more than the pieces themselves, it's getting a deal.

First up is what we have been looking for in every way: A 1965 Stereophonic Turntable Cabinet in gorgeous condition with fully working turntable, speakers and the original paperwork.

Willkommen!

In the spring of 2005, we became the proud owners of a custom-designed mid century split level home (1961) in a little town outside of Philadelphia, PA. The original owners were very particular about what they wanted and needed for their home, and had the ability to get the best of what was available at that time. We purchased the home from their son, which makes us only the 2nd owner outside of the family.