Roman Holiday

I'm indeed alive! I know it's been a very long time since I've blogged and my only excuse is extreme busy-ness.  The mini-mods have complicated and extensive social lives and it feels like my sole purpose in life right now is that of a gypsy cab driver. By the end of the day, when I used to enjoy my own quiet time for web surfing, blogging, or online shopping, I'm finding myself face down in a pillow crashed out cold.

First things first... recent finds!

2 "House and Home" magazines circa 1952 and 1957

These appear to be geared towards home building companies and contractors. There are ads, articles and stats. I find them fascinating but haven't had a chance to properly read them in full.  Here are quick photos, I will be scanning the better bits soon.

Nu Tone ad

2 pages spread of kitcheny goodness

i can't wait to read this and actually scan it to post.

we have this in the basement! our plumbing & heating guy calls it the "monster".

hnnnnnnng starburst escutcheon.

more gorgeous locksets

and my love of loves ... hall-mack !

Second things second ... I am getting ready to leave for Italy today ~ we are flying into Milan tonight with a trip later on in the week down to Rome. I'll be gone for 10 days. I'm not looking forward to this, as horrible as that sounds. I just feel that I have way too much stuff to do around here to be jetting off to Italy. HOWEVER I did learn that there is a huge outdoor flea market in Rome on Easter Sunday so I'm stoked about that. Fingers crossed that I find very cool smalls to bring home. :)

See everyone in 2 weeks, thereabouts.

Amazing Local Door Sighting

Partner-In-Crime snagged this photo today and sent it to me. Amazing right! I didn't think anyone around here had starburst escutcheons... let alone two. Add in the windows and double it ~ this is one swoon-worthy front door.

I Should Be In Bed.......!

What has 2 thumbs and won this months' "Love The House You're In" giveaway at RetroRenovation?

→ THIS GIRL ! ←

 

I am a relatively new reader of RR, but of course it's a daily go-to read. The last thing I expected was to actually win the collage giveaway on the first try. I was so stoked after getting the email, you'd think I won the lottery!

So tomorrow I will be taking full frontal photos of the house for Melissa to work with and I can't wait to see the collage she makes. Not only is she talented, the materials she uses are so interesting. You all know what a ephemera nerd I am, the idea of getting handmade paper art has me giddy. I've never, ever won anything like this before!

Between this, the recent stash of extra house plans I have, and a watercolor style rendering of this house, I should put a wall aside soon solely for framed tributes to it. I love the idea of having such keepsakes.

Anyone on the east coast will know that we are getting severe wind without any signs of stopping. I was going to put the bullet planters out tomorrow for the photos but I don't want any of them to topple over. What also had me panicking today was the idea that it's winter here, all of my grass is brown, the front landscaping is naked or dead, and it's generally just not-very-pretty out there. I wonder if Melissa can collage us some new landscaping? ☺

Other than this, my week has been dreadfully dull. We paid for the few auction wins from Monday but haven't picked them up yet. Unfortunately we did not win the chairs or any of the furniture that we bid on, but I think I won a pink flecked candy dish on hairpin legs, a dachshund print, some candleholders, and a shelf. We shall see. Oh and clearly I was fussing around with my layout again!

[edit] I was tired last night and kept typing "melanie" instead of "melissa". Rest assured the links were proper!

What Is That Saying About The Best Laid Plans... ?

What a week! It started with one of my dogs spraining his back and suddenly becoming 70 pounds of immobile (and very sad/confused) pit bull.  His condition was so bad that my partner-in-crime had to postpone his flight for 2 days because the poor dog needed to be carried up and down steps so that he could do his bathroom business. That ended up being rather futile because the steroids that the vet eventually gave him after the anti-inflammatory pills weren't really working caused explosive... mess and stomach issues for the poor dog to the point where we had to lock him up in the kitchen to contain the chaos. P-I-C left for Italy on Wednesday and I promptly came down with a nasty cold that rendered me useless to just about everyone and everything in the house. There went my whole grand plan of house projects!

I couldn't sleep last night so I dug up the architectural plans for the house that we have. There's quite a few of them, and plenty of copies for some reason. I know we have the blueprints as well but I didn't find them. These plans are on huge sheets of paper and have been rolled but then squished under another box. Scanning them just exaggerated all the creases, so I fussed in photoshop a bit to make it look like they're supposed to be kind of ratty. Is anyone crafty enough to know a trick to smoothing out paper? I was thinking of putting a towel over one, and ironing over the towel to see if the paper smoothed out. Some of these are neat in their own way and I would love to frame them.

 

The original plans for the house (not shown) are dated 1959 and are really far-off from the finished product, which is funny. Also the original owner of the house is listed as the designer of it. He was an engineer by trade, and really knew what he wanted in house. A local architecture company drew up the blueprints and plans.

This is the aerial spec of the property, from 1971 when the carport and upper (off-kitchen) deck were constructed.

Thrifting Finds Week Ending Feb. 6, 2011

I hate snow! It kept me from getting out to my haunts for the past 10 days. We had snow and ice storms that made driving impossible, so the thrifting finds for this past week were relatively minimal...but I've been living vicariously through you lovely people whose blogs I follow, all of you have had way better weeks than I !

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.