Howell Dinette Set (Too Bad I Like My Chromcraft set too Much)

I stopped in a goodwill while out browsing around for a new apartment and my girlfriend and I stumbled upon this little beauty! It is a wonderfully comfortable Howell Dinette Set w/ table and 4 chairs. The chairs were superbly comfy and I really enjoyed sitting in them. I really liked the funkiness of them and the whole set was only $80. Although I could probably resell it for more, there just simply is no room for it right now. I also really love my Chromcraft set far too much to trade it out for this one. I really liked those roller wheels on the bottom of the chairs. Those sphere rollers work amazingly on carpet and never scratch the floors. Click "Read More" for more pics!

A Mr. Milo Baughman for Thayer Coggin (Spotted out in the wild)

I stopped at the St. Clair Antique Mall again about a week ago and too my surprise I spotted this fantastic looking Milo Baughman for Thayer Coggin lounge chair in there! It most definitely wasn't in there last time. This one is in pretty decent condition but not nearly as good condition as my 100% original Yellow Milo Baughman chair that I bought a couple months ago for $20.  This one is in a black vinyl and it was a little beat up on the back but it was definitely a usable chair. The wood on this one was a bit more worn than mine but all in all this black one was in pretty decent shape. I was pretty stunned to see another Milo Baughman chair in person so soon to me buying mine. This one makes me want to keep mine even more! I definitely prefer mine over this one. Mine has a much more cozy feeling than the black leather one I think. The burnt yellow colored wool fabric on mine is superb and I can't get enough of it! The one thing that blew me away with this black one was that it was a whopping $1200. I was stunned since I only paid $20 for mine. Man was I lucky! Click "read more" for more pictures. I was in a rush so I only snapped a couple.

Here is the chair and as you can see, the wood is a bit more worn and slightly dinged up. Mine is in a bit better condition. Is the $1200 price tag justifiable though? Not for me it isn't! I love my Milo Baughman chair and would take mine over this one any day! I still do have a soft spot in my heart for this chair though even at its crazy price. I liked how there was a sign that said "do not sit" posted on it. I totally would have sat in it if there was no sign.

Merry-Go-Round Bar (A Jigger in a Jiffy)

First of all, I would like for everyone to know that I am back! No I didn't go anywhere but I needed to take a break from blogging for a week since it has been really stressful lately and super busy. It is exam week this week and since things have slowed down significantly, I am once again able to continue my posts and will strive to continue my One Post Per Day goal that I set earlier. I'm trying to turn over a new leaf since I am a pretty lazy person and I hate being lazy because it causes so much stress at the last minute (Especially in college).

Anyways, Back to the post. I stopped in a local thrift store that I have been in numerous times and found this little gem tucked in the corner dusty and unloved. I never noticed it before but I knew it looked really cool and I needed to have it. It's a 1950's Merry-Go-Round liquor bar. It is made by a company called "Park Industries, Inc." But I've never heard of them before. It is amazingly complete and has the original box that came with it. I think this thing is really cool looking and would look great in a Mid-Century inspired room. I wish I could keep it even though I don't drink alcohol but I will probably be selling it to make a bit of extra money for college. Here is the same exact one on eBay for $115 buy it now and I don't even thing that one has the original tag or box to go with it. I will let you know on Monday what the status of this thing is. I will probably start by putting it on craigslist. Anyways, Hit the jump for more pictures!

1960's Vintage Club Aluminum Pots (Loving the 60's Brown Brownishness)

First off, Sorry for not posting anything in a few days, but unfortunately this is literally the last week of classes and I've been diligently working on late assignments and trying to pack up my room and move stuff. It's been quite a hectic week lately but I'll just leave this post here.

I stopped in the local salvation army to snoop around and see if there were any wonderful items in there and wouldn't you know it! I stumbled upon some neat-o vintage Club Aluminum Pots and pan! I really really liked them and at $2 each, it was hard to pass these little gems up! I notified the girlfriend of the find before i spent more money on stuff and we agreed that they would be pretty sweet to have so I picked them up. I love the shiny-ness of the pots, but they didn't come like that at first. They were a bit dirty and blackened when I got them but thanks to the handy dandy internet I was able to determine the best way to clean them up. I boiled some water with high amounts of lemon juice in them to help alleviate the stains on the aluminum and remove any blackened areas and then I gave them a nice hot bath in the sink with more scalding hot water and lots-o-lemon juice. After letting them soak for a while I took out some steel wool and gently scrubbed any remaining troublesome spots. Whallah! they came out nice and shiny!

These pots are in surprisingly good condition considering how old they are and it is unfortunate that they are missing the lids but you know what? I sure don't care! I'm going to use the heck out of these Pots and Pan! I seasoned up the frying pan and it worked wonderfully the other day when i cooked me up an over easy egg. I really like the brown-ness and the cool looking design on the bottom. I wish I could have cleaned the frying pan up a bit more but it was obviously the most used and abused of the bunch but it has a very long life ahead of it in my hands. :) Hit the jump for more pictures!

Friday and Saturday Thrifts (Passed on some good stuff unfortunately)

This Weekend Has been another hectic weekend! My girlfriend and I moved most of my mid century furniture over to her house for the time being and I packed up loads of my other stuff for the move. I did manage to squeeze some time in for thrifting this weekend and I saw a few things that I liked but unfortunately, I have no more room for anything until I get an apartment or get rid of something. That is unless I find an Eames Chair or something awesome like that! Anyways, hit the jump for more Pictures!

Retro Board Games ( Operation & Monopoly)

I stopped at a local resale shop today and found these two little gems. They are both in nearly Mint Condition and I thought they would be really cool to have. They both were only $3 each so I thought why not? Before I bought them I opened them up and saw that most of the pieces were there and without actually counting them all I decided to take a chance on them so I bought them and when I got home I checked to see if all the pieces were indeed in there and they were! Its pretty cool finding old complete board games in such wonderful condition like this. The Operation Game was made in 1965 and the Monopoly game was made in 1961. Hit the Jump for more Pictures.

Last Weeks Thrift Store Finds

Last week I did manage to stop at a few thrift stores. There were some cool things that I wanted but the things I wanted, I didn't have room for or they were too expensive for my liking. I just hit up all the local thrifts to see what they had and even though I didn't buy anything big, I did manage to snag a few more Melmac pieces for cheap! Hit The Jump for more pictures.

I quite liked this Mid Century Looking chair and I almost bought it but luckily my girlfriend talked me out of it. It was only 5 dollars and I thought it would look pretty decent next to my Milo Baughman Chair. Unfortunately, The chair was pretty cheaply made. It was sturdy enough for me and my girlfriend but it was a bit rickety. There also were no makers marks on it other than a faint "IL." Needless to say, we passed on it and I never looked back.

Fabulous Fiesta-Mania!

So this weekend has been really very busy. My dad and I continued to clean out the Back barn at my grandmas and I packed up loads of stuff and moved some of my apartment stuff over to my girlfriends house for the time being to free up some space. Sorry for the missed posts the last couple of days but It's been super busy for me lately. Also, My Birthday was yesterday :)

Anyways, while we were cleaning out the barn, my dad and grandma said that there was a bunch of Fiesta-ware in boxes toward the back. after much and much cleaning we stumbled upon the glorious boxes of Fiesta-ware that had been sitting in the boxes since 1988! This Fiesta-ware is the real deal! All of the stuff in the boxes was the pre-1986 Fiesta-ware. My grandma only collected the originals. There was so much in the boxes  that i was just in shock. It was amazing to go through all of the boxes and unwrap the pieces from the old newspaper. The boxes were just trashed from the years of being down there and surprisingly, none of the Fiesta-ware was broken! I didn't count how many pieces were actually in there but I would guess around 350 pieces just out of the boxes. If you are familiar with Fiesta-ware, you would know that it is quite expensive stuff and I can see why! If I'm lucky, My grandma may let me have most of it! My favorite colors out of the whole lot would be the Turquoise, Light Green, Light Blue, and The famous Radioactive Orange. NONE of this is for sale. Hit the Jump for more info and pics!

Help Me Out Readers! Should I go back and buy this?

So I went into my local Salvation army about 30 min ago and saw this Mid Century Looking Coffee Table with Matching End Tables. I think they look very modern but I didn't see and makers marks on them. I have no Idea who made them and I'm not entirely sure how much they are worth! The only info I could find on the coffee table is here.  None of the glass is broken in them and they all have swinging tops on them. I think they look pretty wild but they aren't exactly my taste. I prefer more Mid Century wood coffee tables and end tables but should I get this? I could probably resell it for a lot but I have no Idea where I would put it. Am I missing out on a good deal? Please help me out readers. Hit the Jump for more pictures.

Crazy Storms + Around the Interwebs (Sorry for the Lateness)

Last night was a pretty crazy night. My girlfriend came over after work and we started packing up my collection of old video games since we are moving soon and then we made some dinner. It wasn't long after we were making dinner that her mom called us saying that huge storms were on the way and that we needed to get into the basement. We decided we were ok and that we would go into the basement if we really needed to. We started to watch Toy Story 3 and then the sirens started going off and then the power went out soon there after. We lit up some candles and headed down to the basement to hang out around the Chromcraft Table. I went back upstairs to grab my old Ms. Pac Man Board game to play since we were bored, but we gave up on that since the instructions were too difficult. We waited and waited but the power never came back on and we just pulled out my laptop to watch a movie while the storm passed. When the storm did pass, my girlfriend left which was around 11:30-12:00pm. There was no power anywhere when she left but she made it home ok. My power at my house is still out and at least 70% of my town still has no power. I'm sure it will be back by the end of the day. Here is a picture of the tree that fell down across my street. Hit the Jump for the Around the Interwebs post!

Let's Do The News! (4/18/11)

So this weekend was quite exhausting. My dad and I cleaned out a ton of stuff out of my grandma's back barn. There was so much stuff back there that needed to be moved around and thrown away. Luckily It wasn't hot outside so we didn't sweat too much. It's good to get most of that stuff cleared out since it will only get hotter this summer. While we were digging around out there, we found some pretty interesting stuff that I liked such as that RC Cola Grill but I left everything vintage there in the barn for later. I did manage to find my missing box of N64 controllers down there with a couple original Pac Man and Ms. Pac Man Milton Bradley board games in the bottom. I had wondered where those missing items of mine had gone when we moved out here from Virginia. Anyways, we are getting closer to being done with this cleaning project and then we have to move almost everything out of this house so my dad can sell it. This week my girlfriend and I are going to try to move all of my mid century apartment furniture over to her house for the time being till we get an apartment. I'll be sure to snap some pictures of the move! Also check out this sweet 1950's 1960's Western Flyer Tandem Bicycle that is hanging in the rafters in my grandmas barn. My girlfriend and I are going to get it down this summer and clean it up so we can go ride it! That will be fun!

Royal Crown Cola Barbecue Grill (Found in a Box of my Dad's Cleaning out my Grandma's Barn)

My dad, Grandma, and I spent all weekend cleaning out the back barn at her house to get rid of junk and sort through things while also making room for cars and furniture since my dad is moving shortly due to his new Job. I found a bunch of things that I liked while we were cleaning it out this weekend but the highlight is most definitely this RC Cola Barbecue Grill! The story goes that my dad bought this a number of years ago at a flea market or yardsale (he can't remember for sure) for about $5. What a deal that was because I think this is the second coolest grill I have ever seen! My favorite still remains the ol' Ball-B-Cue that Mr. Modtomic kindly pointed out to me. I really do love this little grill though. My dad says he may give it to me someday but I have my fingers crossed that he will let me bring it down to my apartment when I get one soon. This will be perfect for a few hot dogs or burgers for me and my girlfriend! I'm pretty excited to use it! It was a bit dirty when we pulled it out of the box it was in but I cleaned it up as best as I could and it looks super cool. I have never seen one anywhere else before so I have no Idea what it  is worth. Hit the Jump for more pics!

More Melmac + Ekco Flatware (Thrift Store Finds)

So my girlfriend and I went down to Carbondale Il yesterday to look at apartments and the college down there and we decided to stop at the local Goodwill in Marion on the way down there. We were casually strolling through the kitchenware isle and out of the corner of my eye I saw a stack of Orang-y Orangness! I reached over mediately to see what it was. Sure enough, It was more of the "Color Flyte" line by Branchell! I knew I needed to get it and at 50¢ I couldn't pass it up. There was a pretty big stack of dishes there and I noticed some saucers in there so naturally I looked for the mugs that went with them and they were sitting with all of the other glass mugs that were in there. I went and grabbed a cart while my girlfriend watched over our find. We loaded up the cart with everything and then we looked around some more and I found some Mid century Flatware that I instantly fell in love with! I needed them too and at 25¢ I couldn't leave them! As we were about to leave some strange lady came over and asked me if I was buying all of that to donate somewhere. We found that very odd but we said that we were buying them for our apartment and she just said "oh ok." We think that she was wanting to buy the stuff we were getting but we got there first! Hit the jump for more pictures!

Here are all of the Color Flyte dishes that we bought. In total there are 6 side dishes 3 full size plates and 7 saucers for the 7 mugs. I love the colors! Now I need to find some of the lime green ones! Everything was only 50¢ except for the full size plates which were $1 each but I wasn't leaving those there. I think we got a killer deal and we have decided that these kinds of dishes are perfect for apartment living! as long as we don't put them in the microwave. :P

Treasure Hunting in My Grandma's Barn (Bascal and Emson-Ware)

Last weekend, My dad and I went to my grandmas to help clear out the piles of junk the my Grandpa had accumulated over his lifetime so that we can use that space as moving storage. We spent all day Saturday and Sunday cleaning out nearly one whole wall in the barn and as we were going through the junk I found some neat-o  Aluminum cups! We opened an old barrel that had been there for who knows how long to see what was in there and there were some old glass coffee pots but as we dug deeper, I saw these fantastic Aluminum cups in there! They looked much like the ones I already had but I also noticed 3 mugs that I had never seen before! The aluminum cups are all Bascal except for the silver one which bears no makers mark and the aluminum mugs are made by a company called  "Emson-Ware." Hit the Jump for more pictures.

Monday News Update! (Discovery)

So this weekend was super hectic! On Saturday and Sunday we worked to clean out the part of my Grandmas back barn that hadn't been cleaned in years! My grandpa was really a pack-rat and he really didn't like to throw anything away or get rid of anything really. I find that a bit odd since he had an antique shop for as long as I can remember but he never really sold much. As we were clearing out the back barn for the first time, We unearthed many things that I liked. My grandpa really liked the Victorian era furniture the most so there isn't really any Mid Century goodness that I knew about. As we went through the piles of just I discovered some long lost Bascal Aluminum cups and Emson-Ware Aluminum cups that were left in a barrel since 1975! I thought it was pretty cool to find those things! It's hard to believe they were in there for that long. At least thats what the date on the newspaper was when we unwrapped them. It was a pretty cool experience finding those things. I will post them on Thursday when I do my personal item day. I really like the colors of the Bascal Aluminum cups. Hit the jump for more news!

The Wright Treasure (Fantastic Store!)

Welcome to The Wright Treasure! It is owned and run by Lisa Hughes. I went to this amazing store yesterday that I had never been to before! This place was so cool! I've driven past it so many times and yet I never knew it was there. My girlfriend pointed it out to me last week so I decided to stop and see what it was all about. Man was I in for a surprise! I walked in there and saw so many awesome things in there that I wanted to buy! I may go back and get a few things when my girlfriend has her next weekend off. This place was so cool and the lady in there was super nice! We talked for over an hour about all sorts of Mid Century items that she had in there and that she used to work near my old home town in Virginia. She was pretty ecstatic that someone from my generation has found a love with all of this Mid Century Goodness! She even gave me her card and told me she would call me If she found any really cool Mid Century Items at any auctions she goes too! I forgot to take a picture of the front of the building but Hit the jump for more pictures!

Take a look at this awesome chair and foot rest! I'm loving them both! Lisa told me that a lot of people have been eyeing that chair and that a bunch of people in her family wanted it but she couldn't give it to them all so she decided to just put it in her shop. I really wanted to but that chair but I'm afraid my dad would kill me if I brought home another chair. I was contemplating getting that foot rest too but I need to save my pennies for college! The chair was $30 and the Foot Rest was $15. Pretty good deals!

Unbelievable finds today! (Only 2 but well worth it!)

So today was a pretty interesting day. I woke up at 6:30am due to my dad telling me there was a rummage sale at my local college. I stumbled out of bed and made my way to the shower still half asleep and almost fell like 3 times. When I finished up my shower and was about to leave my dad said it was about to rain, and sure enough it did! It was a heavy downpour. It brings a whole new meaning to "Raining Cats and Dogs." I literally felt like I was driving through a category 5 hurricane. There was lots of wind and I couldn't see 300ft in front of me due to the insane amounts of rain. Anyways, I made it there and I found something amazing! I've never seen one before and I cant find one on the internet anywhere! I knew I had to get it when I saw it. Hit the Jump for more pictures and the second half of the story!

This is the item I purchased at the rummage sale. It is what appears to me a Salem North Star display dish or Salesman Sample! This thing is really small. I also love how it says "Now Only 9¢" on it. I can't believe I found this little gem. I have taken its picture next to a regular North star side plate to demonstrate how small this thing is. It measures 3.5" across and the Side plate is 7.25" across. I think its funny how this is one of the first few North Star dishes that I have bought and it appears to be pretty rare! If you have any more info on this please leave it in the comments! I bought this small dish with 4 other random dishes for 50¢ and I didn't want the other dishes so I went to drop them off at the local Salvation army!

Thrift Store Friday! (4/8/11)

I went and hit up the local thrift stores today during my lunch hour but I din't see much. I saw a few notable things but I didn't get anything today. I bought a lamp and some more Melmac Dishes earlier on in the week that I'm posting here today. Other than that there just wasn't much this week. Hit the jump for more pictures!

Here we have a pretty cool looking retro end table with the "Hairpin Legs" maybe I should have bought it? But I decided not to since I don't really have to room anywhere and I want a better pair of end tables for my Love Sofa! Also sitting next to it was this cheap brass colored umbrella rack which I also quite liked but I decided to pass on since I didn't need it. The table was $5 and the Rack was $4.

Finally Bought a Buffet! (Unloved & Rough)

So yesterday I went out to some thrift stores looking for a piano bench for my girlfriends new keyboard that she bought. I found a perfect one that we are going to repaint and re-upholster. It's not mid century really but I'll still post a detailed rebuild of the piano bench at a later date. While I was out, I spotted this wonderful looking buffet sitting on the outside of a local junk shop. I knew it was beat up and wasn't a name brand buffet but I just fell in love the with way the drawers were designed. I asked the guy how much He wanted for it and he told me $30. I wasn't sure if I wanted it for $30 so I offered him $25 and he said sure. He helped me load it up and I knew my dad wasn't going to be pleased I bought this rough looking buffet. There isn't hardly any room left in the house. Sure enough, he wasn't very happy. I have decided that I will modify this thing for use as a TV stand. It's pretty cheap anyways so no big deal if I drill holes in the back or anything. I may paint it someday but I'm not sure. Maybe some funky colors? I quite like the wood veneer though so I'm not sure. I'f I can't get it looking any better I might have to paint it. Just think of the possibilities! Anyways, Here is my new project! Hit the link for more pics!

Around The Interwebs! (4/5/11)

Welcome to Around the Interwebs! Now I don't usually make 2 posts in one day, but due to my late Monday news post I feel obligated to not push back my Tuesday post. Today I have a few pretty neat things from around the internet to show you!  I wish I could afford some of theses things but someday I may be able to! Hit the jump for the Craigslist ad and the eBay ad!

Blog of the Day

Welcome to The Fabulous Find. This blog rocks! They are located all the way up in Canada and man do I wish I could go visit this place! They specialize in everything Mid Century Modern and I love it all! There are several pieces that I would absolutely love to own but they are all a bit out of my price range. Hopefully I will be able to snag some similar items over the years if I am lucky. But for now I can just window shop and drool! I highly recommend checking this place out!