Mid-Century Monday

A couple weeks ago Kurt and I got lucky and happened upon a lockbox full of treasures for $5. That was a pretty exciting find, but it wasn't the only one that weekend. There was also this:

A Stetson "Fireworks" Bowl 

This doesn't seem like it would be all that rare but I've yet to see this color variation of the "fireworks" pattern from 1955-1965 available anywhere else. I paid $1 for it. 

This Busted Mid-Century Stool

Theoretically, I love this stool. The orange upholstery matches my bar and the legs are great. But in real life the seam is noticeably busted in one place and is strongly considering making a break for it in several other places as well. There are random paint spots all over it. And one of the metal caps is missing. In my head I'm going to fix it up to its former glory, but in real life that may very well never happen. I only spent $3 on this so I guess it's okay either way. 

A Future-Baby-Dresser

Look, you can call me a crazy baby lady all you want, but when you get pregnant and have to make a mad dash to Babies R Us to spend thousands of dollars on cookie cutter baby furniture, don't come crying to me about how you weren't absolutely insane enough to start furnishing a baby room before you ever even conceived. This estate sale find was $30 and is still sitting in the pole studio. It will, however, slowly but surely, migrate upstairs so I can start to prematurely fill it with baby stuff. 

I'm hoping it'll go nicely with this other estate sale find from a month or so ago. What's really weird is how this is already fully decorated. I don't know who did that. But I know she paid $20 for this. And I also know the books were hand-me-downs from her parents, the circus decor was from a baby shower she threw last winter, the winking Bailey cups were from an antique store for $5 each, the green wall art was from an estate sale for 75 cents, and the red Texas thing was a failed string art project. 

Bow Gloves for Teeny Tiny Lady Hands

AKA gloves that fit my abnormally small hands perfectly. Please don't mistake "small" for "dainty," however. I also have short little sausage fingers. When I look at my hands they remind of me the fat kid from The Goonies. The gloves were $2.

A Handmade Dress

Randomly stumbling across vintage clothing that fits you perfectly when you're not the skinniest broad on the block is quite the feat. Finding a dress with pockets though? Shut up. I love a dress with pockets. It has shoulder pads too and I'm not mad about it. I fished this gem out of a hundred degree attic and paid $4 for it. (I'm not exaggerating about the attic, either.) The hat is vintage, the belt is from Target, and the shoes are past season Charlotte Russe. 

This past weekend I ventured out alone to an hour-long estate flash sale and then to a flea market in Pasadena that has apparently been around since the beginning of time, but that I'm only just now finding out about. The following treasures were found:

Mid-Century Leather Tufted Bench & Fantastic Rainbow Pillows

I found the bench and three of the four pillows at the hour-long estate sale. The bench is in near-perfect condition and the pillows appear to be hand-made. I do a lot of vintage shopping so I can tell you that bright pink color is not so easy to come by. I paid $35 for all of them. The turquoise pillow in front was from the flea market and was $1. 

My long-term vision is to magically stumble across a mid-century buffet for under $100 and put it in this space. In the meantime I think the bench and pillows are doing an alright job. The shelves, the 3-tier planter, and the rug were all from Ikea. The oval mirror and the framed print were from Goodwill and the big mirror was from Tuesday Morning. 

Wind-Up Tin Circus Elephant on a Bicycle Toy

I am, in general, all about getting the best deals on all the things. This elephant was $20 at the flea market. I talked the guy down to $15 but I'm still pretty sure I paid too much for this. The tassely ball on his nose spins around while he rides his little bicycle. Which is cool. But I really want to believe this is an old toy and in real life I think know it's just a new toy packaged look like an old toy. Sigh. Anyway, aside from the future baby room decor aspect, I figured I could use it as decor in the upcoming Circarnival wedding I'm planning. 

1976-ish Salton Hotray Automatic Plate Warmer with Original Box

I'd never seen one of these until I saw a vintage reseller selling one on Instagram the other day. I don't really need one but a hot tray seems like it would be a good idea for entertaining and the seller had it listed for what seemed like a really fair price, so the shop-a-holic in me briefly considered buying it. I paid $4 for it at the flea market, which is, for what it's worth, quite a bit cheaper than the 'fair price' I'd seen days before. A quick Etsy search tells me the cheapest one of the same design is $23 before shipping.