Saturday, June 30, 2012

Whomp Whomp Whomp

That is not the sound of dancing.

Yesterday, I posted about a community sale we were participating in 40 minutes from home and while we sold some stuff, we still managed to come home with 2 carloads of items.  Our own items.  :(

Below is a picture of Eric in our space.  The sun was in a really bad spot by the time I got my camera out so I'm sorry it looks so dark- but you get the idea.

Still early on in the morning.  We weren't standing so proud by the end of the day.

My initial thoughts on the day...
The Good
*As we were setting up a nice old man came by and bought a handful of items.  His sale covered our "participation" fee.

*There was a restaurant next door and they had really good burgers

*We also made enough money to cover the cost of the burgers

The Bad
* It was hot out.   Not as hot as some of you East Coasters are dealing with, but 6 hours in a parking lot with no pop-up tent made for one over heated seller.

*Descanso is faaaaar!  And apparently not just for me...also for all of the buyers.

*Someone asked me if I would accept a check for $2.00, from Wyoming.  sorry lady, no can do.

The Ugly
*The parking lot was not paved, just lots of loose dirt and gravel and every time a car drove by it kicked up a little tornado of dust and dirt.  we were covered in a thick layer of grime within 20 minutes of being there.

*2 carloads of items left home with us and 2 carloads of items came home with us.
The lower parking lot- where we were stationed

Overall I'm glad we participated today.  We did get rid of a few box loads and learned some good tips for the next time we do something like this.   1. shade is important.  2. we need better tables...more things need to be lifted off the ground.  3. keep the books in boxes.  4. cheap clothing racks stink!


Have you ever participated in a swap market/ flea market type event?  
Any tips you'd like to share.  


Friday, June 29, 2012

The Descanso DeClutter

The Descanso Declutter - What's that you ask?

Hopefully it is the dance I am doing tomorrow at oh say 2:01 PM.  Somehow (actually I know how) we have ended up with way too much "stuff."  At different times I thought my Etsy shop was going in a different direction, so that's what I bought for, but now  I've finally got a grasp on what I want to see and it does not include vintage clothing, books, buttons, jewelry, large bulky items or silver-plate flatware.

I signed up for a community flea market held in an antique mall parking lot about 30 miles away and tomorrow is the day of reckoning.  Honestly I have no idea what to expect, I am hoping (and pricing for 1 step above garage sale, 1 step below flea market/swap meet.)  What I do know is that the hubs and I have to drive in separate cars because we have so much stuff, and even then I'm not certain how it is all going to fit, or how we are going to fit it all into our 10x10 space.

If you happen to be East of East County San Diego tomorrow (Saturday June 30th), stop by and say hello.  We will be the husband and wife duo sweating it out- because we don't have a pop-up tent.




Sale starts at 9 AM, although I hope to be set up much earlier...
Descanso Mercantile
8306 A Hwy.79 Descanso, CA 
located on the historic road to Julian, ½ mile                              
from I- 8, just 5 minutes from Viejas Outlets




Wednesday, June 27, 2012

A Mid Century Miracle

No really- it is.

I live within 3 miles of about 10 Mid Century Furniture and Decor Shops.   Each one of these shops is run/owned by extremely diligent and very busy proprietors.  It doesn't matter how early I get to an Estate Sale or what number in line I am - without fail every piece of Mid Century furniture has a sold sign on it.  Every. Single. Piece.

Imagine my surprise when on the 3rd day of a yard sale I came across this!
Lane Rhythm Collection- Dresser and Mirror
The dresser, mirror and 2 night stands were hidden in the garage, with their faces turned to the wall.  They were marked Lane on the inside, so I knew they were of good quality.   The price was good and home with me they came.  A little online investigation pulled up that these pieces came from the Lane Rhythm Collection, which was produced in the mid 1960s.  I am in love.


This shot shows the tone of the Walnut the best- It's not as red as the other pictures make it out to be

The dresser has already found it's way to our bedroom- but we still need to make some room for the nightstands.  I'm not quite sure yet where they will end up.
1 of 2 Lane Rhythm nightstands
We weren't even in the market for a new bedroom set- it was just one of those moments where I couldn't walk away.   Has that ever happened to you before?

Sunday, June 24, 2012

It's A Plate Party

I'm still sorting and cleaning up the last haul, mentioned HERE.   In an effort to make good and useful space for everything I've been doing a major reorganization of the storage office...and re-discovering lots of hidden finds that really should have been listed long ago.

Apparently I used to have a bit of a dinnerware problem.   I love it when I find it, but it just never seems to sell quickly for me.  I must have hit a listing "wall" a while back because I found a whole box of plates and bowls that should have been listed.  So that's what I did this weekend.  Maybe you're looking for a piece or 2 to complete your collection??  I might just have what you need :)

Blue Heaven By Royal China 
I have a lot of random pieces of this pattern, including the harder to find ashtray.  
Available HERE
 Caribe Casual- Pink Fancy, Designed by Carlos Montez
Available HERE
Swiss Alpine/ Swiss Chalet Dinner Plates (6)
Available HERE
 Santa Anita Ware - California Modern Pink
Available HERE
Pyrex Restaurant Ware, Green Band Dinner Plates (6)
Available HERE
Lusterware Saucers and Tea Cup 
Available HERE
 Acsons Corona, Large Platter
Available HERE
 Termacrista Bowls (3)
Available HERE
 Vernon Rose Dinner Plates (8)
Available HERE
Whew!!  Sorry for the picture heavy post.   I think I might need to hold off on buying any more plates for a while- at least until I can move some of these.

Do you have any items you gravitate towards- 
Even though you should probably keep on walking?


Love learning about what others "find?"
Hop on over to Her Library Adventures, cap creations & Apron Thrift Girl to get your weekly fix. :)

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Rusty- The Shop Mascot


Today we have our Favorite Guest Poster Back-  Eric, from Eric's Vintage Corner.  
See his first post and learn a bit more about him here

One of the best evolutions of our family business so far has been me being put in charge of selling records. I have always been naturally drawn to the music collections at the sales we go to and now I have (almost) almost free reign to take home massive amounts of vinyl. I’ve been putting in the time and effort to get good at selling records and have high hopes for myself, our business and my own personal record collection. 

I now have my own Etsy shop called VinylStandard, complete with a banner ad and 12 records for sale. I gets hardly any views and I’ve sold nothing. Additionally I have another 12 or so records on eBay at any given time. I have sold many of these and am told that I ship with care. I’m hoping to work my way up to getting around 100-200 records online at once and to do this I’ll need inventory. 

When the door opens to a sale, I’m going straight for the music and some of the time I feel like I know what I’m doing. Sometimes I buy a ton of records that I just can’t sell, but I’ll chalk that up to growing pains and learning experiences. I feel like my potential to excel in this position is great. Record hunting is tough, but if we’re going to sale’ing every weekend, I’m going to make the most of it. Not to mention, it’s nice to have a more defined role in this thing; whereas I used to consider myself the custodian, driver, delivery man, motivational speaker of Nell’s Vintage House, etc. now I’m playing a big role in the real action. 

So far my best record, as far as my profit, has been an old Ray Charles 45 that I got about $65 for. I paid nothing for that one. The woman who sold it to me assumed that 45’s were worthless and at the time and just gave it to me. I really had no idea if they had value, at that time I was just picking up records for myself. That was a while ago and at this point there are a handful of similar occasions which will make for good guest posts in the future. For now, this post, in my own long-winded way, will be about where our new shop mascot Rusty came from.  

J and I had a decent record grab from an estate sale a few mornings ago. At least we left with a lot of records. Out of a pile of 50 records there were one or two gems that will at the very least make up for what I spent (I hope) and there were a few keepers in there (Nina Simone, Ray Charles.)

Last Weekends Record Score

After we went home and sorted everything out I decided my time would be best spent surfing (actual surfing, not internet surfing). On my way out the door, I remembered that there was another sale that was towards the ocean so I mapped it out and headed over there in my boardshorts. A solo run… Turns out they had a sizeable record collection for sale that belonged to a former DJ. I picked out some pretty cool records including a bunch of Hawaiian LPs (I can never leave a Hawaiian record behind; Hawaiian records and Surf-rock, I need them all.)

The man running the sale noticed my selection and offered me a sneak peak at the mother lode: a garage full of records that the family hadn’t sorted through. As wonderful as this sounds, it’s also a little nerve-wracking. I don’t want to keep overloading the house with records that I’m really just not sure of. But when someone says I can look through the private collection, who am I to say no. 

Surprisingly, I didn’t really find anything fantastic in there, or any time I did I was told it wasn’t for sale (Beatles, Pink Floyd). A new problem started to develop; I had about 20 records for myself and nothing for J. I know better than to go to a sale and not come home without something for J.

I scoured the entire house, inside and out and there was nothing. I even sent her photo’s of everything I could find there, but was nothing any good. This is when stress and panic starts to set in. I knew there had to be something, just one thing, any sort of vintage object, but there was really nothing. Nothing until….

As I was paying for my records after giving up on finding a non-record object, the seller pulled out Rusty from god-knows-where. Rusty has springs for legs, a fan for a body and rusty mesh for ears. His motion is lifelike and I can’t wait for the next small earthquake just to see him dance. He is always happy and his rust color matches our actual pitbull’s red tones. 

Thanks for reading my guest post and now, for your enjoyment, here is Rusty;


Sunday, June 17, 2012

Away Game- June 17th

Last weekend the Hubs and I drove about an hour outside of San Diego  to check out a sale.  "Old Ranch Estate," three words that can get me up at 5 AM!  I was hoping to restock some old, rusty, chippy, metal type inventory and this sale did not disappoint.  We left with an entire car load of goods- albeit our car is rather small, but it was full none-the-less.

Just a small sampling of some inventory I still need to clean and sort. 

I love this giant buffalo print!

a truly beautiful Butchers cutting board.  

I'm slowly adding items into both shops, but the amount we brought home has me a bit overwhelmed.  So much so that we didn't even go treasure hunting this weekend.
 
Mid Century Modern Clock available in NellsVintageHouse

8 like new condtion Vernon Rose dinner plates, available in NVH

Old brass weights in wood box, Available in AVintageMan

1936 Lions Club Award/Paperweight, available in AVM
Have you ever had a haul so large you didn't know where to start?  
Any tips on how to tackle to pile?


Love learning about what others "find?"
Hop on over to Her Library Adventures & Apron Thrift Girl to get your weekly fix. :)

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Identification Help. Please & Thank You :)

Any idea what these lovely glass decorative hanging disks are?? 


I have 4 lengths total.  Each Chain measures about 6 feet long


And each disk measures about 4 inches across


2 of the lengths are made up of decorative peach colored glass flowers and the other 2 are made up of amber and clear glass suns.


EDIT/UPDATE:  Thank you to all the very helpful friends who have commented or messaged me.  It looks like we found rain chains :)

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Before & After

This is the story of 2 coffee tables.  One too big and the other just right.  :)

Confession Time: I love me some Ikea.  No, for real.  If you can get past the cheap materials and some of the more mass produced looking stuff, they have some great clean pieces and tons of options for smaller sized spaced.  This table is not one of those option. 

When we moved into our home we had a small (actually no) furniture budget.  And no furniture.  As luck would have it we lived a stones throw from our San  Diego Ikea and most of our house was furnished compliments of their AS-IS section (Discounted returns or floor models that have already been put together!!!!)  

Over time we have slowly been replacing the Ikea pieces with more interesting options. It turns out, 60+ years ago houses were built smaller than they are today and estate sales and yard sales are great places to score smaller scaled furniture. Um unless you live in San Diego...no small furniture to be found, stay away from all the sales! ;)

The large white Ikea table below was one of our last hold-outs.  We loved this table for so many different reasons.  Clean lines, looked high-end, lots of storage.  But it was far to big for our space (37"x 37") ... I couldn't center it with anything lest we give up viable walking paths. 



Walking the dogs on Saturday afternoon, I passed a late ending sale.  He was starting to pack it up and that's when I saw the tables.  I begged him to hold out for 15 more minutes so I could run home and get the hubby for his opinion (and muscle.)  

20 minutes and lots of negotiating later we were packing the tables into our car.  They are made of tempered glass with metal edges.  The red table nests under the black one.  So far we are thrilled to have the extra space these tables provide.  





I have no idea the era and haven't been able to find any matches online.  
Do you have any idea about the year/ maker of these tables?  

Monday, June 4, 2012

What I Found- June 3rd

Go Big or Go Home!  That about sums up my finds from this past week.  I just kept finding big beautiful vintage.  Most of the larger items are going to end up on Craigslist except for the ones I am keeping. :)

I love this Danish Mid Century Bar Cart.  I am trying so hard to find a place for it in our home!

This is what you call a statement lamp.   It's so big!  Certainly too big for our tiny little house, but man oh man how I love that big lucite base.

Vintage Pull Down School Maps.  Heck to the Yeah!  One is a world map from 1965 and the other is a US map from 1981. Again, another item I would LOVE to keep.  They have been on my thrift bucket list for a while now- they would look so cool in a play room or kids room. .  But they might just be too big for us.   Sad Face.

Two Glass and Metal Tables.  Keeping!  We have been looking for a smaller sized coffee table for what feels like eons.  I think these do the trick. The smaller red one fits quite nicely under the large one, I just pulled it out for the photo.   I did a quick search online to see if I could learn about them, but found nothing.  Do you have any idea??

Not everything I got was huge.  A few found items will fit nicely in my secondary, AVintageMan Shop.  They should make for some great last minute Fathers Day Gifts. :)

I love this 1940s Bingo cage.  It has a gorgeous bakelite handle and most of the original wood numbered call letter balls.

A fun set of vintage whiskey glasses.  Very dapper.  :)

A Vietnam Era Zippo commemorating the USS John R. Craig.   I wasn't able to capture it in a picture, but the owner engraved "Cheryl & Charles" on the lid.  I think that is such a special detail.

A 1980 Scan- Globe. A globe that lights up and has its own weather station.

I found the mother load of pearl snap button/ western style shirts.  Short sleeve and long sleeve.   I washed them all yesterday so they smell nice and fresh...now I just need to photo, measure and list.

Love learning about what others "find?"
Hop on over to Her Library AdventuresApron Thrift Girl to get your weekly fix. :)