Weekend Auction Finds!

Vintage Tupperware... or, well, Tuppercraft by Tupperware!  Here's a blast from the past that I have never run across before.  This pair of vintage hampers date to 1958.  Some of the research that I have done on them suggest that they are the first laundry hampers Tupperware created.  The design is amazing!  The large one is for laundry, and I believe the smaller one is for rolls of toilet paper.  At least, that's what I plan to use it for!

These belonged to an elderly couple that lived across the street from my church.  They recently moved into assisted living, and the family was selling everything they didn't take with them along with the house.

The couple had lived in the house for years, raising their three children in it's two bedrooms (two girls, one boy).  It had the most unusual floor plan, mostly because it started life as an incredibly small house, and was built on to numerous times over the years.  For instance, to get to the second bedroom you either had to go through the master bedroom or the bathroom.  The main bathroom was remodeled sometime in the 1950s, I would guess, and had the most amazing rounded corner vanity in it.  I wish that I would have taken a picture of it.

Anyway, as I said, it was a very strangely laid out house in a hodgepodge of additions.  It was pretty well maintained, though.  You could tell the couple had taken pride in their home.

Back to the hampers; I was talking to one of the couples daughters, whose family attends my church, and she told me that her parents had these hampers since before she was born and had used them continuously until the day they moved out of the house.  They were well loved, and apparently good quality to stand up through raising three children and still be around.  The lady was pleased that they were purchased by someone that she knew and not a dealer.  I thought the price was okay, but unfortunately vintage 1950s stuff is starting to catch on around here, so I don't always get the great deals that I did a few years ago.  I got them for $15 each.

Here are a couple close-ups of the handle on the lid of the larger one,  One shows the marbled effect and the other shows the writing on it.

Have a great Thursday!  Where has this week gone?  More shocking to me - where has this school year gone?  Ack!

Weekend Finds!

I'm so glad that auction season has returned.  Last Saturday I went to a sale at the estate of an old farm family. Lots of stuff that had been stored in sheds for quite some time.  There were a lot of great mid-century pieces there, but most of them hadn't been stored properly, and would need some love to get them looking good again.

I didn't buy a lot, but I did enjoy the day.  I was a little concerned when shortly after they started the sale the auctioneer was working on selling boxes of books on a table.  Out of one of the boxes slithered a little snake... Now, I am not a snake fan, so buying books was definitely out.

Anyway, here are the few things that I got.

One of my favorite finds was this Seth Thomas starburst style clock.  It needs a new mechanism and a couple of the pieces need to be straightened along with a thorough cleaning.  Still, nobody else wanted it and I got it for $2.  I am as tight lipped with the name of this auction service as I am with the name of that thrift store that I get all of the good deals at!

I also picked up a box full of kitchen stuff - mostly purchased for these two Pyrex pieces... I took the fragile pieces out of the box, and the rest rode in the bed of the truck home.  I wasn't wanting to risk ending up finding a snake in the box I got!

Anyway, a Town and Country piece and a Butterprint piece - $8 for the whole box full of kitchen stuff.

I also picked up this vintage clothes drying rack.  I have been needing one of these for some line dry clothes that I'm tired of hanging over the shower curtain rod.  It was a bargain at $2.

Lastly,  I picked up a vintage Firestone tractor tire ashtray.  I have wanted one of these for years since seeing one on the desk at the local tire dealer as a child (complete with lit cigarette - lol).  Not a steal, but not bad at $15.

That wraps up my finds for the week.  Hope you all had success in your hunting!

Paint Color Confusion...

I have finally reached the point where I am ready to start transforming the spare bedroom into my den.  I have purchased the vintage furniture I want to put in there, and now I just need to start putting it together.  I only have one problem.  I don't know what color to use on the walls!  Help!

First, let's take a look at the current wall color, and the different pieces that I will be working with to create the room.

Here's the current wall color... pulled directly from the little flowers that were in the hand-me-down bedspread that I used on the bed that was once in here.

It's not a bad color, but I don't think it's gonna work with the pieces I want to put in here, so it's time for a change.  It has a lot of orange in it without being flat out orange.  It makes the room a pretty cheerful place.

Next, the carpet.  I would love to pull out the old carpet and have the hardwood floors underneath refinished, but that isn't in the budget at this time.  Replacing the carpet is also out.  I don't want to replace it when I really just want to save up my money and have all of the carpets removed and the hardwoods in the whole house refinished.

A vintage 1970s or 1980s brown sculptured carpet.

Now, let's look at the fabric on the chairs.  One chair is a pinkish-brown color, and the other is a brownish-purple color.  Both are great 1950s chairs.  I don't have a picture of the whole chairs yet because they are being stored at the moment.  They really contrast much more than in my lousy pictures...

Finally, here are the vintage pinch-pleat drapes that I bought last fall that I want to use in the room.  The camera didn't pick it up, but they have gold thread running through them.

Now, for paint colors.  I kind of like the one on the top center of this pic called "Casablanca".  If I use this color, which seems to be a light yellow with a hint of green, I could have a room named after Mick's cabin!  LOL. (Click on the picture to enlarge.)

I have referenced other color pallets from the 1950s as well for ideas, such as this great period example Pam over at RetroRenovation shared.  Here is the original post, and here is a link to the color pallet.

I have only one requirement - no form of beige for the paint color.  I have considered light gray, as I am a huge fan of gray, and it was widely used in the 1950s (most of the 1950s decorating books I have feature several rooms with gray walls), the only problem is I don't think it would work with the brown carpet.

Anyway, you've seen what I have to work with, now give me an idea of what paint color would pull it all together.  Right now, the yellow-green "Casablanca" color has my vote.  Thanks!

Once Again, I'm Okay!

I'm hoping that this doesn't have to become an annual post (or more often).  It's not my favorite kind of post, but it is news and has some bearing on the Shack here.

As most of the country is aware, there were severe storms in the Midwest Tuesday evening.  There was quite a bit of damage to Branson, MO.  It hasn't been quite a year since the devastating EF-5 tornado went through Joplin, and it seems that storm season has arrived early this year.

Anyway, I was jarred out of bed by the wailing of the tornado siren (which is a block from my house) at around 11:00pm Tuesday.  The wind was insane, and it was just getting started.  Not long after, the hail started.  It was probably between nickel and quarter sized, and it came down fast and hard.  In practically no time at all, the ground was covered and I couldn't see my yard.  Of course, the Buick was outside, so she is now going by the nickname "Dimples" until I can talk to my insurance agent.  I see a fight in my future, but I'm not giving up my car!  I just want it fixed.

The wind and storm continued for quite a while, but it was moving quickly and finally blew over.  From what I have heard, they were estimating the straight line winds in my little town to have been around 110 miles per hour.  Believe me, this did plenty of damage. (*****EDIT***** 3/2/12*****9:00pm***** Latest reports from the National Weather Service show that an EF-1 tornado went between a half mile and a mile north of my house.)

I left the house a little early Wednesday morning to take a quick drive around town.  A good sized chunk of town didn't have power, as several electric poles had snapped.  Fortunately, the Shack never lost power, or even had the lights flicker.  This was an amazing feat in itself.  There were several trees down, but people were out all night cutting them up, and the streets were open Wednesday morning.

Anyway, here are pictures of the damage in my area that I took on Wednesday morning.

First up, the local alignment shop was completely destroyed.  This place has been open for between 40 and 60 years, and now it's gone.  Actually, by the end of the day Thursday (just two days after the storm) the townspeople had helped out and the entire building had been removed and cleaned up.  There are some great reasons for living in a small town!  The second photo shows what it looked like at the end of one day of clean-up.  It is now nothing more than a concrete slab.

On my way to work, I discovered that the local used car lot had lost one of it's big buildings.

About halfway through my commute, I discovered that a large hay / equipment barn had been lost as well.

After work I discovered that my church lost some shingles, and our big blue building lost it's double sliding doors.

Time now to go home and assess the damage to the Shack.

The roof looks to be intact, but it lost a lot of gravel from the shingles.

The siding has about a half dozen places where the hail took bites out of it.

Otherwise, all is well at the Shack.

Mother nature is so strange - the daffodils are blooming (very early this year) and the quince is as well,  Neither lost any blooms in the intense storm.

Have a great Friday!