Friday, April 27, 2012

Vintage Style Mailboxes

Lately I have been searching for a vintage wall mount mailbox to replace the one on my house.  I am fairly certain that the one on my house, with it's starburst emblem, is original.  However, it is long past it's prime.  The hinge is in bad shape and the box is sprung.  I love the style, but I don't think it is salvageable.  I also don't have a picture of it handy to share at the moment.  I did manage to break a tip off the starburst last night while attempting one more time to revive the poor old thing.


I have been looking for a vintage piece either on etsy or ebay, but I haven't found "the one" yet.  Last night, while shopping for new ones, I came across the website mailboxixchange.  What caught my eye were the boxes manufactured by a company called Bluegrass Woods, Inc.  You can also find information about their products at Bacova Gardens.


The following information on Bluegrass Woods comes from the mailboxixchange website:


"Bluegrass Woods is the home of the American Classic Mailbox. Since 1965, each box has been individually hand-crafted in historic Bath Country, Virginia. Their classic fiberglass mailbox is specially designed to resist wear and weather, and is custom made to order. Their American Classic Mailbox designs have become a tradition in the industry and can be seen all over the United States from coast to coast."


The wall mounted mailboxes that I was drawn to have great mid-century style.  Here's the one that caught my eye: 




Unfortunately, it is too wide for the place that my mailbox goes, so the search continues!


Have a great Friday!


* Please note - I am in no way affiliated with the above mentioned companies.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Weekend Finds!

What a great weekend!  Mick and Pat and their friend Jenny came up from Texas on Saturday.  We spent the afternoon thrifting and going to flea markets in Joplin.  Before they arrived on Saturday afternoon, I hit up a few places that I knew we wouldn't make it to after they arrived.  I managed to snag 5 pieces of Pyrex for a grand total of $20, and a brown and yellow card table tablecloth for $3.50.


My first purchase was at the yuppie thrift store - the divided golden acorn piece complete with lid for $5!  The Forest Fancies casserole came from another thrift store for $2.  It is in amazing shape.  This is my first Forest Fancies piece, and probably my last.  I'm not a huge fan of the pattern, but it was in such good shape I couldn't pass it up.  Plus, I try to have at least one piece from each pattern in my collection.  I picked up the two Butterprint fridgies at a grungy outdoor flea market that is always hit and miss.  But, I was there at the end of the day and got a deal on the pair!  The larger one was priced at $3, but the small one didn't have a price.  When I inquired about it to the lady running the booth, she told me she didn't want to have to pack them up and take them home, so I could have both of them for $3 - sold!  (She could have asked $3 for the little one as well and I would have taken it, but she didn't need to know that...).  My most expensive piece was the yellow New Dots bowl.  This is my first New Dots piece and hopefully I will eventually run across all of the pieces without resorting to buying online.  The postage increase from USPS has curbed my online buying quite a bit.  I can't justify the price as much now so I don't buy unless it is something really special.  Anyway, the yellow New Dots was $10.


I also picked up this amazing vintage outdoor metal rocker in the basket weave design that I have been seeking for a long time.  I finally found one for a decent price - $24.50 at an antique store.  Very soon it will be red with a white basket weave, which is the original paint scheme on it.

We stopped and ate at a little hole-in-the-wall truck stop on the way to my house from Joplin, enjoying chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes and gravy.  This was followed by a quick visit to the Cul-De-Sac Shack and we then headed to the drive-in theater to watch Hunger Games.

We slept in Sunday morning and then Mick got a chance to dig through my storage unit for any goodies that he would like.  After unloading some junk sharing some treasures with Mick, Pat, and Jenny to take back to Texas, we went into Kansas and had lunch at Chicken Annies.  This restaurant, in the middle of an old mining camp, is out in the middle of nowhere, and was featured on the show Food Wars, along with it's rival, Chicken Mary's, which is 350 feet away.  My family has been going to Chicken Annies since before I was born, and it is a family tradition to eat there.  After an amazing lunch, Mick, Pat, and Jenny worked on packing everything up in their Subaru (an entertaining story that I am sure that Mick will share) and then they headed home.

All in all, it was a great weekend!

Monday, April 23, 2012

Thoughts?



I picked this vintage cement planter up at an auction a couple of weeks ago for $6.  I have always liked these, and really wanted a matched pair to put on the front steps, but I really don't have room for two, so I decided to pick this one up when I came across it.  My original plans were to peel as much of the black paint off as possible and repaint it white (which was the original paint color on it).  However, the chippy black paint has kind of grown on me for it's shabby look.  Now I don't know what direction I want to go in with it, but I need to make up my mind so that I can get something planted in it before long.

So, what are your thoughts?  Stay with the shabby chippy black paint?  Strip it down and paint it white?  Maybe repaint it black?  I would love to hear your ideas!

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Was It A Morning Like This?



Hallelujah!  He is Risen!  Happy Easter!