More charming finds to share

I know I could have posted all this great fun stuff at once last night, but I was tired and my long weekend had finally run its course, which means now I have tons more great stuff to show off!  First, some phones of the non-mobile variety:

Ugh, in the crummy dim light of my house I didn't notice how much more of a scrub this needed!

This is two of three that picked up at the Goodwill pound store on the same day, from the same bin.  It took me awhile to untangle all the cords.  I almost threw the beigy one back before I turned over the hand set and noticed the rotary dial.  Isn't nostalgia funny?  I actually have a rotary phone, albiet disconnected, hanging on my kitchen wall from the old folks who lived here before me.  I haven't yet been able to bring myself to take it down!  If I still had to use it, I would find it wildly annoying to wait for the dial to spin back around every time before dialing the next number, but since I don't have to, it's oddly satisfying.  The resistance as you dial it, and the otherwise unmatched sound it makes as it slides back around feel so purposeful.  Sometimes when I'm in the kitchen on my handy little Virgin Mobile phone (not product placement, but I do love Virgin - such a good deal, and I have the biggest, weirdest crush on Richard Branson!), I'll be idly dialing away on the big old thing.  If it were an awesome color I'd definitely want to keep it forever, but I've started toying with the idea of taking it down, possibly to paint it red, or blue.  Or yellow!  I need to figure out how to take it apart and paint it, but keep the numbers and whatnot... project.

Next up, a couple more small appliances to go with the awesome green iron I posted yesterday:

Crusha!

This thing is seriously sexy.  And yes, that's the original box next to it.  It's practically brand new!  It's the wall-mount kind, far more rocket-shippy than the counter top varieties, and this one's extra special - black and gold instead of the usual chrome finish.  I found it at a little resale shop that I've found by accident twice, and can never find on purpose.  I don't even know what it's called, but I know it's in South County, and this is not the only really nifty bit of vintage I've found there.

Oh yeah, mirror finish, baby!

Speaking of practically new condition - can you believe the finish on this awesome vintage Sunbeam toaster?  I couldn't, when I spotted it at the Salvation Army on Cherokee Street.  It's a later model - probably from the 70s, which I know from perusing this site dedicated solely to vintage Sunbeam automatic toasters.  These things are amazing - there's nothing to push down.  You just put your bread in the slot, and the weight of it lowers the mechanism and turns on the coils.  When the toast reaches it's optimum toastiness based on the setting you choose, the heat turns off and the toast slowly and calmly raises back up.  It's that mid-century futuristic awesomeness we all love!  This one still works like a charm, although it needs an adjustment.  It's idea of optimum toastiness was a little blacker than mine.  There's a "fixing your toaster" section on the website I linked to above that I'm guessing might help out with that, but I haven't perused that far yet.


While we're being retro-futuristic, how about these awesome silver shoes?:

There's barely even a scuff on the soles of these things.  They clearly never made it out of the house.

Not for you?  how about a groovy full-length oxblood leather coat, or the cool mid-century rope-seated valet chair on which it is displayed?:

The chair is in really nice shape, and the coat as well!

Did you see the fun penguin picture?  I'm not knowledgeable enough to say if it's a print or a watercolor - it's signed and either dated or numbered 11/76, and was accompanied, on Saturday, by a very cute little girl:

Isn't she precious?

And if one pairing of little girl and bird pictures isn't enough, I had another one!:

Isn't she a cute little hippie-chick?  She's leaning on an ancient-looking trunk lid (sans trunk) that I picked up in an alley near my house a few weeks ago.  The pretty little blue floral apron came from the same estate sale as the green iron from yesterday.

There was a ton more, but once again its getting late, and Mary Poppins the kitty found her fuzzy-thing-on-a-stick toy, so I'm gonna go play a bit before bed.  Good for the soul!

Bowling!

Saturday, to celebrate the birthdays of two dear friends, our whole big crew of goofballs went bowling.  The whole idea of bowling is awesome, isn't it?  It's probably not a particularly thrifty activity, but for someone who likes scouring thrift stores for vintage finds, it has quite the retro appeal, even if I'm not good at it.  At all.  I scored 80 points in the game Saturday, and felt good about it.  I even got two spares!  But the real point of telling you all this is to share the pictures!  I posted the pictures of people having fun on Facebook already, but I saved all the kitschy goodness for you all!

The moon through the window of the van on 70 north of
downtown, on the way there.

Crest Bowl, in Florrissant, MO has an awesome
old mid-century sign.  LOVE IT!

And look, the moon made it into that shot, too :)
So you know I had to give him some up-close attention!

Look how handsome he is!

Check it out - a bowl-relièf!

I don't know what the key is to, but I LOVE the keychain!
And look- tiny pencils!  They play a part in the two kitschiest
family activity/sports in the world.  I heart tiny pencils.

Concession stand, and the bar/pool-hall entrance.

Look at all the colors!  Why don't they make
footballs and baseballs in lots of random colors,
with swirls and sparkles and stuff?

The Glow Machine was not old - it's a vending machine
for glow-sticks and whatnot.  But  it LOOKS fantastic.

Cute mural.

I love bowling shoes!  You have no idea the amount of personal
restraint I have had to exercise not to sneak out with them in the past. 

This little piggy...

This little star-burst Formica topped wooden piggy is an oddly adorable purchase I picked up for $.50 at an estate sale a couple of months ago:

I had never seen anything like it before, and thought maybe it was fashioned by an extraordinarily thrifty/crafty person upon the death of an old table or counter top or something, but less than a week later, I stumbled across one that was nearly identical in the Value Village thrift store on North Lindbergh.  The shape was the same, and it had the same kind of little black eye on it, although the Formica surface was a different pattern (and far more scratched/scuffed up).  I passed up the chance at a twin for my star-burst piggy, but it made me curious, and good ol' Google tells me that Formica piggies were apparently a thing, back in the day.  Right this very moment on Etsy there are 5 Formica piggies listed (although one of them is shaped more like an anteater or an armadillo or something, in my opinion).  It's an interesting phenomenon, isn't it?  How you can come across something you've never seen before, or at least never noticed before, and suddenly, once you've noticed whatever thing it might be, you see that thing everywhere.  I like to think of it in Harry Potter/Doctor Who terms:  before that estate sale, there was a perception filter that prevented me from seeing Formica piggies, but once I noticed one, now I can see them all!

A similar thing has happened to me lately with vintage carafes.  I spotted a cool one with it's own little stand/warmer for a song at a thrift store, and since then two more with fun star-burst patterns (like the pig!) have followed me home:

I think if I was there to get my thrift on, I could probably spot the entrance to Diagon Alley!