Some previously un-posted treasures

I didn't get pictures of all of the items I sold at the Green Shag Market sale, but I did snap a few shots while setting up, so there are some shots of items I haven't posted here before, and in actual natural light!  So of course, I'm happy to show them off!:

First, some awesomeness from a handful of estate sales I attended a couple of weeks ago:

How mid-century fabulous is this green iron?  Starflite, with gold star burst, even!  It's sitting on top of a chrome bread box I finally rescued from my garage for the sale (sadly, it ended up back in the garage un-sold).

Super cute little Jade 8 radio.  I bought AA batteries to test it out - was hoping to listen to
NPR during the sale.  Unfortunately, It takes a 9 volt.  Oops!

The ice pack inside is plaid and just as cool as it's original box with fantastic graphics and fonts.  Love it!

These I found in a garage, with all dusty/greasy tools and things.  Only 5, but an adorable made-in-Japan set!

Next, a seriously cool mid-century plant stand, and the treasures I displayed upon it:

It's bigger than most of these I've seen - you can see the child-sized card table next to it for perspective. 

This cute chalkware guy is in really good shape.  Found him at the Goodwill by my work. 

I can't remember where I found this awesome gold glazed planter.  I didn't take a very good shot of it though, did I?

This planter was snatched up at a local Salvation Army awhile back, and the kitty was,
appropriately enough, rescued from the Goodwill "Pound" Store.

The fiery glazed little planter was actually in one of my very first blog posts.  The tall yellow vase is Haeger, bought at September's last Wednesday 50% off sale at Value Village.  I can't remember where I got the cool candlestick, but if I'd had two of them, they would have sold on Saturday.

This wooden pestle I picked up at the Pound Store appears to be very old.  I just like the way it looks all organic/rustic.  And do you see the Mister Wizard book behind it?  The cover is priceless; wish I'd thought to snap a shot!

I have more pics to share, but it's getting late, so more next time.  Hope your having great luck in the hunt, and check out the Nifty Thrifty Tuesday linkup at Coastal Charm.  I know I am!

New alley-shelf and a whole lotta Swiss Alpine

When I first rented booth 78 at Kenrick Antique Mall, I had lots of items to sell, but not a lot of good ways to display them.  Here's how it looked, last February:

A fair bit of inventory has come and gone since then, and lots has changed, but until today, the crummy little shelf in the third picture above has remained in the space.  It really was a crummy little shelf.  It's former owners thought so - they hadn't even bothered to donate it to a thrift store.  I found it in an alley shortly before the date I was supposed to move into the booth, and gratefully hauled it home in spite of it's slightly warped and wobbly nature so I would at least have something to display items on.  A few days ago, on one of my alley "shortcuts" I occasionally take for this very purpose, I found a somewhat less crummy shelf!  So today, Alley Shelf #1 was retired (I did donate it to the Value Village next door to the Antique Mall, because while it's crummy and warped and wobbly, it is still a shelf, not garbage), and replaced by New Alley Shelf.  Here it is in the booth:

New Alley Shelf in his new home, next to the Globe Drug liquor shelf I picked up a few weeks ago.

It fits perfectly in the same space as Alley Shelf #1, but is taller and deeper, which opens it up to more light, so the items displayed thereon are more displayed than just stored.

I also added a few recently acquired treasures to the booth, to gear up for the big sale this weekend!  Wanna see?

First, some more vintage clothing for Halloween costumes!  Zombies are the best scary creatures, in my personal opinion, and I think High School aged girls are probably the scariest zombies of all, so I brought in some dresses from various times and styles, so you can be a Prombie!:

Prairie/granny prombie

Square Pegs prombie

70's flamenco prombie

Floral curtains prombie

And a couple of other 70s pieces:

Men's floral 70s shirt

Blue lace polyester jacket

I also added this awesome vintage wind-up alarm clock that I picked up at an estate sale:

Now there's ticking in my booth.  If you stop by, give it a wind, will ya?

And I forgot to show you a couple of last week's additions, this pair of Glasbake dishes with a pretty autumn leaves pattern, and this cool mid-century magazine rack:

 

Back to today's new additions, I found this adorable little picket-fence shelf-thingy at the Goodwill pound store awhile back, and finally got around to fitting it in once the bigger shelf and the magazine rack made a little extra space on the blue and white table:

It's for sale for $14, but in the mean time, it's displaying some items that have been in the booth way too long.  This cute set of milk glass cups and saucers:

 And these Southern Comfort glasses:

Both of the above have new, lower prices on them, because they deserve happy new homes, sooner rather than later!  I didn't mark them with sale prices, just put new tags on, because that way they'll be 25% off even of these new prices over the weekend.  When you do a percent-off sale in your booth, the mall doesn't count items already marked as on sale.

And the best new addition this week, is a pretty big lot of some very pretty dishes.  Made in USA, too!  I read somewhere that they were once a promotional item given out by service stations.  I adore the pattern, with it's pretty blues and greens and the sort of star burst the layout forms on the dishes.:

The set is pretty big.  2 large plates or small platters, 5 regular sized plates, one large bowl, 8 berry bowls, 8 saucers and 4 cups.  The strangest thing is that I sold a sugar bowl of this same pattern very early on in my booth, in February or March, and since then I've acquired 2 more of the exact same sugar bowl.  All three have been in good shape with the lids intact, but I have never once found a creamer.  Also, I forgot to bring one of the 2 sugar bowls I still have at home with me to add to this lot.  Oops!  If it's still there after this weekend, I'll add the sugar bowl to the set for the same price, but at 25% off $46, I'm hoping it will all be gone!  Besides, I love the pretty pale blue on the sugar bowls, and the matching pair of them would be cute little cotton ball and swab holders in a bathroom if I sold them together!

Linking up tonight to these great blogs/link parties:

Apron Thrift Girl's Thrift Share Monday, Me and My Shadow's Magpie Monday, Coastal Charm's Nifty Thrifty Tuesday, Cap Creation's Thrifty Love Link Party, and Chic on a Shoestring's Flaunt it Friday.

Labor Day weekend spoils

Hey guys!  a little late posting about the holiday weekend, but rest assured I had a good time with great friends blundering around the Chicago area.  My good friend Beth is thinking about trying a booth too, so she was on the prowl for vintage finds, which meant, alas, I had no choice but to do some serious thrifting along with her and her hubby, and here I am to share a few of the highlights with you!

First thing we did when we got into the Chicago area was stop and check out an estate sale in a super cute 40s-50s era bungalow in the suburbs.  I think it was Westchester.  The house had fabulous vintage wallpaper that I'm already mourning since it's bound to be ripped off immediately when the house is sold, but it also had, in the basement, these:

Vintage cookbooks, yay!  The Betty Crocker's Good and Easy is coming out of its binding, but the illustrations are so great I just don't care.

We wandered several neighborhoods after that, and stopped in at a Goodwill along the way, but I didn't find anything I couldn't live without.  Then we found our way to the Little Village neighborhood.  I think I could have wandered around there for most of the rest of the day.  I definitely would have enjoyed lunch there, but my partners in crime had had Mexican food the night before and were in the mood for something different.  So we visited the Village Discount Outlet thrift store.  Three stories worth of thrift - WOW!  We skipped the first floor altogether, as we weren't interested in clothing, but we still spent a considerable amount of time picking our way through two other floors of treasures.  Here's what I picked up there:

Nice vintage scarf - the green is much brighter in person.

A gorgeous pair of mugs.  The only marking is DR on the bottom.  I love them!

A cute children's book about a goose named Petunia.

Check out the illustrations!  Love the colors!

After all our hard thrifting work, we were ready for some lunch, so we wandered (pretty much completely aimlessly) into the Pilsen neighborhood, where we found Benny's Grill and Pancake House, which turned out to be omnomnommy.  We all loved what we got.  I had the Monte Carlo sandwich:

Then we wandered the neighborhood, which was fun and eclectic and boasted several cool vintage shops, which we very happily visited.  The best by far was this one, full of vintage modern goodness I can't afford, a cute little dog, and a very nice lady who told us a bit about the neighborhood:

If you're in the area, you should definitely check it out!

A few more glimpses of that area:

Due to our cheapskatitude, we weren't staying in the city proper, but out near the Schaumberg Ikea instead, and I had heard about a place in the northern suburbs that is something like a permanent estate sale.  From what I gather, they buy whole estates, either what doesn't sell at a regular estate sale, or just the whole shebang, and they have a giant warehouse that was, at least this particular weekend, open to the public.  So of course, we went for it.  Check it out - the picture doesn't do the place justice - it's huge and kind of grimy and altogether awesome:

I came away from there with a few little treasures as well:

3-D crewelwork flowers in cheery blues

A cute little desk lamp (works great!) and  old-timey rabbit ears antennae. I realize nobody
has a legitimate use for rabbit ears anymore, but I'm convinced that after steam punk
comes something like analog punk, and whoever is into that will love them, right?  Right?

Two adorable mismatched mugs.

A very, very old wooden puzzle in excellent shape!  

A little close-up on the children.

By the time we finished procuring treasures at the warehouse, we were kind of sweaty and dusty and gross ourselves, so we headed for the hotel, where we ordered a big messy Chicago style pizza and watched the new episode of Doctor Who.  Yum all around!

Plates, silverware and/or napkins would have been a good idea!

More on the rest of the trip, including more thrifted treasures, a mini-review of the cutest, jankiest hotel you may ever meet, and possibly an epic poem entitled "Ikea, Une Saison En Enfer", coming soon!  In the mean time, check out all the treasures hunted by the clever, clever folks at these link-ups:

Coastal Charm's Nifty Thrifty Tuesday, Me and My Shadow's Magpie Monday, and Beez Rental Design's Frugal Treasures Tuesday

Saturday of freedom

Saturday was my free day to do as I pleased before skipping back to the 'Lou, and I know, surely everyone's on the edge of their seats wondering what I got up to!

To be completely honest, I didn't get up to as much as I thought I might, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and left plenty to do and see on some other, possibly slightly warmer Chicago wander someday. I had in my head the whole week that I'd like to get to an estate sale or two while in the Chicago area.  I love treasure hunting at estate sales, but more than that, what a fun way to get to see an unfamiliar city from a strangely intimate point of view.   So I checked online and found a couple that sounded like they might be interesting, and was headed in the direction of one of them.  

On the way, though, I stopped at New to You Upscale Resale.  The world "Upscale" in the name was a turnoff, but when I drove by it looked big, and not too much like a lunching-moms' designer castoffs kind of place, so I had hope it wouldn't be too pricey, and for the most part, it wasn't.  

First, a few of the things I left behind:

An adorably homespun sock-and-broomstick horse.

Cool mid-century table lamp - see closeup of the shades below.

The swirly shades are the best part.

Awesome mid century shadowbox mirror thingy.

I love the mirror piece - I imagine it came from the same home as the lamp, as they share the gold and the swirl and the era.  And look - there are my feet, all toasty and dry in my newly thrifted English sheepskin lined boots!

Now for some of what did come home with me (I picked up a few things not shown; this is all I have shots of so far):

Cute little black frame purse - needs dusting.

Pretty gold brocade clutch.  The little faux-pearl on the clasp has
lost some of it's finish, but the brocade is in great shape.

Sweet caramel-apricot satin lining.

Cool souvenir glass.  Love the colors, the font,
the illustration, and the childhood memories of a
family road trip that took me over that very bridge.

Yes, yet another gold clutch, but this one's lovely-
colored lining is actually plasticy, so it would
make a cutely glam makeup bag!

A pair of what I can only think to describe as lanyard-woven bottles from the 50s or 60s.

Cool 60s Hallmark bridge set.

After a pleasant time at that shop, I wandered a little further North and East to the Oak Park area, where I found no treasures, but had the voyeuristic pleasure of looking through a 11/2 story bungalow with tons of character - mostly original looking, except for the kitchen.  The neighborhood was beautiful under a blanket of snow:

Snow makes everything prettier, doesn't it?

Super cool street lights in this neighborhood, complete with icicles.

After wandering up and down a few streets I suddenly came across a vision of awesomeness in bright orange and turquoise stuck on the front of an old frame house!:

Parky's... I don't even know what to say!

Hot dogs and italian beef , and RC cola - didn't even know they still made that !

Every detail of the place was nifty!

I imagine this little wedge of sunshine in a box gets warm in the summer!

Stool/shadow/snow

Orange and red!

I'm sure it wasn't really true, but it seemed like no two red vinyl and chrome stools were alike; I love that acquired-over-time indication of the history of the place, not to mention that the whole thing seemed so DIY, from the hand-drawn combo-menu signs to the shelf-tables to the whole entire structure just tacked on to the front of a building.  It definitely had the feel of a local institution, so it made me smile to see some of the reviews online when I looked it up later.  Of course I had an Italian beef sandwich to go.  It was tasty!  It was no Adriana's, but then Adriana's is one of a kind.  

I wandered around some inner-suburb areas and a bit of the city for awhile after that, but between the snow and the cold and parking issues, I mostly just drove around looking and making mental notes for a future visit, then I decided to head to the even-more-outer-suburbs than I'd been to thus far, to visit IKEA.  I picked the Boollingbrook location, since it's close to interstate 55.  I thought I might find some organizational inspiration and/or cheap tools for the same.  Instead I found another Goodwill on the way there, where I picked up a few more treasures (pics another time), and at IKEA itself, I picked up some red drawer-pulls that I may or may not use as drawer-pulls, and one of those wire and clip contraptions that I think I will use to hang a couple of vintage aprons on to serve as a treatment for the back window in my kitchen.  I'll also admit to a relaxicating visit to the cafe there for a piece of Swedish apple cake.  After that I decided to hit the road for a bit so the drive home Sunday would be easier.  I ended up spending the night in Bloomington, Il, in a room with a very loud heater.  Pics of the magical world I visited on Sunday in my next installment!