The Rose Too, also

Well, the weather in Arkansas has certainly turned to fall, and it has gotten cold enough lately to make one fear that winter is even closer than you thought. However, today was lovely and sunny and warm, and I just got paid, so it was the perfect day to go out thrifting! ... Too bad the thrift stores were pretty dry today. I couldn't find a thing in any of my usual haunts in Springdale! I had to drive all the way up to Bentonville/Rogers to get a little love. I think I might do better to hit the thrifts next week. There should plenty of new items donated from all the yard sales everyone is having this weekend because of the lovely weather.

So I found nothing to buy in Springdale today, and even going to Rogers started off dry at first. The Council of the Blind seems to be semi-permanently or permanently closed. I haven't been able to shop there in months, and there are no signs to indicate why. At the Benton Co. Women's Shelter thrift I did find one wood Christmas ornament for 50 cents. Woo. But then things started looking up when I got to visit The Rose Too, a new expansion to my favorite flea market/antique mall.



I got two new additions to my camera collection, both Brownies - a Starmeter in the box for $12.95 (it still has the original price tag of $29.50 on it from Dale's Rexall), and a Starlet for $6.99. I also couldn't pass up an aqua Swingline pencil sharpener with the mounting bracket for $5.99. Because that is just too awesome. And to top off my lovely shopping experience, all my purchases were rung up by none other than my future mother-in-law, Kathy, who gets to pay her booth rent by working part-time a few days a month. I actually got on the waiting list so we can possibly get a larger booth together and split the cost. If we do, local readers please do check it out! I am so excited at the possibilty of finding some of the treasures that are piling up around my house a new home. Let's make the thrifting addiction work for me. :)



Up next was The Rose, original edition. I got the largest Pyrex round casserole in Woodland that I was missing for $7.95. The same booth also had a Corning petite pan that I needed in Country Festival, with the plastic lid for $6.95. My favorite find is the Pyrex tableware saucer in the Green Leaf pattern. Green Leaf is my favorite tableware pattern, and this is my first time seeing it in person. Bonus - it was only a dollar. There is a discussion here that Green Leaf is a harder to find pattern, and I think this dish is even more unusual because it has the old Corning glassblower backstamp rather than the tableware backstamp containing the usual info and item numbering. Oh, and there's that ornament I mentioned before. It's a harp!



My last stop of the day was Helping Hands in Bentonville. I know there are big fans of the 70s merry mushroom themed kitchenware out there. The whole set was just $6.50, so I picked it up for resale or a possible trade. They all appear to be in mint condition. And although I already have this Glasbake Blue Onion square baker, I thought it deserved to come home with me for just $1.

Florida Goodness (and I don't mean the oranges)

Once again, I apologize for the lack of posts on my part... although you probably didn't even miss me because Leilani has done great keeping the blog going! I've had pictures ready but just no time to write about them. But I have been busy with something of a vintage/thrifty nature... I have been working on buying my very first house!!! I just got an offer accepted earlier this week after going back and forth with the bank that owns it. It's a great deal, and it's of a nearly vintage mint - built in 1988. I hope that once we move in, I can start some retro renovations and really make the house great! So in the future you all can expect a few more vintage furniture/decorating/remodelling posts, and hopefully some pictures of how everything looks in the new house. Advance warning however - my closing date is in the middle of November, so I apologize in advance for not posting. I'll be moving a lot of stuff. :)



I thought it was high time to post some of my finds from my trip to Florida earlier this spring. While it didn't turn out to be the vintage Pyrex heaven of my dreams as it has for some people I've seen, it was consistently good thrifting. On the drive back to Arkansas we stopped at a large Smiley's antique store to look around, and I found this bowl. I was so excited! It looks like the Terra brown and orange striped bowls, but unlike Terra the bowl is glossy, and the stripes are fired-on rather than grooved in the paint. This bowl seems to be pretty rare, there's only 1 other person on the PyrexLove Flickr group that has one. The best part was, it only cost $3! :)



I picked up this Pyrex sugar and creamer set on a day trip to St. Petersburg. We stayed right by Orlando but went to St. P to catch a Rays game, and I managed to find some thrift stores on the internet to stop by on the way. I found a really great thrift store that had quite a few vintage kitchen items. I was amused because almost everything I got was $1.99. This cute sun/starburst set was $1.99 for both. The gold is in perfect condition, and since I had never before found a sugar that matches the little tiny carafe/creamers, I had to pick them up.



From the same St. Petersburg thrift store, I got this vintage Norelco coffee bean grinder. I usually think of Norelco making shavers, so this grinder seems a bit funny to me. Even better, once we got it home I realized that it was quieter and ground beans better than our other grinder that we got at Wal-Mart a few years ago. I love vintage appliances. It was also bought for just $1.99.



I absolutely adore this Vacron turquoise insulated pitcher and cup set. I wasn't sure about it at first. The set was very grey on the white parts, and the inside of the pitcher was quite brown. At the St Petersburg thrift store, the set had $1.99 stickers all over it. I was afraid that each piece was $1.99, but that was actually the price for the whole set! Once I got it home, it cleaned up great. Magic eraser took off the grey, and bleach water solved the staining issue. Hard to see in the photo, but it was so dirty that I couldn't tell until I cleaned it up that the white parts are actually speckled.



Another thrift store in St. Petersburg was also a winner. I found a couple of vinyl records and some vintage kitchen items, one of which was this Corning Cornflower Blue Bake, Broil tray. These larger Corning pieces are usually more expensive or harder to find, so I naturally had to snap this one up (even though I don't usually collect it) as it was only $5.95. This and my matching open roaster would be great for Thanksgiving in my new house... Although I might have to wait a year to get the house ready. :)



Also at the Smiley's antique mall on the way home I got this promotional Pyrex 4 qt bowl known as "hex signs." I never wanted it bad enough to get it off ebay, but when I saw it for $16.95 in good condition I decided to go ahead. I always thought the design looked suspiciously similar to a certain controlled substance... ;)

Summer is here, and so is thrifting

Well, Leilani and I may have died off on this blog for a while, but we've still been getting out there and finding all kinds of goodies to photograph and post. I know Leilani's been busy with school (even right now during the summer she has class, aw!), but I don't have as good of an excuse. I take pictures and then neglect to post! Well no more!

With the arrival of summer I definitely always feel like the "good stuff" is more plentiful. There are tons of garage sales every week, and the estate sales are picking up too. Like Leilani, I'm starting to prefer going to the source and trying to get things at estate sales. Well, around here there are more estate auctions. Which is great because they are entertainment in itself. But, since I haven't posted in a while, I'll share some of the things I found earlier this spring.



I've been getting worse. I knew I didn't need this retro orange electric coffee perk. I have plenty of Corning coffee perks. But I get to where I just can't leave things behind. This was $4.00 at the Benton Co. Women's Shelter Thrift.



This recipe box was just worth getting for the old cards. None had any recipes to try, however. I love the cute aqua design. I could do with a nicer box though. This one is just a dark avocado green, not too attractive. 50 cents from Second Chance Thrift.



Yes, I gave in and I collect Woodland now. I didn't find brown very attractive before, but it has grown on me, I'll admit. Plus my mom had Woodland mixing bowls (she actually still uses them), so I was partial to this pattern anyway. This is the largest round casserole. Found at the Salvation Army for $1.50 I believe? I also managed to get a hold of a nice lid for it locally for $1.00.





I picked up this vintage Dormey handmixer at The Council of the Blind. I had never heard of Dormey, but they made a great mixer. It still works. In fact, it works so well that I'm getting rid of my Hamilton Beach handmixer that I got from Walmart. I've really started to switch over to all vintage for my kitchen appliances. They just work better, even after all these years.





Vintage bun warmers. Very 70s. I bought the orange one 1st at Samaritan Thrift, then when I came back, they had put out the other one. I snapped them up, naturally. I think they might have been around $5.00 apiece. They both have their original cords and they still heat up. Kind of an odd buy, but I have a dream to one day host a large Thanksgiving dinner, set up entirely with vintage cookware and prepared with vintage appliances. So I have to get these things now! Bun warmers would be perfect for a buffet setup.



I can't remember how much I paid for this clock at the thrift, I think it was a couple of dollars. It's a cute little desk clock that plugs in. I couldn't resist its atomic goodness. The side with the atomic star also lights up.



Usually estate sales in my area aren't that great, but I found these at one in Bella Vista (it's where the older folks live). Stuff was a little higher than I would've liked, you can see the $1.50 price tag on the mug. But I needed that one for the Pyrex mug collection! The old spice tins were about 50 cents apiece, I think, and the atomic carving set was $2.



Quite a while ago I found a nice vintage green autograph album that had never been used. Then a month or so ago I saw a very similar photograph album at the Council of the Blind for $2, so I had to get it! The photograph album has a ripped page, but otherwise they were never used.



I've definitely developed an appreciation for mid-century modern style and dutch modern furniture. I had to get this shelf when I found it at the Salvation Army because it totally fits the bill! In this picture we were using it in our entry hall, but now it's been re-purposed (read: taken over by me) for Pyrex displays. :)