Let There Be Light

Whew!  It took a little longer than we expected but this weekend's lamp building extravaganza is complete.  It was so much fun going through all of the lovelies we have been hording carefully saving and finding new lives for them all.  Here are the results:

Big Daddy and I came across this Brownie Jr. Six-16 many months ago and were so excited!  We rushed home and began our research.  We learned that this camera was introduced in 1936 and was worth approximately.....you ready?....next to nothing.  What?!  How could this Art Deco beauty be worth so little?  (Something about the manufacturer discontinuing film production in 1942....humph.)  We decided it would go into the project pile until we had the perfect plan. I love that this piece of history has a new (and purposeful) life.

Tripod Lamps.  We've been lucky enough to find a number of fabulous vintage tripods over the years and love turning them into lamps.    The little one even has pretty brass legs when fully extended....Rawr!

Old film reels are so fabulous!  They are industrial and architectural and always remind me of old Hollywood.  I love the simplicity of this one.

This old Edison record is now a pendant light.  Big Daddy paired it with a long red houndstooth cloth cord and it's a real beauty.









This simple wood base and cloche bell jar are the perfect setting for a Marconi bulb.  I love that it feels like a museum exhibit with Steampunk flair.







We picked up this piece of driftwood at an insanely overstuffed vintage shop downtown a while back.  (Remind me to tell you about it...That place is a complete trip!)  The wood is architectural and sculptural and we let it speak for itself.



We'll be listing these goodies in the Etsy shop as the week progresses, but for now I'm happy to have given these beautiful pieces new lives.  The hard part is going to be resisting the urge to keep them for myself!

A, B, C's

Last fall I took my first trip to Marburger Farms and found myself blown away by all of the beautiful things.  Two of my favorite trends were the industrial equipment used as every day furniture and the heavy use of typography in absolutely every space.  I became inspired by the letters and started gathering them on my thrifting adventures.  I now have a serious supply of Scrabble tiles as well as some plastic marquee readerboard letters and use them gratuitously around the house.  They are lovely little reminders of the things I want to focus on and can really pack a visual punch when decorating.

I was mostly content with my little letters and while I continued to lust after the large industrial ones I simply could not bring myself to spend the big bucks to purchase them.  (Why is it that people sell salvaged items for so much money?!)  Well lookie what I came across this week!  Can you believe it?!  These beauties were destined for the landfill and I was able to work a deal and save their little lives.  (That, and managed to severely embarrass my 10 year old...but that's not unusual.)  I brought them home and got straight to work scrubbing, disassembling (not as easy as I thought it would be), and even enlisted Big Daddy's help in turning a couple into lamps.  It's hard to tell from the picture but these beauties range from 18 inches or so to almost 3 feet.  That's right, 3 feet!  My living room is like a trippy version of Sesame Street right now and I just couldn't be happier about it.  Now I am very excited and hopeful that someday I'll find the perfect ampersand, or maybe even a pi symbol.  Oh, can you even imagine it?!  For now I'll be content to sing the alphabet song all day and wait for these lovelies to find their forever homes.  Oh!  And if you happen to come across a 1950's factory that is closing their doors and giving away their heavy duty assembly tables you just let me know!

For now I'll leave you with this little trip down memory lane.  Enjoy!  Sesame Street - Learning About Letters

What is it?

Sometimes when you're thrifting you find something you love but aren't quite sure what it is.  I really enjoy these moments and just can't wait to get home to do a little online digging.  Today I thought I would share with you one of my favorite things for sale in the shop (that I am secretly glad hasn't sold and so get to admire it every morning when I get up...shhh).  Isn't it fabulous?  It's the perfect blend of industrial complete with rotating mirror, shiny gooseneck and funky little toggle switch. ...swoon...  But what is it?  Well it's an Agglutination Viewer, of course.  (That part's easy since it's written nice and legibly across the bottom, but that wasn't much help for me.)  

Apparently this little slice of pie is used in blood banks for typing, cross matching, and other blood bank-y things.  Today these little guys are made of plastic (of course) and are simply not much for looking at.  But this little guy, well he's hawt!  He's the sort of strong silent type that will sit quietly in the corner just waiting to be noticed.  And when you do notice, boy howdy...

Happy Father's Day

This post goes out to all the big daddies out there who are getting it done!

The girls and I decided that the best way to celebrate Father's Day this year would be to take their dad on a whirlwind tour of the small town junk shops he loves to pick thru.  Unfortunately those places aren't open on Sunday...boo!   We decided the only fair thing to do would be to turn it into a Father's Weekend.  Woo Hoo!  So, we started our journey bright and early yesterday and found a few gems for our little Etsy shop.  They may not look like much now, but wait till Big Daddy gets them all fixed up!



As you may have noticed,  lamps are our new obsession.  There are a few up and ready and so many more vintage parts around here just begging to be illuminated.  I just can't wait for you to see them when they're all finished!

I'd love to stay and chat but it's Father's Day and I have some serious relaxing to do.  Since we were out and about all day yesterday today's plans include a whole lot of nothing, followed by one of Big Daddy's famous barbeque feasts.  Mmmm-mmmm!