Cobalt Creamer & Sugar Bowl Set

When I saw this at an estate sale, it immediately caught my eye. I was looking for items to resell which is a new venture for me. I know that I have to get a great price on something legitimately valuable. Although this set is beautiful and unique, it doesn't have a designer/maker listed on the bottom which concerned me. It also was priced a little high. I thought about it a while but decided to pass.

Two days later we went back to the estate sale (It was a 3 day sale) to see what was left. I was surprised to find that it was still there. Not only was everything reduced to 50%, one of the sale workers who we had spent some time talking to at our earlier visit kept giving us even better deals. We ended up getting this set for only $3. After Jason carefully washed our purchases and I photographed each piece, I decided that even if I sold this set for $20 I'd still be sad to part with it. Jason encouraged me to just keep it. After all, it was only $3 and I LOVE it!

Our biggest, heaviest MCM find yet!

Two weeks ago Jason and I found this beast at an estate sale. We fell in love with the design and color. It's big. It's long. It's a sleeper sofa. A mid-century sleeper sofa. Therefore, it is HEAVY! We're guessing it's at least 300 lbs. No joke. And in case you've never thought of it before—I hadn't—the people who work at estate sales won't help you load or move your purchases. Can you imagine Jason and I (who weigh less than 300 lbs. combined) dragging this sofa across a carpeted living room, shoving it through the front door and putting all the energy we had left into lifting it, carrying and heaving it onto a friend's borrowed truck? I still can't believe I was capable of that! The next 2 days my arms, legs and back were all sore. I'm so thankful that neither of us got hurt! The sofa is vinyl and needed a little repair but Jason did an awesome job! I helped to mix the colors from the vinyl repair kit—one of my specialties. By the way, this beautiful specimen cost only $25!

We went back to this same estate sale when it was almost over (reduced prices) and snatched up all the unique collectibles that were left. Most of those are now for sale on my brand new Etsy.com shop light hand design & vintage, with two exceptions that we couldn't bear to part with. I'll be blogging about each soon.

light hand design & vintage shop!

I set up a shop on Etsy.com to sell vintage mid-century modern collectibles AND some of my graphic design, craft and art creations! Check it out: light hand design & vintage.

Fondue Pot and Skewer Set

This fondue pot and fork set is another one of my favorite mid-century collectibles. Jason and I love fondue. We had 3 fondue pots already (for the parties when we had meat, cheese and chocolate fondues!) but when I saw this at an East Nashville estate sale last year, I fell in love. I love the color. Why don't they made colored enamel fondue pots these days? What's with all the white ceramic ones? (We have 2 of the white ceramic variety and 1 retro stainless Michael Grave's design.) The wooden handle on the lid is cracked and the base was nowhere to be found at the estate sale but I wasn't leaving without this fondue pot. I had seen a similar one last spring at Wonders on Woodland with skewers and it was about $30. This one was $2 and we got them to throw in 1 of their 3 skewer sets for free. We selected the set with the original box for extra fun.

Our First Mid-Century Collectible

About six months ago Jason and I were browsing around at Southern Thrift. The left side wall is lined with junky vases, mugs, plates, picture frames etc. We picked up a platter with a starburst design. Amidst all the kitschy forgettables it didn't look like much. It had some wax or something crusted on the front and a chip out of the underside. It was only $2 but we debated back and forth for a while, not wanting to pay even $2 for something if it was just going to clutter our house. (We're pretty minimalist. And cheap.) Eventually we decided it was cool enough to bring home.

One Saturday morning maybe two months ago, we were watching Good Eats on the food network. I don't remember what food he had made but Alton Brown carefully placed it right onto a plate like our thrift-store find. We both looked at each other, thinking the same thing. I flipped over the plate and inspected the seal on the bottom.



"FRANCISCAN" "Made in California U.S.A" "Gladding, McBean & Co." I googled away. Much to our surprise and delight, our $2 thrift-store treasure was a famous design from Gladding, McBean & Co. The Starburst design was released in 1954, the same year our house was built. We're pretty sure our find is the "oval serving platter" worth about $50 today, in good condition. Of course, we're not interested in selling it. It's our first Mid-Century Collectible!