Weekend Finds (Louisville!)

Good morning!

I hope everybody had a great weekend. Mine was predictably hectic, but we had a great time right at the top of Kentucky. Wanna see the loot? And a mostly-obsucred-by-stuff preview of my new thirties' couch? Here we go:

Observation #1: EVERYTHING. IS SO CHEAP. IN KENTUCKY. Everything vintage, anyway! It seemed like I had but to turn around and another chalkware piggy bank would be staring me dead in the face with a one digit price tag. ONE DIGIT. The two most expensive things in the picture above were less than $15. Usually I go on vacation completely blind, hoping to find a couple things worth stopping for by sheer happenstance. THIS time, I took my favorite blogging girls' advice, and hit every hot junkin' spot in town. Thank you Rae, Eartha, and especially Jamie for all the hot tips!

Observation #2: Peddler's Marts are AWESOME. Along Dixie Highway and the further-away-from-town section of Bardstown Road, I went to four different "marts" that were essentially former department store or grocery store locations (to the point that one actually still had all the specific-to-Kroger, mile long neon signs saying "delicatessen" and "fresh produce", from the early 90's! Time warp) where sellers set up booths in the air conditioned convenience of an indoor setting, and you pretty much shop 'til you drop. There's bundles of socks, and Christmas figurines, and discount groceries, but there's also the here and there vintage wonder. The most frustrating part, as I think Rae mentioned on her several trips to Louisville, was my inability to bring any furniture home! I saw couch after couch after couch in mint condition, gold brocade, red vinyl, checkerboard.. you name it, for less that a hundred smackers. Next time I go, I'm coming back with a U-Haul. Mark my words.

Here's a dressmaker's mannequin I found at the Dixie Highway Goodwill. Even though Jamie warned us it was a really gross/overpriced location, we stopped there out of thoroughness and found lots of stained ugly 90's clothes, plates-that-should-have-been-a-dollar-marked-five, and one nineties' camcorder that was actually priced at $100 (I don't know if it was worth that when it was new!). As I was walking out, among the golf clubs, was this mannequin, with the pole-base retracted so that it was only three or four feet high. First thought: the fabric on it matched my arm chair! Second thought: if that camcorder was a hundred bucks, how much would a mint condition sixties' dress form cost? Answer: THIRTEEN DOLLARS. $12.99, folks. Ain't that a lot of love.

Know what else was $12.99? This harlequin/matador lamp base:

I've wanted one of these since FOREVER, and have never seen one, even in bad condition, under forty bucks. Needs to be rewired and is missing a lampshade, but for twelve dollars, I had to take the plunge. How great will this look with one of those old fiberglass shades? The jackalope decorative whiskey bottle was at Tickled Pink for $4, and the yellow tiki guy was a quarter at an outdoor flea market. I CANNOT STOP BUYING DECORATIVE CERAMICS. 

Everywhere I went, I kept finding plates! The three above I think are safe to eat from, and match the other green, Curiosity Shop patterned dishes I use everyday, so these will be good for fill-ins. I think the two on the left, from below, are actually from when each of those presidents were in office. There was an LBJ one like the Eisenhower plate on the left, but I forgot to go back and get it, so our house will have to be a Kennedy-and-before era in terms of presidential memorabilia. I think each of these were two dollars.

I love "how to draw" books! One of these days I might just figure it out! Each of these reminds me so much of old Tex Avery Warner Bros. cartoons. Also shown, a Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook (second edition-- expect a standalone post soon!) and a little twenties' picture of an African American three or four year old with the most serious face.

An embroidered sixties' shirt, which I'm wearing today, for a dollar, a mink hat for two (?!?!), and a pearl-embellished star shaped birdcage hat for I think five. I love mink hats like this because they're practically the same color as my hair and always look like some cool extension of such when I'm wearing them. Which will be next-time-I-go-out. I've got my eye on you, minkness!

This WWII bomber crew was TOO. FREAKIN. COOL. TO. NOT. BUY. Even if the glass was cracked! I really think it's a contemporary-to-the-time photographic print, rather than say a picture copied from a book and framed. When I take the glass out, I'll have to tell you if there's anything written on the back ($8).

And rounding up the end of our tour of the bounteous goods Kentucky had to offer, some random odds and ends, including a fifties' tablecloth (American Association for the Blind thrift store, $2), an entire bag of pearl sweater buttons ($4...to be used in decorating a purse or maybe making a necklace? We'll see!), a gold mesh 80's belt to be worn à la thirties' Joan Crawford in an Adrian gown ($2), a copy of the George Segal movie Loving (which actually, again, needs its own post, I think $5) and a sweater with a Jolly Roger skull and crossbones on it (another Goodwill, $1.50).

We had a great time in Louisville! Made all the better by the never-ending patience and cooperation of my bab, who did awesome u-turns every time I pointed us in the wrong direction without complaint. Can't help loving the man!

Thanks, Bab!

Here's a picture of me, the happy birthday girl, on the day we got back, shortly before Matthew's band did a show at Exit/In. I ended up wearing a more Karl Lagerfeld- inspired version of this outfit with a black straw pillbox, tiny black velvet purse, and a bolero-tie at the closed neck of this same shirt, but I also like how well the oranges went together in this first draft of that outfit. And I forgot to take a picture of the second because I was in a hurry. Le sigh. 

                 

I'd love to tell you more, but I gotta get back to work! What did you guys drag home from the estate sale kills this weekend? Do you have any particular places in Kentucky that are MONDO vintage-lover's heaven? I can't wait to go back myself (if just to get another Hot Brown from the Brown Hotel...the most awesome non-shopping related part of my trip for sure!).

See you guys tomorrow!