A Tour of the Boudoir (new Silvertone Record Console!)

Good morning!

Well, it was a winner of a weekend-- boy, and how! I managed to get a lot of stuff done, such as: 

• Watched the rest of season 2 of Game of Thrones, experienced withdrawl from Game of Thrones, checked out books of Game of Thrones.
• Goodwill'd my heart out.
• Brunched with three lovely ladies at East Nashville happening brunch spot, Margot, and laughed more than I should have at my friend Alyx's description of her experience of snorkeling ("I looked down...and it was like the whole sea was in front of me...and it was like I could see my heart come out of my body...the sea is full of killers, ok?") (As if it was something Craig Robinson would say, IT'S STILL FUNNY TO ME)
• REARRANGED THE HOLY MESS OUT OF MY BEDROOM. 

Let's talk about the latter, because you know I didn't remember to take pictures of any of the former. All this agitation was precipitated by a whale of a find at an Inglewood estate sale on Friday morning. See if you can spot what I'm talking about:

Not pictured: 1930's waterfall vanity (you can see the corner of it at bottom left).
 I forgot to turn around to photograph it!

This is our bedroom! If I was on MTV's Cribs, I would probably have something pithy to say here, but plain and simple, here's a place where I rest my weary head at the end of a long day. I bet you can sight some things from previous weekend find posts in this room. But the one I'm so happy to add to our home is under the chalkware unicorn (how often do you get to say that?) deeeeeead center:

Dressmaker's mannequin in fur coat and feathered evening gown? Why not?

Aaaaah! It's a circa 1950 console Silvertone record player! I have upgraded from a wobbledy regular bedside table to THIS. HUNK. OF. BURNING LOVE:

Friday morning, I picked my dad up at 9:00 from his house with the expectation of hitting some sales in Donelson and maybe swinging back to one in our neck of the woods at journey's end. We made it to Lebanon Pike before poor Matthew called with the news that he had locked himself out of the house while courageously mowing the lawn in the sweltering heat, necessitating a return trip to Inglewood. I decided, aw, heck, let's go ahead and hit this sale out in Inglewood before we travel BACK to the suburbs, so we went to a sale on Earlene Drive back in the very Tudor-y, much tonier part of Inglewood near the Cumberland. Am I glad we did!

Three things that caught my notice upon entering this sale: the swarming-bee like intensity of people entering and leaving the house with large items in their hands, the seriously low prices on orange stickered items throughout the interior, and how clean everything was. Estate sales, as they are often held in houses that have either been neglected or downright vacant (if the relative had moved into assisted care or a family member's home), can be kind of weirdly musty, moldy...just uncared for. This house was very clean, nothing in it seemed newer than the eighties', and everything inside had obviously been meticulously kept since it was brought into the house. There was a gold brocade living room set that I couldn't even look at the price tag on because I knew I would try to buy it (couches! Why do you torment me!), and literally a room full of console record players. Which is to say three. This one caught my eye because it was so petite and the wood finish on it was so luxe. Price tag? $39.50 (due to chewed up cord...still not sure if it works because we'd need to replace said cord). After I gathered up about 30 country records from a nearby stack (Tammy and George! Merle Haggard! Jean Shepherd! Grand Ole Opry recordings from the seventies'! All almost-new-in-wrapper condition!), I went to ask the salesperson how bad the damage was to my pocketbook.

Me: I wanted to ask if you could do any better on that record player in the front room, the one that doesn't work.
He: Yeah, what have I got on it?
Me: Thirty nine fifty.
He: Could you do $25?
Me: Yes. Yes, I can.

Twenty five bucks, YAHOOOOOOOO...I was elated. My dad and I wrestled the box carefully into the back of the Civic, and went away with that weird, buyer's-thrill of having got something for a bargain that is completely awesome. Note that the radio only features AM (you can see more about why that would be here), and that the record player is secreted away in the center portion, where the gold handle is. You wouldn't even know it was a console if it weren't for the radio dial in the top middle!

When I got home, I cleaned the entire bedroom tip to top, moved the old nightstand into the attic (I think I'll give it to Goodwill, but sometime next week), and puzzled over how to arrange things. The top shelf is too small for 33's (I think it was meant for 78's), so I filled it in with some bedside reading materials that just fit. Below are the country records I bought at the same sale. Perfection! I still have somewhere to put my eyeglasses and iPod of an evening's rest, but boy, in what style!

So! What do you think about my bedroom? I know I need a rug in this space, but am looking for just the right tan or neutral, circular one like in the living room to fit the bill. How do you like my new night table? What kind of unusual uses-for-old-furniture have you implemented in your own home? Any whale-of-a-finds this weekend? Let's talk!

That's all for today, but I'll see you back here tomorrow. Til then!