So I’ve been in my house for over a year, and I’m only just now getting to the end of my long list of intended improvements and additions. Most of the work has been in the back yard, but I’ve also collected some home decor items I’ve been craving!
First, my preciouses; new vintage furniture!
My new (old) mirrored shadow box is stamped 4-30-62, a year before builders completed my home! I’ve filled it with my great-aunt Alice’s knickknacks, as she’s the first person I knew who had a mid century shadow box in her home.
I have a summer of home improvement planned. I want to paint my bedroom, kitchen, and upstairs bathroom. I want to shop for more vintage furniture at Midway Antique Mall in Sacramento. I want to fix up my back yard.
If I’m lucky, I’ll complete one of these tasks. Yes, I’m that kind of person. However, I am proud to report that my mother and I successfully cleared and planted a flowerbed along my back patio. Baby. Steps. Continue reading “Springtime at home: Flowers and a new-old buffet”
How’s this for an oxymoron? I’m always on the lookout for new vintage! This spring, I’ve found a perfectly pastel beaded cardigan in Easter yellow, a gorgeous late 1940s A-line dress with an illusion bodice and keyhole detail, and a cute pair of white porcelain kitten bookends by Lefton Japan. Who needs bunnies when you can have cute little white kitties on your bookshelf? Continue reading “Spring Vintage!”
I’m a Christmas nut. I know it’s not even Thanksgiving yet, but I freaking love everything about the season – the lights, the food, the festive mood, and maybe most of all, the amazing holiday music. My favorite Christmas tracks are nostalgic, particularly the ones from the 1950s through the early 1970s that remind me of my early childhood. This is why I love the original WPIX Yule Log, a Christmas Eve television tradition since 1966. Originally conceived by WPIX General Manager Fred Thrower to bring old-fashioned holiday hearth experiences to New Yorkers, the “classic” WPIX playlist – like the Disneyland and Magic Kingdom Main Street Christmas loops compiled by “voice of Disneyland” Jack Wagner – brings many of my absolute favorite Christmas recordings together in a single, quirky package.
Being a West Coaster and a child of the 1980s, my first TV Yule Log experience happened care of KOFY TV-20, the legendary independent station in the San Francisco Bay Area known for its crazy dog bumpers. I remember hours of Philadelphia Brass, but I’m fairly sure the playlist was similar to the following WPIX playlist, which features everyone from Percy Faith to David Rose:
So y’all know by now that I have a cute jack-in-the-box house from 1963. My goal is to decorate every room in as vintage a style as possible; not necessarily all-early ’60s, but in a way that blends the various eras my current furniture already represents.
My bedroom is 1930s-1960s, featuring my Yiayia Lois’ painted bedroom set from the late ’30s or early ’40s, my cousin’s 1960s white wicker shelves, my dad’s 1940s floor lamp, and a 1940s sewing machine table that I like to use as a night stand. My dining room features Lois’ late ’30s-early ’40s dining set, and my kitchen – which looks like it could’ve been constructed anytime from the late ’40s to the ’60s – showcases my Yiayia Sally’s wonderfully grotty old stencilled kitchen table from the 1940s. Continue reading “Vintage Home: Ideas, linens, and holidays!”
So, nearly three months of house drama is over. I spent this afternoon at the title company signing papers for my adorable 1963 jack-in-the-box house, and I couldn’t be more proud!
Finally, my 1930s painted bedroom and dining sets, my lucite pineapple-shaped “grape” lamp, my goddess rain lamp, and my amazing new lucite grape swag lamp (birthday gift from my adorable parents, which you can see below!) can run wild and free in my swank new retro pad!
