Sputnik, Sculptures, Space, Shape

They usually have Sputnik style (really they are starburst) shaped plastic ornaments all the time on eBay, but when I saw these two with the atomic molecule particle balls at the ends of the spikes, had to have them.

Rather than hang them on a Christmas tree, I will hang these from filament from the ceiling here in the space room.



Interesting, wish I had 2 dozen of these lol..







When it comes to bedrooms, I'm all about them looking very sophisticated. Not "frilly", but slick and hinting at an "adult" style to them. That's how I have my art Studio, and I always loved the feel of it.



So when I was saw these vintage sculptures, I thought they would look great in the master bedroom. Not too overt, just the right shape and style for mid-century (and these really are vintage, unlike my Pier One Import heads I got recently lol).

Cost was good.






When you find a couple detail items at $2, for $2.50 s/h hey, hard to pass up, right?







OK, feel free to say "WTF?!" More of my under $10 (this was $0.99 cents) handthrown mid-century pottery.



Very unique shape to this one, and it will fit with all the others I have collected.



I've been passing up on a huge amount of things on eBay lately. I'm shopped out to be honest.

And this week I must get the living room pulled back in order once again. Because it's such a large room, a lot of "stuff" heading out the door or in the Studio gets put in there. Not very exciting stuff!




The end of summer, Labor Day is this weekend, and I couldn't be happier about that. Fall is my favorite time of year.

Any special plans this weekend?

Happy Monday!
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Cigar Box Treasures - 1950's Mini Time Capsules

I know I have done a couple posts about this, thanks to inspiration from my friend Space Commander, but I am so charmed by it.

In my folks' house, there were drawers and cabinets that stuff got put in, and were almost never touched. They were like little time capsules.




Why, I don't know, it was just their way.



Years ago, even before I knew this was important to me, something made me collect and keep these little drawer treasures. I have much more, but I put these in a cigar box.

There is something so quietly charming about little details like this, from my late family, that means the world to me now.

Be sure to start collecting little mementos from your family too, if you have not already. You won't be sorry, and they can be little things, like these.





I asked this recently as well, but...



What do you do with your loose old photos? Box them? Try to fit them in albums. I need some help, I have a lot of them!

Thanks, and Happy Friday everyone!
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Ahhh I Can Only Laugh lol....

Arrived, great shape, legs simply and easily screwed on but...

It smells musty!

Oh noes, maybe I can pair it with my musty slipper chair and call them stinky?

The chair has an open bottom exposing the excelsior padding, and today I should hose it with bleach water again, see if that helps.

The footstool is closed, so there is no way to un-stink it.

Sigh.

Sometimes it seems as if the powers that be think it funny to mess with me lol...




And a quick pic of Chris still recuperating complete with poodle-like shaved legs from his IVs, and shaved belly from the surgical biopsy.

I blocked out his neck, because he still has this feeding tube sticking out of it, and realize for some viewers, this may be too difficult to see... Heck it's hard for ME to see!

He's doing better, still not 100%, but it sure is good to have my buddy Chris here with me. I watch him 24/7, medicate him 2x a day, but at least he is eating on his own now. Whew!

He showed up in October of 1999, just under a year old or so. 11 years of joy so far, fingers crossed, many more.

Chris and I thank you all once again for your kindness during his illness.


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Blog Etiquette

I saw a couple other blogs doing posts about blog etiquette, and since I don't have anything mid-century to post about today, I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon.

Now I'm not a very controlling person, but I do believe in fairness and respect.



1. Comment if you want to, don't comment if you don't want to!

There are times I read another blog, I like what I read, but I cannot think of a single thing to say. I try to visit all your blogs, and comment as much as possible, but there are times I have nothing to say. =) Also, I tend to read blogs very early in the morning to catch up. At 4:00 a.m., I'm mostly incoherent anyways lol.



2. Please do not spam my blog.

Seems obvious enough. Most product spammers are auto-bots, those trying to sell grandma's coffee table will have to do it elsewhere.



3. Don't continually try to grab my viewers/readers.

It's one thing to post a link to your blog (but we all have links in our names, so it is not necessary) but please don't post links to your blog/posts that have little to nothing to do with the topic at hand, inviting readers to go read your blog. If they click on your name and go read, it's up to them, but please do not solicit them to do so here.

We all like readers and comments, but we all have to find and build our own following. Please don't try to grab mine.



4. Please no heavy religious or political commentary.

I hang out at a chat board all day long where these are discussed ad nauseum and with great intensity. I stand my own very well, I have 16+ years experience with chat board communities, I simply do not want that here.

If you'd like, I can point you in that direction. But I warn you, it's not for the thin-skinned or faint of heart. ;) I have been called every name in the book and then some, for years by some people... So that kind of nonsense does not bother me, but this is my blog, not a chat board.



5. I tend to remove blogs from my blogroll if you have not made a post in 2+ weeks.

Nothing personal, I simply like active blogs on my blogroll, and only those I personally like to read on a regular basis.


Please know, I am NOT singling anyone out. I respect all points of view, differing opinions, people of all ages, races, creed, religions, socio-economic, gender, cross gender, and whatever else I have missed. All I care about is: Are you a good person or a bad person? And do you show me the same respect I show you?


I feel kind of left out, because no one has accused me of being materialistic like others seem to get lol....

By the way, trying to make snarky comments to me only makes me laugh. Far better have tried to cut me down over the years, and I am still actively involved in those same chat communities. I do not have a thin skin. But I don't sit idle when it happens either. ;)

Thanks folks, I sure do enjoy blogging with all of you!
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Hey Darlene~~~~~~~

Just had someone try to spam my blog with a comment, and added that she's trying out for the Mad Man walk on role and to vote for her. She has a blog with just a link to her voting page.

You might try to do the same thing: Go to blogs, make a comment, and ask if they will vote for you. ;)

If it works for her... You can do the same. =)

p.s. I don't like my blog to be used for gratuitous advertising of other people's advertising or agendas.

It's simply all fun mid-century stuff here at 1950's Atomic Ranch House. =)

Some Of The eBay Purchases I Love

I realized I dwelled on the negative eBay purchases in my other post, so I wanted to do a follow up on GOOD eBay purchases, because I have had many!

Some things are still very much thrown together as my house is still not "put together" but...

The red rose photo album is more 1940's but I love it.





Bad pic, but I love my starburst clocks and matching sconces. These will go in the living room.





I bought everything but Buddha from eBay: The atomic tripod ashtrays, the two Sputnik barometers, and the lily pad shaped glass plate looks amazing with the lotus flower and Buddha I got at a Thrift.





LOVE my 1950's pink General Electric phone! Had one exactly like this as a kid.




I do love most all my handmade pottery.





These I adore. That's my 3 year old hand print in front. How many of you still have yours?





OK, so this is the lamp with the chipped base and the fake Eames sculptures, but I do LOVE them regardless, and the lamp. And the atomic starburst finial I got a while ago. These are also some of the vintage plastic, yes plastic curtains I bought on eBay really cheap one day. They are temporary until I can get my barkcloth curtains up, but the windows are huge, so that will take some combining with other curtains as I can't find enough matching atomic curtains to go around the whole room






Another atomic tripod ashtray.





This is not exactly as vintage as mid-century, but I love it! Atomic/space/solar system sculpture.






I love this! I had been shopping for one of these atomic particle bobber spray things for ages, and finally found one in the right colors.





I LOVE my matching atomic particle feet chairs and the footstool DOES look good with one of them.




This is my favorite atomic tripod ashtray. You can find some really inexpensive cool ashtrays on eBay. Not for ashes anymore lol...





This pink cone lamp, love, love. I DO love my Fallout Shelter sign too, even with the slightly dinged edge,





LOVE this lamp, got it for a steal. Will have to change the shade and use the purple shade somewhere else, but love this lamp!





Another shot of the super cheap and VERY handy plastic mid-century curtains! I took them out of the package and hung them right up.






LOVE these enamel drink coasters. Beautiful! And my double boomerang table! Wow! That's going to be the focus of the room!





I do love my atomic particle magazine rack (even tho it was painted black over gold). The mags lie nice and flat, and I love my atomic bomb books too!






More of these handthrown pottery vases, some of these were Moms.





And more plastic curtains along with one of the matching bar stools I got with the white chairs.


Soooo there ARE some wonderful things on eBay! You can't beat the selection, and prices are not as bad as the antique malls around here. Not by a long shot!

I bet you have found a lot of wonderful things on eBay too, haven't you? =)
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Gee... I Didn't Realize How Many eBay Purchases Have Been Less Than Perfect

I got to thinking about the eBay buying disappointments the other day. And as I thought about it more and more, I realized how MANY I have had.

Case in point (above) item mailed in original vintage box.





Stool not as white as pictured.





Advertised as "Eames 1960 from sellers personal collection" turned out to be 2009 Pier One Import.






Thought this was red and black and white, and it turned out to be red and GREEN and white.






After closer inspection, a couple of the "hoops" on this atomic world clock had been broken. OK, NOW I can see it at the top in the photo. Seller did NOT disclose.






The stinky musty chair, still stinks. Will try bleach water today.






This advertised as pink lampshade........


Turned out to be purple. Purple! Who had purple lamps in the 50's?






The Fallout Shelter sign I almost had to destroy to get out of the package.






This was also mailed in the original box, tho paper was wrapped around it first. The box still got crushed within an inch of it's life.






This lamp worked... For the first two hours. Now it needs to be rewired.







I love this radio, I really do, but later I discovered the speaker inside floating around and comes in view of the screen unless you jiggle it to the left. Maybe if I open it up I can fix it. =(






This vintage magazine rack painted fresh black. OK, cool, but that paint scratches off with the least bit of rub.






How can I forget the crushed lampshade and the bitter seller experience?






Great lamp, but it arrived chipped around the sides of the base and plaster dust in the wrapping. I'll have to try to find a shallow gold dish to set it in to hide the chipping. Sigh.







Too many "handmade studio pottery" vases turned out to be manufactured or a high gloss when the photo showed a matt finish, which is what I was looking for.





Arrived broken, but at least the seller was nice and refunded.






The color of this turned out to be a very strange green. Thought it was white and the seller just took a bad photo.






Great deal, but one of the bolts was so rusted, I can't get it to tighten, so it's not quite put together. Home Depot trip in the future.






Looks black, pink and blue, but it's far more faded than the photos show. It's gray. I wanted black.






This lamp arrived with both light sockets hanging by their wires and almost no way to fix them because two screws were missing. Still are.






Worked for a week, needs rewiring.




It's enough to make me want to all but stop supporting eBay sellers! I'm not picky or uptight about things, really. I like honest wear and don't mind some scuffs and such. But all of these things are not related to that at all.


I know our dear Vintage Christine has had her share of issues too, so I'm not special this way lol. But I've pretty much bought all the things I need (except for a very few, such as curtains for two more rooms) but gee, after looking over all the things that didn't arrive as expected, it sure doesn't make me smile. =(


I bet many of you have had a lot of the same experiences, haven't you? And this isn't even every bad eBay experience I've had over the past 10+ years on eBay!

Ahh well, I'll be much more cautious in the future.

Happy Sunday!
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