MCM Estate Sale Treasures

Over the years of Estate Sale shopping we have decorated our house with a variety of MCM and whimsical style decor. Here's a few of them:

The idol needs some restoration work, which will be a summer project once it warms up. 

This is a beautiful Blenko bottle that the One Who Must Be Obeyed fell in love with.

Gnome is one of my latest acquisitions. Fisherman was lonely so I thought the Gnome would provide some needed companionship. 

Lovely oil painting.

Cool vintage 60's painting. 

Bullet ice bucket & Ikabana vase.

Very cool 1960's Skyline.

Enjoy!

Upper GE Cabinet Installation

The GE metal cabinet with the butcher block top was getting lonely. It was seeking companionship from some of his cabin(et) mates. So this morning I stopped at everyone's favorite big box store, Home Depot, for a sheet of OSB. The room where these cabinets are going is our laundry/storage room that was unfinished when we built our house. I added framing and covered the walls with OSB at the time due to the OSB being relatively inexpensive and the ability to drill into it and hang cabinets without finding the studs. This wall had not been covered with the OSB as I had thought I might add a sink in this area and needed to leave it open for the plumbing.....never mind now. I drove the One Who Must Be Obeyed car and used it like a PU, see below......

I had the store cut it down to the width I needed. Good thing because I would have been in deep doo doo trying to fit it in the car....

Moving on....I got the OSB up after making cuts to fit around the dryer plug and the gas line. Made a pass at cleaning the cabinets and then put them up. Here's the final look....

Fifty years of grease and nicotine still show. I used Simple Green to clean them, but they need several more passes and a lot of elbow grease! Anyone have a suggestion for a better grease cutter?

New Home for Butcher Block

The GE cabinet with the butcher block top has found it's new home. Took advantage of my college son being home for the weekend and moved it into the basement where it will function as storage and as a work surface. Replaced an old particle board kitchen cabinet that an old neighbor had given us years ago. It was in sad shape and didn't have as much utility as this one. Got some mineral oil and applied a couple of coats.

Next phase of using the GE kitchen cabinets is to install a bank of the upper cabinets above the butcher block that will span above the butcher block and replace the cabinet above and to the right of it. Stay tuned for more....

MCM Orange Viking Glass Vase

Went to a Mid Century Modern (MCM) sale this past weekend. Same one that Uncle Atom bought the very cool lamp shade at. Sadly, it was way overpriced, but we did pick up a Viking Glass orange vase (on the far left) to add to our collection of glass....

Vintage 50's GE Kitchen Cabinets

In November, I purchased an entire vintage 1950's Turquoise GE Metal Kitchen Cabinet set. It included the electric stove (see previous post) which I have since sold. Ah, the joys of buying and selling. Took the buyer one month to come and pick up the stove! I had to threaten them with giving back their money and putting it back up for sale to get them to commit to a date to pick it up! I'm not someones storage unit! Moving on....included in the set was a section that has a 36" wide section of butcher block. This will be going into our basement for additional storage and a place to do work on. It had not been cleaned or treated for years. I decide that before I was going to put it inside the house (it's now resting in the garage), I wanted to clean up the top a little. I did a little research and found that sanding and then rubbing it down with mineral oil is the way to deal with butcher block. I got out the sanding block and some 100 grit sand paper and went to town. Sorry, but I didn't think to take any pics until I'd taken a couple of passes with the sandpaper...here's the 1st pass......

I then remembered that I had a Makita finish sander and because the hand sanding was wearing me out....out came the finish sander and I used 150 grit paper....what a easier job that was. It was a little dustier, but I was willing to pay the price...

Next pic is the after I finished with the finish sander. Much smoother and cleaner! Will make for a very nice surface to work on. 

It is hard to see a difference between the 1st pass and the results of the finish sander, but trust me, what it looked like before I started sanding is a far cry from what it looks and feels like now! Here's a pic of the front of the cabinet with the sanded butcher block.

Next step will be finding some mineral oil and treating it. I have other oils such as Teak and Tung oil, but these apparently are not appropriate for butcher block. Tung oil, I've been told is poisonous and should not be used on a food preparation surface, not that this butcher block will be, but who knows what the future holds.

General Electric Turquoise Kitchen and Appliance

Today was a busy day. Rented a U-haul to bring home my new 1950's General Electric Kitchen! If you follow Uncle Atom, you will have seen his lovely GE fridge that he recently purchase. Well, I got the rest of the kitchen that the fridge came from. Below are photos of the stove, which is in lovely condition. I also got the entire set of matching cabinets and counter top. The stove, according to the heirs was working up into the 1990's until they banned the parents from using it due to age issues. It cleaned up very nicely, and have no reason to believe it will not work. It is for sale for $200. It is currently located in the Virginia Washington, DC burbs.

Eye Candy

Along with the MCM furnishings and decor I enjoy, I also like what I characterize as "Eye Candy".....call it what you will, but I love to look at old photos. Particularly period pieces that show old cars, boats, trains, planes, buildings, or bridges that evoke a different era. There is something about looking at these older images that brings a certain enjoyment. I have found this site called Shorpy that publishes a ton old pictures that they find in the National Archives and other sources. I find that these photos are exceedingly fascinating. WARNING! WARNING! Wil Robinson, you can waste a lot of time on this site! Here's some examples of the many images they have:

Speaking of time wasters, I also love motorsport and have found a site that publishes fabulous shots taken of the WRC (World Rally Championship) Series Cars. These drivers have the largest you know whats in the world..... How these drivers get their cars and trucks to do some of these acrobatics shown, and live to tell about it, in the following photos is beyond explanation!

    Are those really tires tracks?

   Cheers!