Reclaimed Tin Ceiling Panel as Art

I'm definitely not as gung ho for Mid Century as most of the blogs I follow I mean I dig it but I find lots of eras and design styles interesting. Furnishing your home in Mid Century fashion is a hot trend right now and I'm not bashing it but the money people are asking or willing to pay for certain items is crazy, for example every week I go to the same second hand shop that has a closed "treasure trove" area where for a two dollar fee you can silent bid on items in this treasure trove room. There are a pair of really nice rope chairs likely Yugoslavian as they have no branding anywhere, they are the same as others I've seen on line any how this particular pair is up to $550 so far, in my opinion that's $200 to much.

My particular tastes are a little more eclectic and definitely lower budget for example the reclaimed tin ceiling panels as art shown here and the 50’s floor lamp I bought for $7(needed lots of work). The tin as rusted and old as it is still has a modern feel to it partly because of the repeating pattern and the floor lamp is just friggin cool (shown in an earlier post) I couldn't bring myself to sell it. I left the tin out in the rain for a week then pressure washed it clean then hung on the wall.

Please don't bash my style choices to much as there not all mine. I'm still trying to convince my gf to let me replace her sofa, end tables and matching pattern table lamp with something not soooo PUFFY and cloud like and soooo 80’s/90’s.

Eames: The Architect & The Painter(documentary)

Eames: The Architect & The Painter open the link close the additional popup windows after beginning or be annoyed by background adverts.

Antique Cast Iron Hay Trolleys

So I bid and bought two cast iron hay trolleys, now to turn them in something better. Check out "Restoration Hardware" online they have an awesome catalogue and go to ceiling lighting then scroll down and see the awesome light they have made of a similar trolley that would be great over a kitchen island/pool table/coffee shop checkout.

HAY TROLLEY

Lot # 186

HAY TROLLEY

Sold for: $45.00

HAY TROLLEY

Lot # 187

HAY TROLLEY

            

Sold for: $45.00 

Thanksgiving Antique hunting at Southworks Outlet & Antiques

The end tables were the focus here till my GF spotted the Green and Yellow Formica table with Dutch Girl. $85 for the Formica was decent we may go back another day and have another look (my GF is dutch btw). Ooh and there is a gold match to my chrome trio lamp.

another great piece

$595 with painted plywood for a lid and no guts on the inside (a little steep even for Coke)

I have this lamp in orange sans the shade, $75 for this one I think I paid $5 for mine in a salvage yard.

I think this was an original and not a new copy, I flipped it over and basically took it apart. All tags were missing but the material looked like it had age to it

Looks like Pyrex but had no label or stamp, I liked the drizzled glaze look.

May have to sell some blood one day to finally get a brass blade in really good condition

this has a great mid century look to it 

Spent Thanksgiving north of the border in one of my favourite antique malls "Southworks Outlet & Antiques" mall. The building(s) the Southworks occupies used to be a foundry in the mid 1800s where engines were built (steam I presume). You can read on the history by clicking the Southworks link in my Sites Of Interest list. I love this place but find the pricing to be a little high which is likely due to the high rate charged for space rental even though it's in Cambridge which is about an hour from Toronto and about 30-45 mins from Hamilton it still receives a lot of traffic coming from both those areas to pay the higher prices so I guess it all evens out. For myself it's mostly a fact finding mission and a means of inspiration for when I start feeling a little creative or am looking to see what's catching peoples attention. I'm not one for writing about each individual piece and it's history, I think those of you who know what your looking at can come up with your own conclusion.

Local Burger Shop (some vintage)

This is a local Burger Shop (Chuck's Burger Bar) in Hamilton Ontario, not only are the burgers great but the décor in this small space is very interesting. The ceiling is covered in reclaimed pressed tin panels there are Milk bottles from local dairies used as light housings but it's the very thick live edge wood tables, crumbling plaster/brick wall and mismatched hardwood flooring that grabbed my attention the first time I walked in the door. If your ever in Hamilton check them out on Locke St as well as some of the antique/collectible and other trendy shops within walking distance.

UPDATE: If Only I Had More Storage Space AAAARGH!!

Take a look at the awesome china cabinet in my previous post......Awesome! I know. I have been in turmoil for two days over this thing, buy it, don't buy it, where could I store it temporarily if I got it...Either no one else saw the potential in this or they thought it would be to cumbersome or maybe it's just crap and I'm crazy...The online auction just closed and this sold, it was a real battle between two bidders. After three bids it sold for T-W-E-N-T-Y FREAKIN DOLLARS yes you read right $20.00..Can you believe that? You should have seen the crap that sold for hundreds and this had 3 fargin bids in $5 dollar increments. WHAT THE "F"! Someone made off like a thief here and it wasn't me. Makes me want to puke.

If Only I Had More Storage Space AAAARGH!!

If only I had the space to store this beauty I'd bid on it!!! It's currently available at an online auction that closes in 5 days..AAAARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lane End Tables & unknown Walnut Dresser

I seem to be accumulating Lane end tables, there were the two in my very first blog that I have kept for myself for now and then I found one Perception end table and now these two. I only pick it up because 1. it's solid wood and 2. it's tough as hell, these two tables need minor TLC. The dresser I'm keeping for myself and tossing the less stylish hand-me-down that my girlfriend has. Paid a grand total of $43 dollars for the dresser(value village) and end tables(estate sale)

Retractable Lamp, Star Trek Thermos, Turquoise and Gold Whiskey Tumblers, Oil on Canvas, Polka Dot Pyrex

Back into the swing of things,some new scores and some I've held for a month or two.

really nice set of whiskey tumblers

Excellent condition Aladdin 1978 Star Trek Thermos

Kirk to Spock! Kirk to Spock!

Very nice large Pyrex Polka Dot mixing bowl

Retractable lamp needs a little TLC on the cloth wire covering

And this monstrosity, 5ft long and almost 3ft high. Oil on canvas with real wood frame. Bought it for just the frame but am rethinking and will likely sell as is. Not sure of the signature but am researching it

Back From The Wilderness

Emerald Lake, YOHO Ntl Park

Prince of Wales Hotel, Waterton Lakes Ntl Park. Had breakfast here, best Eggs Benedict ever.

Takakkaw Falls, YOHO Natl Park, second highest falls in Canada after Niagara Falls

Crow Foot Glacier, Ice Fields parkway Banff Ntl Park

Time to get back to business, spent three weeks on the road camping (in a tent) from Ontario to British Columbia and racked up about 9500kms (about 6000miles) encountered all manner of wildlife from the small furry kind to bears, big horn sheep and elk. Sat in a natural hot spring with some new-age hippie kids after travelling 20km across a treacherous mountain logging road, learned a lot about the history of this country and took in some of the most breath taking views after hiking to the summit of a mountain, and many more not so high up.That was two weeks ago, since being home I've done more camping closer to home and spent more time in the wild. Spirit Of The West(Home for a rest) seemed fitting as summer is closing out but thankfully summer will be back again after a few months of recharging the batteries and dreaming of what new adventures await me.

Happy Independence Day To Our Neighbours

HAPPY CANADA DAY

Pumped for a Canadian road trip

Seeing Mr Modtomics  blog from the road has me dreaming of my upcoming  third cross Canada road trip, these lyrics are some of my favourite from my favourite Canadian band "The Tragically Hip" and the link has video to many more of their hits that I always enjoy playing on the road. I little bit”Oh”Canada for my southern friends and anyone else, please enjoy.

I've got a job, I explore, I follow every little whiff
And I want my life to smell like this
To find a place, an ancient race
The kind you'd like to gamble with
Where they'd stamp on burning bags of shit.
Looking for a place to happen
Making stops along the way

Wayward ho! Away we go,
It's a shame to leave this masterpiece
With its' gallery gods and its' garbage-bag trees
So I'll paint a scene, from memory,
So I'd know who murdered me
It's a vain pursuit, but it helps me to sleep
Looking for a place to happen
Making stops along the way

Jacques Cartier, right this way,
I'll put your coat up on the bed
Hey man you've got a real bum's eye for clothes
And come on in, sit right down,
No you're not the first to show
We've all been here since, God, who knows?
Looking for a place to happen,
Making stops along the way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6QDjDPRF5c&feature=BFa&list=AL94UKMTqg-9Ct459_3aKwmqzfd1j4oZFC 

Another Slow Week for Blogging

My 9-5 and trying to maintain two homes (yard work etc) is kicking my ass lately all while trying to finish some ongoing re-finish projects hasn't left me much time to get out salvaging etc. Just for fun here's my version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, I get asked regularly if it's from the 70s and comments on what a cool truck. It's a 1993 (not vintage) that I paid $500 for and $1000 in parts to make road worthy, it's not cool it just so happens to run very well and drags my ass from A to B while allowing me to keep junking, thrifting, salvaging. On the plus side while gas prices here hover around $1.28 per litre this gem runs on Propane at 0.59cents per litre, can you say savings. I knew that you could. No there is no snow here in the Great White North, this photo is from January 2011 while this past winter we're lucky if we got 1ft of snow all season.

Yard Work-New Foundry Patterns-Missed Shows ETC,ETC

locking stone boarder in place now for mulch, grass seed and new plants

more locking stone boarder and a Rose Of Sharon to be planted

New umbrella and Steel Motel chairs (still waiting for there fresh lime green paint)

Slavic chairs I refinished

Foundry pattern I'd like to make a table(uncleaned)

                                           

Cleaned

More patterns freshly scrubbed

just a sample of my fav salvage yard (10 acres of salvage heaven) lots of pastel coloured bathroom fixtures. These old buses and shipping containers are jammed full of everything you could imagine plus a yard full of industrial steel what nots.

This past Saturday May 26 was the first of the twice a year "Christie Conservation Area Antique Show & Sale". Its 10acres and over 300 vendors of awesome and I totally bailed on it http://www.conservationhamilton.ca/christie-antique-show. My girlfriend has been volunteering for a young girls group and Saturday was a 10km run that was part of that, I could have gone to the show myself but I know she likes it as well so instead I did something she hates and went scrambling thru a fav salvage yard digging thru junk and doo-doo to find some neat things, then spent the rest of the weekend fixing some botched gardens and cleaning up around the yard. I'm thinking I might make a short table out of the round pattern and get glass cut for it, the others I'll sell individually.