With all the work going on around the house we haven’t had much luck with our thrift finds lately. There’s been no $20.00 barcelona chairs or $5.00 faberge eggs. (giggle) That doesn’t mean we don’t get out when we can and find a few things worth picking up. I do believe the days of scoring big every weekend with designer mid-century furniture is over.
My husband is a hoot! I don’t talk much about him except to tell you how awesome he is at home renovation but he’s also one of the best story tellers I’ve ever known. He’s an avid reader, English professor, and a lover of literature, art, and music. He’s also a rockin’ musician. He plays the guitar, bass, drums, piano, mandolin, harmonica and a mean tambourine and triangle. (Oh, wait that’s me, tambourine is my specialty. And being the doo-wop girl back up singer.) :-)
He grew up in a VERY small town and some of his experiences are well.. lets just say TOTALLY BOOK WORTHY! If you’re familiar with Mary Carr’s books then you know exactly how Richie grew up.
My point being that he’s lived a crazy life, knows some real characters, and is always threatening to write a book. If his books are as good as his story telling then he’ll be famous in no time!
He says ridiculous things like “I can’t type an awesome book on a keyboard. It has to be a vintage typewriter”. So he’s always got his eye out for one. So here’s one of his latests finds fueled by his (dreamy) desire to be a “writer”. A vintage Remington typewriter. For $10 it was coming home with him.
Yes, it works.. and really well. Except there’s just one thing. You would never want to type a book on it. IS HE CRAZY! Okay, so for now it’s just cool to look at and maybe I’ll use it to type some thank you notes or something. I love the action of the metal hitting the paper and leaving such a lovely impression. Black or red ribbon makes it fun too. So I’m afraid if he ever gets serious he’ll have to live in the real world and sit at the computer to do it. But I’ll keep the typewriter close to make him feel all warm and fuzzy! We both think she’s so pretty!
Over the years we’ve collected quite a few compasses and I’m looking forward to someday having a cool place to display them. Richie found another really nice one we can add to our collection. It’s quite heavy and the patina on the case is fabulous. It’s an oldie but a goodie! But where do we go from here? Ah… WEST YOUNG MAN, WEST! … or maybe to a local storage unit sale.
…. and so we did…. and found ANOTHER Emil Bisttram painting for $5.00. Yes, another one!
It is also from 1958 and has a modern feel to it. I swear I do believe the art Gods intended for us to have these or we wouldn’t keep stumbling upon them.
It was so gross, though. Roaches or moths or something creepy crawly had chewed their way through the backing and were only a few bites away from getting to the actual art. After taking it all apart and cleaning the paper… it was in really good shape. No holes, no stains, and no roach poo.
Richie is so good at building frames for the art we collect. We have never had to take anything to have it framed. So he got to work and made a frame for it. He also made another one for my concert poster you saw in my last post. They both turned out so good. THANK YOU, RICHIE!
Again with the glass difficulties. Sorry for the bad images but you get the gist.
You may remember the last Bisttram painting we found. (see below) If you don’t know anything about him…. please google Emil Bisttram. You’ll see that he’s pretty amazing. His work is collected by museums and galleries all over. I feel so lucky to now have two of his pieces.
Here’s the other one we have….
The really neat thing about the timing of this is that I recently received a comment through my contact page from Emil Bisttram’s cousin who found his work on our site and wanted to thank us for appreciating and rescuing his art. HOW NICE! We certainly do.
We also found this really weird painting I call “the running man”. I have no idea who did it but it was worth picking up for $2.00. I guess you could call this cubism. Weird? Maybe, but I hung it up just to see how I feel. So far I’m not hating it – it’s growing on me.
Richie also brought home a vintage 1930’s Dixie Cup holder made of glass and metal. They definitely don’t make ’em like this anymore. I’ve seen these go on auction sites for about $150-$200.
I knew we’d never use it for dixie cups. I did however, think it would be great to repurpose it and make it into a hanging vase.
I think it’s so much fun to find other creative uses for something that might not ever get used again or just thrown away. I think it’s important to save some of the past and use it in your future. So great!
And so we continue to hunt and dig for vintage, rusty, industrial, modern or just plain cool stuff. Finding artwork is always a highlight and after all the years of searching there are stories to be told about each and every piece. Maybe that can be his second book!
And my final thing to end this very interesting week is this guy. Do you recognize him? Let me know in the comments if you do. I met him on Tuesday. He and Juliette Lewis have been filming a movie 15 minutes from my job and had to come into the station to cut tags for the cadillac commercials he does voice overs for. It was my job to stay in contact with the scripting guys in Boston and deliver his scripts as they came in. It was a nice change of pace in my day.
I’m NOT a person who is star stuck. I never look at people that way but I do find the whole idea of having a job you LOVE awesome. So I certainly appreciate a person being able to do what they love and have great success with it. It think this is HIS TIME. Have you guessed yet?
He’s very short.. but I’m 5’11 so that’s not really fair to him. And he possibly could have been high, but that’s just a guess. Maybe that was why he was wearing all that cologne. (laughing)
It was interesting to say the least and I’m a big fan!!!
Have a happy weekend and may you find or do something fun and interesting!
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OMG is it Jesse Pinkman/ Aaron Paul? You have had loads of amazing finds. Lucky you. I agree they are few and far between now and I wonder whether I am crazy for selling my lot… Much more expensive to replace nowadays… BTW I love the Running Man.
Yes, it’s Aaron!!! It was one of those complete surprises that happened quite out of the blue. Nice surprise, though. That doesn’t happen to me everyday.
I knew he was coming and when I pulled into our parking lot I saw him out smoking a cigarette and the funny thing is that nobody on campus knew it was him. He just blended in like any other college student standing around on campus taking a drag. It was very laid back. I imagine that’s just how he likes it, too.
Oh goodness it’s getting more and more difficult to find things, Sandy. You have the best luck!!! We find a lot of strange things that I’m sure people think “why in the heck are you getting that”? We both like the odd stuff. Finding art is a treat, though. We get really excited over that. Glad you like the running man. He’s seriously growing on me!
Fun Finds!
Thanks, Jessica!
You met Aaron Paul? Sounds like he was very much in character from Breaking Bad if he was high. I love all your finds. The art is amazing, and I love the Dixie Cup dispenser as a vase. You’re going to have to officially join the typosphere and do a typecast!
Yes, I did meet him. Maybe he was just “tired”, Dana. (giggle) Or maybe it was wishful thinking. I love bad boys! :-)
I did think of you when we found that typewriter. I loved the post you did about yours and the lovely typed letter. A typecast. YES!
Hang on he found that for $10????? WOW Now that’s a “goode” find. See you’re rubbing off on me with the jokes. :)
Love the compasses and I do agree that it’s getting harder and harder to find things anymore.
Great now I have to go catch up on Breaking Bad before the finale airs and I’ll just have it ruined.
I know, I know, Alex. I’m fully of cheezy puns. Glad to pass that along. :)
I have Breaking Bad queue’d up on Netflix but I can’t get off the damn computer long enough to sit and watch it. Too much work on the side.
I need to stop all that and enjoy a little bad boy behaviour. Thanks for visiting, Alex.
Stacey:::: The re-purposed dixie cup holder is BRILLIANT!!
And the colors in the new Bisttram are wonderful. The green just sings.
Two questions: Did you put Running Man in your workout room?? :) Seems like a good guy to chase on your treadmill.
Second: how do you keep your kicka$$ house so neat/minimal looking while continuing to collect? Do you rotate stuff? I love art and we’ve collected a good bit, but we also like clear walls…so we’re kind between a rock and a wallplace on that one…(sorry I’m slaphappy, ha!)
HA HA HA! You always make me laugh out loud. I never thought about putting the ole running man in my workout room. What a logical place!! Actually he’s hanging by one of our front doors so I run by him on my way out. He’s very motivating. (laughing).
Minimal? Again with the laughter. Sometimes I feel like I’m on hoarders (without the trash). I love so many things, Jocelyn it’s hard to bring it home sometimes. I’m logical but I also want THINGS… so YES, we do rotate stuff and sometimes a really nice piece of art replaces a piece I was just luke warm about. We do have a closet with a few paintings stored. There’s not enough wall space and as much as I love to see pictures of homes with a massive collage of 25 paintings on one wall it would make me crazy. I tend to have one piece on each wall. It makes me feel less stressed. So I’m there with you… that rock is pushing against us. Now we’re art on the wall! :-)
love ya!
wow. what lucky finds!!!!!!!! all of these are just stunning. now richie has no excuse, but to finger pick out a story or 10! i can’t believe you found another bisttram. i LOVE the yellow and the green. the running man is awesome. can’t believe someone didn’t swipe that up ahead of you. i’m not sure if i can pick a favorite find from all of these because they’re all so grand, but that dixie cup dispenser turned vase is WAY DOPE. i’d be unstoppable if i had me one of those! (or at least my house would be). thanks for sharing your awesome and frugal finds!!! happy sept., stace! (and yeah for breaking bad! ha)
HEY SWEET T! You and I both know Richie will never use that damn thing to type on. Honestly… if he ever wrote a book I’d be the one to type it. The man is a chicken pecker! uhhh, errr, mmmm, I mean he pecks at the keyboard. HA HA! I think it just makes him feel good to look at it. Hey, whatever floats his boat. It is pretty neat. I’m sure they’ll come a day (don’r know if you saw this or not) when the world is like that movie “The Book of Eli”… when there’s no typewriters (or books) around and to have one is like having something so precious. Okay, maybe not, but I do miss old things.
I’m sure you get to see celebrities all the time. It was my first sighting in a “normal” setting. Kinda fun. Are you gearing up for your October dress project? Picked out one yet? Can’t wait! xo
I HAVE MY DRESS!! ;)
xoxoxoxoxox
I can’t decide which I think is cooler… that you guys find such awesome things at total steals or the fact that you then use them and don’t have them piled up somewhere to get to “someday”.
Especially love the typewriter and I can’t wait to read Richie’s book. Tell the man to get on that so you guys can do a book tour and come to Oregon. :)
Hahaha. I was wandering through your post enjoying your finds, Googling Bisttram as instructed. Then I get to the bottom and there is a picture of Jessie Pinkman! I was so perplexed. For a second I thought, “is she married to Jessie Pinkman?” Then I read the copy. Breaking Bad is my all time favorite show. All time. I have my 15-year-old son hooked on it as well. At first my husband was not thrilled that we were watching this together. Then he realized that Breaking Bad does not glamorize drug use. Understatement of the year.
I don’t expect anymore to find deals… i have just more or less given up (even though I always look). But you have found some amazing surprises. The paintings are the best out of all. I will keep my eyes open and see if I can get as lucky.