Armoire Design and Decor Ideas

I recently discovered Chairish, and was invited to style an armoire from their collection!

Chairish is a fun, gorgeous and easy-to-navigate site for vintage design and modern design lovers alike. Chairish offers the chance for those who maybe have collected one-to-many decor options (hides) to sell their vintage furniture and decor to one another - and of course, buy some more too, while you're at it. ;)

What makes this different from other online options is that Chairish "exclusively features curator-approved treasures in a full-service and trustworthy environment." So you know that the item you're going to receive is true vintage, in great shape, and worth your investment.

You can check out all of the armoires they have available at the moment here. The collection is always changing and really does feature something for everyone's taste.

So, how would I go about decorating an armoire? Check out what I picked!

See the entire design on Polyvore, and click the items to go to Chairish here.

When styling an armoire, I think bigger is better. More than bigger, I think TALLER is better! Take the back most item to the ceiling (or close to it) to bring your eyes up. This will make the room feel taller as well!

I picked out a painting to get this affect. I also love vintage items, so I selected a soda crate from Chairish.  Everyone needs a wooden crate. I'm serious! I love to stack vinyl in mine, or hide cords on the ground with them. You can see all of the different wooden crates at Chairish here.

I put ivy in the crate to give it a little "life." I'm notoriously bad at houseplants, and would definitely forget to water it up there, so I would use faux. It's far enough away that it won't be obvious!

After that, what fun is decor without a little color? I picked out red terracotta bottles for that added kick. Bottles are SO handy, because you can put a little plant in them, some string lights, feathers - really, anything you can think of. Or, you can just leave them as is! Bottles of every shape and size, I found at Chairish.

Another fun thing about decorating an armoire is that it can be seasonal, too! Using the same grouping concept, think of the seasons:

- A box wrapped in Christmas paper replaces the wooden crate, your square shape.
- A fun print of a vintage Christmas scene, in the frame
- A few springs of evergreen tree replaces the ivy.
- You can replace the bottles with that old, vintage santa figurine. Items that you didn't know where they should go before are PERFECT for the top of an armoire.

The ideas are endless!

Thank you to Chairish for reaching out and inviting me to style an armoire!

Cool Finds: A Spectaular Spectacle Case

It's no secret that I love antiques, and that I love to find the story behind them. Read about my wooden duck with a story to tell here.

In recent treasure hunting, Mama LOC and I happened upon this spectacular spectacle specimen (okay, I'll stop!)

Enter this gorgeous silvertoned, metal eyeglass case.

Beautiful, eh! The metal feels light, perhaps like a tin. The inside is lined with a blue velvet, and that logo! It's some sort of a die-cut, super thin metal. Except for a hint of tarnishing, it's not bent up, and smooth.

Inside as well was a cleaning cloth. I love vintage advertising, and this is no exception. A salmon-y pink, it says:

"Eyes Examined, Glasses Fitted, Orthoptic Treatments
If at anytime your glasses need adjusting, bring them in and we will be pleased to do it free of Charge.
W. Vernon Glendening
Optometrist
1838 Ferry Park Avenue
Near 12th St.
One block south of West Grand Boulevard
Detroit, Michigan"

Left side says:
"Office hours:
9 A.M. to 6 P.M.
Mon. Wed. and Fri.
evenings to 8 P.M.
By Appointment, Phone Trinity 2-0473"

Included also was a small hair comb, but I doubt it was original to the case.

So now I needed to find a way to date it. Unfortunately, very little on the Internet exists for a quick search on W. Vernon Glendening, but I did find a few things.

1. The Optical Journal and Review of Optometry - Dated January 5, 1922.

In a slightly later edition of this volume,  W. Vernon Glendening is mentioned a few times.
On January 28th, his application to join the Detroit Society of Optometrists is received:

 And on February 25th, he receives his membership.

In yet another later edition of this volume, he attends a convention, March 22.

2. The Blue Book of Optometrists, dated 1958. 

The Blue Book of Optometrists, from what I can best decipher, is a "who's who" or a record of all the Optometrists in the United States, sorted by states, similar to a telephone book. By switching my search in Google to W.V. Glendening, we get the listing above.

Unfortunately... the trail goes cold here. Google couldn't find any other mentioning of him, not even an obituary - but keep in mind, if he's practicing Optometry and is admitted into a society in 1922, and there is still a record of him practicing in 1958, 36 years after his admittance, he would have been deceased before any modern Internet.

Making a big assumption here, but if he is born in let's say, 1896, he is admitted to a society at age 26 (I am unsure the typical entrance age of these societies), and in 1958 is 62 years old. This leads me to another clue.

3. "12th Street"
"Near Twelfth Street" in Detroit, Michigan is where this office is. Deserving of a whole other story in itself, the Riot of 1967 broke out, which has been heralded as the beginning of the "end" for Detroit. Policemen raided an after-hours drinking establishment, arresting over 80 people. While waiting for the "paddywagons" to come take these people away, the crowd that gathered, seething from tensions between the police and the community, a riot broke out, beginning as a brawl in the street. It didn't just end with a brawl. 44 people died, 1000 were injured, and over 7,000 were arrested. The National Guard was called in, with tanks and more. The President at the time, Lyndon B. Johnson went on TV to tell the nation that Detroit was out of control. It was a very bad time for Detroit. This website is a fascinating first-person view of the 1967 Riot, if you're interested.

What does this have to do with Twelfth Street? What does this have to do with our Optometrist? In 1967, Twelfth Street was documented as being a thriving business district with a substantial population. In 1958, we know W. Vernon Glendening is still in business, although we don't know for how much longer. Using the math from earlier, if we estimate he was born in roughly 1896, in 1967 he would be 71 years old.

The Michigan Daily newspaper out of Ann Arbor, on October 16, 1975 writes about a coming name change for Twelfth Street.

And jump they did - later on in 1976, Twelfth Street is changed to Rosa Parks Blvd. If our Optometrist is born in 1896, in 1976, he is 80 years old, most probably not in business any longer, if not possibly deceased. So, we definitely know that the case is older than 1976. (yes, the style already kind of tells me that, I know. We're getting there. :))

4. Detroit
Detroit is notorious and unfortunately, synonymous with ruin.
As a fellow Michigander, the ruin of Detroit is incredibly unfortunate.
Using Google's wonderful satellite imagery, and the ability to "walk" the street, I can see that the address, 1838 Ferry Park Ave. is still there.

But when I zoom in - a grocery store, which appears to be abandoned now sits where once was a optometrist, giving out this very eyeglass case and eyeglass cleaning cloth to someone who wanted to keep their vision safe and sound. Times change, of course, but it does make you wonder how places come to be.

Little pieces like this eyeglass case give us clues and hints to a different time, a way to "see" back to perhaps, a better time in a city's history.


5. Style
The style of the case, plus the date tells us it's before the 70's. The case itself is very thin - nearly only .5" tall. This tells us that it's not from the 50's or 60's, where large, horn-rimmed glasses were popular.

We know that in the early 40's, that there were scrap metal drives for the war effort. A quick Google search does not show many, if nearly any cases that were metal. This can mean one of two things a) this case is from the 30's or b) this case was not donated for the war effort. Tsk! ;)

The logo is stylized, with an Art Deco feel - it is streamlined and geometric. The Art Deco period also saw materials used like chrome and stainless steel - a distinct possibility for this metal.

This would also be about the right time period for him and his business if we're going with being born in 1896 - if in 1935 he is 39 years old, his business is established and doing well enough to procure these stylized cases and cloths.

So, by process of elimination, and with the other clues here, I can say with some confidence that this case is from 1930 to maybe 1940.

With some certainty, I can say that this case *puts sunglasses on*... is closed. (YEAAAAAHHH)

I hope you enjoyed this little tour through the history of this eyeglass case! It is available in my Etsy store, along with other "relics" of our past. Thanks for reading!

For Sale, Here

Psst - Know something I don't here? I definitely am not an expert and don't claim to be one, so if you see anything you can verify or lend a hand to, please let me know!

Brand Feature: Littlest Pet Shop

Hey 80's/90's kids... do you remember these?

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I had the seahorse! While I don't remember it changing colors very well... it was still awesome. And the theme song for the commercials is now stuck in my head.

Originally, Kenner was a division of General Mills. Yes, that General Mills of cereal fame. GM created Kenner (and Parker, another one of their toy divisions) as a separate business entity, which became Kenner Parker Toys, Inc. In 1987, Tonka (yes, that Tonka of Tonka trucks fame) acquired Kenner Parker, and Kenner was reconstituted as a division of Tonka. Tonka was purchased by Hasbro in 1991, and Kenner came along for the ride. In 2000, Hasbro closed the Cincinnati, Ohio office of Kenner and the Kenner product lines were merged with Hasbro.

Okay, got that? Now, in 2003, Hasbro filed a trademark registration for Littlest Pet Shop by Hasbro, Inc, and then the first line of Littlest Pet Shop toys is released in 2005, with no similarity to the old style, except that they were both sort of plastic.

The Kenner version of Littlest Pet Shop pets were actually sort of... "soft" looking. The Hasbro version gave them big eyes and accented features, the big heads made them easy for kids to grip.

Kenner Orange and White Cat, 1992 (Picture from RonsRescuedTreasures)	Hasbro #72 Orange and White Cat, 2004 (Picture from RonsRescuedTreasures)

The differences are obvious. The new Littlest Pet Shops are "cutesy" and almost exotic, with lots of fun, crazy styles that every child wanted to collect.

Another thing that Hasbro did that helped make all the difference was giving the pets each a number as they were created. So, it wouldn't be just "did you get that orange cat with the white stripe?" Instead, it would be "I love my #77 kitty but I REALLY WANT #577, the Great Dane!" This made them highly collectable as people would want certain numbers in a series, and it also gave them a way to be sought after.

The popularity of them exploded after 2005, and even a decade later, the popularity has not waned. In fact, some of the pets go for a lot of money:

Some of the prices are just outrageous!

 (Note: These are all in the "Sold" section, but whether or not they actually got paid for these is unknown.)

Collecting them is great fun, and it's always thrilling to find some "in the wild" to put in my shop. There are over 3,000 different pets now, all with different rarities, shapes, sizes and colors. Do you have these stashed away in your basement? Or put away for your kids? You never know if you're sitting on a super rare one!

Thanks for reading, and make sure to check out which ones I have available in my store today!

eBay items updated by Auction Nudge

Cool Finds: A Little Wooden Duck With a Story to Tell

Sometimes my finds lead to some pretty cool stories.

My father-in-law purchased a box of old dolls at an auction for me to research and resell recently, and in that box was a variety of different things, including this wooden duck.

Immediately, I think... this duck's head looks like the seagulls from Finding Nemo.

Thank you to Buildabettermousetrip.com.

But there is obviously more to this duck than it looking like a seagull. 

It's solid wood (I'm not sure what kind), and there is an inscription on the bottom.

 Sure enough, I start there with my research... searching for Earli Fossen. Nope, not it. Is that a V? Yep... and that i is an e... okay, getting somewhere...

"Earle Vossen, Eugene, OR 5-'87 #236". So we now know that there is at least 235 of these wood ducks out there, and this was carved in May of 1987. The search continues to turn up nothing.

Finally, I search only for Earle Vossen Eugene Oregon. The only thing I can find for this gentleman in Oregon is a Find-A-Grave listing.

Turns out, the only Earle Vossen in Oregon happens to have been a Major in the US Army in World War II.

Note: I won't take the picture of his stone and put it here out of respect... but the Find-A-Grave listing has a picture of it.

So, it turns out that this wooden duck was (highly likely) carved by a talented Major in the US Army in World War II. Somehow, it's found it's way to Michigan, and soon it will take flight to somewhere else. The Internet is a an awesome tool when it comes to learning the stories behind pieces like this!

I've decided to list it on eBay, but made sure to share this little duck's backstory in the listing as well so that someone else can appreciate it's history as much as I do.

Thanks for reading!

Final Sale on Items in the Store!

Hi all!

A few items in my Etsy store are "expiring" soon - each item in my store stays active for four months, and if there are no takers, it expires and I am not planning to relist these items, so these items are considered "last chance!"

CLEARANCE REDUCED 30 Various Sizes Bright Fun Plastic Buttons Kids Crafts Vintage - Expires Feb. 11, Final Price $2.99 + shipping

CLEARANCE REDUCED Metal Plastic Button Mix Vintage Goldtone Silvertone Great for Costumes
Expires Feb. 17, Final Price $2.99 + shipping

CLEARANCE REDUCED Beautiful Vintage Tiered "Pearl" and "Crystal" Necklace Wedding Costume Jewelry

Expires Feb. 26 - Final Price $9.99

Baby Bird Hanging Mobile OOAK Green White Monkey Unisex Gift Baby Shower

 

 

Expires Feb. 26th - Final Price $39.99

Make sure to grab these while you can! :)