My mid-century Buffet and more

My buffet - found on ebay - weighs a ton. Stamped inside the cutlery tray: "Australian Labour Only"
It was made circa 1957 in Huntingdale Vic. I don't know the wood, but it smells delightful. Cast bronze handles in boomerang shape. Too big for a home, but right size for an office boardroom. The only letdown for me, is the poxy laminate top. I'm not restoring this, but rather giving it a makeover - with fabric covering the drawers and doors, a coordinating paint job over the wood (shhh... I'm not into restoring this - I'm not that dedicated) and painting the laminate top as well. 
 

The chair, a Wrightbilt Selectamatic was found on a naturestrip - I asked the owner before I picked it up. That will be re-upholstered in fabric and re-painted to match the buffet. .....L.O.V.E. the shape of the arms... 



then there is my telephone table.......I originally was going to go green - and got a free powdercoat, but will work it out once I get the fabric that will tie all three items together...

 Yes and collection of 1972 Green Soreno glass inside buffet, some 1934 pink glass on top of the buffet, with a couple of politically incorrect little black boy bobble heads , a 1965 bark painting, wooden horse, a B-52's 12" 45 (a present for my B-52 birthday) and a whopping huge print of tulips that I fell in love with at the oppy a year or so ago. (still has not made it onto the purple wall of my rented unit, because I have to apply to put another hook to hold it up!)


 
This is the fabric I'm thinking of using to coordinate this all together....covering the drawers and door of the buffet, picking possibly the mustard colour to paint the buffet and chair, upholster the chair in either lime or dark chocolate, painting the buffet top turquoise or lime, upholster the telephone table with this fabric, and using remnant fabric to patchwork a cushion for the chair.
I've just got to save up and work out if I should get 2 yards or 3 - then to get it posted to Australia....

Late night concept of how the buffet could look!

Update my image?

Thinking of updating my market profile - what do you think of one of these behive waitress images I found???

I'm contacting the artist to ask her permission...

bronny

Still on the Retro Road Trip of 2014 . . ..

Out in the middle of nowhere, you find gems of stores... Today, travelling from one small country town to another, I stopped at Lockhart, NSW; where I found one Op-Shop (closed), right next door to Ginge & Fluffs Secondhand Shop (open), just a few storefronts away from the local craft shop selling locally made patchwork quilts and jams & pickles. (yummy homemade apple pie for afternoon tea!)




Sorry about the glare on the business card guys, but the Winkle was the focus of my picture!

Ginge & Fluffs can also be found on Facebook - I found my first Winkle there on this Road Trip and followed it up with a couple of other treasures......a piece of YELLOW depression glass; a cake stand that I cannot identify the pattern until I'm home with my books and a small mid-century hanging nic-nac shelf.

I'll certainly be including this shop on my next Southern NSW travels.




Retro Girl on Tour

Having a couple of weeks on holiday - what does this Retro Girl do?  First thing to check out in any of the country towns I stop at... the Op Shop.. 
Sadly though, many shops are now weeding out their wares, and trying to display a more boutique approach.   That just won't do...  I love weeding through the piles of miss-matched crockery. 
I do however, try to contribute a little bit to each community I visit.

Today, bliss of bliss - I found a shop dedicated to the love of RETRO !

THE RETRO SHOP in Finley, in Southern New South Wales... heaven on a stick!

Bec, the owner is knowledgeable about her topic and has a wide selection of well displayed items for sale.

It is always lovely to find items priced reasonably and correctly labelled.  Part of my slightly obsessive nature, is that I cannot stand to see items with an incorrect tag.  I feel that if the wrong information is passed on, that could dissuade a future collector.

You can find Bec and her shop on Facebook.  Better still, if you are in the area..... call in and see for yourself!!






On another note...here's my latest purchase :  A beautiful green art-glass vase.  It is hand blown and a tree is formed on either side.   Sweet!   It may not be very old, but something about it called to me from the dark recess of the stallholders stand

A Winkling we will go, a Winkling we will go......

Hi -Ho, the merry-o
A winkling we will go....


I am on the verge of a new obsession....    Kathy Winkle Designs.

Found on Broadhurst Ironstone ware - made in England....
with and without the Kathy Winkle signature...  early to mid '60s.

Still relatively easy to find in and around Op-Shops, but now starting to creep into Antique shops.
I use my crockery daily, so am not adverse to finding the not quite perfect item, or one that's heavily stained.

These are mostly sandwich plates, the two in the middle are a sandwich plate on a salad plate...  Pattern names - running clockwise from bottom left;

Corfu  -  Carnival  -  Renaissance -   Jamboree  -  October -  Zodiac - all framing : Rushtone

These are transfer ware - the black outlines, but hand painted splashes of colour...

I didn't realise I was picking up so many of these... but as you know....

One is a display - Two is a pair- Three is a collection....

If you see these out there on the peninsula - point me in the right direction please....

It all has to start somewhere......

Sunday Morning,

My weekend with my teenage son.  Does he wake up any reasonable market time??  NO!!

Finally made it to Frankston Market just after midday, when all the stuff has been picked over, but still found a couple of displays... 
A canister girl like me just loves displays like this - of course all that hot sun will be slightly re-shaping them, but the weather is not something you can predict. I asked permission from the stall holders before taking photos - they are quite happy to share in the hope that other collectors will flock to their stall next week and buy up all their stock!!

(I'm not that popular yet, but it's nice to think I could be a trend-setter at this age!!)


dig the design on the breadbox

I'm a collector who loves to share knowledge - I'm never impressed by dealers or stall holders, or indeed, other collectors who guard their information like prized gold.  How can we expect to encourage new collectors without imparting some of the information we have???





I did find one bargain on a stall as I was leaving - How cute is this??






Time for Tee ??

The tees are wooden and the style of the bag makes me think Pan-Am era - of course I could be wrong, but it's just the right size to hold my wallet and mobile phone!  Made in the Philippines and the vinyl is in quite reasonable condition...

Why 'Retro-Girl' . . . . Why Frankston ???

Hi Friends,

Yes, another blog - just when you thought it was safe to turn on the laptop . . ...

So why Retro-Girl?  Why Frankston?   

I have developed a slight collection of retro items over the past few years. 

Retro/Vintage - something will call out to me, from the dusty shelf of the op-shop, from the well maintained boutique stall, or the interesting maze that can be my favourite haunts on various weekends. 

I don't seem to have a particular fancy - Plastic, Glass, Ceramic, Books - even new, made-to-look-old retro is OK by me (but only if it announces itself to be brand-spanking new..... don't try to fob me off with knockoffs !!!

Retro - it's such a buzz-word at the moment. ....  all these bright young things, re-discovering the 60's and '70's - fashions and influences of a time before most of them were born!  I was born in '63 - a child at the very end of the baby-boom generation. (and if you do your math, yes that makes me 50!!  I won't tell if you don't!)

I LIVED through the 60's and 70's - I'm qualified to enthuse about this era - an era that I blindly ignored at the time.

So Retro-Girl it is .....  (because Vintage-Mature Lady just does not have that same glamorous overtones!)

Why Frankston?
Purely because that is where I spent my teen years and where I have relocated to start a new chapter of my life.  Come discover treasures upon the Mornington Peninsula with me.


Plans for this blog:
Update the background and layout
Add pictures of my collections and treasures found
Share stories of various finds
Collect knowledge and share with other collectors
Develop a camaraderie of sorts with other collectors on the peninsula