FOUND IT FRIDAY: Raiding the Sally Army

There is an incredible huge, cheap and awesome Salvation Army off M-59 in the far reaches of Metro Detroit that had an amazing, amazing sale on when we happened to be driving past. So awesome in fact they had their records reduced for day down to 5 for a dollar. Yes 20 cents a record and what better way to start a Found it Friday post.

Records and charity shops can be really hit and miss. Mostly miss, sadly. But the vinyl gods were on our side and helped us score some more Zepplin, Who, Temptations and Fleetwood Mac vinyl to name but a few. I actually forget the entire list of records as we did walk away with 34 of them. Yes, really and goes some way in explaining our major vinyl storage issues which will only be resolved with a buying a house in all honesty.

Oh and I made the mistake of actually finding the time to count how many records we have ... without counting 75's and box sets, we stand are 682. Any wonder we need a bigger place?!

Scouring estate sales your constantly pinning in your head furniture wish lists, a true lack of space means we rarely act on our impulses but a set of nesting tables for $3.50 and a vintage shelving stand/unit (now half used for storing shoes, the other half vintage cookbook stock) for $3 and you somewhat make the space. I have dreams of vintage sofas, tables, desks, miss matched chairs and dressers. One day Rachael, one day.

If there's space in our $5 bags we always seem to throw in things for ourselves, from beautifully illustrated 1930's bird guidebooks (seriously the color of birds in the US are amazingly colorful) to vintage Gerber leaflets on the meaning of baby names, endless hardbacks of Steinbeck and du Maurier. I've also managed to rehome a couple of vintage powder compacts into my collection which must be nearing 80. Another Volpte design with lipstick container attached and my first Avon design, at $3 a piece I can't really say no.

What have been your vintage finds lately? Thinking of buying vintage things for Christmas? I'd love to hear!

PS // Giving you all a heads up -> Love vinyl as much as we do? You might be interested in checking out the Record Store Day Black Friday special LP (and even CD) releases - not sure how international the releases are but well worth checking out.

FOUND IT FRIDAY: Holiday Antiquing

I've been meaning for months to be more dedicated to sharing my vintage finds from estate sales and the like, but it's just never stuck. So I'm running with Joe's idea of trying at least to make it a somewhat semi-permanent fixtures every couple of Fridays in what I'm now terming Found it Friday. 

Estate sales have been a little hit and miss in the last couple of weeks, coupled with missing a weekend after being stuck with a broken down car, I thought I'd share some of our finds we picked up during our time away. As a couple we love nothing more then finding and poking through local vintage antique malls and flea markets in new places and we certainly came away with some goodies - although mostly of the vinyl and vintage powder compact kind, but I guess you wouldn't expect anything different from us these days!

We took the leisurely coastal route north after coming off the freeway at Bay City and after seeing a couple of antique stores driving through Tawas, we decided to have a quick stop and looksee. There's actually a number of antique malls and it was a great start to our holiday, we managed to pick up three nicely priced compacts - the red powder and rouge compact, Richard Hurbuard somewhat Aztec designed compact and a smaller rogue pot from the Central Michigan Normal from Mt. Pleasant all for $26, bargain!

I find the Central Michigan Normal compact the most intriguing. After doing a little research the title is actually the former name of the Central Michigan University. The university changed it's name just prior to World War 2 so this compact happens to be one of the early ones before mass production took off in post war America. 

Flea markets in the US tend to be a little more junk shop then what i'm use to in the UK, but we popped into one in Oscoda and were met with a huge amount of vinyl. I manged to pick up two Motown vinyls - my first Martha and the Vandellas (famous for Nowhere to Run, Dancing in the Street etc) and a Gladys Knight and the Pips record. I also have another side interest in collecting old vintage advertisements, basically ones taken out of old magazines. I already have a couple up in our kitchen and have dream-like-plans of continuing this when we buy a house these will go with my Fred & Ginger advertisement I picked up at the Royal Oak garage sale earlier this year. At $1 for the two you really can't go wrong and saves me cutting up my own vintage magazines!

Our last vintage stop was a gorgeous little antique store called Trillium Woods Antiques somewhat in the middle of nowhere but handily located along Lake Shore Drive more communally the Avenue of Trees scenic drive. This sweet little log cabin store was set within the woods and had some lovely home decor pieces, but as ever we were more interested in the compacts and managed to find two. The first being a leather one, also part of a matching set with a small purse with the most intricate design upon the top and the second, a cute little square design with flowers. Granted the second wasn't the cheapest ($19) in hindsight but certainly welcome in my collection!

Looking back at all out goodies has made me all excited about all the estate sales we have lined up for tomorrow, there looks to be a few good ones so fingers crossed!

Where are your favorite places and shops to get your vintage picks from? Found anything good yourself lately - I would love you hear all about them!