Monday, July 22, 2013

A Tour of the Boudoir (new Silvertone Record Console!)

Good morning!

Well, it was a winner of a weekend-- boy, and how! I managed to get a lot of stuff done, such as: 
  • Watched the rest of season 2 of Game of Thrones, experienced withdrawl from Game of Thrones, checked out books of Game of Thrones.
  • Goodwill'd my heart out.
  • Brunched with three lovely ladies at East Nashville happening brunch spot, Margot, and laughed more than I should have at my friend Alyx's description of her experience of snorkeling ("I looked down...and it was like the whole sea was in front of me...and it was like I could see my heart come out of my body...the sea is full of killers, ok?") (As if it was something Craig Robinson would say, IT'S STILL FUNNY TO ME)
  • REARRANGED THE HOLY MESS OUT OF MY BEDROOM. 
Let's talk about the latter, because you know I didn't remember to take pictures of any of the former. All this agitation was precipitated by a whale of a find at an Inglewood estate sale on Friday morning. See if you can spot what I'm talking about:

Not pictured: 1930's waterfall vanity (you can see the corner of it at bottom left).
 I forgot to turn around to photograph it!
This is our bedroom! If I was on MTV's Cribs, I would probably have something pithy to say here, but plain and simple, here's a place where I rest my weary head at the end of a long day. I bet you can sight some things from previous weekend find posts in this room. But the one I'm so happy to add to our home is under the chalkware unicorn (how often do you get to say that?) deeeeeead center:

Dressmaker's mannequin in fur coat and feathered evening gown? Why not?
Aaaaah! It's a circa 1950 console Silvertone record player! I have upgraded from a wobbledy regular bedside table to THIS. HUNK. OF. BURNING LOVE:


Friday morning, I picked my dad up at 9:00 from his house with the expectation of hitting some sales in Donelson and maybe swinging back to one in our neck of the woods at journey's end. We made it to Lebanon Pike before poor Matthew called with the news that he had locked himself out of the house while courageously mowing the lawn in the sweltering heat, necessitating a return trip to Inglewood. I decided, aw, heck, let's go ahead and hit this sale out in Inglewood before we travel BACK to the suburbs, so we went to a sale on Earlene Drive back in the very Tudor-y, much tonier part of Inglewood near the Cumberland. Am I glad we did!


Three things that caught my notice upon entering this sale: the swarming-bee like intensity of people entering and leaving the house with large items in their hands, the seriously low prices on orange stickered items throughout the interior, and how clean everything was. Estate sales, as they are often held in houses that have either been neglected or downright vacant (if the relative had moved into assisted care or a family member's home), can be kind of weirdly musty, moldy...just uncared for. This house was very clean, nothing in it seemed newer than the eighties', and everything inside had obviously been meticulously kept since it was brought into the house. There was a gold brocade living room set that I couldn't even look at the price tag on because I knew I would try to buy it (couches! Why do you torment me!), and literally a room full of console record players. Which is to say three. This one caught my eye because it was so petite and the wood finish on it was so luxe. Price tag? $39.50 (due to chewed up cord...still not sure if it works because we'd need to replace said cord). After I gathered up about 30 country records from a nearby stack (Tammy and George! Merle Haggard! Jean Shepherd! Grand Ole Opry recordings from the seventies'! All almost-new-in-wrapper condition!), I went to ask the salesperson how bad the damage was to my pocketbook.
Me: I wanted to ask if you could do any better on that record player in the front room, the one that doesn't work.
He: Yeah, what have I got on it?
Me: Thirty nine fifty.
He: Could you do $25?
Me: Yes. Yes, I can.
Twenty five bucks, YAHOOOOOOOO...I was elated. My dad and I wrestled the box carefully into the back of the Civic, and went away with that weird, buyer's-thrill of having got something for a bargain that is completely awesome. Note that the radio only features AM (you can see more about why that would be here), and that the record player is secreted away in the center portion, where the gold handle is. You wouldn't even know it was a console if it weren't for the radio dial in the top middle!


When I got home, I cleaned the entire bedroom tip to top, moved the old nightstand into the attic (I think I'll give it to Goodwill, but sometime next week), and puzzled over how to arrange things. The top shelf is too small for 33's (I think it was meant for 78's), so I filled it in with some bedside reading materials that just fit. Below are the country records I bought at the same sale. Perfection! I still have somewhere to put my eyeglasses and iPod of an evening's rest, but boy, in what style!

So! What do you think about my bedroom? I know I need a rug in this space, but am looking for just the right tan or neutral, circular one like in the living room to fit the bill. How do you like my new night table? What kind of unusual uses-for-old-furniture have you implemented in your own home? Any whale-of-a-finds this weekend? Let's talk!

That's all for today, but I'll see you back here tomorrow. Til then!

25 comments:

  1. Such a cute and compact player! Also, the unicorn & lamp are perfect neighbors.

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    1. Thanks! I like how the "gold tones" of the three go together.

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  2. Replies
    1. Ha, thanks! I'm thrilled it all came together.

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  3. such a find. and that dressmakers mannequin!

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    1. I was over the moon about the console. And the mannequin makes me feel like waking up in a historical diorama in a museum (because, doesn't everyone want that vibe for their bedroom)?

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  4. As "Chachi" would say..."Wa-Wa-Wa!" it certainly is a handsome piece of furniture, and at $25.00 what a deal!

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    1. Thanks, Mick! I now have four (FOUR) consoles in the house, so this may be my last one, but I was happy to pass the last off as a nightstand. And for twenty five bucks, "wa-wa-wa" indeed! :)

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  5. That is such a beauty. I LOVE IT!

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  6. Hunk of burning love! That made me giggle! It's really cool. I like it when things are used for other than their intended purpose.
    And what a deal! Good for you!

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    1. Haha, it was the first superlative that came to my head. I was giddy with excitement bringing it home!

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  7. That's a neat console- don't think I've seen one quite like it before. I'm also impressed with your bargaining skills!!

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    1. Thanks! I used to be so bad and nervous about asking, but now I almost ALWAYS just throw in a "could you do any better on..." anything that's more than $20. People like to seal the deal, I guess, with moderate to high discounts!

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  8. I have a china hutch that is exactly the same style, veneer, hardware and doo-dads as the chifforobe in your room. It must be the same company! I use it to cram-pack all of my gigantic collection of costume jewelry and ephemera. Are we related? Are you that kid I misplaced at Wal Mart in Nashville?

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    1. I AM THAT KID! :) That piece was my grandad's aunt's in the thirties', I think. I saw a set like it once at a thrift store once, full size bed, that chifforobe, a dresser, and a vanity, and in much better shape than mine... I wish I'd gotten it so I could have them all match! I bet your china hutch is a treasure trove.

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  9. Gorgeous in every way! The console and the entire room! The console is very unique and to think it probably cost fortune in 1950s dollars. Sort of in the same category as the TV my son just told us about over the weekend that costs $20,000. I stopped listening about its features once he said it was $20,000. so I have nothing more to tell you about it! Yet, this console reminds me of that. It is a beauty in form and function. What make is it? I bet you could use your sleuthing skills and Master's Degree to find how much it may have cost in 1950 dollars. It seems the original owners were music lovers to have had three of these species still living in the house! Poor Matthew, but I am sure he was very happy once he saw why you were delayed in getting back home to unlock the door!

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    1. I saw a tv like that, a wall sized-ish tv, at Sam's last weekend and just COULD NOT believe it. I still have sleuthing to do on this console to see when it's from exactly, but I'll get to it! Matthew was very happy to see us-- but I unlocked the door before I went to the estate sale, then came BACK with the console! I couldn't leave my poor bab out in the heat that long. :)

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  10. it looks great! and i loooooove that unicorn!
    oooo we'll have to talk about game of thrones! i'm about halfway through the third book, and about 4 episodes in on the show. i'm totally tardy to the party but i love it!

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    1. Re: Unicorn: Isn't it insane? I've never seen another one like it in my thrift travels. It has "MEXICO" carved jaggedly into the underside. I love thinking about the kind of souvenir store it must have come from.

      Re: Thrones: YES, YES LET'S TALK. I am geeking OUT. I'm usually really bad about not liking fantasy or any kind of medieval type stuff, but this show has wreaked havoc on my understanding of what I like and don't like, seeing as I LOVE it and it is both.

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  11. Love this room! When I first saw the picture, I thought that it was of some completely slammin' estate sale but then I saw Miss You-Know-Who on top of the wardrobe and realized that of course, you'd have a bedroom this cool. I love your Silvertone!! And those green drapes!

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    1. You ol' flatterer! :) Isn't she spooky sitting on top of the wardrobe? Those green drapes have two more panels, and came from the Knoxville DAV (I think they were $6...HOWINTHEHECKWERETHEYSIXDOLLARS? I can't find any to save my LIFE for the living room). I used to have windows long enough to suit them in the old 1910's house I lived in there, but now they're just dramatic window dressing for a 1950's normal sized casement, haha.

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  12. Silvertone was a Sears brand. My grandmother had a very similar radio but it had doors on the front, so you couldn't see the dial. It's a great size and probably still works if you replace the cord.

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    1. My soon to be father in law was checking it out the other day and said he thought it would be an easy fix...I might set him and my little tech-head significant other on it and see if we can't get the thing working! I forgot to mention it came with a replacement needle in the packaging, just set neatly inside the drawer. IN THE PACKAGING! I bet your grandmother's radio was even prettier for being more-hideaway.

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