Apron Thrift Girl

Sebastopol - Antique Society

Antique Society in Sebastopol, California

When we used to vacation down in Sebastopol, California from Bainbridge Island WA, visiting the Antique Society was right at the top of my to-do-list. It probably is one of my favorite Antique Stores in the world. This last winter I was able to become a part of the Antique Society by renting a case. My goal is to eventually rent a space so that I can sell Mid Century Modern furniture.

This last weekend I bought this Lucite Mod Lamp~

Mod Lucite Lamp

It's currently at the Antique Society in a space called Bradford Antiques. My mentor friend kindly let me place it in his space since I can't fit anything of this size in my case.

Bradford Antiques

You would love his style. He has a mix of Arts & Crafts, California Pottery, Mid Century Modern and everything lovely in between.

Antique Cast Iron

Lovely Collection of Bits & Bobs

This is another space that I think many of you would adore. This dealer's space is right out of a Country Living magazine. Lots of rusty baskets, mercury glass, Industrial and more. I love how well she's packaged and priced everything. She's definitely an inspiration for those considering having a space in an antique store.

Mid Century Modern Galore

There are a few spaces filled with incredible MCM pieces, lamps and art. I just swoon thinking about it.

Sweet Charming Suitcases

Lamp Envy

Mad Men Glass Collection

Fabulous Lamp

I adore this lamp and think it would go perfectly on my Mod Hi-Fi.

Although I've shared my favorite spaces with you, this Antique Store has everything under the sun. No matter what you collect, are passionate about or perhaps a bit obsessive over, The Antique Society will fulfill your antique/vintage needs.

I got so carried away with taking photos of other spaces that I completely forgot to photograph my case. If you do pop in there, simply ask for the Apron case and they'll point in the right direction. You'll recognize quite a few things from this blog and don't forget to check out my vintage fabric collection.

Antique Society - open Monday through Sunday 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. 2661 Gravenstein Hwy South, Sebastopol, California.

Now onto Thrift Share Monday -

Did you go thrifting this weekend?

Thrift Share Monday celebrates the Art of Thrifting. As a community of readers and bloggers we are able to connect through the process of buying second hand, selling and sharing.

We Thrift  - We Share

Here are some guidelines if you would like to join Thrift Share:

• Your Thrift Share Monday blog post should include your thrifted finds from the weekend.
• Create a blog post with photos of your items.
• Link your Thrift Share Monday post back to Apron Thrift Girl.
• Link to your Thrift Share Monday post on Apron Thrift Girl using inlinkz below.
• If you participate with Thrift Share Monday regularly, please add a button to your side bar so that we can build our Thrift Share Community.

Don't forget to visit Her Library Adventures for Flea Market Finds.

my birthday wish

my wish

May 28th, 2009 I wrote a blog post about a wish of mine. It included these two paragraphs below.

"My goal for our next home is to create a sort of Mid Century Waldorf style. They seem to go hand in hand. I'm picturing Lazured walls, lots of mid century modern furniture, waldorf watercolor paintings mixed in with 60's art, lots of natural fibers such as wool & silk and of course a general feeling of warmth. This style represents my heart and soul and I want to display this in our home.

Here is a link to some buildings Steiner designed and built. I'm really looking forward to our next home even if we just have a very small one. We wish to buy land that we can grow our own food on and raise chickens. This is our priority and next will be the home. My ideal home is something from the 70's with arched ceilings made of wood. I think this MCW style will fit perfectly into a house like this. But even if we find a home the size of a large shed, we'll still make it beautiful and create a loving home."

Wishes do come true.

The day after my birthday I received the keys to our new home in Sebastopol.

Back of the house

The house is 1950's but was remodeled in the early 70's to include skylights, pottery tiles and wood floors.

my new Flavorstitch kitchen

The ceilings are just as described in my "wish" post except these are more timber frame in style. The tile may be Heath as I found a box of Heath tile in the garage. Everything in the kitchen is solid wood. It's a little worn and needs some love but we have a lifetime to work on it. The first thing I did on Wednesday was start painting. I've painted the kitchen a lovely Martha Stewart Blue.

1950's Wedgewood Stove (includes a griddle)

This was an added bonus. Not only is it vintage but it's a gas stove. It's going to be a dream to cook with.

the tree house in a small grove of Redwoods

We are now the proud owners of 1 1/2 acres of land, a 1950's south facing, ranch home with a seasonal creek, fruit trees, an existing garden and lots of space to plan and dream.

This vision of living in the county is at least 10 years old but really I've wanted this since my early 20's. My parents were so influential to me with their self-sufficient homestead. We grew olives, raised sheep, had a pond stocked with fish, a solar hot water heater (in the 70's before it was cool), a barn, chickens, every copy of Mother Earth News ever published and most of all a wonderful place to grow up as a child.

My 12 year old daughter said to me yesterday "you know mama, even with the house being empty of our things, it still feels like home. I'm so happy here."

Tonight is our last night in our rental in Santa Rosa. Tomorrow we rent the moving truck and begin our lives in the country.

Antique Society Anniversary Sale - Sebastopol

Antique Society Anniversary Sale

Years ago when Sonoma County used to be our vacation destination, we always made a point to stop at the Antique Society Store in Sebastopol. I would walk around from booth to booth longing for all the vintage wares and goodness that were for sale. I'd usually spend my "souvenir" money on relics of the past rather than a modern t-shirt or mug souvenir.

Now that we are living in Sonoma County I'm lucky enough that I can go by at any time. It's truly a fabulous store, filled with industrial, mid century modern, arts & crafts and of course vintage and antique items.

Starting tomorrow they are having their 23rd Anniversary 20% off store wide sale.

I was just there on Tuesday and I saw some Cathrineholm, Bitossi, lots of teak and even a few Jere pieces. It's worth visiting as education alone if you are in the area. But I'm guessing that it would be hard to walk away empty handed.

They are open 10-5pm Daily. 2661 Gravenstein Hwy So. Sebastpol CA 95472

Don't forget to Like their Facebook page to keep up to date on events and future sales.

Salvation Army - Thrift Land

Salvation Army - Lytton Springs Road - Healdsburg

Yesterday after Keiran and I dropped off my parents at the Santa Rosa Airport for their journey home to Seattle, we carried on north to a place that we call Thrift Land.

The Lytton Spring Road Salvation Army is an Adult Rehabilitation Center. It also is the largest thrifting center that I've ever come across. You can spend all day there moving from one building to the next.

The building above was built around 1921 and originally was an orphanage for children. You can see a vintage photo of the building here.

Below are three very large covered areas on the left which is where items go before they head to the dumpster. Broken, rejected and unsold items will head there. I tend to find the best finds there. It's my favorite spot in all of Thrift Land.

There's a gentleman that walks around the area with a small receipt book. He'll look in your shopping cart and give you a price. My cart yesterday included a vintage trunk, vintage Risk game pieces, wooden hangers, vintage Mikasa mugs, an envelope with unused stamps (42¢), some greeting cards, a 1940's scale and a few other things. He charged me $10.00 for all.

To the south of Thrift Land you'll find a small building with a snack bar, tables to enjoy your food and shelves of household items like glasses, dishes, appliances, knives, games and knickknacks.

The two tents below are the unsold clothing racks. Yesterday everything there was $1 each and buy one get one free. I usually can find some wool and cashmere sweaters to craft with but yesterday the clothes were pretty picked over.

The boats in front of the tents are also for sale.

The building on the left concists of their better furniture, CDs, DVDs, VHS, lamps and stereos. I never seem to find anything there but we check it out just in case.

The building on the right is called Sally's Attic and it's supposed to be the best of all of Thrift Land. Higher end clothing, pottery, china, jewelry and a few pieces of furniture.

The small Shed like building in the middle (you can just see the red roof line) is filled with worn but still nice furniture. I bought my mid century modern hutch there. They nearly always have that area on sale. Yesterday all furniture there was 50% off.

The white overhang which is in front of the small shed and Sally's Attic is the last chance furniture or over sized furniture. They are rather junky but there are still deals to be found on furniture that needs some TLC.

This is one of the largest buildings and is next to the Snack Bar. Our front they have milk crates full of books.

Below are the women's clothing and shoes with a little section for children. I took this photo from upstairs in their men's section and book area.

Bins and bins fill the outside yard sale area. Next stop for these items is the dumpster. Luckily by the time everyone goes through them there isn't much left except for broken items. It's wonderful that they give second hand items every chance to be purchased.

A sample of what you might find in a bin.

This was our find of the day. It's an old trunk that I purchased. I'm guessing he charged me around $5 for it since my entire cart was $10.

It it didn't have this decal on it, I probably would have left it.

When I opened it up I was delighted to see three keys to the lock and a large inner tray. It stinks of moth balls and will need some airing out but it is beautiful.

I never come away from Thrift Land with an entire car full of items (except for the Hutch purchase) but I always arrive home having had a great day there. I'd rather spend the day there than at the mall. Some of the online comments about the center mention negative views of the men who work there. I've only experienced very kind and warm people there. When I had to load my hutch they were very friendly and helpful in getting this large piece of furniture into my van.

Do you have a favorite Thrift center like this?

Balloons

As many of you know, I absolutely love living in California. I enjoyed my island life up on Bainbridge, I miss my friends very much but I was miserable up there. Inside I was a mess and I spent most of my days longing for warmth, light, sunshine and a something that I couldn't even name. Now that I am here, I feel complete and whole. My children attend what in my heart is the perfect school, we live in beautiful Sonoma County, we are renting a fabulous 1960's home, I'm nearly always warm inside, I have incredible friends and my marriage to Dave has only improved since moving here. I do miss my parents very much and that is the only real sadness in my life. But I do I feel so blessed. Before I was full of so much sadness that I could barely get through the day, especially in the fall, winter and early spring.

There are moments down here where I want to pinch myself because I'm so darn happy.  Thursday mornings are like that when I meet up with Cathe Holden for coffee. (check out her new website at WordPress-it's incredible!) Or going past the fairgrounds and seeing the Harvest Fair sign. Or driving over the Golden Gate Bridge to drive into San Francisco. And especially seeing this sight at our school in the fall.

 

A dad at the school told me that a couple balloons have actually landed in the field behind the school. The balloon on the left is over Cerys' 5th grade classroom.

I fell in love with the oak trees on the campus the first time I visited. Here is another balloon earlier in the week before I knew how to zoom on my iphone. sigh. Apparently Dave didn't know how to zoom either but Keiran showed him. How my Waldorf boy knows how to do this is a complete mystery.

And as my friend Dan said on his Facebook post this week with a similar photo, "it's just another day of school in Sonoma County."

Have a fabulous Thrifting weekend. Don't forget about Thrift Share Monday and Make Share (unofficially on Wednesdays) next week.

to the county fair

We went to the county fair yesterday. Even though we've seen the fair every year that we came down to California for our house exchange, it was our first time actually going to the fair in Sonoma County.

I found an app on my phone called moreLomo and I must tell you I'm in love with this iphone feature. I look to find even more excuses to take pictures. And as a blogger that is not a difficult thing to do. Even my daughter will bring me things and suggest that I take a photo for ATG.

With every photo you have the option of saving it in Lomo or Original or both. I'm surprised at how clear the photos are. I didn't even take my Nikon D60 to the fair yesterday. My iphone was enough to capture everything.

The children opted not to go on any rides and instead chose a quick run through the fun house and to play some $1 games. Perfect in my frugal book.

Keiran amazed at the idea of going upside down on a ride.

The fun house with a scary jester in front. You'd think by now they would realize the high number of scary clown dreams that children and adults have and that they wouldn't bring jesters into the mix.

I fell back into my childhood when I spotted this game. My parents used to drive us over to Reno in our 58 GMC Carryall. We'd scrounge together enough money to stay at Circus Circus and my brothers and I would spend hours in the game area while my parents dropped nickles in the slots. And being the frugal parents that they were, they always kept track of what they put into the game and kept track of what they won in order to find out their percentage of winnings. Their goal of course was to beat the casino.

Whac a Mole was by far my game of choice. I was very small for my age and I could beat the tallest, strongest man at this game. I still remember the shock of some of those adults looking over at this scrawny kid who just beat them out of a pink stuffed dog.

I think in some ways I love the idea of the county fair more than I like the fair itself. In my memories certain flavors and smells highlight over the things that I've forgotten. Yet in a way, when we take the children to the fair it is to enjoy the moment but it's also to give their childhood the memory of the yearly traditional county fair. They'll forget the people that constantly blocked their path rudely, the expensive price of bland food, the chill in the air as the temperature shifted from warm to cool with the coming of the marine layer and for Cerys the frustration of not winning any of the games. What they will remember is being there as a family, of eating their treat of Hawaiian Ice, the warm sun, spinning the prize wheels in the exhibition hall and running through the maze of mirrors in the fun house. In a years time I will only remember the good things too and of course take everyone back to the fair once again.

What is your fondest memory of your childhood fair?

twice yearly Launch sale

Last fall a friend of mine invited me to the consignment store Launch. They were having what they call their secret $5.00 sale. Two days prior to this sale the entire store's selection of clothing and shoes are half off. Sunday arrives and they go crazy by offering this amazing $5.00 sale. This isn't your normal, average consignment store. Launch is a hip, trendy store packed with high end brands including many from Anthropologie and Nordstrom.

I visit this store often because it has what I consider "consignment eye-candy" but their average item is not necessarily for the Salvation Army budget. Luckily for us they have an outdoor $5.00 an item rack and a certain color tag inside is always half off. I never walk away disappointed. It is a store that everyone talks about as it is one of the best consignment stores in the area for high quality, designer brands and family friendly space. They have a play kitchen next to the changing room. How brilliant is that?

This winter they had announced that they were not going to offer their special $5.00 sale day. My heart broke when I heard the news. Much to my surprise on their facebook fan page, they announced at the last minute that they were going to indeed have their $5.00 secret sale. 

I arrived at their parking lot a half hour early first checking into FourSquare. The key is to be first in the door. The shoes and boots get swept up first. I had already spotted some boots that I wanted by peeking through the window. I was going to run to those first.

A small crowd had formed by the time they had opened the doors to let us in. Let's just say it got a little crazy with overly excited women combined with inexpensive clothes. As the morning went on more people would come into the store, learn about the sale and gasp aloud before running to the racks. There was quite the buzz.

I'm about to embark in a new business with two business partners. I'm not quite ready to announce it yet but let's just say socializing in public will be a part of this new adventure. I arrived at Launch ready for a new wardrobe. No power suits as all of you advised me not to buy, but clothing that would represent my free spirit in a lovely professional way. Now that I'm off my island, I need to break out of my shell. I'm ready for the next step.

BCBG Skirt originally $115 NWT, Launch original price $45.

Weekend by MaxMara, 100% wool, incredibly soft, Launch original price $60.00.

Betsy Johnson. I'm missing the Launch tag but I think it may have been around $30.

DKNY blouse. Original Launch price $34.

Elie Tahari blouse, Launch original price $70.

Free People jeans ($40) & Skirt ($31), Organic Jeans (new) and Tibi Skirt ($85)

Trina Turk blouse, Launch original price $90. Here's a new blouse that sells for $216 retail. 

These boots were price $300 at Launch. I walked away paying $5.00. I paid $5.00 for each of these items. Even as I type this, I can still hardly believe how incredible this sale was.

I think I spent 2 1/2 hours in the store. I didn't want to miss anything. Part of that time I had to avoid another shopper who really wanted something that I had. A sale like this can't help but create a frenzied excitement. I walked away from Launch with my overflowing bags and a huge smile on my face. I must have saved hundreds of dollars from their normal consignment prices, maybe even over a $1000 from the original retail prices. I was on a thrifting high. This kind of high happens a few times a year. As Barney says, "it was legendary."

Once I returned home, I thoroughly loved placing each item on a hanger to hang in my closet. The fashionista in me adores owning these high end, stunning clothes. It's not just because they are often made better but because they tend to fit my 5'1" size body. I can walk away from Target, H&M and Old Navy full of frustration because nothing fits my not so normal size body.  I had a business meeting a week after the Launch sale and it took me mere minutes to find an outfit rather than the 20 minutes and 4 changes it normally takes me. My entire outfit consisted of clothing from this sale. I walked into the meeting feeling confident in myself.

The next Launch sale will be in the Fall but word on the street is that they may have it before school starts. Follow Launch on facebook in order to get up-to-date info about future sales. You'll also get updates on the new color for their 50% off tags. This $5 sale is worth even a three to five hour drive. I'm planning to to talk my frugal Fashiony Blog writer friend Tracy into coming to this sale next time. She lives over the foothills near Chico. This sale just isn't to be missed. Seriously.