Random Inspiration

This post honestly has no rhyme or reason. Every once in awhile, I scroll through images on Google and pull a few that I really like the feel of, so here are three of my favorites from my recent search!

Vintage Wooden High Chair

I found this adorable 1940s-50s high chair in the thrift store the other day for about $15, and I couldn't believe it! I've seen similar ones online going for $200+, so I had to get it.

You do have to be careful with older high chairs, since most of them do not meet the safety requirements for today, but it is possible to modify them so they meet the standards. For anyone who is interested, you can check those out here.

Project 62 Favorites

Target launched their first collection of the Project 62 brand last year, and it was love at first sight for me. The mid-century inspiration was really strong and felt very authentic. Awhile back, I shared my favorites from that collection, but I thought it was about time to do it again and include some of the newer items. So without further ado, here are the things that stood out the most to me!

The biggest draws for me are the new wall art options. Especially ESPECIALLY that first one with those abstract shapes, clean lines and ivory background. 😍 It's a huge statement piece too, at 24"x36"! But I also love tapered legs and angles, so that tends to be a theme in the furniture that I like.

Do you like any of the pieces from my list? Which new items do you like the best?

------

Product Links

1. 36” x 24” Modern Shapes Framed Wall Poster Print Black $49.99

2. Set of 2 16.25” x 20.25” Blue and Pink Abstract Framed Print Decorative Wall Art $49.99

3. Cantilever Floor Lamp, in Brass $39.99

4. 16 oz. Monogram Stoneware Mug $4.99

5. Vase, in Gray $14.99

6. Hi Lo Blush Blocks Rug, in Gray Ivory $179.99 - $649.99

7. Mango Wood Taper Candle Holder $12.99

8. Amherst Mid Century Modern Writing Desk $189.99

9. Lemoor Mid Century 22” Ottoman with Storage, in Linen $99.99

10. Tapered Ceramic with Wood Detail Table Lamp $24.99

11. Esters Wood Arm Chair, in Light Beige $229 

Vintage Fridge Energy Cost

From what I can tell so far, our vintage fridge is actually slightly more energy efficient than our current fridge. And for those of you curious about exactly how much that is, I'll break it down.

Our current fridge is a 1998 GE that, according to a sticker on the inside, should average at 697 kWh per year. If you multiplied that by the price of $0.11 per kWh, you would get $76.67—the cost to run the fridge for an entire year.

Using my Kill-A-Watt meter, I got a readout of 0.06 kWh from the Coldspot. This is a readout for a period of time, so I made sure that it was exactly an hour. I multiplied that by 24 to give me kilowatts per day (1.44), multiplied that by 365 for kilowatts per year (525.6), and lastly multiplied it by $0.11 to get the final result of $57.82 per year. That ends up being a $18.85 decrease from the GE fridge.

Just to double check, I ran the GE fridge through the Kill-A-Watt meter too, and I ended up with a readout of 0.08 kWh. At that rate, the total comes to 700 kWh per year which is consistent with their 695 kWh per year claim. You will see from the numbers below that the Coldspot's compressor actually takes a little more energy, so I can only guess that maybe the auto defrost in the General Electric fridge must play a big role. Or maybe I need a longer period of time to get a more accurate average. Or maybe it does a better job of keeping things cold, so it doesn't need to run the compressor as often. Or maybe the Freon refrigerant is simply more efficient.

Some comparisons...

Vintage Coldspot Fridge - No auto defrost

• Kill-A-Watt reading: 0.06 kWh / 526 kWh per year
• With the door open and the compressor on, the fridge uses 184 watts.
• With the door closed and the compressor on, the fridge uses 142 watts.
• With the door open and the compressor off, the fridge uses 41.3 watts. 
• With the door closed and the compressor off, the fridge uses 0 watts. 

1998 General Electric Fridge - Yes auto defrost

• Kill-A-Watt reading: 0.08 kWh / 700 kWh per year
• With the door open and the compressor on, the fridge uses 170 watts.
• With the door closed and the compressor on, the fridge uses 133 watts.
• With the door open and the compressor off, the fridge uses 38 watts. 
• With the door closed and the compressor off, the fridge uses 0 watts. 

It was really cool (hehe, pun intended) to see the results first hand. I did a lot of reading with various opinions about energy costs, and now I have some hard facts to go on. Of course it's going to vary from fridge to fridge. And I heard that those made between the 60s and 80s will tend to have the worst energy efficiency, so beware of that. But I hope this can provide some helpful information for others considering an old fridge or even just curious about the cost.

What's also interesting is that we don't need to set the temperature as high as we thought. We wanted to be on the safe side so we put the dial right in the middle, but this morning our milk was partially frozen. I ordered a fridge thermometer that should get here in a few days and will help us figure out exactly where we need to set that.

Yeah, so we were lucky to get a fridge that still works really well and has a great seal on it. The only disadvantages are that the freezer space is really limited (so we may consider getting a small, separate freezer for our garage) and the lack of auto defrost means that every once in awhile we're going to have to let our freezer thaw out (I've heard using a hair dryer really helps, and gives you a good excuse to clean out your fridge anyway). But other than that, the energy cost looks good, food is staying cold, the fridge layout is great and this thing is a TANK. I slid it across the floor to get it into the kitchen and there wasn't a single scratch. I love the way it looks in our vintage kitchen. So for now, we're going to keep it and see how this goes!

If you'd like to see pictures of the fridge (she's a beauty), you can view my older post here.

Aqua Laminate

The laminate countertop samples from Abet Laminati came in yesterday and we have a winner! We ended up selecting 486 in the SEI finish. (Their samples are totally free by the way!) It's almost a perfect match for vintage aqua appliances. Though it still may be awhile before we can get to this project, it's good to know we finally found a place that sells what we need!

Vintage Coldspot Fridge

We finally got the fridge out of the truck and into the garage, so I took a few more pictures. We are going to clean it up first, which works out because we can't turn it on for a few days since we had it on its side for awhile. Then we'll move it to the kitchen!

To read my post about energy costs, click here. 

Dreams of A Vintage Kitchen

Someone in my area is selling this beautiful, mid century kitchen (below) that I would absolutely die for. Wish I could just take the whole thing and put it in my house as-is!







Anyway, feels aside, I started thinking again about our countertops. Eventually, I'd like to redo them and wrap around to the stove area. But the minty laminate we have now with the gold speckles (though amazing) isn't made anymore. I'd love to go aqua like the kitchen above, but none of the major stores sell anything in remotely the right hue. They have one kind of cool Boomerang print, but it's a desaturated pale blue, and just doesn't work for me. Formica was still selling an aqua boomerang until just a few years ago when they discontinued it. I asked them about custom orders, but unfortunately I never heard back.



I think Retro Renovation is an amazing resource, but since some of the older posts can be a little out-of-date, I wanted to put it out there that the site Abet Laminati still exists and sells tons of great colors. I just ordered samples of 846, 486, 857 and 482, and I'll post an update on the colors when they come in. Fingers crossed that we can find a good aqua in there!

Isle of Dogs Review

I am a big Wes Anderson fan. So naturally, I had to see Isle of Dogs. It has Anderson's usual whimsy, awkwardness and thoughtful detail in every frame. Unfortunately, I did sense something was missing though, and I can’t quite put my finger on what it is, but I’m hoping a second viewing can help with that. Mainly, I think it has to do with being slow at times and not quite as funny as I expected. 

Let me go ahead and get what I don’t like about the film out of the way first. One of the biggest issues I have is that he didn't utilize his amazing cast, which was really played up in the trailers. Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Edward Norton—are all background characters with very few lines. Their group, introduced in the beginning, led me to believe they would have a much bigger role. And though they did have some funny lines, they just didn't bring enough to the film. 

I think the slow pace also might be a turn-off for a lot of people—especially the first third of the movie. That's the biggest critique that I've been hearing so far. Personally, I don’t mind slow starts as long as they're used for world and character development and pick up the pace as the story moves along. And in my opinion, that was the case here. 

Lastly, I was pretty perplexed by some of the set designs. The story is placed 20 years in the future, but televisions look like they're from the 1960s, complete with black and white screens. There's also a scene where Mayor Kobayashi has a television interview in a room that looks straight out of 1970s America. It has no place in futuristic Japan. I understand that Anderson has a love for American retro, but he could have at least been inspired by something that would make more sense, like retrofuturism. Personally, I would have loved to see how he would blend that with Japanese style. 

That aside, I did really enjoy a lot about this movie. As usual, every frame is a work of art: bold, beautifully composed, usually with some form of symmetry and an atmosphere that really immerses you in the world. The stop motion is fantastic (I especially love how when they fight, they turn into giant cotton balls with arms and legs sticking out in all directions). And it’s really interesting that television broadcasts are in 2D, in contrast with the events happening in the real world. Setting the story in Japan also gives Anderson a new palette of artwork, culture and architecture to pull from. He makes whimsical references to Hokusai, and features an amazing triptych painting in the intro that looks like it's probably based on art from the Azuchi-Momoyama period. 

Even though there were some characters that I thought were under appreciated, they did do a great job developing the main character, Chief. There's a particular moment (that I won’t spoil for you) that made me tear up, and it’s interesting how the characters don’t dwell too much on it or that Anderson doesn’t force feelings from his audience. He portrays it matter-of-factly and allows you to appreciate its beauty for exactly what it is. 

I also thought it was an interesting choice not to translate a good majority of the Japanese dialogue. My guess is that it would make the (mainly American) audience relate more to the dogs, and have the humans feel alien. But as far as things that weren't "foreign", there was an American exchange student and, yes, she was really annoying at times, but I interpreted that as a tongue-in-cheek reference to how the rest of the world sees us. And she did end up playing a pretty important role. 

Overall, I really did enjoy the movie, but personally, I wouldn't put this at the very top of my Wes Anderson favorites list. If you're going to see it to get immersed in the retro world, quirky humor and whimsical story, you’ll definitely get your Wes Anderson fix though. So I say give it a watch and see what you think!

Kitchen Coincidence

The other day, I was watching the Sandlot, absorbed in nostalgia, and loving their adorable house. I mean how cute is this?



But when it came to the black eye scene, I had to do a double take because by complete coincidence, I have almost the same things in my kitchen! Must be some old subconscious memories influencing my purchasing decisions 😅

Vintage Coldspot Fridge

So excited! I just bought this amazing vintage Coldspot refrigerator for my birthday. We have to wait for some friends to help us get this thing out of the truck because DANG, it's heavy. But it's really in great condition and really spacious compared to some of the other older fridges that I saw.

The woman I bought it from was really nice and had it running for a few days before we came to pick it up. Everything was still working really well. It also passed the paper test. (If it falls out of the door when it's closed, you know the seal is bad and unless you really know what you're doing, it's not worth it.)

























I know what you're thinking. It's going to be a waste of energy. But after doing some research, it seems that refrigerators between 1960 and 1980 are the worst because that was when automatic defrosters were invented, but before laws were put in place to ensure efficiency. Prior to the 60's many refrigerators, like this one, didn't have an auto defrost. So that means I'm going to have to clean out my freezer every once in awhile, but that doesn't seem too bad.

I assume though, that despite the lack of auto defrost it's still going to take more energy than our 90's fridge that we currently have, so I bought a Kill-A-Watt meter to test it, and I'll post an update when we have a result! I'm really interested about what we find...for better or for worse!

UPDATE: To read my more recent post about energy costs, click here.

Mad Women

If you loved Mad Men, you will really appreciate this book.

I just finished it; it's a pretty quick read. A fellow graphic designer recommended it. The author is Jane Maas, and she is basically a real-life Peggy Olson. She worked her way up the food chain on Madison Avenue in the 60s and 70s. In it, she gives her account of the way things were and answers questions about the accuracy of the show. I thought it was really inspiring, and it was fun to get immersed in the Mad Men culture again.

In honor of the book, I thought I would share some of my favorite ads I have from old LIFE magazines. The hand drawn illustrations blow me away every time, and I can always appreciate a good pun. On top of that, I think these ads in particular have great layouts. Without further ado, enjoy!

Mad Men Makeover Pt. 2

I redecorated my "Mad Men" inspired bedroom a little bit recently. The walls are still based on Joan's apartment, but I changed up the comforter and curtains, added a Philodendron (that we named Dapper Dan) and found this amazing accent pillow at Walmart that matched the wall color.

I really love our Broyhill Brasilia set. We have a night stand, bed frame and dresser. Recently, I saw a single night stand for sale at Brasilia Connection for about $600 😳 which is insane, but apparently they are very rare. I'm lucky to have the pieces I have!

Both the photos I pictured are of my mom's parents; one on their wedding day and one a couple decades later. They have always been one of my favorite couples!

I still have to figure out what I'm going to do for the other night stand and I hope Dapper Dan grows more so I can set him on the floor and not on a chair, but other than that I'm pretty happy with the way things are coming along! I think Joan would be proud 😉