Spring Hill Follies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kitschy Florida!

 

Evan and I planned a  thrift store shopping trip to Spring Hill, which is about an hour away from where we live in Tampa. Near Weeki Wachi.  Why Spring Hill? Well, its full of old people and retirees. Seriously, they are everywhere in Spring Hill! My in laws retired to Spring Hill and they are old, and all their friends are old and they live in a HUGE retirement community full of old people and they always do old people things, like golfing, bowling and playing cards...or just hanging out at the lodge with all the other old people. So, my point is that old people have old cool stuff and they get rid of it when A) They downsize. B) They are snowbirds and need to rid stuff before they go back up north C) A family member upgrades them with a new set of dishes or whatever, or D) They die. So regardless of the reasons why, I imagined that the thrift stores would be fantastic, AND as a bonus, I also figured that there would be no competition of other cool people looking for fantastic vintage finds....cause no young people live there or around there.

 

 

 

We googled all the thrift shops in the area and mapped them out on my GPS. I tried to convince my daughter to join us, but she really hates thrift stores (GASP!). I am trying hard to convert her. Evan doesn't want her to convert. He likes it to be "our thing".

 

 

So we head out and the first place that we mapped out was non existent. Brought us to an empty field. Eh, we had at least 10 other places to hit, so whatever. Carry on. Place number 2 was also non existent (wtf?!)...moving on, place number 3, brought us into a retirement neighborhood and it was someone's personal address. UGHHHH! So we passed a Salvation Army (not even on my GPS list). We popped in and it was surprisingly NOT great. Evan got an old mailbox, he has been wanting one...I really don't know why. We got to listen to an old lady: "look at these slippers! I have been going everywhere looking for slippers....JC Penneys...Walmart....I haven't been able to find any slippers. These are 99 cents, so Im going to get these slippers....." yada yada yada...She talked about those slippers to her friend for the whole time we were there! God, it must be boring as shit to be old, where you talk about nasty thrift store slippers for hours! Crissakes!

 

 

There was also a Goodwill about a half mile away from Salvation Army. I am not usually too keen on Goodwill, but since we were having stinky luck so far, we figured "what the hell?" Evan grumbled a bit, because he also shares my opinion about GW, and it was a new fancy one, the outside was all modern...And it was sooo full of old people I thought I was going to puke. They were clogging up the aisles and not budging....

However, GW was my big score of the day! You never know!

 

The following items are available at my shop: RANDOM GOODS VINTAGE

 

 

 

Inland Glass Product Serving Tray "Trees and Wells"

Orange Enamelware pot, need to research this one a bit better, thinking about keeping it......But I probably wont and you will see it listed next week.....

Mikasa Serving platter, Mediterrania

Because Butterprint Pyrex is always awesome!

 

These aren't photographing too fantastic, but they are Pillsbury doughboy mugs. They also had the jar, but they were asking too much, so I just got the mugs.

 

 

 

I am really impressed with set, but bummed that I didn't take a "before picture" They were so blackened and burned on the inside, I just figured that I would try to do the best I can to clean them and then just sell them dirt cheap...I just really liked the pattern so much that I couldn't resist, even though they looked like a pile of crap. So I got home and got out my new bottle of Barkeepers Friend and I scrubbed the shit out of the bottoms. At first, not so impressed with this so called fantastic cleaning product. But I just kept scrubbing and scrubbing, and finally I started to see a bit of difference. Scrub scrub scrub....then I just let them sit with bleach and then I rinse and scrubbed some more. Know what? They look brand spanking new in the inside. NEW, bright and clean with zero marks or anything! Oh, I am so happy, they look so fantastic!

 

This book just makes me very very sad. It is so absolutely lovely, 1944 kitten book with some of the most fantastic vintage illustrations that you could imagine! HOWEVER, the book is completely detached from the spine and the words in the book are underlined or colored...surprisingly the pictures can be salvaged. Im going to find a use for them if it kills me!

Also got a ton of vintage sheets!

So we left Goodwill feeling revived and excited and we agreed that if the rest of the shopping day was crap, we still did awesome and had fun!

The next couple of Thrifts stores on the list we also a bust....One last one on the list remained. We headed out that way, but on the way there we stopped at a garage sale. Actually we thought we were going to be dumpster diving, because it was just some random shit tossed on the curb...but then when we parked to dig around, some lady was putting stuff out there...just randomly selling about 5 or 6 items. Mostly weird crap, like this giant broken clock. Seriously, cracked in half...and there was a boat propeller, crazy heavy! Evan, of course, wanted it. $5. He gave her a $20 and she couldn't make change so she just told us to give her any random change in our pockets. I really didn't want to lowball someone who was so obviously hard up that they were selling a broken clock, so I went out to my car, as I knew I probably had $5 worth of coin in my center console. So Evan got that heavy as hell, but really cool, boat propeller and lugged it into our car. Again, I don't know what the hell he's going to do with it, but that's Evan for you. On the path to hoarding....

We finally made it to the last thrift shop. The good thing is that it actually existed. The better thing is that it looked so fantastic that I thought my head was going to explode!

It was in a giant warehouse that was in the middle of a field on a desolate street, and it had piles and piles of crap everywhere. Always a good sign! So we were digging a digging around bringing piles and piles to the counter. Evan started having an allergy attack. Again, good sign, it meant that there was old dusty crap to dig though. So he popped some allergy meds and was good to go. He found a wooden binocular case (again, I no longer question his unusual selections). After the lady bagged up everything she just said "how about $20 for everything?" Nothing had prices on it, (also a good sign), I was elated and paid the sweet lady. Here is just a tiny sampling of my finds from there:

AHHH...Flashback! This definitely needed some cleaning with toothpicks and q-tips, but all is good!

1965 Snoopy cutting board! So excited about this!

This thing is too advanced for me, it works, but I couldn't figure out how to use it. I should be too ashamed to admit that...but I just want to be honest with myself and the world.....

Unopened Furby party napkins! Because whats a party without Furby?


I also left with more vintage sheets, a few bags of books and some weird ass piece of PVC pipe that Evan wanted...WTF, kid?


We were elated that the last shop was such a winner! So we heading home, but instead of taking the highway, we decided to go a different route, so we could hit a few thrift shops on the way home. We hit two and both were pretty fantastic!

The first one, I purchased about 10 vintage board games and some other random crap, also I few things for Avery, I was pretty happy.

Then we hit one last Salvation Army. Evan insisted that we had been to this one before and he said it was crap. I told him that the crappy one that he is thinking about is the one in Orlando. (that one sucks!) He insisted that it was this one, I told him that he could wait in the car then, because I am going in! So of course he joined me and I am guessing he is pretty happy that he did! I got a few goodies such as:

Set of these cool melmac bowls, in my favorite colors. They look brand spanking new...LOVE!

I actually had this Baileys promotional mug when it came out. It came in a gift set. But that has been so long gone. I promised myself if I ever found one, I would snatch it up in a blink of an eye! Yay! Found one!

I also got some other cool random objects, but this shop wasn't about me. It was about the kid.

Several months ago we went thrift store shopping for a leather jacket. He wanted one really bad, and it had to be from a thrift store. Couldn't be too thick (we do live in the tropics), couldn't be weird an poofy, and had to fit an 11 year old. Well, several months ago, we found nothing and he was devastated! Fast forward to now, And lo and behold a vintage leather biker leather jacket...and it fit him. Oh he was so excited! He was disappointed when he saw the $50 price tag. I tried to convince him that is was a good price and that he makes so much money with his art shows and he has been wanting it for so long...He was still on the fence, so I told him to call dad and get his opinion. (Greg hates thrift stores and is also conservative with spending money on "crap" we don't need) The first thing that Greg said was "Evan BUY IT!" And that's all it took. Evan had his money in the car, ran out and got it and bought the jacket he has been wanting! He was all smiles the whole way home....


Oh, remember that other mid century silk screen that I left behind (last weeks blog). Well, I went back and got it:

All is good now! (about 4 feet wide!)

Anyhow, Spring Hill may be added to our list of day thrift trips. When I do a day trip, I want to come back with a full trunk and I came back with a full trunk and made it home in time for dinner! And the icing on the cake was when Avery said, "I know I don't like thrift shops, but I have to admit, you do get some cool stuff!"

Long blog post, but just a lot of cool stuff to show you!

Do you have any day thrift trips? If not, time to find one!

Don't forget to follow me on Instagram for secret sales and sneak peeks! www.instagram.com/RandomGoodsVintage


Check out some of Evans art. The art that has afforded him great stuff like leather jackets and boat propellers www.instagram.com/EvanDGatscher 

Linking up with SIR THRIFT A LOT this week.

 



 

 

Draggin' the kids to thrift shops

Winter break is too long for me to stay away from the thrifts shops...cause the kids want to do other stuff. But too bad for them. Actually, my son, Evan loves thrift shopping. He could do it all day, everyday with me. My daughter, Avery HATES them. She loves going to produce markets, grocery stores...anything with food. But she hates thrift store shopping. I wanted to set aside 1 day, just ONE day out of winter break to go to thrift shops. Evan was gung ho, Avery....not so much. However, I am the Queen of Briberious. (which means, I know how to bribe my kids, Duh, what parent doesn't?)  All I had to say was "if you go AND are good the whole time, no whining or complaining, then when we are done, I will get you a Frosty from Wendys" That's all it takes. $1.50 Frosty and she is all in!

I had mapped out 4 shops that we would hit up. First one was mediocre, but I did walk away with a few items. Plus a cute jacket for Avery that Evan picked out.

The second shop is a place that I go to for one thing and one thing only. For whatever reason, this place gets loads of vintage sheets and bedding.

I picked up at least 30 pillowcases and sheet sets. So many that they wouldn't fit in the dinky cart and I made my kids carry them around their shoulders.

Here are just a few, all are available Here----->Random Goods Vintage

And lots lots more. Some fitted sheets and flat sheets. Haven't even begun to photograph them. 

The third shop was also a good haul. This is where Evan comes in handy. He has been shopping with me for years, so he already has an eye for the good stuff. Also he is good about convincing me to buy certain things that I am on the fence about, and talking me out of purchases that I want, but he knows that I will end up regretting. Immediately he ran to this discovery and said "You are getting this!"

Its string art, mid century and steam punk and vintage airplane. How great is that? But then I saw the price and said, "its great, but too much money, no can do!" and then we saw the sign that said ALL FRAMES AND ART 50% OFF.  Still more than I wanted to pay for it, but it was a much more doable price.

Available here----->STEAM PUNK STRING ART

I can say that I have never seen any string art like this before. There is a wooden propeller and metal bit and pieces for the engine and tail. It is heavy as fuck though. So it wont be a cheap item to ship.


Then I found this! This was one of those items where I was on the fence. Actually  there were 2 different ones, and I am now kicking myself for not buying the other. Especially since they were priced so cheap they were almost free. (Remember 50% off all art)

This is a silkscreen print by mid century artist Marushka. As was the other one I left behind :-( This one is very large, at least 4 feet tall. (the one I left behind was probably 6 feet wide)

Not listed as of yet, so it is available for local pickup. It doesn't weigh much, but because of its awkward size, I need to bring this and the following item to UPS to get a shipping and packing quote, until then, both of these items are available for local pick up.

Trust me, it is much larger in person.

The other item that I mentioned available for local pickup until I get off my lazy ass and drag them to UPS, is what we thought was a chair. Evan was wandering around, scoping the shop for anything else that may be of interest. He said he found a mid century chair. Before even seeing it, I reminded him, "what the hell am I going to do with a chair?" I cant ship furniture, and I don't have a bricks and mortar shop. He convinced me to just take a look. So he dragged me around the maze of furniture and showed me. Again I was on the fence. Yea, it was cool, kind of weird, definitely mid century, great condition and priced very inexpensively. However, not something I want to ship. Once again, we looked at the sign 40% OFF ALL FURNITURE. Evan didn't wait for me to answer.  He just took it and dragged it around to the check out and said "you're getting it, we will figure out the details later" So I got it. We took it home and cleaned it up. Did some research and discovered that it is not a chair, but a men's valet. AND the back of the chair was screwed in upside down for whatever reason. I think that's why I thought it looked strange. Evan got out his tool box and unscrewed the back and re-screwed it the way it was supposed to be.

I still think that it would make a great chair. It is correct seat height and its comfortable. But technically it is a valet and there was a hanger thing that was supposed to be inserted at the top. Currently available for local pickup (Tampa Florida)

The following items are available here------>RANDOM GOODS BOOK ROOM


I am a sucker for anything 80s. I promised myself that I would no longer buy vintage puzzles that I wouldn't put together first to verify that it was a complete puzzle, no missing pieces. So I picked this puzzle up because it is so fantastic and I opened it up to put it together. I said "fuck no" and I closed it back up. A complete black border to start...yea...not happening. It sat in my stash for 5 months. Finally, I figured that I may as well list it, at a cheap price and see what happens. It gets to the point that I just list it or dump it. Nothing ventured nothing gained. It was packaged well, so I am assuming its fine. Up for a gamble?

Yep, solid black border.



This next one was a find from Detroit's infamous garage sales that I mentioned this past summer. Again it just sat around for awhile because I had no idea if it was complete or not. I finally decided to list it and I discovered that the few other ones available online had way less pieces AND were priced crazy high. So, I inspected this set further and I realized that it seemed to be complete, but just kind of unorganized.

And last but not least, the joy of this book. Because.

And the fourth shop? Yea...we never made it that far. Avery was being a doll the whole time and I didn't want to push my luck. And I too, was in the mood for a Frosty.


Hope your holidays were fantastic and this New Year brings you plenty of Vintage goodness!

Do you find that thrift shopping after the holidays is great? I usually find success this time of year. I think people get rid of stuff to make room for the new stuff. Also, living in Florida, spring is a good time to shop, because the snow birds leave to go back up north and they tend to get rid of things before they leave. What times of the year work best for you?