Out to Lunch

Closing the blog down indefinitely.  Thanks for following along.

-Kassi

A Practical Valentine's Day Gift

NO flowers that wilt away and NO chocolate here.  I got something I needed -and wanted- and it's handmade! Cody did an AMAZING job making me what-not shelves for the kitchen!  Both sides of the shelves are laminated and the aluminum edging is stylin'.  Just beautiful.

Don't worry, Cody got a gift too.  We have this running joke: I ask what he'd like for dinner on any particular night and he hums and haws -can't think of anything, so he just says MEATLOAF.  I've made meatloaf maybe once in the past 10 years.  I'm not really a big fan of it but I found a fantastic recipe and we gorged ourselves on the best meatloaf we've ever had.  

I think I got the better gift!

Thursday Show and Tell

A rare find today: An unopened box of old Valentines!

Of course I opened them!

If you haven't seen my OTHER blog please check it out.   http://needlefulthings-by-kassi.blogspot.com/  It features my embroidery projects as well as old patterns, transfers, linens, and sewing supplies.

Howdy!

It's been a while since the last kitchen update and I'm happy to report that- I HAVE COUNTER TOPS!  Cody did a fantastic job making them from scratch.  The laminate is beautiful and looks sharp with chrome edging we purchased from Martin's Chrome Furniture.  I'm SURE you've seen the place on Lougheed in Burnaby.  Martin's has been in business since the 50's and they make custom dinettes and refurbish old vinyl chairs.  Their selection of laminates and vinyl is amazing but with anything that is not your run-of-the-mill Home Depot, you pay more.  They have some great retro laminates.  You could easily spend hours looking through the sample books.  The man who runs the place though, I have to tell you -and maybe he was just having a bad day- he was such a downer.  He was the human equivalent of Eeyore.  Too many years of sniffing glue perhaps.

Cody needs to install moulding where the counter meets the wall.  You can see it laid loosely in place on the first photo and I'm still waiting on the what-not shelves on either side of the kitchen window.  Ahem, *hint* *hint*

Find of the Year

I found this teapot just before the year's end making it my best find of 2010. It is commonly referred to as Miss Priss by Lefton but this particular one has an ESD stamp on the bottom.  Apparently, the owners of each company traveled to Japan together and bought several of the same designs from manufacturers there.

Warning!

Earlier this year I bought a 50's toaster and in case anyone is inspired enough to look for their own I just wanted to give you a word of caution regarding old toasters.

Old toasters get very hot -they aren't like today's toasters where they have lowered the temperature to reduce the chance of burns and fires from things coming into contact with the hot surface.  What is much more of a concern is asbestos.

I saw my first asbestos toaster today at a thrift shop.  I would recommend if anyone is getting a toaster to do their research or even get their toaster asbestos-tested by a professional.   The toaster I found today was an easy catch as the asbestos was blatant.  The heating coils are wrapped around a pale grey square that looks papery in texture.  I could see the asbestos fibres around the edges.  I took the toaster off the shelf and alerted a store employee.

It's something to be cautious about when buying vintage!  It should always be considered when buying items for your kitchen and even more so when you are buying products that are meant to come into contact with heat.  Old vintage oven mitts are another thing to watch out for.

Stay safe!

Hello There!

 Work has slowed down on the kitchen.  I still have no counter tops but there's a good excuse for that.  We had been on a road trip for a month.  When we got home we walked into the house and the first thing that hit us was the smell.  Since it hadn't been lived in in a month -no humans or dogs to stink up the place- you could smell the wood and plaster.  It smelled old, musty and alive.

With all the fun we had visiting the Wild West on our trip, I didn't forget to bring back some souvenirs for the house.  I found some great stuff, here are a few:

I found this Holt Howard Christmas camel at goodwill.

I got this pair of Norcrest Asian figures for 5 bucks.

I got this Norcrest bluebird ceramic in Idaho Falls from a pair of grandmas who have their own shop.

I never did do any update on the stove hood installation.   It's amazing to me that it was still in it's box after 50 years just waiting for someone like me to use it.  The cupboard is Ikea with our own handle put on it to match the others.  There needs to be a little spacer to fill in the slot between the top cupboard and the wall.  It's not the best picture but I assure you it is level and straight.  It's my photography skills that are to blame.