Estate Sale Finds: How to Be a Super Secretary

This week's estate sale find is a little booklet that I found stashed with a pretty old typewriter. There isn't a date on the pamphlet, but it was produced by the typewriter company Remington Rand, and is full of all the bad advice you'd expect from a piece written for women in slightly more sexist times (aka the 50's).

The pamphlet takes on a very Seventeen "do's and don'ts" tone, and I've picked out some of my favorite tips to share:

My biggest takeaway is that the author really didn't think secretaries should wear bobby socks.

Shop Preview

We've got some new treats hitting the shop this week. Ooo la la:

Be sure to follow us on Twitter to find out exactly when we post them!

Vintage Inspiration: HD Buttercup

HD Buttercup is a really lovely furniture store located in SOMA in San Francisco. Aside from being huge and full of the kind of furniture that is pretty enough to make you feel okay about dedicating your next several paychecks to it, they have worked in a lot of really great vintage decorating ideas that could be some DIY inspiration for around the home.

A wall of vintage plates:

Bowler hats turned light covers:

Old shoe stands painted for display:

And lots of vintage pieces around every corner, like this trophy collection:

DIY: Large Vintage Prints

I'm always looking for something new to put on the walls, and large-scale art makes such a statement. Catherine of Design Editor photographed a couple of her vintage cameras, then made 24"x36" engineering prints of them for a whopping $3.29 each. Voila! Interesting DIY wall art!

Want to make your own? You can download her camera images for free right here. Or...see what kind of vintage gems you have around the house that would look good on the wall and try your own.

(Spotted on How About Orange)

Music: MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS - THRIFT SHOP

MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS - THRIFT SHOP

This song kills me. It is everything I love about thrift stores:
(don't be mad about the f-word so many times)

Favorite lyrics:

I'm gonna pop some tags
Only got $20 in my pocket
I-i-im hunttin lookin for a come up
This is f-ing awesome

Bout to go and get some compliments passin up on those moccasins
Someone else has been walkin in but me and grungie f- em in
I am stuntin' and flossin' and savin' money and I’m hella happy
thats a bargain b*&@h. Ima take your grandpa's style. Ima take your grandpa's style.
No for real - Ask your grandpa can I have his hand-me-downs?

***

They had a broken keyboard, I bought a broken keyboard
I bought a ski blanket, then I bought a knee board.

Estate Finds - Mod Tote

Sometimes the estates that I visit are orderly and clean ... but the ones I have the most fun in are those that make you dig a little bit. Don't get me wrong - I love walking into a house and seeing everything hanging perfectly in the closet, but there is something satisfying about having to work to find buried treasure as well. I went to this storage unit clean-out last week, donned a head lamp and sturdy shoes, and dove into this:

There were all sorts of gems to be found in there. One of my favorites that I brought home to my personal collection was this mod tote bag.

Complete with a matching small purse and "hidden" zippered compartment underneath for your secret feminine accessories.

So basically I have the cutest tampon holder around.

Vintage Destination - The Longest Yard Sale

One of my favorite annual traditions is the Longest Yard Sale in the World. Someone in Tennessee devised this genius idea to encourage more tourism to the area, and got everyone along little Route 127 to hold garage sales and antique fairs on the first weekend in August. Now the route stretches from Alabama to Michigan, and is full of everything from novice sellers just cleaning out their attics to big barn sales to fields full of antique dealers.

For four days straight, I rummaged and haggled and poured over old treasures, and came back with several suitcases full and even more photos:

One of my favorite old finds of the trip was a viewmaster projector. Mine came pristine and perfect in its box, with a handwritten note by the previous owner:

I'm feeling the same way about many of the treasures I brought home. I'll probably be writing the same thing on many of them.