I'm free!!! And thinking of living in a vintage trailer...

First off, lemme just say,

I'm FREEE!!!

Well, for the most part at least. Studio is over! And winter break has basically started. I have one final exam still in a week, but I have plenty of time to just relax and study with classes being over...

So what's been on my mind lately? Well, vintage trailers....specifically, BIG vintage trailers! More like mobile homes really....

I'll be graduating college in a year and a half, and I love the idea of starting out after college in a vintage trailer! I could find one with outrageous 50's styling, fix it up, and make it my own little vintage oasis...

I am quite enamored with this 1959 Richardson that's been rotting away in a storage yard nearby my house here in MD... She may not look like much, but I just LOVE that angled end styling... She is very very rough, but in a way that might be better, since I could be free-er to stray away from the original-ness without feeling bad. Not to say I would ever make it modern, but as a designer and architecture student I would love the opportunity to redoe the inside with vintage things to create an entirely new (but vintage) atmosphere. It currently has really awful dark, fake wood paneling that I know is vintage, but I just can't stand... I could probably get that Richardson for free (or close to it) too... I hate to admit I'm not the biggest fan of her booty though. She basically just ends flat. It almost looks unfinished, or like someone modified it to just be a flat wall. I very much prefer the wild angles like the front end has. Because this trailer is so rough, I wonder if I could even modify the rear end design, maybe put in sort of balcony thing or add tapers or something... but make it look original. It would definitely require skill in metalwork to do it right, but that's something I'm very interested in and do want to learn. (I'll hopefully be taking some classes on at least welding soon). Oh, and while there's no pictures, in what's left of the living room is a very cool angled room divider...

I actually like the idea of living in some bizarre little collective grouping of vintage things. Like instead of one house per say, lots of little vintage rescued buildings and trailers...altogether in some little compound....like abandoned diners, little cottages, old train cars, vintage trailers, and other vintage oddities, some of which were never intended to be houses... I just think it would be such a fun and varied living experience. And I have seen all sorts of examples like the ones I mentioned listed for sale, often relatively cheap if you have a place for them.

But yea, here are some pictures I've been oogling over for inspiration. What I usually do is find certain images for inspiration when thinking of something like this. In a lot of cases, it's a singular thing or idea in an image I'm in love or am fascinated with. I love the idea of taking a lot of the ideas from these inspiration images and combining them in different ways.

Inspiration Images

LOVE this early 50's Landola! In this image what really strikes me is that sketched in patio/cover thing. I love the angled beam that extends past the roof line, and the play of the sever angles against the curved shape.

Below is another very cool patio covering idea.

The below Glendale has a similar angled front end (though I like the Richardson's better!), but this also has a very cool rear! I wonder if it'd be possible to to something like that to the Richardson. Also, love love this outrageous paint job!

And the chartreusy color of the one below...LOVE...

This one pictured below is a very rare 1959 Spartan Carousel...regarded by many as one of the holy grails of vintage trailers due to its excellent construction, styling, and outrageous floorplan! In addition to the large picture window on the end, which I love, the floorplan revolves around the kitchen in a way that had never been done before or again...

I mean just LOOK at that! How cool is that ROUND kitchen! With pink appliances, no less! Still not a fan of the wood paneling, but that kitchen is to die for...

The ceiling is also bumped down and then pulled back up to reflect the space below...and good lord there's even a Sputnik light tucked away in the recess! Oh! Incredible!!!

And the image below is just so happy and ridiculous I LOVE it. I'm kind of interested in combining some of the ideas from this image with the above one. Both are based on circles.... I love the high kitsch factor of this one and that little round covering thing held up by candy cane poles!

And this pink kitchen has the coolest angles in those cabinets (and in the layout itself). Not to mention its pink!

And I just kind of like this silly little wooden arch transition piece from an earlier 40's trailer...

Finally, I could only find an example in a vintage toy, but I love the little caboose covered balcony thing in this trailer!!!! Something like this also might be a possibility with the Richardson...

So anyways, just wanted to share some of what I'm currently oogling over! Lemme know what you think!

Lots of new goodies!!

(P.S. If 2 of these posts show up in your blog feed, pick the top-most one. Some slight blogger issues..)

As crazy as architecture has been, that sure doesn't mean I've taken a break on finding and rescuing new vintage goodies!

In the above pic, I scored that 50's endtable and an amazing Kroehler swiveling chair for $15! The chair is incredible, but of course I don't have a picture of it... I agreed to take the chair and endtable right away to get it for $15 at the thrift store, just kinda forgot what car I was driving hehe... the guy's face as he carried out the chair to the car was priceless... It was a "cozy" trip home to say the least...

Haven't painted or decorated much in the above room, but just putting vintage stuff in the room makes it instantly better! This table set is one of my all time favorite pieces...The lines of the table, the blonde wood, and that outrageous original striped vinyl! This one's definitely a long-term keeper! (Can you believe the seller wanted to reupholster them?! Yes, there are a few small rips on the seat part of some of them, but those stripes! Oh! How could you even think that!

And scored this awesome melmac set on ebay! $30 got me a lot! This is only a third of the whole set! (the other half is pink and yellow!!!)

I got the following stuff at the same place I got my sofa set in the living room...

Love this 60's string owl! I forget what these are called, but I love it! It'll go great against the soon-to-be pale chartreuse wall in the family room.

LOVE these 1940's pisner glasses! A set of 8 in perfect condition for $10!

And of course filled my appetite for kitsch with some awesome salt-n-pepper guys! I love the bowl of fruit- the pineapple and lemon come out ha!

And aren't these awwsh? The seller's mother made them in the 50's, and she was going to throw them away!

And an incredible score for $3!!! This amazing vintage tin rocket ship!! It's supposed to light up and drive around (it sort of does...ish). I hung it on the wall...I LOVE this!!!

And got me some killer vintage shades!

Also rescued him from the dumpster at my school! I use him in the office now! Love those boomerang arms...

Also scored this incredible Zenith Porthole TV!!!!! Ok actually I don't have a picture of mine on hand, but this is the exact same year/model as mine, except mine's in better shape! It's gutted, but that just means I can hide modern TV guts behind the screen and no one will know (shh!).

Also got this later 50's Zenith recently. However, the more recent find of the above Zenith means I have to sell this later one(I can't keep em all, and love the literal round screen of the earlier one!). I have one guy really interested in CT... I have to see is UPS would ship this... (I would remove the glass and legs).

So anyways, I know that was a long post, but I'm so far behind and just wanted to show you all all the goodies I've been getting! And that's still not nearly everything...

I will say as much as I have I basically have the thing where I don't just want to get stuff to have it, and then put it in storage... its too hoggish when other vintage lovers could use and love it! So I'm really trying to sell the stuff I don't absolutely love...maybe I can make a compilation of everything to sell, put it in a flickr album, and put a link to the side here somewhere... What happens is I'll get something, and then a bit later find something even better to replace it. (like the TV's above). And I should sell it immediately but it just takes so much time... but I really do need to get on that...

And the vintage giveaway winner is...

Alrighty! After writing everyone's name's down the appropriate number of times and tossin' ya all in the blender, I shook it up (figured it'd be a bit hard to read if I blended ya!), picked a name, and our winner is....

MICK!!!

Woohoo!! Yea!! *cue confetti

As the winner of this vintage giveaway, just send me a message with your address and all and I'll get on that shippin' pronto!

I love these giveaways! I'm gonna try to do at least one a month, so for the rest of you, there's next time! And trust me, with the amount of stuff I need to find loving homes for, there shouldn't be a shortage of giveaways! (Its just so hard to find multiple items that are related somehow!)

Vintage Giveaway!

Its been way too long since I had one of these! They're so much fun!

Ok, so here we have a couple items, all for your vintage smoothie-makin' pleasure! First up is 1960's Hamilton Beach blender!

I'm not sure, but I believe the glass top may have been replaced at some point in its life...either way, love the chrome and style! It has a great lever in front that's very fun to use, and it works great! Cord and everything is in great condition..

I love that it has a little booty hatch where you can stuff the cord! Ha!

Here it is on a test run...

Success! Yummy...

And you get this awesome vintage glass to drink those smoothies in! Loovvve it!! I will say it's not dishwasher safe (hence some of the decal things looking worn), but it has tons of style and is super fun!

So remember, to get entered in the giveaway just leave a comment on this post! You can get 2 entries if you post about the giveaway on your blog! (just let me know in your comment). I'll write all the names down and pick a winner this friday, around 6pm. Good luck!!!

*Oh and for the record, of course shipping is free!

"40 Cups of Coffee", or how to be an architecture student.

Sometimes I don't know how I do it. But I think Ella Mae Morse has the right idea.



Except I'm not waiting for a man, I'm waiting for a project deadline. Oh well, who needs a man when you have architecture...right?

I mean doesn't this place just say sweet and cozy to you? Who wouldn't want to spend EVERY WAKING MOMENT of your life in such a warm fuzzy cubicle??

But at least my workspace has all these vintage goodies to make me feel better after a long day in studio....

I love my kitschtastic 60's rooster clock!

And this pink clock! Such great angles and its pink!! Scored that with those awesome salt n' pepper buddies for $5!

And who needs an ipod when you can have late night record dance offs to Diana Ross and the Supremes?


And now I can erase in STYLE! (I really do use this all the time!)

Here's some of the stuff I've been working on...

One of the first projects...a formal-ish city park for a specific site...

Decided to add a little color to my process models with some marshmellows and tic tacs! Ha!

Very rough/early process work for a current project...

But yea...it's been a long semester. I'm so happy thanksgiving break is here! I know one thing I'll be doing! NOT architecture! (at least for the holiday itself...)


P.S. scored this AWESOME chair recently! I love love love it! (and this is a bad pic). From a design perspective I love how it seems to be made of these aqua "forms" that appear to be floating in space... And...$10!! It's peerfectly worn too...

Quick Fix to a vintage dinette chair...

I feel like I'm trying to sneak back in with a regular post and hope no one notices I've been gone for so long... Yes, yes, I know I haven't been a good blogger recently, but I just started my junior year in architecture at UMD this fall (first year of studio)....and it's been beyond crazy... Oh, the life of an architecture student...more like architorture sometimes!

But I do like it, and do LOVE design...so I just have to sacrifice a few small things....like my social life...and sleep...and sanity (at times). But enough about me, let's just see how often I can keep these posts up....and I feel a giveaway coming up to make up for it...just need to find some awesome mailable vintage stuff!

But anyways, I got this awesome dinette set over the summer:

It's great, and has fantastic legs, but several seats were ripped up.



I'm very much a fan of keeping things original, but these were fairly big rips... The backs however, were good and intact for the most part, so I was just unsure of what to do...

SO, I decided I would simply recover the 2 mostly ripped seats with another material that would work with the vintageness... I didn't rip off the existing vinyl, but just left it there and didn't disturb it, in case someone in the future does want to try to save it somehow (and only 2 or 3 seats were this bad).

First matter of business was unscrewing the seat...easier said that done!


Some of the screws were SO rusted and stuck in there after 50 years, and you do NOT want to strip one of those! Big pain...learned from experience...Some WD-40 and a half hour-ish later, I was done.

To make it a little easier when putting it back together, and extend the life of the screws, I let them sit in vinegar for a while and tried to clean off as much rust as I could.

Then some rubbin' and scrubbin'...

And tada!

Next order of business was stapling the new material on. If you ever recover a chair like this, make sure the pattern of your fabric lines up with the chair (verticals and horizontals all plum and true to the world-my tech teacher says that all the time- I love it!).

And quick spotlight on my awesome vintage stapler! I guess you might wanna use something heavier duty in some cases, but this is what i had on hand and it worked!

Next rescrew everything back together, and there ya go!


Yes, I liked the original cracked ice vinyl better, but I think it looks pretty good for having all the materials on hand, and is a lot cheaper (read: free) than reupholstering the whole thing (which I wouldn't do cause I love the original vinyl that's still there anyways!). Quick fix, but one that didn't hurt the vintage thing, and is easily removeable or changeable. And know you have an awesome 50's dinette you can be proud of!

P.S.

Since I got that set, I found my dream dinette set, and now I have too many! So if anyone is interested in buying this set, lemme know! (I'm in MD).