The 'Ol Switcheroo!

So a few days ago I tempted you with this photo sampling my outfit for my Step-Dad's 60th birthday party.

Well...I didn't end up wearing that at all...

While out shopping for The Boy's costume I happened upon the most perfect mod 60's mini dress. I HAD to buy it and wear it to the party. It was serendipitous!!

Just to keep you in suspense a little longer, here's the original outfit:

Excuse the lack of hair and makeup. I took this photo today. We got home late last night!

Red 60's Dress: Thrifted, Goodwill 

White Tights: Le Chateau

White Purse: Thrifted, Value Village

Navy and White 60's Shoes: Thrifted: Value Village

This outfit is pretty cute, but the mini dress I bought the other day was just TOO perfect to pass up! Here she is:

White headband: Dollarstore

White Earrings: From Mom!

Mod 60's Cotton Printed Mini Dress: Thrifted, Value Village

Purple Tights: Walmart

Silver 60's Pilgrim Pumps: Thrifted, Goodwill

I'm not usually one for the shapeless dresses of the mid to late 60's, but I am totally enamoured with this dress. It only has one pocket! haha! Just one! I think that's so funny...I don't know why.

I may end up wearing this little cutie this summer. Trapeze mini dresses are in right now. Might as well make it vintage! We'll see what happens.

P.S. Welcome to all my new readers! Thanks for following!


 

Lisa.xo

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All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go

If you've been reading my blog for a while you know that I used to work at a local costume shop here in the city: Harelquin Costume and Dance. One of my favorite jobs working there was dressing the manequins.

Now that I have a pretty girl all my own, I dress her up quite frequently and admire her in my dressing room. I often test out new outfits this way.

Her latest outfit has got me over the moon. I'm quite taken with it and wish I had somewhere to wear it.

Blue 80's Hat: Salvation Army

Vintage Crystal Necklace: gift

Blue 40's Bird Brooch (I also have matching earrings!): Vintage Glory

50's/60's Blue Floral Dress: Hoopers

Lisa.xo

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Here's What I Bought

Wednesday is currently ranking pretty high on the unofficial "Best Vintage Shopping Trip Ever" list.

For just over $100 I bought the following:

A set of small green ceramic dishes from Goodwill ($6 for the pair). I am addicted to painted ceramic dishes. (Or coloured glasswear! This addiction is hereditary. I get it from my mother) This addiction is also hightened if the dish happens to be green. I couldn't resist these guys. And I don't even know what I'll do with them yet.

I bought this stuff at Salvation Army.
Two blouses. Same blouse. Different colour ($3 each). Love the peter pan collar and the pintuck pleats in the front (please take note: more green). I can't wait to wear these tucked into a cute skirt this summer.

Banana Republic Camel Trench Coat ($20). I've had my eye out for something like this for quite some time. This is just perfect. And I love the colour. Plus, who can resist a great label at an awesome price? It's in great condition. Looks like new!

Couldn't resist this little cloth clutch ($2). I just love the closure on it.

I'm wearing this neat watch brooch today ($5). I'm hoping I can get the watch to work. I plan on taking it to a jeweler to get it cleaned and looked at. I'm totally enamoured with it.

I bought these dresses at Vintage Glory.
They made my day. Seriously. We walked in, Doug the owner was in and we exchanged hellos. He then told me he had been to an estate sale on the weekend where the entire second floor was like walking through a time machine into the 40's and he had dresses. Lots of dresses.
Then he let me into the backroom to see all of the stock he had bought at the estate sale before it hit the floor! Eee!! So good!

Pink 40's Sheath Dress with Matching Belt ($20).

Doug told me that the woman's husband was a tailor. Most of the dresses were hand made. They were/are just gorgeous. I tried on a few more dresses, but these ones spoke to me. I had to take them home.

50's House Dress with Patch Pockets ($20). I just love a good cotton summer dress. This print is just too sweet.

Navy 40's Sailor Style Dress and Matching Jacket ($30)

Not bad for $109 huh? I would have ended up with WAY less had I spent that at the mall. Plus, no one will be wearing the same thing as me!

Hello my name is Lisa and I'm a vintage addicted.

Lisa.xo

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Outfits: Comfortable and Classy

Here's what I'm wearing today. This afternoon I'm headed out to do some thrift/vintage shopping with my two brothers and my brother Matt's girlfriend. Then I'm off to meet my grandparents and aunt who are in from out of town for dinner. Then I'm off to rehearsal from 7 to 10pm. (I'm stage managing for the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Winnipeg. They're doing HMS Pinafore this year!)
Whew! That's a busy day!!

So something comfortable, yet classy was in order!! This jersey dress (which I wear a lot!) hits the comfortable note and the Chanel style blazer makes it classy. Right?

I also enjoy the mix of patterns when I'm wearing the coat and scarf: the loud houndstooth with the subtle grey herringbone on the coat with the plaid tights. Mixing pattern is fun.

Rhinestone Fan Necklace: Thrifted

Chanel style Blazer: Ricki's

Grey Jersey Dress: Forever 21

Black Lace Cami: Smart Set

Plaid Tights: Ricki's

T-Strap Shoes: Spring

Grey Herringbone Coat & Houndstooth Scarf: Ricki's

 Black Patent Purse: Thrifted

Promise to show you what I buy today!

Lisa.xo

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Coffee Tablescape

I've amassed a collection of our goodies on my new coffee table which I think are pretty smashing!

What do you think?

I bought the turqoise vase at an antique store for $15 not long ago. The colour was just perfect for our house and I can just imagine it full of flowers this summer.

I love this stack of books. Especially the top one. It's a vintage book about welding. It was included for The Boy (who is of course, a welder!). He likes it there.

The silver cup, which houses a votive candle, was given to me by my Mom. It belonged to someone in our family before she got it. I think it may have belonged to my grandparents.

The shell, coasters and green beaded tray have all been accumulated by me in various places over the years.

I'm quite enamoured with the collection for the moment.

What have you got living on your coffee table? Anything special?

Lisa.xo

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Party Prepping

Next Saturday my Mom is throwing a 60th birthday party for my Step-Dad. It's a costume party! And since my Step-Dad is turning 60 we've been asked to dress in 60's style for the party.

So as you can imagine, I've been consumed with 60's styled thoughts. I not only have to dress myself, but I have to dress The Boy as well!

I was really tempted to go all out Mad Men, but that's pretty similar to my usual going out attire. So I thought I would go out of my usual vintage comfort zone and dress 60's mod!

Here's a little peek of what I've pulled together (out of my own collection of course!) for the party:

I'm still working on The Boy's costume. I'll be shopping this week for him.
I've saved these images as inspiration for his costume:

All of these images found here.

I will definately share photos of the party next weekend with you!

Lisa.xo

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Goodwill is my Favorite Thrift Store

I made another little trip to the Goodwill in my part of town a few days ago. And as you might guess, I brought home some goodies!

This belt was $1.50. I'm not wild about the back of the belt (it's in rough shape), but the sequin front is great! And it's in good shape. I can imagine this as a flapper headband, or even as a belt on a black dress with the rope replaced with something else.

The handle on this patent clutch kept me from leaving it at the store. It's just so cool and unique!

But by far the best thing(s) I brought home were these kitchen canisters. I've always wanted a set like this. I am constantly on the lookout for a nice set of vintage canisters. They always seem to be missing one from the set or they're dented or they smell funny or any other number of issues.
But this week these beauties were waiting for me! I've already got them all cleaned up and filled!

They're practically perfect! I'm just so excited to have found them! And for a mere $4.40!! For the set!

Plus the pinky copper on the tops look so great with my kitchen table.

And that's why Goodwill is my favorite thrift store! Happy Sunday!

Lisa.xo

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Dining Room Dreams

I've been consumed with thoughts of a new chandelier for our dining room and of painting our dining room furniture lately.

Here's our dining room as is it right now:

Well this is actually an older picture. I've got drapes hung that match the living room drapes now. You get the idea.

This room has been puzzling me until recently. All of the furniture in this room (minus the bookcase against the side wall) was free. The table and chairs were given to us when The Boy's aunt moved to B.C. The "hutch" (as I like to call it) on the back wall was in our garage when we bought the house.
I thought we needed a new table and chairs at least, but I could not find ANYTHING I liked. Nothing. Anything new was too big and anything antique that I liked just seemed too similar to what we already had.
I was stumped.

Until my Mom showed me this picture from Canadian House and Home magazine:

This set is very similar in style to mine. What I love is the updated punchy colour of the chairs. I won't be covering the backs of mine with fabric though. Too country for my look, but this photo has inspired me to work with what we've got and paint our dining room furniture.
Here's what I'm thinking. Bright high gloss white on the table and for the chairs, Benjamin Moore's Florida Keys:

Hmmm...Florida Keys is actually much more sea green than this scan. This is far too blue.

The Brown (called Black Bean Soup) will be for the "hutch". I'll also be lining the back of the "hutch" in wallpaper. This design from Seabrook Designs British Tropical collection is currently stealing my heart.

This scan is actually showing too blue as well. This wallpaper is more aqua coloured.

The bookcase will be relocated elsewhere in the house to open up the room.

In my opinion the chandelier is hideous. Sure, there are worst chadeliers we could have inherited with our house, but I just despise this one. It's a boob-lamp with arms. Ugh.

I have been on an exhaustive search since we moved into our house for a replacement. At first I wanted a chandelier with a drum shade. Like this one:

Sorry, no link for this pic. I can't remember where I snagged it last year.

That thought was eventually nixed as I realized this is a pretty trendy look at the moment and I wasn't sure if I would love a fixture like this for more than a year or two. I was also concerned about blocking the view of the hutch on the far wall. I needed something airier.
Then I was leaning towards something more traditional and sparkly. I showed you this chandelier on my last post about the dining room.

This guy was found at Home Depot.

The Boy was very much against anything too sparkly. He was convinced it wouldn't fit with our bright, modern meets vintage vibe the rest of our house has going for it.
So in the end this option was nixed as well...

It wasn't until I was watching HGTV and saw an interior sporting a funky, retro inspired sputnik chandelier that the light bulb went off above my head (pun intended!!)!! Something mid-century modern would be the perfect foil to my painted table and chairs! So the search was on for a cool sputnik light.

It didn't take long for me to find this beauty on Z Gallerie:

They call it the Orbit Chandelier. I don't care what they call it! I want it! And better yet, The Boy loves it too! Plus! it's only $250 US! Score! We have a winner!
The only real problem is that Z Gallerie doesn't ship internationally, so when we purchase it we will have to ship it to the border and drive to pick it up. No Biggie. The Boy does this for car parts all the time.

So now we're just waiting until we can save up a little cash to put in our order. I'm soo excited!

What about you? Are you having decorating dreams about your space? Do share!

Lisa.xo

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Wishlist: Printed Full Skirt

Ok. I know I already own a few of these. But none of them are quite as fabulous as these ones. I am seriously lusting after these skirts right now.

50's TACHI CASTILLO Mexican Birds Circle Skirt still for sale here!

Are you as in love with Posh Girl Vintage as I am? I spend hours looking at their site.  The next three beauties are for sale there right now!

60's Norman Norell Designer Polka Dot Skirt

40's Hawaiian Circle Skirt

This last one is my favorite. I just can't resist anything green.

60's Polka Dot Pleated Curly Hem Full Skirt

Anything you're lusting after at the moment? Especially since spring is right around the corner!! I actually wore a spring coat today!!

Lisa.xo



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