"Family Emergency" in Louisville, KY

[Jay2TheRescue]

Well, I got the call, I have to go to Louisville, KY on family business tomorrow.  I am printing out a list of stores in the area, hopefully I can stop in one or two of them.

-Jay

[Cookie]

Jay, I'm sorry about your family emergency.  Those rarely come with good news.     You sound like the right kind of person to deal with emergencies, though, so I'm sure everyone will be glad to have you there.  I hope you're able to get some good thrifting in while you're there to lift your spirits.

Cookie

[Jay2TheRescue]

Jay, I'm sorry about your family emergency.  Those rarely come with good news.     You sound like the right kind of person to deal with emergencies, though, so I'm sure everyone will be glad to have you there.  I hope you're able to get some good thrifting in while you're there to lift your spirits.

Cookie

Well, it is quite a lengthy story, but suffice to say nobody is dead or dying so that is good.  My family does shop through grief though.  After my great aunt's funeral I drove her car back here to Virginia with my mom and we stopped at every thrift store we saw.  I even stopped at a thrift store during the service, between the church and cemetery.

-Jay

[SecondhandSophisticate]

Jay, Good Luck to you on your family business.  If you do have time to thrift, scope it out and let us know how you did.

Ciao,
SeSo

[Other People s Junk]

Best wishes and good luck shopping.

[ChrisMiss]

Sorry to hear about your family emergency.  I did get a good chuckle though about stopping at a thrift store between the church and the cemetery.  That sounds like an addiction doesn't it.  But what a great addiction it is.

[Cookie]

Whew.  I'm glad nobody is dead or dying.  Thrift therapy really does work.  It's gotten me through some rough times in my life.  It's magic, I tell you.

[Vintage PurseLover]

Jay sorry to hear about your family emergency.Hope all will be ok.
Have a safe trip.
Dianne

[Jay2TheRescue]

Jay, Good Luck to you on your family business.  If you do have time to thrift, scope it out and let us know how you did.

Ciao,
SeSo

Well, I'm back to my Mom's house now, the crisis is over.  Things went a whole lot smoothly than I anticipated, I was planning on spending more time down there, but was able to resolve it quickly.  We did have about 2 hours to get some good thrifting in on Friday night.  The thrift stores were HUGE, and I saw some pieces of furniture that a friend would like at a very reasonable price, but there was no room in the truck.  Unique thrift, which is a nice store with somewhat reasonable prices here in VA was IMHO very overpriced in KY.  There was a charity for the blind thrift store we stopped at that had everything 50% off which was nice.  I bought an old beat up rotary phone there for $0.49.  The lady at the counter mentioned that it was so ugly they had thought nobody would buy it.   I told her for that price I would buy it for parts.  I also bought a really cool tie in a goodwill in town for $1.50.  If I was traveling there just to shop and had room for large items in the truck I probably could have filled it though.

-Jay

[SecondhandSophisticate]

Jay, I am glad the crisis is over and things seem to have resolved themselves in a positive manner.

I like your story on the rotary phone.  Will you really use it for parts or revamp it somehow?  It's funny how the employees look at the stuff we buy and kinda figure on what will sell and what won't...

What kind of furniture did you have to pass up? Was it any mid-century modern stuff? That would be hard for me to walk away from!

Was the tie a wide polyester checked print from Sears? Or was it a "serious" tie?

Ciao,
SeSo

[Jay2TheRescue]

Jay, I am glad the crisis is over and things seem to have resolved themselves in a positive manner.

I like your story on the rotary phone.  Will you really use it for parts or revamp it somehow?  It's funny how the employees look at the stuff we buy and kinda figure on what will sell and what won't...

What kind of furniture did you have to pass up? Was it any mid-century modern stuff? That would be hard for me to walk away from!

Was the tie a wide polyester checked print from Sears? Or was it a "serious" tie?

Ciao,
SeSo

The tie wasn't conservative by any means.  I haven't owned a conservative tie in over 20 years.  This was a Ralph Marlin tie with billiards balls on it.  really cool, and for $1.50 it was a steal.  Yes, I really will use the phone for parts.  It is not  really a desireable color (rose beige) and it wasn't in the greatest condition, but it was complete.  If I run into another model 500 that needs a new ringer my $0.49 will be very well spent.  I also sometimes find that the rotary dials need replacing and this phone also has a good dial on it. 

The furniture wasn't midcentury modern, but more of a late 60's, early 70's style that my thrifting buddy Susan really loves.  I saw a couch and a pair of wing chairs she would have absolutely loved.  I helped her decorate her living room in 60's/70's kitch.  I specifically looked for tacky period pieces in excellent condition.  The tackier the better.  You would be surprised how good a room full of tacky stuff can be.  I often say when looking for stuff that an item must be "So tacky its cool".  One of our favorite pieces in the living room is the chair we have nicknamed "The lesbian chair", because we purchased it from a pair of lesbians at a flea market.  It is a black vinyl armless loveseat from the late 50's/early 60's. 

The lamps are another story.  Susan purchased one at the old flea market in Georgetown for $20 because it was so tacky that she loved it.  It also just happened to have all the colors she was using in the room in the glaze.  Two months later I called her from a junk shop over 100 miles away.  Would she be interested in a matching lamp for $2?  The answer was YES! 

I also found a set of vintage fiberglass kitchen curtains still in their unopened packages from the 60's in the colors of her kitchen. 

For me its very much the thrill of the hunt. 

-Jay

[ChrisMiss]

I'm glad that everything resolved itself and the emergency is over.  That's some pretty cool bargains that you found.  Why is it that the best furniture is always found in a town far away?  I too saw some furniture that would look great in my daughters house but it was in CA and she's in IL.  Oh well, someone will enjoy it.

When Ralph Marlin first started out I was working at the tie company in Minneapolis that the contacted about making the fish ties.  From there it just took off.  I think I still have a couple of their first fish ties that we kept from when I worked at that tie company. 

[SecondhandSophisticate]

Jay and ChrisMiss, I have never heard of Ralph Martin ties before. They sound snazzy

Should I be looking for them when I am out in the trenches?  What era are they?

Jay, the stuff you find sounds absolutely DIVINE!  I love Kitsch that looks sooo good it's art, or as you say "So tacky, it's cool!"  That's a hard look to achieve , it's a delicate balance between total Liberace tackiness and kitchy chic! 

I am a big advocate of the "So tacky it's cool" look because it shows quite clearly (to me) that the creator of the look does not take him/herself sooooo seriously, that one keeps a sense of playfulness about one's environment.  Of course, whether the visitors to one's environment recognize that sense of playfulness or instead are stern upholders of the "Rooms-to-Go" decorating methodology and snicker to themselves about one's "poor taste", is always the risk one takes.   But who cares?

Do you have any photos you can post of your stuff or of your friend's place?  It all sounds soooo inspiring, like the big red velvet Jesus bank I saw on TV the other day

Ciao,
SeSo

[Jay2TheRescue]

Jay and ChrisMiss, I have never heard of Ralph Martin ties before. They sound snazzy

Should I be looking for them when I am out in the trenches?  What era are they?

Jay, the stuff you find sounds absolutely DIVINE!  I love Kitsch that looks sooo good it's art, or as you say "So tacky, it's cool!"  That's a hard look to achieve , it's a delicate balance between total Liberace tackiness and kitchy chic! 

I am a big advocate of the "So tacky it's cool" look because it shows quite clearly (to me) that the creator of the look does not take him/herself sooooo seriously, that one keeps a sense of playfulness about one's environment.  Of course, whether the visitors to one's environment recognize that sense of playfulness or instead are stern upholders of the "Rooms-to-Go" decorating methodology and snicker to themselves about one's "poor taste", is always the risk one takes.   But who cares?

Do you have any photos you can post of your stuff or of your friend's place?  It all sounds soooo inspiring, like the big red velvet Jesus bank I saw on TV the other day

Ciao,
SeSo

I believe the Ralph Marlin ties are still in production, they are usually $20 - $30 each new.  The era would be late 80's to the present.  We often make fun of "The Room Store" because everyone ends up with the same stuff.  Kinda like on that episode of Friends where Phoebe declares her hate for Pottery Barn because everyone ends up with the same stuff.  I believe it was Rachel that was buying stuff at Pottery Barn and telling Phoebe that she bought it all at a Flea Market, until they walk by Pottery Barn on the sidewalk and Phoebe notices that the window display was their living room, except they didn't have the floor lamp!  (I loved the way phoebe opened the drawers on the apothecary cabinet ((from Pottery Barn))and said "MMMM, you can smell the drugs!")  I'll have to see if we have some pics I can post.

-Jay

[Jay2TheRescue]

I just remembered another thrifting experience from the trip, so I figured I'd share.  I really wish we knew what town we were in so I could review the store, but it was one of those things...  Look!  There's a Goodwill!

Anyway, we pulled into a Goodwill we saw along the way.  There was a lady vacuuming the carpet right by the doors & registers that immediately greeted us.  I thought that was nice.  After spending 2 minutes in the store mom & I were ready to leave.  The only thing she wanted to purchase was a paperback copy of the DaVinci Code.  We stand at the register for about 30 seconds.  The lady keeps vacuuming.  Mom finally asks the lady if she can ring us up.  She says no, she can't do that, and hollers to the back of the store for the cashier.  Lady resumes vacuuming.  Mom asks the lady if she could just take her $1 and they can ring the book up later when the cashier was available.  The lady stopped and said no, she can't take money and hollers to the back again.  This time there was a reply from the housewares department "I'm on my way!".  Then the woman disapears in the back room???  Finally she comes up front and rings up the book, and mistakenly rings it up as hardcover.  She hollers for the manager because now she has to void the transaction.  Mom had enough.  She left $1 on the counter and left.  As she was leaving the cashier was worried about her change.  Mom said consider it a donation...  We had wasted enough of our time in that store and needed to get back on the road.  In total I think we spent about 10 minutes in the store, most of it standing at the counter. 

As we got back on the road I could not help but wonder aloud why the cashier couldn't be the person vacuuming the floor 5 feet from the register, and the other lady could have been stocking shelves in housewares?

-Jay