1956 better homes and gardens decorating book

[liamaria]

Got an great decorationg book at the salvation army today for 3.50. i love the pictures  and the furniture. i would kill for some of the pieces in there. im going to enjoy reading it tonite. last week at the flea market i got another decorationg book from 1970  its got furniture from all periods.   

[valleythriftshopper]

I have a few vintage christmas decorating books, they are alot of fun.  I picked up some 1950's Woman's day, etc. magazines from some one on Freecycle once.  Some things were surprisingly expensive for the 1950's, like some of the clothing featured.  i guess that is why the clothing manufacturing is outsourced now.  Hope you got some great ideas from your book!

[liamaria]

Yes i found some great ideas. however one of my friends  is in interior decorator and she flipped over it. so i let her borrow it today. by the way if u go on flickr.com u can search 1956 better homes and gardens decorating book someone took pics of  each page and put it up.  by the way i might have found a treasure on craigslist  a midcentury  sectional horse shoe couch. i sent them an email with my number waiting for a response. have u found any good stuff?

[valleythriftshopper]

Good luck on the couch. I need to make a friend with a truck, even if I found a great couch I have no way to get it home, other than to rent something.  The food bank thrift delivers unfortunately I never found any furniture there. 

I haven't found any thing too exciting this week.  There is a cute Shabby Chic quilt at the Sal Army like this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/SIMPLY-SHABBY-CHIC-FULL-QUEEN-LADY-ROSE-GREEN-QUILT-NEW_W0QQitemZ310200498846QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item483963fa9e
but not new.  It has no holes or stains but was obviously dragged on the dusty floor and needs a good soak, also has some missing quilt stitches.  It would clean up nice and actually a little wear kinda compliments a shabby chic print fabric, but it is priced at $7.99 which I think is a little much for a dirty used quilt.  I do need an extra quilt and do like it but I find the linens in general to be overpriced so I don't know if I should encourage that by buying the quilt.  What is everyone else's opinion?

[liamaria]

if u love it and u know how to clean it  i say why not get it. 7.99 isnt to bad but im only saying that because when i do see quilts in my area  at thrifts  they are priced alot higher except for the rare occasion. i had found a really cool 1950s quilt with great colors pinks and turqiouse and funky prints but it was 20 bucks so i left it there. i have lucked up at salvation army before on a quilt for 2.99. the goodwill had a quilt not finished for 50 bucks lol. but i know exactlt what u mean about not buying something if u feel its overpriced. because if u pay that  price once they will keep marking items up. .   i dont have a truck either but luckily my dad does.   let me know what u decide about the quilt. also the guy emailed me about the couch and it was made by koerler and it belonged to his grandmother. the weird thing is in his listing he described it as a retro escobar era couch. i have never heard that term i have heard eames era a million times but no escobar era. and its priced at 395.00 so its not too cheap exp when im use to thrift bargains.

[Jay2TheRescue]

At least you can deal with overpriced stuff.  Goodwill by my house has discriminated against me on a few occasions.  Once I saw the coolest orange 70's sectional in their furniture section, but there was no price on it.  When I asked I was told $300, which I think was a bit much considering it was a 30 year old couch in dire need of a date with a steam cleaner.  I ended up in that same store later that day (or was it the next morning?  I don't remember now) to see a sold tag on the couch with the receipt stapled to it.  Sold for $100, and the name on the sold tag was Hispanic.  When I asked about it earlier I was told $300.

[valleythriftshopper]

Some stores will do that.  I was talking with a cashier at the food bank thrift and she said if she thinks someone is buying stuff to resell she will charge them more than another customer.  (Most non-clothing items are unpriced there)  It is usually not that much more but still a difference.  They may have thought you were a dealer or something. 

[liamaria]

I would have been so mad if that had happened to me. thats just wrong on so many levels. why did they do that to you because u resell things?  i have an antique booth but i dont really discuss  that with the employees. at the stores everyones really nice as i am to them. so i havent encountered anything like that  .... yet. but to be honest most of my thrift store finds i keep for myself and the yard sales and auction finds go in to the booth.  the sectional sounded really cool  thats horriable they treat u like that.   

[Jay2TheRescue]

Yes, I do resell some stuff, but they don't know that.  I wanted the sectional to put in my own living room.  My personal feeling is that they sized me up and thought I was gullible enough to spend $300 on it, but I would have gladly paid $100.  Then again this is also the Goodwill that used to lock the doors and not let anyone in 45 minutes before the posted closing time.  Thankfully that stopped after a few emails to the area GW office.

[valleythriftshopper]

$300 and $100 is a pretty big difference.  I would have inquired with the manager why it was sold for $100 when it was offered to you for $300.  Maybe the $100 was a deposit on the couch.   At the food bank thrift you can hold a piece of furniture by putting a deposit on it, but I am guessing Goodwill doesn't do that.  There are so many snarky people that work at thrift stores unfortunately, they seem to have a grudge against the customers, even the ones who don't deserve it.

[Jay2TheRescue]

As much as I hate to say this, the best guess I can come up with is that a white guy that didn't look like he was sleeping under a bridge asked the price, so they shot high.  What was disturbing to me was that it was sold for 1/3 the price I was quoted.  I've never been happy with the management of my local Goodwill, the only reason I continue to go there is because its 1/2 mile from home, I drive by it every day, and its in the same plaza as Safeway & Big Lots.

[liamaria]

yeah u r probably right thats prob why they did.  i would continue to go to esp if its close to my house. if i pass by a thrift store and dont  stop im afraid i might miss out on something.  lol. the people that hang out  at the goodwill clearance outlet ask me what im doing there. its a bunch of men that buy newer furniture and electronics and resell on ebay and flea markets. this one guy told me i didnt look like a person who shops at  thrift stores and then he asked why i come in alone without a man. lol. all those guys wait up there till the truck arrives.  it was funny when he said i dont look like a person  who shops at thrift stores? i asked what that person looks like. cuz i see all differant types of people thrifting.     im glad u called and complained  when they were locking the door 45 minutes early i would have too.

[Jay2TheRescue]

[/RANT]

Well, that felt good to vent that.  Its been bothering me for a while.  Back to the main subject of this thread, I have several copies of the BH&G decorating book ranging from the 50's through the 70's.  I love them.  They always inspire me to do cool things in the house.

[valleythriftshopper]

Its funny, just the other day I was at the crummy Sal Army which is less than a mile from where I live so it is super convenient, that is why I stop in.  After perusing the overpriced crap and chipped china and passing by the sour faces of the hags that work there, I decided I am not going to bother to stop in there anymore unless I am looking for clothes.  I do find an occasional goodie there but it is really not worth all the time I waste stopping over there.  A shame because it used to be an awesome store.

Liamaria:  That is funny that someone told you you don't look like the typical thrift store shopper, maybe that Goodwill is in a tough neighborhood?  Here you see all kinds of people at thrifts ranging from Cletus & Brandine types (Simpsons characters) to very sofisticated looking people.

[mccoysnina]

I've never really liked the GW around here.  Lots of stuff, most of it overprices.  Occassionally they have 1/2 off eerything sales and I still think it's too high.  Once ina while find stuff but not often.  And except for one or two employees, most of the staff seem to be nasty to everyone.  It's like any other store.  If I don't like it, I can go somewhere else to spend my money.
Jeannie