Thompson Family-Life

Around Atlanta: Atlanta Vintage Books

Last week I got a Scout Mob for Atlanta Vintage Books. I had never heard of this shop before and that is why I love things like Scout Mob! They introduce me to fantastic local places that I wouldn't otherwise know of. When I saw the words "vintage" and "books" I e-mailed my school teacher Mother-in-Law asap to see if she wanted to go with me. She is an avid children's book collector herself, so she was game!

Luckily, it is located not very far from us! Score! So I can definitely see myself visiting there often. I contacted the owners before I went to get permission to take photos for my blog, to spread the word about their store. They were totally okay with it and were the sweetest folks! They are so warm and welcoming and you can tell they very, very much love books. 

It is quite something seeing all of these old books together in one place. There's definitely a sense of history when you walk around. And the shop has a lived-in feel to it, much like the feeling of walking around someone's attic or when you're looking for treasures at estate sales - you sense there's a story that comes with every book. If you are used to thrift store, flea market and estate sale adventures, you're used to that dusty, sometimes moldy experience when looking through old books. It is no different in this place. But I find that charming.

Fair warning though: as an allergy sufferer, I need to point out that along with some dust, there are also cats. Lots of cats hanging about this place! Yet another charming aspect. I'm pretty allergic, but my sinuses weren't bothered while I was there. Needless to say, I didn't sit down on any furniture that could be covered in cat hair, so that helped. As long as I don't touch those cute furry guys and gals, I'm okay. But if you are highly allergic, I might steer clear (my husband actually gets very asthmatic just being in the same room with a cat. His throat closes up, not even touching them. Scary stuff!)

I of course made a beeline to the children's section. According to their website, they have one of the largest collections of rare and out-of-print Children's books in the Southeast. I was especially drawn to the mystery series collections they had from the 60's, including the Nancy Drew series. Would you believe I've never read one Nancy Drew book? What a scandal, right? I loved the cover illustrations so much on the editions they had.

I don't really read a lot mostly due to lack of time. Since I'm a crafter at heart, I normally save my free time for making things, and of course blogging. ; ) But sometimes I feel like I'm really missing out not reading more. I always read the big ones like Twilight and Harry Potter (ha) and I'm even listening to the Hunger Games on audio. But truly, I need to read more. And honestly? After going to this bookstore, I'm really itching to read the Nancy Drew series.

Here's one of those charming kitties here... I think he was actually posing for me.

These were some of my favorite finds. I've seen books with these same kitschy puppet scenes. They are super cool. The covers had 3D holograms on them.

And this was the find of the day, a 1st edition printing of A Confederacy of Dunces, Ethan's favorite book ever. I have yet to read it, but people say it's a riot. A must-read.

As far as pricing goes at this store, it really depends on how rare the book is, what edition it is, etc. These aren't your thrift store prices folks. But they are deserving. These people know their books. The books that are priced really well, deserve to be priced that way, you know? So, no unfair mark-ups I don't think. I walked away with a cute little book for $5 that has some really cool illustrations by a Dutch artist, if I'm not mistaken. Will show photos soon.

What are you reading lately? Do you collect vintage books?

Be sure to follow Atlanta Vintage Books on Twitter, Facebook and they also have an online shop!

my life in Droid pics

1,4 - Kudzu Antiques // 2,3,9 - Decatur Estate // 5 - Highland Row Antiques // 6 - Thrift // 7 - Classy Flea 
8 - My Studio (tour to come!)

I started this feature a while back and I realized I've only done it once! I know lots of you own iphones and you're all over Instagram... well, pffft. I'm a Droid girl. (kidding, I would love to be an iphone girl, but it ain't in the budget!)

I loooove having a phone that I can take pictures with. Yes, I was probably the last person on Earth without a smart phone, but I got my first last year. I especially love having my phone with me when I'm out thrifting or going to local Atlanta vintage shops. I use it to "claim" items that I can't take home with me. You know how that is. There's something about taking a photo of something, or blogging about it, or pinning it on Pinterest to make you feel like it's "your's" even though it's not. Know what I mean?

As you can see we have quite a lot of great vintage to be seen in this city!

10,11,14,18 - Cobb Antiques // 12 - Heliotrope // Moi at my new fav vintage clothing store Rag 'o Rama
 15,16 - Thrifts // 17 - My Studio

Let's also take note at how phone cameras make you look about 20 lbs thinner.

Mmm-hmmm. You know it's true.

19,23,25 - Cobb Antiques // 18 - Buford Highway (Atlanta's closest thing to Chinatown) //
21 - Kudzu Antiques // 22 - Me in my bathroom // 24 - Highland Row Antiques // 26 - My bike! Pannier bag from Cycle Chic

So if you're ever in Atlanta and are looking for great vintage, be sure to check out some of the shops I linked to. Thrifting is great here, too. I use this awesome website while I'm out (viewed on my Droid of course!) called The Thrift Shopper. You just put in a zip code and all of the nearby thrifts come up. I've spent the past six months or so traveling all over Atlanta (Atlanta is VERY big and very spread out) scouting out all of the great thrifts. It's been quite an adventure.

Do you use a Droid? Do you like it?

Home Inspiration: Velvet Hanger turned Scarf Display (& a hidden MCM treasure found in ATL)

I found a 2-pack of these velvet hangers at Home Goods a while back and knew I wanted to use it for some sort of display in our bedroom or elsewhere. I can't remember what it's originally intended for, but I think it was in the laundry section, so maybe for air drying something? Or a tie hanger? Not sure. I was instantly smitten with the turquoise "velvet" that the hangers were covered in. Reminded me of those vintage figurines that are flocked. It's simultaneously pretty and tacky at the same time, know what I mean? I love it.

I finally had some time to use the hangers for a little display in my studio (since there's no more room on the walls in our bedroom). I have quite a collection of vintage scarves and ascots. Most are Vintage Vera of which I paid one dollar each at a flea market when we were traveling somewhere. Ironically, I don't really wear scarves, but I do love the patterns and colors of vintage ones. I do love a pretty ascot, but I haven't tried tying any loose ones as an accent to a shirt (usually they are part of the shirt).. I want to try this once fall rolls around.

I thought they would make a pretty display with all of those great patterns and colors.

After googling "velvet hangers" I realized they are velvet so that garments (or ties or scarves) won't slip off. Keeps them in place. I could only find them available from various wholesalers, but wouldn't these be cute in a little vintage clothing shop? I LOVE all of the colors!

Thank-you for your response to my Thrifting post last Friday. I could feel the passion so many of you have for it, and although I realize lots of people love to treasure-hunt, my heart was truly warmed by how excited people get. It's fun isn't it? And I'm also glad to hear that you all have some of the same concerns that I have. It's all a balance and half the fun is the hunt. Thank goodness for all of the great vintage shop owners out there that share so much of their loot with us!

We had a great weekend:

- I did a marathon of American Pickers (oh, man, I could watch that show all day, every day. That Mike and Frank are too cute.)

- Worked on that DIY decor project and I'm (eek) so excited about how it's coming out! Will share soon!

- I gave our formal living room a facelift and I really love the new look. I took various wall art that's been dispersed around the house, and brought them together with the Craigslist furniture finds I've accumulated over the past few months. I'm SO much more happy with it. Will share peeks soon!

- I think we were all recovering from the first week back at school. We were all a bit pooped out. But I got to do some thrifting (of course), the boys got to go to a Carnival (with petting zoo, face painting and cotton candy of course) and Ethan got to drive his remote control cars.. we were all happy.

- While thrifting and vintage shopping (at one of my fav vintage shops, Decatur Estate), I walked out of Decatur Estates and noticed some people that looked a little gussied up following each other down a flight of stairs. I thought to myself "Why would they be so gussied up for a trip to the strip mall?"... well, I proceeded to follow them and noticed the AMAZING Mid-Century stair railing! It was totally out of place!

Then I looked further inside and spotted the most incredible Mid-Century Chandelier I've ever seen. It was enormous. Just stunning. So I took some pics with my Droid. I want to go back and take proper photos with my good camera. It turned out to be a PLAYHOUSE, OnStage Atlanta, (how cool!) and I already told Ethan that we need to see a show there. I tweeted about it and a fellow Atlantan tweeted back and said that the word on the street is that they're going to tear down the strip mall and put a Wal-Mart there. Oh man, how devastating would that be? I can't even think about it. :*(

On a good note, it's pretty exciting to stumble onto such treasures in my own city. I often travel far away to see things like this, and I don't realize that there are treasures to be uncovered in my very own city. It's exciting! (and in a strip mall that I've been to a MILLION times? It is that hidden!)

I hope you all had a great weekend and continue to have a lovely week!

Around Atlanta: The Silver Skillet

I was looking for fun vintage roadside attractions online last night for a guest blog I'm working on, and came across one right in my own hometown.. a restaurant in a time warp, straight from the 50's. Apparently Ethan has already been but I had never heard of it! It's called the Silver Skillet. I loaded up the boys and took them for a breakfast-lunch (they serve breakfast til 2:30) today. I don't know about you, but I could eat a nice greasy breakfast for every meal of the day. Yuuuuum. ; )

It's always a harrowing experience taking the boys anywhere in public, especially out to eat.. but I do it often. Because I just like eating out. And it's always a good excuse to get out of the house (do your kids go absolutely batty indoors at home? Mine can't go literally 5 minutes without bickering... sigh.) So my solution is always.. "Let's get in the car! And just go. Anywhere."

The Silver Skillet was as awesome as I thought it would be. Nothin' fancy. Good 'ole Southern breakfast. The nicest staff and they even let me take photos. Which in itself is quite a wonderful thing for a blogger (you bloggers know what I mean.) I can't tell you how many times I've been at a restaurant or shop and if I even dared take out my camera, they were on me like flies.. "No photos! No photos please!!" Is it just me or are people getting crazy paranoid? I mean, I'm a paying customer. I could very well be taking photos so that I can blog about them and send people your way. Usually I do ask before I start snapping away (like I did today) but sometimes they're still against it. Don't they want new business? I understand, especially with shops with original art maybe? Don't want people to copy the ideas? But in a restaurant?

Ah well, I guess that's a discussion for another day. 

I got some photos of the boys.. after I tried a few "just smile nicely boys" shots that always turn out forced, fake and awful, I just said "do what you want" and this is what I got. Much better than the fake smiles. Although some of these faces only a Mother could love. ; )

They had all of these awesomely awful horse prints all together on the back wall. I wanted to get better photos of them, but the glare on the glass didn't help and I didn't want to get all up in people's business while they were eating. (I might be taking photos, but I'm always respectful of other people and discreet at least!)

I loved the boomerang pattern on the original formica tables.