Lamp Lunacy and Porcelain Prettiness

Lamps: they are my mostest favorite thing to thrift. Favorite in kind of an obsessive, too-excited way, in fact.

An interesting vintage lamp gives me a thrill that other folks get over, oh, a new love, winning the lottery, or chocolate cake. (Though I wouldn't turn down any of those things, either.)

As a result, I have a lot of them in each room. And this is okay, given my house is an otherwise pretty dark little Victorian.

Lamps offer that warm glow that also warms my heart.

So when I saw this baby at the L&L Fleatique over the weekend, I could not leave it there.
It's not actually stained glass, but some sort of frosted plastic material made to look like glass. I imagine, based on the materials, that it was probably made in the 60s or 70s, when they started really incorporating plastics into lamps.

I thought the whole thing was sort of gaudily beautiful, which is often my quirky criteria for a good lamp. And the colors are just so inspiring to me when lit. It's now residing in my livingroom.

At the Salvation Army thrift store earlier in the week, I nabbed this glass, pink vintage ceiling light shade...
I plan to use it on my third floor office, where currently there is a white, plastic, very sterile Atomic Age shade which just doesn't work with the rest of the house. It should be a fairly simple swap, and at just $4.99 the price was right.

At only $5, was this frosted glass, depression era boudoir lamp of a lady in a belle skirt...

I'm not sure why it was marked to just $5, when it had been listed at $35, but everything in that area of the Fleatique was, so I couldn't pass the deal up. Again, because of lampaholism.

At the Good Samaritan thrift store, I got these two painted plates from Germany (I plan to hang them on the wall)...
And these Moonstone pattern cups. At $0.69 a piece, it was a very good deal.
Oh, and last, I got this nice little dresser jar from Germany the same day I got the pink lampshade. I think it would be handy for storing cotton balls, Q-tips or something like that.

So that's the thrifty goodness for this week. Quite a lot, really, at one time-- funny how that happens!!

Let's hope none of you are too "shook up" from yesterday's earthquake. I was standing at work, talking to someone and didn't feel it at all, while all my colleagues seated at their desks were really feeling it rock-n-roll.

11 comments:

Kim Gillian said...

What great finds! I too am a lamp-o-holic, I love them, even when I have no where to put them.
-Kim

I Art Fashion said...

Oh, wow be careful
I hope nothing shakes up again.


Lovely finds!
Love them all

http://iartfashion.blogspot.com/

Country Lady said...

Beautiful finds, I particularly like the depression era lamp and the moonstone cups, you got a great deal on those!

People all the way in London Ontario, near where I live felt the quake, hopefully there will be no more!

Jenn Thorson said...

Kim- I always use the excuse that "I'll find a place." Which I usually do. It's wonderful to know there are other fellow lampaholics out there! :)

IArtFashion- Heh, me too. Perhaps we need to tell that to the fault lines. :)

Andrea said...

That pink jar is so cute. And, of course, I love the lamps...HI I'm Andrea...I'm a lampaholic. HI ANDREA! The roses on the plates are, as they now say, YUMMY!

Mindy said...

I can't believe the prices at your thrift stores. They are so reasonable! I can't even buy an ugly modern coffee cup with someone else's name on it for $.69! So, I shop vicariously through you. :)

Anonymous said...

Mmm, lamps!

re: photo #1...
Well we think we have the lamp obsession real bad but then we see something like this and we realise what we'd be like given the resources to really flex the old lamp buying muscles. Somehow Stevie Nicks has managed to squeeze six Tiffany lamps into one promo pic! In an interview somewhere she said that she has so many she's lost count but that they're not all valuable antique originals. The modern ones may only be made from acrylic resins but they look great.
Why in the world did anyone want to part with that lamp!

Orlando.

Jenn Thorson said...

Country Lady- Yes, it's amazing how wide spread the tremors can be. When Canada had the quake half a year ago, we felt that in Pittsburgh, too.

Andrea- I think any Lamapholics Anonymous meeting would just end up with everyone sharing photos of their awesome lamps and we'd all end up off the wagon even further. :)

Mindy- Oh, we have places like that, too. It's just a matter of luck and where you happen to be at any given time. We're lucky in that we have a wide variety of resale stores to choose from, and you start to learn where you can get the better deals.

Orlando- Oh, that lovely room!!! That lamp closest to the camera is GORGEOUS. Yes, she has totally legitimized Lamp Obsession. Thanks for sharing that!

meleah rebeccah said...

I absolutely love that lamp!

Cathy Pieroz said...

Wow some beautiful and unique finds here. I love the first lamp, such a great feature piece. - Cathy Pieroz at Ray White Alexandra Hills

Ladyslipr said...

The depression era lamp you found I had for a nightlight as a young girl but it got broke and I have been looking for one everywhere very jealous but glad I atleast got to see a pic again!