Show us your Thrift and/or yard sale finds

[Wire9Vintage]

Tonyb, that is a gorgeous thing. You'll have to show us what it looks like all hooked up!

 

[tonyb]

Tonyb, that is a gorgeous thing. You'll have to show us what it looks like all hooked up!

Thanks. It'll look a whole lot better than what's currently there, and will be much more in tune with everything else about this space. (I never did much care for that existing gas-burning faux woodstove.) But I know I'll have to part with considerably more dough to install it and make it work correctly (and safely) than I spent acquiring it. I'll be tapping the shoulders of friends who have more experience with this sort of thing, to get some sense of where it's wise to save money and where it isn't, which means mostly what I can do myself and what I oughtn't.

 

[Loweboy461]

I got a Sheaffer fountain pen and a Parker bal point pen for two dollars at a estate sale. also an old flat cap and a lot of books. ill post pictures later

 

[tonyb]

Tonyb, that is a gorgeous thing. You'll have to show us what it looks like all hooked up!

It needs a few tweaks, but here 'tis ...

I decided to just cap off the gas line. I considered an electric log set, but then, I just knew that would look kinda cheesy. So I opted against making any pretense that it's a "real" fireplace and instead went this route.

I took it to the DIY carwash and de-funkified it as best I could, pulled out the old faux woodstove, capped off the gas line, enlarged the hole in the ceiling and put this sucker in. Among the advantages of going this way are a lesser expense (20 bucks worth of polished rocks) and no concern for heat shields and minimum clearances from combustible surfaces and all that. And, you know, those candles do indeed produce real flame. And nothing I've done here can't be undone quickly and easily, should I wish to set it up some other way. (It occurred to me that an illuminated fish tank might look pretty cool in there.)

The dewy-eyed bride says it needs more rocks, and that it would be better if the candleholders matched. She's right.

 

[Shangas]

Mrs. B is quite correct. It requires more rocks and perhaps more candles. I believe you CAN buy sets of low candle-holders used for tealight candles. You put them in your fireplace and light them for that relaxing feel. I think it would look very nice.

 

[Quigley Brown]

Cute little 1950s Turner print (makers of the flamingo mirrors) I found at a thrift store recently for a couple bucks. It measures 12" x 14"

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[Wire9Vintage]

tonyb, that's really lovely. Have you seen the logs that have little tea light holes hollowed out. That would be pretty and cozy looking. And that's an easy DIY project!

 

[tonyb]

tonyb, that's really lovely. Have you seen the logs that have little tea light holes hollowed out. That would be pretty and cozy looking. And that's an easy DIY project!

Thanks.

The lovely missus was right, as was Shangas: It is improved with more rocks and matching tealight holders. Now I'm on the prowl for small frameless mirrors to stand up at the back of the firebox.

 

[Argee]

What about a large piece of reflective mylar? you could cut it to shape and there would be no visible edges. haven't researched heat resistance

 

[Shangas]

Beautiful!!

Candles can let off a surprisingly high level of heat, so whatever reflective thing you put at the back of the firebox (presumably to magnify light-output) would need to have a certain level of heat-resistence.

 

[tonyb]

Yeah, resistance to heat had occurred to me.

I found this flexible mirror thing online, at a site that sells stuff used in the film industry ...

http://www.filmtools.com/flexiblemirror.html

Right now I'm thinking that smallish mirrors (5" by 7", say, or random sizes thereabouts) would look right and still produce the desired effect. I once kept a mirror on my bathtub ledge, an unbreakable thing I used for shaving while luxuriating in the bath. It got lost in a move. Would such a thing hold up to the heat better than your more typical glass mirrors? Beats me, but there's one way to find out.

 

[Joie DeVive]

Now I'm on the prowl for small frameless mirrors to stand up at the back of the firebox.

That's lovely! Many craft stores carry unframed mirrors in various sizes and shapes.

 

[59KUSTOM]

Sure doesn't look like your mother's basement. Looks like a pretty cool pad to me!

 

[tonyb]

Sure doesn't look like your mother's basement. Looks like a pretty cool pad to me!

Thanks. You oughta see what it looks like upstairs, where Ma lives.

The old gal's a real hipster. Right now she's down at the tattoo parlor, getting herself a new one across her upper arm that says "Son."

EDIT: By the way, 59KUSTOM, for a few years when I was a kid the family car was a '59 Impala, a white-over-blue two-door. Just the other day I spotted a '59 four-foor flat-top, in the back storage lot at the car repair shop I patronize. It looked kinda tired, but it was all there, a reasonable candidate for restoration.

 

[Blooze]

Picked up a pair of "vintage" Klipsch Heresy's (1982) for near nothing a couple of years ago. My best find for the $$$ so far. I believe this was the last year of the original production Heresy's. Grills are in great shape as well. I've been meaning to rework the crossover and damp the back of the horns, but have never gotten around to it. The currently reside in my bedroom system.

 

[Giftmacher]

I just got this 20's Goerz Frontar Baby-Box. Looks like it will work again.

 

[Giftmacher]

And this is a fireplace clock, which I found few years ago. Still needs repair.

 

[tonyb]

Thirteen whole days since anyone has added to this thread? It's enough to prompt a person to get out and find some cool old thing cheap, such as this kitchen step stool ...

I recall an earlier version of this type of thing being quite commonplace when I was a youngster, but those had more the look of a '50s dinette set -- thicker chrome-plated tubing and rounder (and thicker) seats and backs and such -- than this MCM-ish looking item.

 

[PoohBang]

I found this this weekend....

ASTRO-COMPASS MK II

 

[tonyb]

I'd be tempted to drag home such an item as that myself, 'Bang, but I know exactly what the lovely missus would say. And then I'd have to tell her, as I have told her countless times in the past, that usefulness isn't the only virtue in this world.