Another set of photos I've been wanting to post... these also are from January (tsk tsk I know). Anyways, over the past two years I've been discovering more and more Chicago-area thriftaholics and have been lucky enough to meet up with & shop with a few of them in person. My latest adventure was with Lara of La Chouette en Dimanche who suggested that I take the Metra down to the South Suburbs for a day of 'junking' (what the local folks down there call thrifting!).
We lunched at a local spot near the antique shops in Orland Park called Islands Cafe. I really liked their old fashioned china tea cups and their tasty toasted sandwiches. It was also conveniently located near several antique shops, including my favorite "The General Store"!
The General Store is a historic landmark and actually was the Loebe Bros. General Merchandise store until 1969 when it was turned into an indoor antique mall housing more than 18 dealers. It still has the original pressed tin ceiling, front counter and merchandise shelves. We were pretty much overwhelmed by the amount of merchandise in there-- from glittering costume jewelry to 1950s frocks to Schwinn bicycles, it had it all! The prices weren't too bad either, I definitely would have bought more if I hadn't been on a strict budget that weekend.
Lara bought these two sweet 1960s dresses above and we both wished we could afford the Herman Miller set pictured below! Oh how I lust after Midcentury furniture...
One of the other stores we went to (Lara help me out with the name!) was housed in a 2-story blue house. Pretty great... it too was brimming with goodies including slightly creepy yet cute stuffed animals/old carnival prizes in the attic.
I took a shining to this stuffed kitten but upon closer inspection it had a zipper that unzipped to reveal a rotten foam stuffing. ew. So I had to leave the sad kitten behind, aw!
On the trip I saw so many things I wanted to buy but decided to be good and only get a few things. At The General Store I found a little pale aqua Art Deco plastic box, not sure what it was used for but it was marked as a soap holder. Also found the black leather purse there and judging from the style of letters we thought it was also Deco. "LW" are both Lara & I's initials! Inside it has a little attached coinpurse and it has a strap on the other side to slip over your hand.
I adore 'self identifying' items so I was happy to find these 2 milkglass coffee mugs at a thrift store we stopped at-- I think they were 40 cents each? They're resting on a Home Entertainment Guide by Betty Crocker, I couldn't resist the colours & illustrations featured on the cover!
See Lara's account of our day here: Blogger Meetup with Leilani .