Thrifty!

March 22nd, 2011

I headed out with Laure, Abby and Beth to Palm Springs last week to shop, eat and do girl crap.

We scuttled around to all our favorite vintage haunts and they found things here and there, but ultimately, I was the greediest girl when it came down to buying some stuff and then mushing it into Laure’s poor car.

First to be shown off (of my recently attained loot) is this brass lotus lamp from the 1960′s. I’m not sure what designer or manufacturer it can be attributed to, but one of my favorite expensive vintage ateliers has a bunch that I can’t afford – you know, if I wanted a pair or something. I found it at the Revival’s Thrift and selfishly yelled “DIBS” when I saw it hanging from the ceiling by all the bric-a-brac.

The Boy and I installed it in the hallway. Once again, we had to resort to weird ceiling covers and lots of finagling to figure out how to properly mount this bad boy. With vintage lighting its always such a hassle to get all the mounting stuff right. The nipples and hex nuts and other titillating pieces are like a puzzle of sexy despair.

I need to patina that bright brass ceiling canopy. Yikes. It didn’t even bother me till I sat and really looked at these pictures…

Getting a really good shot of our main hallway is impossible. There are five entrances in the space of like 100sqft and the combination of all the walls, angles and doors create a labyrinth of impractical camera blocking horror.

The lotus lamp is the perfect scale and more interesting to look at than the boring ol’ Ikea Fado lamp that had been installed in the hallway for the past three years. I think I’m in love and I think I’m keeping it forever and ever and always. I don’t say that all that often, seeing as I love switching stuff up, but this time I think I may actually mean it. Maybe.
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    79 Comments

    1. Tara on 03/22/2011:

      I LOVE IT.

    2. Tara on 03/22/2011:

      That thing pops louder than Pop Rocks. Absolutely stunning, perfect and enviable.

    3. maya on 03/22/2011:

      how did those girls not kill you?
      hmm, then they can also grab all the rest f the stuff from your house.
      just a thought.

    4. THE BRICK HOUSE on 03/22/2011:

      Maya, are you advocating my murder just to grab free furniture? Wow.

      As I recall you have some pretty murder worthy stuff at your pad. Watch out when I come visit. ;-)

    5. maya on 03/22/2011:

      i know… i am plotting, just because you are awesome.
      xx

    6. Elisa @ What the Vita on 03/22/2011:

      OMG. I can’t even think of anything to say. This is the greatest find of the century.

    7. ModFruGal on 03/22/2011:

      Sick score….major envy.

    8. The Vintage Cabin on 03/22/2011:

      Now, I normally hate brass as much as I hate the strong stench of B.O. in a crowded bus but DAMN! This light is making me want to change my tune a bit. It’s awesome and looks great! It’s the perfect blend of high design (whatever that means) and strange all rolled into a flower. Perfection.

    9. Melissa on 03/22/2011:

      LOVE.

    10. coletta (rhymes with velveeta) on 03/22/2011:

      how much was it? you don’t tell us the cost of stuff anymore!!! your ability to find good stuff for cheap is a big part of what i like to read.

    11. THE BRICK HOUSE on 03/22/2011:

      TVC – oh honey you gotta get on the brass train. it is the shiz.

    12. meemsnyc on 03/22/2011:

      How in the world do you find gorgeous pieces like this? Really, wow!

    13. Jules on 03/22/2011:

      You had me at brass. My obsession is reaching new heights, and the listing you sent me today isn’t helping.

    14. THE BRICK HOUSE on 03/22/2011:

      Coletta, I know. I’m all tight lipped now. Lets just say it was a thrift store and that you could get a dinner for the cost. Not like a nice dinner though.

    15. THE BRICK HOUSE on 03/22/2011:

      Jules. You gotta buy that table! You must. It takes brass to the next designy awesome level of incredibleness.

    16. Christina Diaz on 03/22/2011:

      Holy Beautifulness!!! I am not gonna lie when i say i have some seriously serious brass pendant lamp envy!! I have been looking for a piece very similar to this that i spotted a few years back with no such luck. the one i am obsessed with is more artichoke lookingish but this, this is a beaut! Congratualtions on the score. IF by any chance you ever do feel like selling….i’m just saying….

    17. Nat on 03/22/2011:

      I’m dying over that lamp. Dying! So jealous, in the best of ways. Great score!

    18. emily henderson on 03/22/2011:

      shit. you know i want that. eff. nice job.

    19. THE BRICK HOUSE on 03/22/2011:

      Emily, I really need that chrome rocker from Joy’s episode. So bad.

    20. Raina @ If the Lamp Shade Fits on 03/22/2011:

      Stop. It hurts (it’s that good).

    21. Kathy on 03/22/2011:

      Those. Are. Awesome. Drooling with jealousy here!

    22. alice on 03/22/2011:

      If you ever decide to not keep it forever…. I think you have a pack of envious women here ready to take it off your hands.
      I am one of them… keep us posted??

    23. rivka on 03/22/2011:

      That is totally gorgeous! I’m nuts about it! You find the most amazing stuff. (tacky question—) May I ask how much it was? (sorry—)

    24. Darren on 03/22/2011:

      Okay….I’m not a huge fan of brass…but that pendant is the BOMB! I would have tripped you even if you had called dibs and figured and ended friendship would be worthwhile just to have it. : )

    25. rivka on 03/22/2011:

      Oh no. I click off and go onto my etsying and what do I run into?… you could wear it while standing under your new pendant lamp….wear your pendant under your pendant…

      http://www.etsy.com/listing/66134494/original-golden-flower-pendant-necklace?ref=fp_treasury_9

    26. Robyn on 03/22/2011:

      I wish you’d tell us the price, that was part of the fun!

      I really like that lamp because its totally my style, but Im surprised that you like it so much! I would have never guessed. If I had been shopping with you we would have had to wrestle for it for sure.

      Great find!

    27. Florian on 03/22/2011:

      Why, Miss Satterfield, it’s beautiful!

      It is so totally “you” and matches your place perfectly. Ye gods, they want 1800 bucks PER PIECE for the little fuckers and you got it for the price of a mediocre dinner? I bow to your thrifting skills in envy and admiration. How do you find those places? It’s so bloody difficult here to get a good deal. All the dealers in town know very well what their stuff is worth. And those who don’t, don’t have nice stuff. Oh, bother!

    28. Charlotte on 03/22/2011:

      That lamp is absolutely beautiful and timeless. If you ever get tired of it, send it my way ;-)

    29. Freyja on 03/22/2011:

      It’s beautiful :)

    30. Lori on 03/22/2011:

      Oh my god I love that lamp! Awesome purchase.

    31. MaxK on 03/22/2011:

      Missy, you are just lucky I wasn’t with you because I would have bum-rushed your thrifty arse, lept from your back onto the ceiling and clung to it like a howler monkey until you all gave up and went away!

      Ahem.

    32. Tanya from Dans le Townhouse on 03/22/2011:

      Whimper. So jealous.
      Looks LOVELY!

    33. saba on 03/22/2011:

      http://morewaystowastetime.blogspot.com/2007/09/ebay-find-of-day-lotus-lamp.html

    34. Elissa on 03/22/2011:

      Damn! That beats my brass score this weekend. I’m jealous!

      http://vintage-green.blogspot.com/2011/03/weekend-finds.html

    35. Mr. Goodwill Hunting on 03/22/2011:

      I am very very new around these parts, but I took time to read your blog last night and I must say you are one thrifty hunter.

      This piece is nothing but amazing!

      I am a lover of brass as well. I have been collecting for a few years, but this one tops the cake.

      I know sometimes hush hush is good so that if the need comes to sell, you can do so.

      I am certainly adding you to my daily reading.

      Mr. Goodwill Hunting

    36. Leah on 03/22/2011:

      whoa!!! i have been searching hi & low for this exact light for my master bath!!! can’t say how jealous i am. what a great score!!!!!!

    37. Fiona on 03/22/2011:

      So pretty.

    38. L on 03/22/2011:

      Echo-ing all the rest: Fab. U. Luss.

      And it’s waaaay cool how your aesthetic is shifting; i got addicted to your blog a bit ago and read the whole thing from the beginning. Suspect that you would not have dibs’d that wonderful lotus a coupla years ago . . .

    39. Melinda on 03/22/2011:

      Wow – LOVE these! They could totally work in a kitchen too since they have an artichokey feeling as well!

    40. Tobe | Because It's Awesome on 03/22/2011:

      no words.

    41. Annie Bleecker on 03/22/2011:

      WOWSA! That is so cool. What a find indeed. I lament for the millionth time that ceiling fans are a must in my region.

    42. Mea on 03/22/2011:

      Probably the sexiest lamp I ever did see!

    43. my little apartment on 03/22/2011:

      okay, it’s official. I hate you.

    44. Callista on 03/22/2011:

      Obsessed.

    45. Katherine on 03/22/2011:

      I’m gonna’ go ahead and say that I love this….yup, I love it.

    46. Abby on 03/22/2011:

      I am so extremely jealous. That thing is an awesome score!

    47. Lisa on 03/22/2011:

      I think I actually moaned in my office when that first photo loaded. I LOVE this light.

    48. lizzie on 03/22/2011:

      that is a FANTASTIC lamp.

    49. MidCenturyHome on 03/22/2011:

      This lamp is so cool that the only word I can think about is COOL!
      Congrats…I wish you a bright life together. ;)

      Ciao.

    50. emily @ thirtyeight20 on 03/22/2011:

      PERFECTION.

      Not that this would ever really work in my house so I can’t be too jealous, but stuff like this never shows up in my thrifting rounds. The gaudy mid-century-ish phase sort of missed the mid-Atlantic, it seems (just like everything fun and worthwhile) — gaudy 80s country sure was popular though.

      Thrift on!

    51. Sue on 03/22/2011:

      Morgan – do you ever worry about buying vintage lighting that it won’t work, or can every lighting fixture be rewired, or maybe you get them so cheap it doesn’t matter.

    52. The brick house on 03/22/2011:

      Rewiring is super easy and I’ve done a few myself. Lighting is setup pretty simply, so usually it works great. Never been scared that a lamp won’t work – the fixture is always worth it.

    53. Jason Hudson Dot Com on 03/22/2011:

      Seriously can’t get over this fixture.
      And it’s dangerous to antique/thrift with friends – The entire experience is riddled with fear that they’ll spot something first. It can get aggressive.

    54. Danielle {fresh quince} on 03/22/2011:

      Oh my that was the best find ever!!!! Gorgeous! And good reason not to thrift with buddies or at least go with buddies that don’t share the same design aesthetic because boy would I be jealous if my friend saw it first, but at the same time I would be happy for her and that’s what I am happy for you..great find! Wow that was a nice long run-on sentence!

    55. central-portugal on 03/22/2011:

      What an awesome fabulastic find! Jealous. *sigh* :)

    56. Rachelh on 03/22/2011:

      What a great find! And congrats for calling dibs so quickly, or you surely would have lost out on such a cool, retro piece. Really makes the space.

    57. Lindsey on 03/22/2011:

      oh Morgan you have no clue how jealous I am. What an amazing find. If you ever decide to get rid of it I live in the same town as you (wink wink) ;)

    58. Allison on 03/22/2011:

      Going Hollywood Regency, huh?

    59. modernhaus on 03/22/2011:

      Brassaholics Anonymous ;)

      It’s a dangerous, misunderstood addiction with no cure.

    60. modernhaus on 03/22/2011:

      p.s., you’ll NEVER guess who I saw a the Ace the other day…..

    61. Beckie on 03/22/2011:

      First. Jealous!
      Second. I’ve had pretty good luck matching the patina with this stuff called Sophisticated Finishes. That fixture is just too great to be busy staring at the ceiling plate.

      http://cubicle57.wordpress.com/2011/03/13/all-that-glitters-is-gold/

    62. Ckampy on 03/22/2011:

      does this follow the $100 rule? If so: “I’m not worth, I’m not worthy” bc you are in fact the thrift master.

      I might spend the rest of my life looking for this lamp.

    63. Kaitlyn on 03/22/2011:

      AHH I WANT IT! Kudos to you.

    64. abby on 03/23/2011:

      okay for all you peeps who were not there: nobody else called dibs on this amazing piece of awesomeness because seriously, none of us saw it (and like, none of us are mavericks, we know our shiz). i mean we saw it, but we didn’t SEE it. morgan is the thriftmeistermastersavant. like seriously she has magic eyes. and it was freakin’ unbelieveably beautiful to watch her at work.

    65. bianca of terri planty on 03/23/2011:

      you are so lucky i wasn’t there. i would have fought you. i don’t care if you saw it first. that thing is super sexy. and i would have risked our close love for it. :) j/k. kind of. :)

    66. Emma Jay on 03/23/2011:

      That thing is frikkin AWESOME to the maxxxx

    67. Isabelle on 03/24/2011:

      I am in love with this light! I’m probably tenth in line, but if you ever get bored of it…

    68. Laurabelle on 03/24/2011:

      Color me green with the rest.
      Jamie Young company has something very similar, 10x the price if anyone decides they have to have it.
      Now I know where Ms. Young got the inspiration….

    69. erin@designcrisis on 03/25/2011:

      No you did not!!!

      Added to the list of things I plan to steal when I come visit (stalk?) your house someday, and I ain’t above murder…

      I kid. Mostly.

    70. THE BRICK HOUSE on 03/26/2011:

      i’m going to write a murder mystery called MCM…Murder Comes Modern.

      Oh wait, that’s a terrible idea.

    71. Regan Baker on 03/26/2011:

      All I can say is Beautiful!!! Awesome find!!

    72. Amy at WhisperWood Cottage on 04/02/2011:

      Stunning!

    73. thecathedral on 04/02/2011:

      “A puzzle of sexy despair”

      Lyrical – yet I am still jealous.

    74. The Dandelion Chronicles on 04/04/2011:

      I’m the personification of envy right now! Amazing!!

    75. Samma on 04/05/2011:

      OK, so I never knew I wanted one of these until I saw yours. And then POW! instant lust. So I prayed to the Chocolate Donut God, who these days seems to be spending her days as a CraigsList Goddess, and scored 2!! for crazy cheap yesterday. 1 looks exactly like yours, the other has the top row of petals curling down instead of up.
      Did you happen to learn any more about how to authenticate if they are Tommi Parzinger’s or something else?

    76. emily on 04/07/2011:

      ok, i just wanna say i love your blog. your commentary is so real and readable (i especially love this post) and the blog is aesthetically perfect. great job. first visit – will definitely be back.

    77. Elissa on 04/10/2011:

      okay, talk about crazytown, I just found one of these at a yard sale today for $15!!! I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do with it, but it needs to be hanging up in my house pronto.

    78. Beth on 04/11/2011:

      Morgan! that is h-o-t!
      Want to see it in person one of these days. Another gal-pal adventure soon!

    79. Louise (Table Tonic) on 04/22/2011:

      Ohhhh.
      Myyyyy.
      Goodness.
      That is in-CRED-ible!!!!!!!!!

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