Vintage Fridge Shopping

Stoves, Fridges, Radiograms and more
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Manalto
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Re: Vintage Fridge Shopping

Post by Manalto »

Lily left the valley wrote:Maybe that side shelf was just a way to allow tall items on the top shelf, while still having a place for jelly or such that would eat up valuable footage on the other shelves?


That's pretty much what the manual says, and so little things don't get lost in the back.

Lily left the valley wrote:I want to see a picture of all three together, please.


I know you probably wanted them in a row like a chorus line, but I'm squeezing them into the last remaining square inch of space here:

ImageThree GEs by James McInnis, on Flickr[/quote]

You get the additional treat of seeing my American Standard 'Tang Red' toilet. (I have the sink, too!)

Enjoy the triplets while you can; the one on the left is too far gone to keep, much less haul all the way down to Alabama. The bottom is rusted out, it's had a crummy repaint job and the door latch is broken. But it still runs, so I'm going to try to sell it as a keg-er-ator and if that fails, it's off to the scrap yard.
Last edited by Manalto on Fri Sep 08, 2017 7:02 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Willa
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Re: Vintage Fridge Shopping

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Now about that Tang Red set there...???

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Manalto
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Re: Vintage Fridge Shopping

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Willa wrote:Now about that Tang Red set there...???


Not for sale, so don't get your hopes up. :snooty:

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Willa
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Re: Vintage Fridge Shopping

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Manalto wrote:
Willa wrote:Now about that Tang Red set there...???


Not for sale, so don't get your hopes up. :snooty:


But where has that set been ? Where is it going ?

(p.s. spotted Tang red tub for sale online at Ohio salvage place, plus some Tang red bullnose tiles )

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Manalto
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Re: Vintage Fridge Shopping

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I stumbled upon it on Craigslist when I was looking for something else. The person was remodeling his house and offered the sink first. After a few days, he asked me if I wanted the toilet as well. We both had a good laugh because I sounded a little too enthusiastic for someone who was being offered a used toilet.

Since I don't have the tub (and am somewhat relieved I don't have to maneuver one), at this point, it's planned for the upstairs bath in the Alabama house, which has only a toilet, sink and shower; I thought the absence of a tub was unusual for 1918, but the person from the historical society told me that it wasn't.

It's been a while since I did some looking around (the tank is missing its lid) but if I recall correctly, colored fixtures from the 1950s and 60s were originally considerably more expensive than the common white ones. That holds true with replacement parts today. If a Tang tub appeared locally here, I'd be tempted.

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Willa
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Re: Vintage Fridge Shopping

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It's quite an exciting color for bathroom fixtures. You can definitely scare up a tank lid in that color or get one glazed to match.

Many of those vintage bathroom fixture (or flooring) ads showed a really intense use of color. RetroRenovation has done a few stories on people who made a new "old" bathroom with vintage fixtures. Also many stories on how to decorate with the vintage coloured tile in an existing bath

Have you been thinking about how to decorate with these fixtures ? I seem to recall seeing photos of a bath with similar coloured fixtures with beige-pink tiles, and another with cream or grey tiles. Jane Powell's "Bungalow Bathrooms"has many pics of bathrooms, mostly from the southern California area that just have these outrageous 1920's - 40's tile and fixture extravaganzas (Bungalow in this context = Craftsman, not 50's suburb).

phil
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Re: Vintage Fridge Shopping

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maybe since the tank lid is missing you could position the bowl closer to the wall and then put a pipe from the bottom part up to a tank, and that tank could be somethign interesting that doesnt' match , maybe something like a riveted copper and brass tank? My dad did that in a trailer where there just was not enough room for a regular toilet. having the tank on the wall made it flush with a bit more force due to the added drop. he used the tank that went with the toilet.

I guess you might fab up a copper lid , or something, cover a white one a countertop thing slipped overtop with similar colored formica. maybe if you used the tank you have then if it was up on the wall you wouldn't look at the lid so much?

I have a weird one with a triangular shaped tank that the PO installed in a closet. I guess it was made for tight spaces that's why the weird triangular tank. It's a stupid installation but I leave it for emergencies or when I redo the bath it will be good to have despite the strange location.

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Lily left the valley
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Re: Vintage Fridge Shopping

Post by Lily left the valley »

Manalto wrote:I know you probably wanted them in a row like a chorus line, but I'm squeezing them into the last remaining square inch of space here:

You get the additional treat of seeing my American Standard 'Tang Red' toilet. (I have the sink, too!)
I have an image in my head of cartoon refrigerators doing a chorus line, with all the appropriate twirls and synchronized door openings, thank you very much. :lol:

You know you didn't even have to mention that Tang piece, although it's cool to know you are on lid shy of a half bath set. It jumped out at me like crazy mad, because I'm also a Retro Renovation reader.

phil wrote:maybe since the tank lid is missing you could position the bowl closer to the wall and then put a pipe from the bottom part up to a tank, and that tank could be somethign interesting that doesnt' match , maybe something like a riveted copper and brass tank?
Phil, this is one of the few times that I'll say, "He could, but it's not worth the extra effort." That color is a harder one to find from that period, but not impossible. And as Willa mentioned, you can get a lid sprayed to match as a worst case scenario before you'd need to resort to building a completely different tank.
--Proud member of the Industrious Cheapskate Club
--Currently pondering ways to encourage thoughtful restovation and discourage mindless renovation.

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Manalto
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Re: Vintage Fridge Shopping

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I have the tank (it's been disassembled for safe moving) but not the lid for it. Someone had made a wooden one, which I still have. The replacements I've encountered (I haven't been persistent) have been exorbitantly priced.

I haven't been thinking about decorating with the Tang red fixtures, but a couple of things come to mind. I think of gray or pink as the 1950s companions to dark red. My decorating skills are limited, so I keep returning to the same color combination. I like the green pictured below, in combination with deep red.

ImageMing Green bathroom fixtures by James McInnis, on Flickr

Years ago, a coworker was talking about the fashion in the early part of the 20th century to have a 'Turkish Corner' (or was it Persian Corner?) so that might have an influence on the room.

That's all I've got.

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Re: Vintage Fridge Shopping

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it make me remember the 1990's and how there seemed to be this fad of combining a color similar to the toilet- or maybe more burgundy and a darker green, lets call it forest green.

I noticed it used in decor of many restaurants and hotels and the decorative fad seemed to spring up and then collapse in about 5 years but Iwould notice it and still see it occasionally such as in restaurants that were not updated to be "in fashion" for the most part it's gone now but I'm sure others remember this decorative fad, or was it area specific? I dont' know.

yea the tank on the wall might look funny particularly if it wasn't' really a tank meant to be on the wall, spraying isn't a bad option. I was just kind of brainstorming I guess. its a neat color. I'm not sure that it seems "antique" but it is an interesting and different color and it's hard to keep bathrooms original without looking kind of institutional. I've seen small metal bathtubs that fit the age but I couldn't imagine myself really wanting to have and use one for example.

My grandma had a 1930's house that had a toilet with tank on the wall. I always admired it.. well as much as you can admire a toilet lol..
I also vividly remember the overpowering scent of strongly perfumed soap. funny because yesterday I picked up 8 bars of "dawn soap" I guess it thought it would be gentle and mild. I unwrapped it and the perfumed stench went right through the house. I thought I was in grandma's house.. funny how smells trigger memories. I stuck it in a big ziploc and even then the smell was driving me crazy and giving me a headache so I set it outside. this morning I put it in my back alley by the fence thinking oh maybe some homeless person would like to have it. I'm not normally that sensitive to perfumes like some people are but that stuff I could not tolerate. I didn't even open a bar of it.

thoise colors might be opposite on the color wheel and go together in a subliminal way because of it. I like to see butter yellow and cobalt blue together, it must be a similar effect. the colors are not similar but together they seem to fit, maybe just to me.

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