Category Archives: Restorations

Vintage Poloron 17” Santa Head Blowmold Restoration (Part 1)

Posted on January 27, 2020 by Hepcats Haven

Mel and I have been getting really into holiday blowmolds. With the addition of our daughter Autumn Rose (now a year and a half!!!) we want to make the holidays extra special for her. Even to this day I remember when Halloween was near because when I would come home from school my mom would hang diecut Halloween figures in the windows. I remember how excited I would get.

After searching around on the internet it became clear that the best way to strip these blowmolds is to use oven cleaner not stripper. I used Easy-Off oven cleaner and it worked like a charm!

Once you spray the blowmold thoroughly let it sit and work. I checked it at about 45 minuets and I was surprised how much paint had been removed.

So obviously the oven cleaner removed 90% of the paint except these stubborn areas. I sprayed the piece again and let it sit for 20 more minuets but this time I used plastic bristle brushes to agitate the cleaner in those areas and it removed the rest of the paint. Don’t use metal bristle brushes because it could mar the surface of the mold.

So here is the result of all the oven cleaner and a little elbow grease. The pupils were black and they stained the mold. No big deal gonna be black again anyways. Once the mold is stripped you need to give it a ammonia bath to strip any oils, dirt or residue. I decided to start small to better understand the process. I recommend you start small before you take on a 5’ santa. Keep an eye out for part 2 where we start the painting process.

Vintage Fiberglass Safari Animal Heads From Banana Republic

Posted on March 16, 2019 by Hepcats Haven

While surfing Craigslist I came across a gentleman who was selling three wall mounts. He was selling a Zebra, Gemsbok Antelope and a Kudu Antelope (Kudu is the one with the twisted horns). We are always on the hunt for cool additions to add to our Tiki/Big Game room and these fit the bill!

The retail company called Banana Republic was founded by Mel and Patricia Ziegler in 1978

Back in the 80’s Banana Republic was rolling out African safari themed ads. During this time they went all out decorating their stores. They adorned the walls with many kinds of fiberglass safari animal heads.

These heads had a stamp that reads BR1985 (Banana Republic 1985). They produced the animal heads I am posting but also elephants, rhinos, giraffes and many more. Most of these heads were destroyed after a change in the stores advertising direction. Enough with the back story let’s discuss the mounts we picked up…

The first one I will discuss is the Kudu. These are life size pieces and unfortunately this one had a busted off horn at the base. Upon further examination I realized the other horn was loose as well. I decided to bust that horn off at the base too.

I knew the best thing to fix this was JB Weld! This stuff is remarkably strong. The horns were made out of solid resin so I needed something that would be able to hold them in place with their considerable weight.

I applied a liberal amount of JB Weld and used my finger to wipe off any excess that squeezed out from under the horns. Once dried I touched the bases up with paint to help conceal the repairs.

Next I put the Zebra head in its place…

Lastly I hung the Gemsbok…

Along with these new additions we have our rhino, shark and chimp!…

Here is a small video of the heads in place…

Mid Century TECHFAB Fiberglass Seating

Posted on July 17, 2018 by Hepcats Haven

As I always do, I was surfing Craigslist in surrounding areas and came across this set down in Fresno. Once I was able to coordinate a showing I hopped in the truck and shot down!These were being sold by a gentleman down in Fresno who had a warehouse full of stuff. He said that he buys a lot of items from estate sales.

My plans are to light sand these and then repaint them. These will be great as additional seating in our backyard.

Each section has five chairs. They’re mounted on really sturdy and heavy metal frames. It would take quite an effort to tip one of these over.

The cool thing is that both pieces still have the original manufactures tag on it. I’m assuming that these were made sometime in the 1960s. The gentleman I purchased them from didn’t really know much about them.

Once these are refinished, I think they will look really good in our side yard where we plan to put a horse shoe pit or bocce ball game area. It seems like anymore you have to go the distance to find the cool things.

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Posted in Restorations, The Makin's Of Our Pad and tagged 1960's, 60's, aqua chair atomic chair, eames, Eichler, fiberglass chair, knoll, MCM, mcm office, mid century, mid century office, midcentury, midcentury office, retro, shell chair, vintage, vintage office. Bookmark the permalink.

WITCO “Throne Chair”

Posted on June 30, 2018 by Hepcats Haven

As usual, Mel and I were cruising Craigslist and came across this fantastic WITCO throne chair! The seller was unaware that it was WITCO and just listed it as a throne chair. We shot over to Elk Grove, CA and with some haggling, we snagged it for $400 because she just wanted it gone! Once we loaded the chair in our truck we shot over to our upholsterer Custom Upholstery.

We are sooo excited to add this to our other pieces of WITCO.

It is is rough shape, but when the upholstery is done and I oil the hell out of it, it will look like new.

The armrests are so wide. This will make them great as a work surface for my laptop. I think we have a new blog chair!

There are a lot of cool tikis carved into this chair.

These two upper tiki heads are detachable.

The heads just mount on these studs.

We can’t wait to get this restored.

Finding the original tag when we flipped the chair over was an extra bonus!

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Posted in Restorations, The Makin's Of Our Pad and tagged 1960's tiki, 1970's witco, 60's witco, 70's witco, animal fabric, animal pattern, animal print, atomic witco, carved tiki, chainsaw tiki, Elvis, Graceland, Hawaiian furniture, jungle furniture, jungle room, jungleroom, mid-century witco, midcentury witco, retro witco, theme furniture, throne chair, tiki, tiki furniture, tribal furniture, tropical furniture, vintage tiki, witco, Witco Decor, witco decor inc.. Bookmark the permalink.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (minus Sneezy)

Posted on May 31, 2018 by Hepcats Haven

As I blogged in an earlier post, I have been in the process of restoring these vintage Disney concrete garden statues. We have all the pieces except Sneezy who was too busted up to restore. Fortunately, we found a replacement that is shipping from the east coast.

One thing I noticed when trying to stay faithful to the color scheme of each character is that there seems to be a lot of conflicting info online. I did my best to match any images I found online from the original movie. Also, I wasn’t digging just a white beard. I tried to add more detail by adding gray and white to capture a more realistic look. Here are before and after photos of some of the characters.

Snow White Before

Snow White After

Sleepy Before

Sleepy After

Dopey Before

Dopey After

Doc Before

Doc After

Happy Before

Happy After

Bashful Before

Bashful After

These pieces have started to be reproduced. They come in three different sizes: small, medium & large. Our set is original and would be considered the large set. We will be happy to complete the set once Sneezy arrives. Onto the next project!

Excuse the landscaping, we still need to work on the backyard.

12 Comments

Posted in Restorations and tagged 1950's, 1960's, 50's, 60's, 7 dwarfs, Atomic, atomic backyard, atomic backyard decor, atomic cement, atomic concrete, atomic Disney, atomic patio, Bashful, Cement Snow White Statue, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, mcm backyard, mcm patio, mid century, mid century cement, mid century patio, mid-century backyard, mid-century concrete, midcentury, midcentury backyard, midcentury concrete, midcentury patio, Outdoor Snow White Statue, retro, retro backyard, retro backyard decor, retro cement, retro concrete, retro Disney, retro patio, Sleepy, Sneezy, Snow White, Snow White and the seven dwarfs, Snow White Cement Statue, Snow White Garden Statue, Snow White Statue, vintage, vintage backyard, Vintage Cement Snow White Statue, vintage disney, vintage patio, vintage seven dwarfs, Vintage Snow White, Vintage Snow White Statue. Bookmark the permalink.

Mid Century Tiered Fountain

Posted on April 25, 2018 by Hepcats Haven

Mel and I are trying to get our backyard in shape for the summer. One thing we have been looking for is a vintage outdoor water feature. As usual, I was cruising Craigslist when I stumbled across this!

I reached out to the folks who had it, and fortunately I was one of the first to inquire about it. They said the response was overwhelming!

This is in vintage condition and will require sandblasting and powder coating to bring it back to life. I will also have to replumb the whole fountain. Unfortunately, there’s no pump or tubing so I’m going to have to MacGyver it! If any of you out there have done it before please let me know. I would love some suggestions.

This fountain will be a nice addition to the Fibrella patio furniture and the Brunswick bowling benches that we’ve added to the backyard.

It seems to me that these fountains were more prevalent in Eichler and Streng homes. They were a great addition to the atrium in those style homes.

I searched online for any information about the manufacturer of these fountains, but was unsuccessful. The bowls of this fountain are metal, but I have seen fountains where the bowls were made of fiberglass. I don’t imagine there are too many of the fiberglass ones left.

I can’t wait until this thing is up and running. I love the sound of trickling water that fountains emit, it’s so relaxing!

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Posted in Restorations and tagged 1950's, 1960's, Atomic, MCM, mid century, midcentury, outdoor, patio, retro, vintage. Bookmark the permalink.

2017: Year in Review

Posted on December 31, 2017 by Hepcats Haven

This past year was about turning the page. If you’ve followed our blog, you’re aware that we recently moved. This was a MAJOR move for us. What some of you may not know is that we had a house in Sacramento and an apartment in San Jose that Mel lived in during the week for work. This move included moving out of both homes, moving out of Midway, selling a house, and buying a house. All of this happened in less than 4 months. For our year in review, we’d like to focus on key events related to our move and cover some of the fun stuff we were able to squeeze in.

Sold 1959 Ranch

People would often say to us that they would hate to be us if we ever moved. Mel and I have been collectors our whole marriage (13 years this coming Feb) and we’ve amassed quite a collection of vintage home decor. To be honest, we probably would have moved sooner if the idea of moving wasn’t so daunting. We began packing in mid-July, and the house hit the market on August 20, 2017. The house went pending a week later on the first day of our open house. We accepted a contingency offer over asking, and the house closed on October 3, 2017.

Here are a few shots before and after we packed the rooms up.

Tiki Room: Before & after packing.

Living Room: Before & after packing.

Master Bedroom: Before & after packing.

Closed our Showroom

Once we started packing, the next thing we did was begin liquidating our inventory in our showroom at Midway Antique Mall. We became dealers at Midway in August of 2013. Coincidentally, we closed our showroom almost exactly 4 years later this past August, 2017. Here are some photos of how our showroom evolved over the years.

Moved out of San Jose Pad

In our San Jose pad, we were able to decorate outside our usual atomic fifties style. This was a fun change. Luckily, we were able to keep a lot of this collection. We’re creating a music listening room in one of the bedrooms in our new house, and we’re decorating with a lot of these pieces. Below are some photos of our pad before we moved out.

Photo Shoots

We squeezed in a few photo shoots before we started moving. Our house in Sacramento was decorated in fifties atomic and tiki, while our San Jose apartment was decorated in a more space age, mod style. Below are some photos from shoots that occurred at both locations.

Location: Sacramento Atomic Fifties Ranch

Photographer & MUAH: Marilee Caruso, Model: Julieta Martinez

Photographer & MUAH: Marilee Caruso, Model: Roxy Ruckus

Photographer & MUAH: Marilee Caruso, Model: Donna McDougal

Photographer: Feathered Flash Photography MUAH: Heather Elizabeth Camacho Model: Sharon Eileen

Publication: Pinup Kulture Magazine, Photographer: Feathered Flash Photography, MUAH: Heather Elizabeth Camacho, Model: Sadie LaSalle

Location: San Jose Mod Pad

Photographer & MUAH: Marilee Caruso, Model: Bo Vixxen

Photographer & MUAH: Marilee Caruso, Model: Tecia Marsh

Publication: Delicious Dolls Magazine, Photographer: Shogun Photography, MUAH: Brandi Proffitt, Model: Kitti Von Paige

Collection

Even with all the chaos and stress of moving, we had some time to add to our collection and knock out a few restorations.

Barzilay Furniture Mfg. Co. Record Player Stand Restoration

We added one final piece today to our collection for 2017. Thanks to Christina and Chris Lindquist for thinking of us when they decided to re-home this amazing Frederic Weinberg piece.

Name Change

When we started our blog about 6 years ago, our focus was on sharing our mid-century home decor collection and restoration techniques. Over the years, we’ve evolved and become more diverse in our collection and we decided to no longer offer restoration services to the public (we’ll still blog about pieces we restore for our collection). Because of this, Hepcat Restorations no longer represented who we were. So, we rebranded ourselves as Hepcats Haven.

Hepcats Haven Designs

I’ve always thought of myself as an artistic person. As a kid, I used to spend endless hours drawing. I decided to embark on a new adventure and try my hand at graphic design. My portfolio isn’t very large yet, but I plan to build this up. You’ll find a variety of designs in my collection including fifties atomic, tiki, seasonal, Panton era, etc..

Currently, I’m using the Redbubble and Spoonflower platforms to showcase my collection. You’ll be able to buy the images I design and have them printed on clothing, books, and home decor such pillows, bedding & clocks. You can purchase my designs on fabric, wallpaper, and gift wrap via Spoonflower. Click on the links below to check out my designs.

Hepcats Haven Designs on Redbubble

Hepcats Haven Designs on Spoonflower

Here are some examples:

Our New 1961 Ranch

Special thanks to James Safonov Realty and Brad L’Engle of Guild Mortgage. James actually sold our house in Sacramento and helped us with buying our new home. He drove from Sacramento all the way to the Bay Area every time we had homes we wanted to check out.

We found our new Hepcats Haven in early November. This is what we’re starting with. We’re putting our touches on it, and will show you some after photos once we get our landscaping more dialed in.

What’s Next?

We’re focusing on getting our new house in order. Getting unpacked and our collection up has actually been more difficult than the move itself. As we get rooms in order, we’ll be sure to share our journey with you. Here’s a sneak peek…

We wish a happy New Year to everyone!

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Posted in Carlo of Hollywood, Hepcat Restorations Store, Hepcats Haven Designs, Other Stuff, Our Collection, Photo Shoots & Press, Restorations, The Makin's Of Our Pad and tagged 1950's, 1960's, 50's, 60's, Atomic, Carlo Hollywood, classic pin up photoshoot, classic pin up shoot, classic pinup shoot, Elvgren, fifties decor, frederick weinberg, kitsch, mid century, midcentury, pin up girl, pin up photo shoot, pin up photography, pin up photoshoot, pin ups, pinup, pinup girl, pinup pho, pinup photo shoot, Redbubble, retro, Spoonflower, tiki, vintage, Year in Review. Bookmark the permalink.

Paul T. Frankl set designed for Kane Kraft

Posted on September 11, 2017 by Hepcats Haven

Mel and I picked this set up recently. Paul T. Frankl designed this set for Kane Kraft sometime in the late 40’s or early 50’s. I have always wanted a vintage bamboo dining set and this was the exact style I had in mind.

As you can see, the set was a little grubby from years of use. Most of the filth came off with cleaner, but the backs of the chairs had years of oil and grease built up on the surfaces. I cleaned them and resprayed them with polyurethane.

I have yet to clean this piece but that is all it should need.

We purchased this with plans to pick it up the following week. When we returned the store owner brought to our attention that there was a matching sideboard if we were interested! Yes please!

The top of this piece is fantastic!

So much storage, and we love those knobs.

The wood used appears to be solid Koa or Narra. The sideboard is solid and heavy. The grain of the wood glows like beams of sunlight in the sun.

I am currently on the hunt for appropriate fabric to recover the seats in.

4 Comments

Posted in Restorations, The Makin's Of Our Pad and tagged 1940's tiki, 1950's tiki, 40's tiki, 50's tiki, 6 band, Art Deco, art deco tiki, Atomic, atomic tiki, hawaiian, MCM, mid century tiki, midcentury tiki, pretzel, Rattan, retro tiki, tiki, tiki god, tropical, vintage, vintage tiki. Bookmark the permalink.

Rare 1956 Crescent 45 Record Player

Posted on June 28, 2017 by Hepcats Haven

I am a record player fanatic! There were so many makes and styles that the options are almost endless. As usual, I was cruising eBay when SHAZAM, I came across this rare 1956 Crescent 45 record player.

This unit is farm fresh. It needs some cleaning up and a servicing to make it fully functional again.

I love the slanted design with the metal hairpin legs on the front. I also dig the atomic green fabric with the gold diamond accents on the front.

This unit has a speaker underneath. This is what drove the slanted design of this record player.

I will use some light grit sand paper to clean up all the gold accents and paint them with the 24K gold spray paint carried by Michael’s.

The grey material on the outside of the case is in good shape, but will need some freshening up.

I will reach out to my faithful repair guy Justin from Stellar Electronics. I know he will fix her up!

Here is the original ad showing this little gem towards the bottom.

For all of you who noticed the record in the background, it is a Les Baxter 10″ 33&1/3 album. This cover is so fantastic and came out at the same time the player did.

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Posted in Restorations, The Makin's Of Our Pad and tagged 1950's Audio, 1950's record player, 1960's Audio, 1960's record player, 45 record player, 50's Audio, 50's record player, 60's Audio, 60's record player, atomic record player, audiophile, fifties record player, mid century record player, midcentury record player, Phonograph, record, Retro Audiophile, retro phonograph, retro record player, vintage record player, vinyl records. Bookmark the permalink.

1950’s Raymond Loewy Designed Old Forester Decanter Restoration

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Hepcats Haven

I remember the first time I saw this style decanter. I thought it was soo atomic! Come to find out that they were designed by Raymond Loewy (Thanks Benjamin Cobb Storck for the info). From that point on I wanted to amass a small collection and make a custom decanter set for entertaining.

This was a straight forward and quick restoration. The good news was that the bottoms and tops separate from the bottle part which made painting them a breeze!

This is the spray paint I swear by. I purchase this paint from Michael’s crafts store. Other gold paint can look tacky, but this one looks period correct.

Another good thing about this paint is that it is quick drying. Seriously, it only took 10-15 minuets for the pieces to dry.

I found a place on eBay that makes custom decals. I thought this light pink with a gold border would compliment the gold body of the decanter. I have managed to find 7 decanters so far and am looking to get a total of 10.