Tag Archives: Atomic

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!

12 Comments

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

Tower Records 3-D “The Brian Setzer Orchestra” Advertisement!!!

Posted on January 21, 2018 by Hepcats Haven

Today, we were over at our friends Mark & Kelly Skipper’s house (of the famed Overlook Tiki Lounge at Skipperworld Headquarters). We picked up a piece they had that we absolutely fell in love with. This three-dimensional advertisement was designed and painted by an unknown artist for Tower Records. When the shop closed they sold off the fixtures and one of Marks’ friends nabbed it. Mark later came into possession of it, and now us!

This piece is large. It measures 4ft by 5.5ft. We had a space open on our wall in the living room and it filled it perfectly!!! It may be difficult to see in the photos, but all the words, the hot rod and the dude are raised off the surface of the piece, creating a 3-D effect.

The hotrod is killer and the dude in the seat is just cruising!

We love the tikis behind him. The imagery of this piece is so bold and vibrant!

Thanks Mark & Kelly for such a fantastic piece! We will cherish it for many years to come.

1 Comment

Posted in The Makin's Of Our Pad and tagged 1950's, 1960's, 50's, 50’s music, Atomic, atomic tiki, Brian Setzer, hot-rod, mid century, midcentury, retro, retro decor, retro phonograph, steel guitar, Stray Cats, swing, The Brian Setzer Orchestra, tiki, vintage, vintage electronics, vintage record player. Bookmark the permalink.

Fiberglass Find!!!

Posted on January 9, 2018 by Hepcats Haven

Last weekend Mel and I decided to take a break from unpacking to attend the Alameda Point Antiques Faire. There have been very few times where we had such a successful haul as this faire. While cruising all the vendors we came across an amazing rhinoceros wall mount.

Don’t worry all you animal rights activists, this thing is made out of fiberglass! We purchased this from Bob & Bonnie of Alchemy Estate liquidations in spot M23.

They were so nice and just wanted to make sure it went to a good home. Our tiki room is quickly becoming a fiberglass game room!

We were so excited to get this. We missed out on a hippo a while back, so this makes up for it. We are on the hunt for more of these fiberglass wall mounts and hope to add more to the collection. We will share our other scores shortly.

3 Comments

Posted in The Makin's Of Our Pad and tagged 1950's, 1960's, 50's, 60's, Atomic, Carlo Hollywood, Carlo of Hollywood, Carlo water color, chalkware, hawaiian, MCM, mid century, mid century tiki, midcentury, retro, retro decor, retro tiki, tiki, Tiki bar, tiki culture, tiki god, Tiki Room, tropical, vintage, vintage lamp, vintage tiki. 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!

15 Comments

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.

Hepcats Haven Fish Design New To Redbubble & Spoonflower!!!

Posted on November 1, 2017 by Hepcats Haven

I am in full swing designing as many cool graphics as I can come up with. The one design I wanted to pay tribute to was our original 1950’s atomic fish wallpaper we had in our pink bathroom of our old house. After days and days of trying to recreate it, I have finally finished.

Though it is not an exact copy, I think it captures the spirit of the original.

If you dig this and are interested in seeing the products this design can be printed on, head over to Redbubble.

You can also purchase fabric, wall paper, or gift wrap of this design on Spoonflower.

2 Comments

Posted in Hepcats Haven Design Shop, The Makin's Of Our Pad and tagged 1950's, 50 s fish, 50's, 50s house, 60s fish, Atomic, atomic fish, Eichler, ender sea, fifties, fifties house, hepcat, hepcat restorations, hepcats haven, MCM, mcm fish, mcm home, mcm house, mid century, mid century home, mid century house, midcentury, midcentury home, ranch home, retro, retro home, sci fi, scifi, space age, spaceage, under water, vintage, vintage home. 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.

Hepcats Evolution

Posted on April 25, 2017 by Hepcats Haven

When we started our blog about 6 years ago, our focus was on sharing our mid century decor collection and restoration techniques. Over the years, we’ve evolved and became more diverse in our collection and what we are involved with. Because of this, Hepcat Restorations no longer represents who we are. We are now rebranding ourselves as Hepcats Haven. Hepcats Haven will showcase a broader time period of collecting and restoration of items from the 1940’s-1980’s. We’ve expanded to photoshoot location booking and prop rentals. However, we are no longer offering restoration services.

Thanks to all of you who have followed us through our many adventures and shared your thoughts. We hope you continue to join us in this new journey.

5 Comments

Posted in Nostalgia, Other Stuff and tagged 1940's, 1950's, 1960's, 1970's, 1980's, 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, Art Deco, Atomic, eames era, kitsch, MCM, mid century, midcentury, panton era, retro, space age, tiki, vintage. Bookmark the permalink.

Amazing Mid Century Couch and Chair Set

Posted on April 5, 2015 by Hepcats Haven

Mel and I were driving home from a visit to our shop inside Midway Antique Mall. On the way home we glanced over on a side street and saw a mid century couch and chair set. We rapidly swung a U turn and drove back to the house that had them out front. We jumped out and could not believe how large the couch was. The colors were still vibrant on all the pieces and the upholstery had the really cool design, as you can see.

While we were drooling over them the owner came out and said they were his mothers. She was the original owner and they were purchased while her husband was in the Air Force stationed at Travis AFB. When he died she moved into a trailer park and had it with her till her passing. You could see they were triggers for his memories of her and the years they were with her.

Usually, when we place something in our shop, we like to stage it but the couch is so large we had to just place them in the room.

Unfortunately, there are only material tags on these pieces. We could not find a designers/makers name.

If you are in the market for an ultra cool living room set, you can check it this out in our showroom Midway Antique Mall.

5 Comments

Posted in Hepcat Restorations Store and tagged 1950's, 1960's, 50's, 50's chair, 50's sofa, 50s couch, 60's, 60's chair, 60's sofa, 70's chair, 70's sofa, Atomic, Atomic Chair, Atomic couch, atomic sofa, club chairs, fifties chair, fifties couch, kitsch chair, kitsch sofa, Mid Century Chair, mid century couch, mid century sofa, midcentury chair, midcentury couch, midcentury sofa, retro, Retro Chair, retro couch, retro decor, retro sofa, seventies chair, seventies sofa, silk couch, silk sofa, sixties chair, sixties sofa, vintage, vintage chair, vintage couch, vintage decor. Bookmark the permalink.

Some Cool Things We Recently Picked Up

Posted on January 26, 2014 by Hepcats Haven

The first thing we will showcase are these Sexton cats. We already have a set of these but I think we can manage to have two sets. I need to strip them and repaint them.

Mel managed to acquire a rare set of Freeman McFarlin ceramic fish.

We managed to pick up two of these really cool Dazor saucer lamps. This one is a greenish color.

This Dazor is a tan/brownish color.

This is a fantastic hanging light. This will look good next to one of our jukeboxes because it has musical notes on it. The cool thing about this lamp is that it has an aqua colored interior, so it looks really cool when lit.

This Duo Aire fan is a trip! it is both a fan and an ottoman.

This is a keeper!!!

This is a really simple rotating ottoman with a magazine rack underneath.

Here is a cool starburst shadowbox.

Mel and I found this Zombie Village menu at a thrift store for $2! This was a Tiki style restaurant in Oakland, California. I love the image on the front of this menu.

Not sure how old it is but the prices are soo unbelievable!

They really knew how to sell the enchantment of the place.

This is a cool bullet planter with a nice stand.

I wish these planters were as cheap as the ad states.

These outdoor speakers are going to be great with our mid-century backyard. I am slowly furnishing our future backyard

The speaker cabinets are made from redwood which handles weather very well.

These speakers have the installation instructions and the original boxes!

These cool 60’s lights will be a hot item in our booth for sure!

Here are a few pieces made by Mirro Medallion. A complete set of this line is hard to find and expensive. I don’t know if Mel and I are up to the challenge so this may end up in our booth.

This is a set of zodiac glasses. There are a total of 12 glasses with a different zodiac symbol on each glass with a brief description on the back of each glass explaining the traits of that symbol.

Here are just a couple of examples of what each glass looks like. I have never seen glasses like these. It appears that there are also 6 shot glasses but we are missing them from this set.