Charmingly pretty vintage family name vinyl wall art

✯ Day 223 of Vintage 365 ✯

 

Vinyl wall art and text has been exceedingly popular for the past several years. While it's wide-spread home decor adoption may have flourished most prolifically in the States, it has certainly made its way up here to Canada and to many other corners of the globe, too.

It's easy to see why. Much, much easier (and often considerably less expensive) to put up then wallpaper, far more temporary (if you so choose) than a coat of paint, and able to be removed in the blink of an eye, vinyl wall decals are a whimsical, charming, often very beautiful way of adding anything from sass to elegance, pizzazz to intrigue to any room in your house.

Though not a mid-twentieth century decor touch per se (smaller decals, often featuring lovely illustrations of flowers or fruit - were available at the time that could be applied certain types of smooth surfaces like glass), amongst the myriad wall art designs on the market today, one can certainly find some that telegraph a delightfully old school vibe.

Some of the most interesting - and beautiful - vinyl words I've chanced upon so far are those offered up by etsy seller Single Stone Studios. In between sighing and drooling over the many beautiful designs (that run the gamut from chicly modern to sweetly old fashioned) that this vinyl art specialist serves up, I spotted the Vintage Style Family Name listing, which allows buyers to have a custom wall decal designed and manufactured with their own personal details (family surname and year your family/relationship started).

I'm such a sucker for a beautiful antique or vintage looking font and the one used in this decal nails it perfectly. Calling to mind yesteryear advertisements, playbills and even early movie posters, this great font would look marvellously at home in many vintage lover's abodes.

Measuring in at 36" wide x 10.5" high (though they offer custom orders with different sizing, if you'd like, just convo Single Stone Studios on etsy for more details), this self-adhesive, waterproof vinyl decal is designed to last for five years outdoors or (to quote the company themselves) virtually forever indoors. It can be applied to pretty much any kind of smooth, flat, clean surface from doors to windows, walls to home appliances, kitchen tiles to wooden furniture.

In this case however, I think that a wall or very large door would probably be the most fitting place for such a strikingly lovely celebration of your family's name. I'd be inclined to put a decal like this in my living room or (were it larger) my entryway, as a lovely - and loving - reminder of when my family began and importance of our last name.

Retailing for reasonable price (especially when you consider that this is a customized decal) of $28.00, this endearingly pretty vintage style wall decal (which you can have designed in a broad range of colours) would make a fabulous present for a newly married couple, anniversary, baby shower, house warming, hostess gift, birthday or Christmas gift.

Of course, you can definitely pick up one for your own vintage loving – and styled - home, too.

A super quick note about the Vintage 365 series

Hi my wonderful dears, how are you each as we wrap up this second day of March 2011? On this end we've been treated to another round of wild banshee-like howling winds, but the sunshine did briefly - and radiantly appear - which pleased my snuggly little cat, Stella, ever so much! :)

{Just a little note - much like the one the elegant gal in this 1922 black and white illustration - is reading, to let you that I'll be making a teeny-tiny change to the Vintage 365 series. Vintage image via Captain Geoffrey Spaulding on Flickr.}

 

This immensely quick post is simply to let all of you know that as of tomorrow, I'll be dropping the words "Vintage 365" from the post title of all future editions of Vintage 365 (the colourful "Day x of Vintage 365" counter will still appear at the top of each post though, so you'll always be able to quickly know how far along in the series we are).

I'm doing this because the thought struck me earlier today that perhaps having the words "Vintage 365" at the start of so many posts (ideally 365 of them ) might get a tad repetitive (if not downright annoying) to some people. By eliminating those two words at the start of each new article, you'll be better able to immediately read the title and get a sense of what that day's entry is about.

While we're on the subject of Vintage 365, I want to take a moment to sincerely thank everyone for your awesome support of, and comments on, the posts in this series so far. I adore hearing from, and sharing in this marvelous daily journey through the past with, each of you!

Flickr Favourites – April 29, 2010

♥ ♥ ♥



{1951 woman from Look magazine by actionlog.}



{Yellow Jar by Leah 3011.}



{Forgetmenots 2010 by currentclassics.}



{IMG_3833 (Super cute redheaded doll!) by Yumi♡.}



{Vintage Car 1 by Kim Naumann – Curiouser & Curiouser Designs.}



{morning after by simple tess.}



{Sarah 05 by paulwrightphoto.}



{New Additions by Love Is...Everything.}



{Dresser Top – Boxes by such pretty things.}



{Vintage Ladies Cabinet Cards by Suzee Que.}

♥ ♥ ♥


Few amongst us fail to swoon when a gorgeous pair of shoes crosses our path – and all the better if they’re vintage! Footwear can make or break an outfit, set the mood for a ensemble, draw attention to its wearer or be the subtle finishing touch on a gorgeous look.

Those (like myself) who adore old school footwear will find much to daydream about in the Flickr group that’s in the limelight today: Vintage & Retro Shoes and Boots.


{1. vintage turquoise bow shoes 7, 2. Vintage T-Strap SWEET Pink Summer Sandals Size 7.5, 3. Donald J. Pliner's Right Bank Shoe Co., 4. Carmelletes 1952.}

♥ ♥ ♥


Mellow, toasty shades of lemon light and invigorating, tropical sea turquoise waltz through these gorgeous images, whisking my mind off to places of fantastical serenity and quiet contemplation, where everything around me is as lovely as the world created in these marvellous photos.

Come along with me, sweet friends, and escape for a few moments into a universe of springtime hued, vintage beauty filled daydreams.

Twelve posts for twelve months

This past Sunday Chronically Vintage celebrated its first birthday, a merry occasion that couldn’t help but start my week off on a very upbeat note. Many of you left the sweetest of comments in regards to this anniversary, and I sincerely want to thank you all for your beautiful words – it was joy to commemorate such a fun day with each of you!

On Monday, in the midst of running errands and doing nine loads of laundry (which, with any luck, will finished getting folded and put away today – while in the meantime our cat, Stella, has fun playing Queen of the Hill atop a mound of freshly washed and dried linens and clothing!), I began to think about the many wonderful (if I may humbly say so) posts that have filled the past year of this blog’s life and continued to reflect upon about them throughout the week.

Some were short and sweet, other long and informative; no matter what, each of them included at least one image. To date (excluding this one) 261 posts have appeared within the pages of this site. Amongst them it’s hard to whittle down a list of just a few favourites, but I thought it would be blast to look back at twelve posts that stand out in my mind.

As some of you may have guessed, the title of today’s post is a spin on the name of a classic vintage movie Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, but instead of seeking ladies to marry, our posts each pair up with one month in a calendar year (each post having been added to the site in that respective month).

To make this look back at the last year even more fun, I found a fantastically pretty (not to mention alluring!) vintage calendar from 1950 amongst the endlessly lovely offerings that Suzee Que has in her wonderful Flickr stream, and have coupled up each month’s post with a gorgeous pin-up girl.


♥ Looking back at the past year in vintage style ♥


~ January ~



This post launched Chronically Vintage’s popular weekly recipe segment with a homey, old school favourite: Wonderful Wednesday Recipes: Welsh Rarebit.


~ February ~



February was a month of contemplation and realization for me, and many of you helped me through it with you caring, wise advise. This post was my way of acknowledging the wonderful support I was blessed to receive from my readers: You have all helped me to see the forest for the trees, thank you!.


~ March ~



Chronically Vintage went as Irish as a shamrock in March with a round of well known historical figures who hailed from the Emerald Isles: Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with vintage photos of famous Irish people.


~ April ~



Thoughts of springtime renewal, growth and the rhythm of life gave way to a post about the beauty of gardening with an old fashioned twist: Cultivating a garden of vintage style.


~ May ~



There was no pussyfooting around the subject here; I’d prowled the web and hunted down a handful of cat items with more than a pawful’s worth of immense cuteness: Hello Vintage Kitty.


~ June ~


Spirits were light and in the mood to laugh come June, so I took at stab at a popular post that was floating around the blogsphere at the time in which one describes certain articles of clothing they love and others they loath: Five items I would always/never wear.


~ July ~



When my birthday rolled around last year I dove headfirst into the depths of Flickr and emerged with oodles of festively themed images to help celebrate the beginning of the first year of the second quarter of a century of my life: 25 wonderful vintage birthday photos.


~ August ~



With temperatures soaring faster than a rocket ship into space here last summer (and our apartment lacking AC), it was all I could do not to fill the bathtub with ice cream and jump right in. I resisted the urge however, and instead rounded up a slew of refreshingly cool vintage ads: I scream, you scream, we all scream for vintage ice cream!.


~ September ~



With the weather finally starting to chill out a little, my mind turned to memories of the annual shopping trip for school clothes. While I haven’t sat in a classroom for a while now, I still get the urge to spiff up my wardrobe with new threads when September rolls around and this post was jam packed with the perfect sort of dresses to buy and wear when Mother Nature is teetering between seasons: Twenty "summer into autumn" appropriate vintage dresses.


~ October ~



Goblins and ghosts and witches, oh my! Things around here were in a decidedly spooky mood as Halloween loomed near, so naturally I wanted to embrace the spirit of the season and put my own vintage twist on it: Come on everybody, let’s go trick-or-treating!.


~ November ~



By the time November blew into town my head was already dreaming of plum pudding, fragrant pine trees and the joy of giving holiday gifts, which called to mind the childhood pleasure that came from pouring over holiday season catalogues each year, dreaming and hoping in the way that only a child can: The Sears Wish Book catalogue: a time honoured tradition .


~ December ~



As the year drew to a close I wanted to put together a post that was positively bursting at the seams with many of the sublime vintage fashions I had encountered since beginning Chronically Vintage. This delightful post allowed me to just that: Seven stunning vintage holiday season outfits.

♥ ♥ ♥


I realize that this calendar is a little wonky. It starts with January (’10) and finishes with December (’09), but I wanted to include a post from every month of the year, and given the Chronically Vintage was born in April (’09), this was best way I could think of to do it.

Looking back through past posts I found myself rereading many of my entries and the comments they generated. It’s been a profound joy to write about such a diverse array of vintage topics and to learn so much more about the past in doing so.

Thank you again so very much, everyone, for being a part of Chronically Vintage’s world. I know that the next twelve months – and beyond – are going to be fabulous, too!

First day of life

Late one Friday night when a good chunk of the world was either asleep or partying like was 1999 (weekends somehow mean even more during these rough times, so you have to rock it with all your heart), a blog devoted to one woman's never-ending love of all things vintage, rockabilly, retro and pin-up style was born.



{Image via MsBlueSky on Flickr, corners nixed thanks to RoundPic}

Weighing in at...well, websites are weightless, but let's just say 5.7 pounds (in honour of the best year for Chevies), Chronically Vintage came into the world with a smile on its face and an Andrews Sisters song in its heart.

Once the blog's mother has grabbed a few winks, set some pin curls and replied her ruby red lipstick, she will definitely write a more thorough introduction post.