Fabulously vintage inspired high heel saddle shoes

✯ Day 345 of Vintage 365 ✯

Saddle shoes are one of those things, much like poodle skirts and bobby socks, that often gets stereotypically assigned to generic 1950s or vintage themed looks and costumes. As most of us vintage fashionistas know however, saddle shoes not only predated the 50s, they were worn with a multitude of looks by both guys and gals alike.

Based on the clean, often comfortable, lines of classic oxfords and (to a certain extent) brogues, saddle shoes are often made of leather and appear in such classic colour combinations and white and black, white and brown, and white and pink (I had a pair, which my grandma bought for me, that I wore until they were falling apart in that colour coupling when I was a little girl) - though certainly any hues you can dream up could be made in a pair of these classic shoes.

While, to my mind, saddle shoes are a truly timeless look, they do certainly evoke the mid-20th century period during which their popularly peaked. During the hardworking 40s and the optimistic 50s alike, members of both sexes in all ages could be seen sporting this causal style of shoe, in settings as diverse as the classroom to the dance floor.

I've been on the hunt for a pair of saddle shoes, be they genuine vintage or reproduction, to add to my wardrobe for ages - probably since the day that those childhood pink and white ones went to the big shoe store in the sky, come to think of it - but haven't yet found one that fit well or was within budget.

Interestingly, while doing a periodic check for saddle shoes online recently, I came across a twist on these fabulous vintage style that sees the inclusion of a sweet 2.5 inch heel added to a timeless black and white version.

 

These wonderfully cool black and white heeled saddle shoes marry the classic two-tone look of this beloved vintage style of footwear with a very wearable 2.5 inch heel that instantly lends a 1930s, 40s and 50s worthy swing dance vibe to this appealing pair of shoes.

I love how the inclusion of a heel instantly turns these leather saddle shoes (which are available for from Plasticland.com, in ladies sizes 6 to 10, for $69.00) into something a bit dressier than than their (essentially) flat heeled counterparts. I could easily picture wearing these dressy saddle shoes with anything from a feminine black pencil skirt to a pair of high waisted trousers, all year long.

Though, as some of you may recall from past Chronically Vintage posts, I have uneven sized, thick (from top to bottom) feet that make buying shoes online impossible (as I really need to try them on in person first), I would love to come across these precise heels offline and (if they fit) would buy them faster than you can say malt shop!

Four marvelously colourful 1950s children's bedrooms

✯ Day 344 of Vintage 365 ✯

When you think back to the days of your childhood bedroom, what colours spring to mind first? I'd venture to guess that for many of us gals, pink and/or purple are definitely contenders, but the list certainly doesn't have to stop there.

Having moved a few times over the course of my youth, just as I don't really feel like I have (only) one hometown, so too is tricky to firmly assign the title of "childhood bedroom" just just room that I laid my little head down in decades ago.

That said, I generally divide my thoughts on this topics between two bedrooms. One of which was somewhat sparsely decorated with pink walls and a darling teddy bear ballerina border, and the other (which called part of a charming Edwardian house, that was build in 1909, home) that my little sister and I shared as we grew up in the Okanagan during the early 1990s.

This bedroom, which featured sloping ceilings, a very tiny walk-in closet, and a quaint little window that one could easily climb out of and sit atop the roof that jutted out over the house's front porch, was covered by a beautiful, very vintage feeling (though it wasn't actually old - my mom hung it shortly after we moved in) aqua hued wallpaper that featured an endless smattering of tiny pale yellow and pinky-peach hued flower blossoms.

Though, I like to think somewhere someone in the family must have a photo of that room and its cheerful wallpaper, I haven't found one amongst the childhood photos I have, so for now I can only picture it in my mind's eye.

Neither of those two bedrooms fancy or particularly stuffed with furnishings or belongings, but they were certainly sweet and well suited to a little girl's tastes. Much as the four vintage children's bedrooms pictured below would have made many a youngster marvellously happy in the 1950s when these images first appeared by way of the folks over at Sherwin Williams.

{Charming 1950s children's bedrooms via obsequies on Flickr.}

 

These wonderfully colourful rooms are certainly eye-catching, but not through-the-roof glaring or unnecessarily busy. Each centers around a particular colour, while adding in accents and decor in coordinating hues.

Though I don't recall having much impute in how my bedroom was decorated as a child, if I'd been shown this quartet of rooms back then and told to pick the one I'd most like to have as my own, I would have given serious consideration to at least three of them, with either the girly pink or vibrant turquoise option winning out.

I love that there's a sense of timeless fun, with a distinct 50s vibe, to each of these fours rooms and would adore drawing inspiration from any one of them for my (future) child's bedroom.

Which of these rooms do you fancy most and do any of them remind you of your own beloved childhood bedrooms?

Two great list building websites to help you through the holiday season and beyond

✯ Day 343 of Vintage 365 ✯

As kids many of us quickly learn that, about this time of year, Santa Claus is - as the classic song says - making a list and checking it twice.

It's certainly fun as youngsters to think thus is the case and I still enjoy the notion that there's a mythical "good list" out there in the universe (or at least at the North Pole) that I'm trying to remain on each year.

Hop ahead to adulthood however, and the lists I'm much more preoccupied come December are the ones I make myself to help steer me productively through the endless whirl of activity that is the holiday season.

I've always been a list maker, right back to the days of when they were jotted down with crayon in the margins of my colouring books. In recent years however, for the majority of lists, I tend to use the computer.

Certainly some are written down the good old-fashioned way (most grocery lists, for example), but for the lists I create most days of the tasks I need/hope to complete before the day draws to a close once more, I do tend to turn to the handy-dandy convenience of the internet.

Specifically, this year in particular, I've been using a site called todo.ly for lists of daily tasks, and another by the name of tadalist.com to keep track of things like shopping and wish lists, as well as long term roundups of tasks to be completed over time.

Both offer what I consider to be very straightforward interfaces and features that spare you the unnecessarily complicated bells and whistles of certain online/desktop list making programs. This works well because I'm usually just interested in having a place in which to list entries and check them off (don't you adore the feeling of ticking off something on a to do list?) as each is completed.

{Like the iconic image of Santa Claus pouring over his list of children's names each December, most us also find ourselves with a mile long checklist that requires our time and attention if we're to conquer it productively over the course of this wildly busy month. Immensely lovely vintage Normal Rockwell Saturday Evening Post Christmas cover image by way of x-ray delta one on Flickr.}

 

I find that making lists helps me really focus on the tasks that most need to be completed, which isn't to say I couldn't do so without such lists, but they do provide an especially nice backbone on which to build an itemized set of jobs you need to do or items you'd like to purchase.

Writing lists is certainly anything but new, history tells us that many ancient civilizations who had written language kept lists, and I'm sure that for nearly as long as man (or woman!) has had a writing instrument and something to jot down his (or her) thoughts on, organization loving folks have been putting together lists.

With the holiday season is full, merry swing, I thought I'd mention the two lists above in case you happen to be on the hunt for a list building site or two to help steer you through the five million things nearly all of us try and get down, hopefully in as stress-free a manner as possible, this festive, wonderful time of the year.

Just remember to follow Santa's lead, check your list twice, and you should be well on your way to productively soaring through the holiday season!