Stop appliance genocide

[ChrisW6ATV]

At some point, some weird people are going to totally rave over Avocado Green and Harvest Gold. Look at all that "mid-century modern" stuff that sells for high prices now. I thought most of it was ugly in the 1960s and 1970s (when it was aging and left over from the 1950s), and I still do.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by ChrisW6ATV

At some point, some weird people are going to totally rave over Avocado Green and Harvest Gold. Look at all that "mid-century modern" stuff that sells for high prices now. I thought most of it was ugly in the 1960s and 1970s (when it was aging and left over from the 1950s), and I still do.

Some folks, especially those who lived as adults through the Great Depression of the 1930s, just held on to the old stuff as long as it worked, and didn't care what it looked like or if the styling, color, etc. was out of date if they still had it 20+ years later. My grandmother had a Sears Kenmore stove she bought new in the late 1940s; she kept it until she passed in 1985. The stove was still working at the time. It was white, with just a hint of blue behind the knob for the cooking timer. I have an old friend, one year younger than I am, who just raved over that stove; he thought it was the coolest thing he had ever seen.

[atomicomatic]

Originally Posted by ChrisW6ATV

At some point, some weird people are going to totally rave over Avocado Green and Harvest Gold. Look at all that "mid-century modern" stuff that sells for high prices now. I thought most of it was ugly in the 1960s and 1970s (when it was aging and left over from the 1950s), and I still do.

I was going to chime in on this thread, so I thought I should reply to this post first.

Whether something is "ugly" is in the eye of the beholder. There are plenty of people who wouldn't touch anything in this thread with a 10 foot pole. I saved most of my furniture like I saved most of my appliances. People look at you funny when you go "I don't use new things."- and I don't. I iron my clothes with a 1961 Sunbeam, watch TV occasionally on multiple pre-1970 TV sets, and live around Jetson's era furniture. I saved one of my chairs from the trash, which the guy responded "I was going to pay someone to haul that off." After shampooing the original green fabric and polishing the brass tipped tapered legs, it looks as good as when it was new in 1960. Here recently I came across an abandoned postwar flat-roofed ranch house, and am hoping to acquire it soon too. The grass is 2 feet high, and it is hidden behind masses of greenery. The original stove and fridge are also inside, complete in all their early 1960s glory.

What bothers me is once the public decides something is "cool", everyone goes crazy. When I got most of my stuff, is was disliked by anyone who cared what others thought. I got plenty of weird looks, but I knew that I was not just saving a piece of history, it was something that would easily last another lifetime. Thanks to TV shows like "Mad Men", this stuff has SKYROCKETED in value. There's a local "mid-century" store that has one chair listed at $700+. It's good in a way, more history is being saved, but disappointing at the same time, people are slaves to society. I've always made it a point to not let anyone else dictate who I am.

I'm sure some people on the forum can relate to some of the things I've said.

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by atomicomatic

I was going to chime in on this thread, so I thought I should reply to this post first.

Whether something is "ugly" is in the eye of the beholder. There are plenty of people who wouldn't touch anything in this thread with a 10 foot pole. I saved most of my furniture like I saved most of my appliances. People look at you funny when you go "I don't use new things."- and I don't. I iron my clothes with a 1961 Sunbeam, watch TV occasionally on multiple pre-1970 TV sets, and live around Jetson's era furniture. I saved one of my chairs from the trash, which the guy responded "I was going to pay someone to haul that off." After shampooing the original green fabric and polishing the brass tipped tapered legs, it looks as good as when it was new in 1960. Here recently I came across an abandoned postwar flat-roofed ranch house, and am hoping to acquire it soon too. The grass is 2 feet high, and it is hidden behind masses of greenery. The original stove and fridge are also inside, complete in all their early 1960s glory.

What bothers me is once the public decides something is "cool", everyone goes crazy. When I got most of my stuff, is was disliked by anyone who cared what others thought. I got plenty of weird looks, but I knew that I was not just saving a piece of history, it was something that would easily last another lifetime. Thanks to TV shows like "Mad Men", this stuff has SKYROCKETED in value. There's a local "mid-century" store that has one chair listed at $700+. It's good in a way, more history is being saved, but disappointing at the same time, people are slaves to society. I've always made it a point to not let anyone else dictate who I am.

I'm sure some people on the forum can relate to some of the things I've said.

I sure can, biggest difference is that I live a couple of decades past that.

[zenith2134]

The silver-coated drinking glasses they use on "Mad Men" have sure gone up in value, possibly due to the show itself. I have a large collection of them, I forget what their trade name is. But When I go to estate sales and antique shops looking for treasure, I routinely see some of them going for many times what I paid for mine in '04-'05