Northbrook Eighties Damage

This was one of those big, beautiful North Shore homes that was lovingly decorated when it was built... and then allowed to stand, unchanged, as a testament to its time.

However, as the realtors like to say, it had good bones.

It's decor savings time. Please set your watches back to 1989.

Wow.

Double wow.

That's a genuine pink and gray marble faux-finish on those walls. I'd like to say that the owners of this house were hoarding the eighties. Or were eighties hoarders. Because "hoarding" and "hoarders" have turned out to be very popular Google search terms and they bring in a fair amount of traffic week after week. But I won't.

The basement had everything you'd need to keep the kids at home and just saying no.

Who's up for a Jazzercise routine?

It was $1395 and, according to the sign, worked great.

The Donald would be so proud.

To find the master bedroom, just go up the stairs and back in time about twenty years.

There are a lot of things I'd change about this bedroom, but these nightstands are not one of them.

Neither are these built-ins.

Found in one of the built-ins' bottom drawers. This is one of those pictures that's worth a thousand words, many of them unprintable in this blog.

Another bedroom, with an artistic interpretation of the stock market during the "greed is good" decade on the walls.

I'd like to tell you this is wallpaper...

... but it's not. Someone went to quite a bit of trouble and expense to paint this on the walls.

This house is one of the many reasons I love Northbrook.

It can also buy updated decor. Just sayin'.

Glencoe Grandeur

The rich are different, and aside from the necessity of attending to bodily functions, I'm convinced they live on an entirely different plane than the rest of us mere mortals. Case in point, this Glencoe home and its many fine appointments.

Even the humblest breakfast of toast and coffee would somehow be more nutritious and energizing when enjoyed in this pleasant nook.

Just the sight of these bunnies and snails and melons adorning your chairs would make the sun shine brighter and the birds sing sweeter.

When life is this good, one copy of The Frugal Gourmet is simply not enough.

No matter the weather, this sun room has never seen a rainy day.

You could hang anything over your mantle with total confidence.

Going up or down, this staircase guarantees a grand entrance. And exit.

It's a long, leisurely walk down this hallway. You'll probably burn hundreds of calories along the way.

Oh, um, uh, er. What's this? A dark, ugly corner? Well, moving right along.

Ah, that's better. You could do anything at this desk. Write the next Twilight or Gone With the Wind, create another Microsoft or Google...

... even revive an e-consultancy that's been left for dead.

Everyone -- and I mean everyone -- looks prettier in this mirror.

And at the end of a long day you could curl up in that pretty little prom dress and rest your weary self on top of what surely is the softest -- yet at the same time, firmest -- mattress in the world, safe in the knowledge that all your dreams would be good, and that every one would come true.

Upstairs at the Chicago Tiki Lounge

Back in November we posted a sale entitled Chicago Tiki Lounge, which was an enormous hit amongst our readers the world over. You no doubt remember all the excitement and hub-bub surrounding that story, and continue to comment about it with your friends and family to this very day. But there was more to that unassuming north side four-square home than its blast-from-the-past South Pacific-style basement bar.

There were stacks of commemorative plates from the Franklin Mint or the Bradford Exchange or one of those other shady companies that shamelessly peddle these things on late-night TV as investment-quality items. Let this be a lesson to all of you as you approach your golden years: this is what becomes of them. They sit unwanted, even at pennies on the dollar. You might as well throw your retirement funds into the street. Or write a nice check made out to Estate Sale Stories.

In keeping with the Pacific islands theme, there was also a room filled with seashells, all of them neatly cataloged and categorized for use. Use in what?

I'm so glad you asked.

I spend a lot of time on this blog railing against wallpaper, but this -- found in an upstairs bedroom -- kind of made me swoon a little. It's clever. It didn't necessarily look real, but that didn't necessarily detract from its charms, either.

That's also where I found this. I imagine resting your tired dogs on top of this after a long day waiting tables or standing behind a sales counter would be a relaxing and rejuvenating experience, provided that it didn't electrocute you.

Oh, look. More seashell crafts. On a personal note, I've always liked this shot and the way that gown is captured in the mirror. It satisfies the amateur photographer in me.

If you have a tiki bar in your basement, it's pretty much a given you're going to have a jacket like this in your closet. It's just the natural order of things.

More wallpaper, this time with cherubs.

And when you have wallpaper like that, a switchplate like this probably qualifies as one of the great lucky finds of your life. That, too, is the natural order of things, and no doubt proof of God's great plan at work.

Mount Prospect Multimedia

The best thing about this Mount Prospect ranch -- aside from the fact that it was another great suburban ranch -- is all the great old media choices they still had hanging around.

What do I enjoy more than finding a collection of old LPs and the console stereo that used to to play them? Finding the console stereo up and running. Especially when there's a Steve and Eydie album playing.

This one had seen many an evening of home entertainment, and quite possibly some better days. Because the belt was slipping on this model, which made Eydie sound something more like a red-breasted warbler and not her usual song-belting self.

However, that shouldn't stop you or me from admiring a simpler technology from a gentler time.

This great reel-to-reel recorder/player was in a nearby closet. You can tell that it was portable, because it came in a suitcase. You could conveniently take it anywhere!

There's just something funny to me about a tissue box that says, "Welcome." It's like someone wanted you to know that in this house, it was perfectly okay if you needed to blow your nose.

Nice dining room.

Something about this set-up just makes me want to sit down and get to work on the Great American Novel.

With those angels flanking the title, something tells me the Money Miracle involves a lot of praying to be rich.

"New" is, of course, a relative term. I wonder what Ms. Post would say about Estate Sale Stories?

ESS Greatest Hits: Melrose Park Chinese Garden, Part 1

While Estate Sale Stories is soaking up some sun and tequila, we're rerunning some of our favorite posts from the past. We'll be back on Monday, March 8 with new posts. Thanks for stopping by!

This was the home of a woman who loved flowers. All kinds. The mysteries of the Orient. Pink and aqua, purple and yellow. Things with a bit of flash and pizazz. Or a lot.

This was the home of a woman who didn't believe in dialing things back.

Here's the kitchen. The appliances -- a cooktop and separate wall oven from the '50s or '60s -- were pink. The refrigerator was newer, but I'm willing to bet the original was also pink. On sunny mornings, I'm sure this room glowed.

This chair was in the kitchen, too. I don't think it lived there, but had been brought up from the basement for the sale.

Speaking of the basement, let's take a look.

The house was a split level. This is the first lower floor, and it held quite a few treasures.

I wish I had space for this, and a spare $250. It was in great shape and worth every penny.

This exuberant duo sat right across from the buffet. There's something very current about them right now. In the proper setting, they could be focal points and conversation starters.

Especially when paired with the matching lamp.

This is when the flowers caught my eye.

There were a lot of them. And all priced to move at $1.00.

I found this on one of the tables nearby. I can't decide if it's ugly, offensive, or both. The back said "Bowen Coolie (c)1963." The company is still around, and has since graduated to comic-book character figurines.

A second set of stairs led to the basement.

There was plenty of room down here, and a couple interesting finds. I found a good-sized wet bar at the far left end, with several stacks of books around it. Among them, Female Sexual Slavery by Kathleen Barry. Books tell a lot about the person who owned them. This one said quite a bit.

Also on the left, just behind the bar, was a second kitchen. It was the second home I'd seen with one today.

View #1. It had everything but a dishwasher.

View #2. Not in great shape, but not because it was used a lot. As a matter of fact, I was getting the impression the former owner wasn't much of a cook at all.

This looks like something you'd see on the set of a community theater production of Sweeney Todd, but had once been a pretty sharp wall oven. What's the deal with the second, downstairs kitchen? All I can guess is that people used to entertain a lot in their homes -- that would explain all the wet bars in homes built in the '50s and '60s -- and the second kitchen downstairs made those swank dinner and cocktail parties easier to host.

On to the second floor in part 2.