the joys of miles kimball!
I remember being a kid and leafing through the Miles Kimball catalog with wonder. It was always filled with more holiday decorations and household gizmos than I could fathom: draft stoppers, sweater shavers, lint removers, long reach dusters, all kinds of things that were designed to make life easier. Then, Miles slipped from my view. I suppose at some point I must have turned my nose up at its kitschy wares and pushed it out of my mind. Then a year or so ago, Maxwell at Apartment Therapy wrote about their double-sided extension cord, which is a blessing when it comes to spreading light around our pre-war apartment. Now, I check in there occassionally to see what’s new, and without fail there’s always some amazingly cheap, thingy-ma-bob that ya gotta get. This stuff puts American Inventor to shame! Check out these finds from the current selection:
Don’t have the countertop for a cakestand? The collapsible cake cover, $10, will do the trick nicely when you’re in need.
This tea bag dispenser, $9, is so much cuter than all those cardboard boxes on the kitchen counter.
Brighten up the morning routine with a flower shaped egg poacher, $6.
And finally, this simple Glow in the Dark Remote cover, $6, will make movie night stumbles a thing of the past. — Angela M.
My mother used to get this catalog, and like the author, I would look through it in wonder. Only recently have I signed up for the mailing list. The double extension cord is a true find. I had to buy more.
That cake cover looks pretty nifty too.
I love this catalog. A lot of crazy stuff — like food trays for when you’re driving and eating — but also a lot of great little things. Their ornament selection is pretty amazing and there are some good finds in there.
One warning, though: I bought some personalized Christmas cards once and they actually looked pretty cheap (flimsy paper and MK logo on the back), so don’t go that route.
Pretty much what Janet says. My parents got this catalogue when I was around 11-14; I definitely associate it with that time in my life, along with Swiss Colony and Wisconsin Cheeseman (which seem to be interchangeable in terms of what they offer – someone please send me chocolate mint Dobosh Torte for the holidays!) The Miles Kimball catalogue used to have something weird in it, but I don’t remember what – either little Burma-Shave-type pun-happy rhymes in place of products on some pages, or an ongoing story that was maybe 1/6 of a column every few pages.
That’s by far the nicest tea-bag caddy I’ve seen: most are painted with some of the recently trendy mainstream designs, either “faux Tuscan kitchen” or “faux French wine shop.” Although, I keep all my many, many boxes of tea behind the doors in our little pantry. We have a tea shelf… three feet wide. People I know who want tea tend to come to my house.
PS If you do have a lot of tea, you could probably write on that white ceramic caddy with a dry-erase marker to denote what kind of tea you’re putting in it. You could have a row of perhaps three caddies. When one is empty, you’d just wash off the marker and start over. I’d test this on the bottom first, though.
Ah, Miles Kimball. Like my granny’s file cabinet that contained only craft stuff or her top dresser drawer that was chock-full of perfectly organized lipsticks, the Miles Kimball catalog was a constant wonder of my childhood.
I was reaquainted last year after seeking the source of a Christmas card with a praying Santa Claus. It is such a comfort to find that some things, even if they are quite bizarre, never change.
Forget the catalog – look at that freaky blue cake!