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.
November 13th, 2006 at 12:06 pm
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.
November 13th, 2006 at 1:31 pm
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.
November 13th, 2006 at 8:18 pm
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.
November 13th, 2006 at 8:21 pm
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.
November 14th, 2006 at 5:14 am
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.
November 14th, 2006 at 1:40 pm
Forget the catalog – look at that freaky blue cake!