• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Kitchens
  • Bathrooms
  • Blog
  • Exterior
  • Other Rooms
  • Decorate
  • The “Museum”
  • Be Safe/Renovate Safe
Retro Renovation
Retro Renovation

Retro Renovation

Remodel & decorate in Mid Century Style

  • Home
  • Kitchens
  • Bathrooms
  • Blog
  • Exterior
  • Other Rooms
  • Decorate
  • The “Museum”
  • Be Safe/Renovate Safe
Home / What to Collect / reader open threads

Reader Giveaway: Chalkware mermaids from Cats Like Us

pam kueber - Updated: November 1, 2011

Retro Renovation stopped publishing in 2021; these stories remain for historical information, as potential continued resources, and for archival purposes.

Update: Comments/Entries now closed. Congratulations to winner Cheryl in TX, whose number was chosen by Random Number Generator. Blondes won! Thanks, everyone for playing!
What self-respecting Retro Renovator could be without a set of chalkware sea creatures in their pastel-colored bathroom? The folks at Cats Like Us — serious purveyors of rockabilly wear and kitschy collectibles — are providing this week’s giveaway: A set of reproduction chalkware mermaids. Thanks, Cats! I show the pink, but if you win, you can choose from six different styles. And, no Made in China here! These are all hand-made by Barbie K, who lives near Cats Like Us in Tonawanda, New York:

Chalkware—both kitschy & cool—is Barbie K’s passion. When the price of vintage chalkware sky rocketed and it was no longer affordable, she decided to take matters into her own hands—literally! Barbie K has created her own line of “retro-reinterpreted” chalkware including mermaids, hula girls and pin-up girls. She uses a Freeman McFarlan reproduction vintage mold for each piece and decorates them with pearls. The hand poured, hand painted mermaids with the pouty red lips are her best seller.

Pretty cool! How to win:

Win a set of Cats Like Us / Barbie K
Chalkware Mermaids

The rules:

  • Winner gets to choose their mermaid — check them out, there are 6 different sets, 3 haircolors. So to enter the contest, Comment and answer the Important Mermaid Question: Blonde? Brunette? Redhead?
  • I’ll choose the winner by Random Number Generator Tues. morning-ish, Nov. 1.
  • You must reply to my email within 7 days or else I move on to the next in line. I’m not chasing you. Make sure your email is correct.
  • You may choose from Cats Like Us’ in-stock collection (no special orders).
  • Ships USPS 3-day — U.S. only.

CATEGORIES:
reader open threads

Reader Interactions

Comments are closed. 

224 comments

Comments

  1. nina462 says

    October 29, 2011 at 5:49 pm

    I’d have to go with the blonde as it would match my bathroom perfectly (blue tile, yellow walls).
    However, I’d have to take down my original chalkware blue fish & bubbles that are already up on the wall. Maybe they could share 🙂

    (I love chalk ware…have fruits in the kitchen, too.) but she said they were too expensive? I’ve never paid more than $15 for a set.

  2. Kara in Olympia says

    October 29, 2011 at 10:26 am

    I’ve got my eye on the brunette- I’m a brunette and my retro bathroom is turquoise so I’d say she’s a perfect fit! (She’d look great with the chalk fish adorning the wall.)

  3. angie says

    October 29, 2011 at 12:44 am

    Brunette ….yep, she’s the best. Im just moving into a 1959 house and have 2 mermaids so far for my bathroom. It’s nice to know where to get new ones. Thanks!

  4. Kim Douglas says

    October 28, 2011 at 8:05 pm

    Oooh! Redhead/black for me, but I also wanted to say that my grandmother totally HAD THESE, the originals. Hers were blonde! Their tails were a darker green than the aqua here but definitely metallic, and the bubbles were coated with a silvery finish that tarnished and chipped off over the years, sort of a mercury-glass effect.

    Oh, Pam, thanks for pointing these out–what a memory! I don’t know what happened to them (unless various west-coast earthquakes eventually did them all in…?)

  5. barb manoukian says

    October 28, 2011 at 10:54 am

    Their wonderful!!!! Brunette…

  6. Kara E. says

    October 28, 2011 at 12:26 am

    Brunettes have more fun! 😉

  7. Jennifer S. says

    October 27, 2011 at 10:25 pm

    Gingers of the world, unite! Gotta go with the redhead.

  8. JKaye says

    October 27, 2011 at 9:00 pm

    I would want a blonde set, and I would give it to my blonde daughter, to put in the bathroom of her 60s era efficiency apartment.

  9. gsciencechick says

    October 27, 2011 at 8:28 pm

    Aqua with any hair color! Red would be my favorite, though. 🙂

    AND I used to live in Tonawanda!

  10. Mary says

    October 27, 2011 at 7:48 pm

    Redhead!!!!

« Older Comments
Newer Comments »

Primary Sidebar


Footer

Follow Along

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RENOVATE SAFE
  • About
  • Blog
  • The “Museum”
  • Kitchens
  • Bathrooms
  • Exterior
  • Other Rooms
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Notice
  • Disclosures
  • Contact

© 2026 Retro Renovation® • All Rights Reserved • Website by Anchored Design
Please do not use any materials without prior permission. Portrait by Keith Talley Photography