I’m obsessed with vintage glitter decor. Obsessed with vintage toilets. Obsessed with woddities. Obsessed with folks who find motherlodes of New Old Stock in old hardware store warehouses. So here’s where all my Age-of-Aquarius planets align: In a gold-glitter-embedded NOS Olsonite toilet seat
(affiliate link) made by the Swedish Crucible Steel Company*, Plastics Division, Detroit, Mich. It’s from one of our favorite ebay sellers, nomoredrama4me, who keeps pulling stuff out of that insanely wonderful attic warehouse treasure trove of hers in Kansas City.
*Super duper interestingly: Swedish Crucible Steel Company is credited with the invention of the all-plastic toilet seat. Nels Olson was the owner of the company, hence the new product was called Olsonite. More fascinating info to share at cocktail parties with all your friends who already think you are nuts for your retro fascinations.
Midcentury American industrial designers LOVED glitter:
40 historic designs of glitter laminate — from Formica, Textolite, Wilsonart and more- Glitter vinyl floor tile — we found a source (alas, I was told be a reader this is being discontinued so get it while you can)
- Ceiling glitter — where to buy it — and my very pressing questions
- Ruth Richmond for Weiser acrylic doorknobs — what we’re lusting after now
Links for more information:
- To see all the New Old Stock from nomoredrama4me, click here (affiliate link) … and once there, take a look at “Sold Items” to see what got away…
- See our other stories about products we’ve spotlighted from nomoredrama4me’s stockpile.
Glitter was en vogue. Ceilings and counter tops, but now toilet sets. Who knew? I’ve heard of lots of “-ites,” but never Olsonite. I notice the mounting holes are different than on today’s toilets. So the seat would probably not fit on newer toilets.
Yes, I remember that “Best Seat in the House” slogan in old magazine ads from the 1950s. When I was 7-10 years old and reading the newspaper, I thought puns were the greatest humor going. Still like them, in fact!
I may be slightly tangential here, but it occurred to me while reading this set of instructions to turn laminate countertops into faux granite, which I doubt many people reading this site would want to do, that actually you could very easily subvert these instructions to turn a boring countertop into a fair facsimile of the much desired and no longer available glitter laminate. Just do the opposite of what the blogger says about only using fine micro glitter, and put it over a solid background instead of sponge painting granite texture! I’m seriously considering making a Galaxy theme because I think my astronomy nerd side may be even stronger than my history nerd side…
https://everythingsbetterwithsparkles.wordpress.com/tag/envirotex-lite/
Hi, I’m looking for NOS Case or Olsonite pearlescent seats for my Case 1000 elongated toilets in Blue, Beige and White. Thanks
Hi Brian, probably the best place to watch is ebay. Set up saved searches using various terms and… wait.