To be able to run the blog full-time — including paying Kate — I mostly make money from the ads. Another relatively small source of income is monthly earnings from Amazon. When I write about and link to products you can find there (which I always try to remember to disclose by calling out the link as an affiliate link), and readers click through and buy, I get a little spiff. Once you’re in via my link, I also get a spiff if you buy other stuff. At the end of the month, I can look through the reports on items sold — and sometimes I see other cool items you’ve discovered. Like: These melamine dinner plates with boomerang-laminate-style designs (affiliate link). They are just under 9″ square. Pretty cool — I might get two sets for picnicking at Tanglewood in the summer!
Nutone chrome exhaust fan cover — still available as a replacement part 
Retro refrigerators — 7 places to get them in pink (and other colors, too) 
Jacqueline and Glen return a 1970s harvest gold stove to its original glory 
SMEG appliances at KBIS 
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Perfect!
I must have these!!! My husband and I have been on the lookout for metal plates-we’re tired of the kids breaking all my Pfaltzgraff.
They are melamine, I believe – not metal. Corelle is a good option, too, and they have some throwback style designs >> https://retrorenovation.com/2015/02/26/corelle-true-blue-old-town-blue/
I ordered the plates and the stickers!
I’d love to know of more good sources for sets of melamine dinnerware. I’d hoped Target would have better ones by now, but they’re mostly ugly. I really want to have about 12 of each (dinner, salad, bowl) to replace our stoneware. I just hate how heavy stoneware is and how careful you have to be with it. Melamine rules. And the color/pattern has to be just right, but I won’t know it until I see it. 🙂
These look like real conversation starters! Set these out and see what reaction you get especially if you haven’t yet had the opportunity to go mid-century and want to test the waters.
Pam, are some advertisers able to hijack your site? In the last few days, there was something on here that startled me, not that I’m a prude, but why would this kind of company be on here?
This blogging deal is harder than I thought.
Carolyn, In general I cannot control the ads that appear in the Google slots. That said, I can block certain categories. Please send me an email about what you saw and I can see if I can do anything about it.
You and Kate deserve to make as much money off this as you can. You have provided a service to all of us poor wretches who thought we were alone.
. . . not aware of everything that’s out there.
This looks perfect for our vintage trailer – and unbreakable too!
Exactly perfect for a vintage trailer! And for picnicking at Tangelwood. Pam, don’t you just love the people that come there with the white linen tablecloths, silver candelabra, and what all? Plastic plates are way better.
These can actually be used as small trays and shallow bowls for the kitchen and bath where most of the decor is neutral, white, or no pattern. They could be used as vanity trays, fruit trays, mail catcher, coffee station tray, a carryall condiment tray, a large communal coaster for the coffee table. What a nice way to add color and pattern in a neutral space. The square shape is perfect for use as a small tray.
Darn, Carol, you beat me to it! Yes, I think that these would be fabulous catch alls and trays for around the house!
…but don’t put melamine dinnerware in the microwave
http://www.fda.gov/Food/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/ucm199525.htm
Thank you for pointing to this safety resource. What I take away from this: Don’t put anything in the microwave unless it has been explictly marked as “microwave safe.”
Yes just about to point this out too!
Hi everyone, I just want to let all you mid century fans out there know that Bed Bath and Beyond has melamine Cathrine Holms look a likes dishes, made by Dansk called The Burb, the collection is on line only. I don’t know how to post a photo to this comment or I would. The dishes are a super nice way of having some Cathrine Holms for a very reasonable price, in fact very cheap. Just go to the Bed Bath Beyond home page, type in melamine in search and then go to dinnerware. Check them out. I love mine.
Thanks for the tip. Here’s the link: http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/s/dansk-melamine?ta=typeahead
Yes! Will go with my 1960s Catherineholm bowl and fondue pot! Thanks!
“The Burbs”–perfect for the mid-century flight to the suburbs.
OMG! The aqua one is the exact match to the table and counter in Joe’s Diner! That is Formica Aqua Boomerang–recommended by this site when Formic came out with it, and then quickly discontinued it.
The problem with melamine is it’s not dishwasher- or microwave-safe. Not too many dishwashers or microwave ovens back in the ’50s, but I remember that the plates mom used for us kids were always melamine. And the glasses were those aluminum ones that hurt your teeth if they touched the edge. Everything tasted funny in them.
Our “in progress” MCM screened porch has a bar with a grey boomerang countertop. The grey plate is a perfect match!