Mid Century, But Not Retro

Yesterday, a friend of mine texted me some pictures of a few mid century pieces of furniture she found for sale. The prices were incredible, and she asked me if she should buy them, possibly for resale. I answered a quick "Yes!" Based on my experience searching for mid century modern pieces on Craigslist and in flea markets, I was pretty confident telling her it was a good investment. This elegant, distinct style is very popular right now, which is bad news for those of us who try to find it for cheap.

This home is a space I really wanted to share for a couple reasons. First, the owner of this home is Elizabeth McTague, a talented macrame artist who inspires me daily with her creativity. If you don't follow her on Instagram, you really should fix that.

Second, sharing this home gives me a chance to talk about that iconic furniture style that's getting harder and harder to score for a thrifty price.

Glamper Renovation Plans

Mkay, we've got plans for days now!

I've managed to turn my dreams for our glamper into a few specific sources and a to-do list. Just in case you missed it, we bought this 1999 travel trailer a few weeks ago, and we're planning to give it an interior makeover. The camper itself is in great shape, so it doesn't need any structural repairs, just a little style updating, because right now it looks like a room at a Motel 6.

Bohemian + Scandinavian

This beautiful home appeared on my blog feed a few days ago, and I can't stop thinking about it. It's the perfect mix of my favorite styles.

Here's my problem: a look at my Pinterest boards would tell you that I am a minimalist who likes all white rooms and sparse decor. But a walk through my apartment would tell you that I like books and records and art and textiles and wood furniture and the cozy comfort of a more free-spirited, bohemian style. How can I reconcile these two tastes and stop feeling like a giant fraud?

This Swedish home is the answer.

Things Are Finally Hanging From My Ceiling

An apartment just isn't a home (to me) until things are hanging from the ceiling. I love finding a good stud and suspending my possessions in the air. For plants, this is a must, since my sweet babies will destroy any plant they can reach. And in such a small apartment, it's a huge space saver. But I did this a lot in our giant old home, too. Hanging things from the ceiling just makes a place look more finished, in my opinion.

The problem was, I didn't have a good stud finder. I'd had a battery operated one before, and it was very confusing and unreliable. After a little research, I learned about magnetic stud finders, so I ordered this one online.

Rental Backsplash Options: Is It Worth It?

One of my favorite bloggers, Anna Dorfman, has been reading my mind lately and sharing some affordable, temporary options for kitchen backslashes in rentals (check out this post, this post, and this post). This is a very tricky subject, I think. Should I bother to fix up something like my kitchen backsplash in my apartment, where I will probably only live for a year or so?

I’m leaning towards yes, always. Ha!

We're Moved In and My Least Favorite Thing About Seattle Is....

All our stuff is in the Seattle apartment, and I have made a promise to myself to never again move until I can afford to hire a moving company to do it for me. I'm so tired of carrying my dresser and mattress up and down stairs.  But we're done with that for a while!

We moved in and we haven't gotten our wifi set up yet, so I haven't been able to blog in a few days. I want to show you how everything has fit into the little place. Somehow, we managed to lose both our HAMMER and our DRILL in the move, so until I get my new ones from Amazon, nothing is hanging from the wall or ceiling. So it looks a little more crowded than it should.

Furniture Friday // The Peacock Chair

Time for another Furniture Friday! This time I've got peacock chairs (aka fan chairs) on the brain, ever since I picked up this one at a flea market recently. I love that they aren't a classic piece of furniture. They're a statement piece for sure! When I search for images of them, they tend to be in really beautiful, bohemian styled rooms. Some even manage in really modern spaces. These chairs can do amazing things, I tell ya! Here are a few of my favorites.

Important to note: The peacock chair was Morticia Addams' chair of choice.

Hmm. My home clearly needs more textiles for draping.

All image sources can be found on my Pinterest board, Peacock Chairs.

Living Room

There's not much going on around the Eckhouse these days, but I noticed my house tour photos are really outdated. I guess blogs require some routine maintenance or whatever. Anyway, I decided to play house photographer in my living room. The results aren't too bad, I think.

The peacock chair has come downstairs, where it can get more attention. Plus it told me it wants to be seen with the giant wall hanging.

That lamp was a freebie from my friend Amanda. It needs a shade and some rewiring, but it has an awesome shape. I hope to get brave enough to play with it soon. Anybody out there know anything about rewiring vintage lamps? That scares me a little, but I've seen others manage it.

I think I made the right decision sticking with the green sofa. It keeps the room light and bright. Now I'm working on expanding my collection of pillows to break it up a little bit. I'm also dreaming of finding a reasonably priced cowhide rug for the middle of the living room.

And here's an extra photo of Simon chasing the laser pointer and scratching up the sofa. He's such a cute little monster.

A Seventies Sofa for a Minute

Uh-oh. Somebody bought a new sofa and chair set!

Not sure what happened here.

I went a little crazy, I guess. Danavee, Diane and I were out thrifting, and I was supposed to only be buying a desk. I ended up finding a desk, and a peacock chair, and then this set caught my eye.

Mkay, now I know it's not for everyone. It's a little loud, I get it. But in such a retro way! That striped pattern and wood trim looks earthy and bohemian. Plus, that thing is so cushy and nap-inducing. Yummy!

I'm guessing 1970's? 80's? The tag says Benchcraft and looks pretty vintage. My favorite thing about the set is the removable back cushions. It makes them so much softer and it reminds me of the sofa my parents had when I was little.



I got the price down a bit, and reminded myself I could sell my green sectional and definitely cover the cost of this sofa. I made some calls and got someone to haul the sofa, then we stuffed everything else into Diane's mini-van and drove it back to my house. We unloaded everything, got the green sofa out of the way, and put the new sofa in place, and-

Nope.

Spoiler alert! Serious buyer's remorse.

I instantly realized that while I did really like this sofa, I didn't love it enough to part with my green sectional. Plus, with my wood floors and other wood furniture, this room was a total brown town.

Shoot.

Yep, I sold it. I made back what I paid for it, at least. And my living room is not longer packed with furniture, so there's that. But now I owe some apologies. 

Rand, I'm sorry for being insane sometimes about sofas.

Danavee, I'm sorry for taking your entire afternoon to debate the pros and cons of this sofa only to change my mind about the sofa. Thanks for listening to me talk so much about how furniture impacts my life.

Diane, I'm sorry for making you rearrange every seat and item in your mini-van in order to fit a ridiculous amount of thrifted furniture in there. That must have taken a while to put back into place. It was pretty funny, though.

Random guy who helped me move the sofa across town because you owed my brother-in-law a favor, I'm sorry for wasting 40 minutes of your Sunday afternoon. I hope you had the following day off work like I did.

Brother-in-law, I'm sorry I wasted a favor that guy owed you. Now I owe you a favor, although I don't have much to offer you except maybe some furniture.

Glad to clear the air there. I feel better!

I'm linking up with Molly from Still Being Molly and Carly from Lipgloss and Crayons. :)

I Painted Some Walls Black/Office Progress

Remember how we cleaned out Rand's messy office, painted the floor and organized it? It may have looked like I was just doing a nice thing for my man, but I was actually doing it for selfish reasons. His CPR/AED/LGI/CPO/OMG training materials had taken over the room that was supposed to be my home office, and I wanted that room back. And now I have it!

It's got a ways to go, but I've made some progress here and there. The biggest accomplishment for me was finally fulfilling my dream of painting some walls black. Verdict: I LOVE them.

Here's how it went down: First, I thought I would just be resourceful and use what I had, which was semi-gloss paint in Benjamin Moore's Onyx. Bad idea. My advice: don't try to be resourceful. Just because you have a gallon of black semi-gloss paint on your hands does not mean it belongs on your walls. Semi-gloss paint doesn't belong on walls. At least not in my house.

So I painted one wall with the paint I had, hated it, then went and bought the same color in flat paint and repainted it. Then I loved it.

So I started painting the wall next to it. It felt pretty good. I kept going, on to the next wall and around the trim. You get the idea. In the end, all but one wall in this room ended up black. And oh, it is all so gorgeous.

It's not all glamour shots around here. There still a massive mess on the floor. I need some shelves or maybe a wall unit of some kind. There was an incredible one at Urban the other day for $200. Reasons I should maybe buy it: I'll probably spend that much putting shelves on the wall anyway. I won't have to worry about the shelves falling off the wall. I could actually resell the wall unit if I wanted to. See how good I am at talking myself into these purchases?!

Still so much arranging to do, and the floor needs painted so badly. But this is progress for now. And I finally have a desk to sit at. :)

Papa's Dresser is Finally Mine!

This past summer was one of the best summers I've had in a long time. I always enjoy summer, but this one was packed full of all my favorite things, and I'm confident I didn't waste a minute of it. My days were spent enjoying family, weaving, sleeping, reading, photographing, playing and traveling (I have pictures of my trip to NYC to share with you soon). I grew some food, caught (and missed) a plane by myself for the first time, and acquired some fabulous new furniture.

And now, four months after my summer vacation ended, I've finally managed to clean my bedroom enough to photograph that fabulous new furniture. (Bad house blogger...)

Feast your eyes on my new treasure up there.  Isn't it beautiful? This furniture is great just because its shape and style, but it is extra neat-o because it belonged to one of my favorite people ever.

When my grandma passed away in 2009, all the furniture in her home was given out to the kids who needed it. My college-aged little sister needed a bedroom set, so Papa's set went to her. I really wanted it, but I already had a bedroom set that had belonged to Rand's grandpa, and he didn't want to part with it. So basically, I was stuck with a set I didn't like.

I painted it and added DIY leather knobs, you know the story. Even though I like how that other set turned out, it still doesn't measure up to Papa's furniture, so when my sister decided to upgrade to other stuff in her home, I snagged it.  Our old set has moved on.

Unfortunately, Papa's set showed signs of living in a college student's apartment. It needed a little love.

I really didn't want to sand down and restain this set. The odds that I would get the stain to match perfectly were slim, and also, I just don't like it. I prefer the original, even if it's imperfect. In order to revive, but not redo this furniture set, I dug around for Morgan Satterfield's great post on refreshing old wood furniture.

Side note: Does anyone know what happened to Morgan? She's disappeared from everything, even her online store. I don't know her personally and it's none of my business, but I miss her.

Anyway, I followed Morgan's directions to the letter. I also switched out the itty-bitty knobs for some bigger, louder ones. Two original knobs were missing and the drawer pull from the middle drawer was gone, so I just replaced all those places with my new knobs. I like how it looks cohesive and a little quirky now.

Rand likes all the drawer space. I like the mid-century shape and beautiful wood. And that it was Papa's. And free. Win/win on this one.

Dining Room Shelfies

I put up some shelves on the wall in my dining room, and it only cost me $1.

*Results not typical.

What do you think? Not sure why the bottom of this photo looks so weird.

Hmm. I don't feel like this photo reflects it, but those shelves ARE level. I checked.

How were they $1 you ask? I found those white IKEA brackets at a garage sale for a dollar, and I used scrap wood from our garage (actually old original trim pieces) for the shelves. The shelves aren't as deep as I would like, but that can be adjusted later. I was determined to use materials I already had on hand for this project to keep things as cheap as possible.

I added my gold trunk underneath and it fit perfectly. The best part about this project was getting to style up the shelves afterwards. They're still not quite right, but close. Having good shelf space for all my cute crap is da best.

I drilled into studs in the wall to hang these shelves, so I know they're not going anywhere. I still cringe a little every time I set something on them, though. I do that every time I sit in my hanging chair, too. It's still just a little scary, but seems to be holding up. For now.

Ahh, it feels so good to get this done and get some things up off the floor. They're still looking a little bare, but I plan to hang some small frames in those empty spaces and gradually add more plants as I get a little braver. These shelves add more cat-safe real estate where my plants are safe from being gnawed down to nubs. In fact, I think I want to buy two more of those brackets and put some matching shelves on the other side.

I call that a pretty productive weekend.

TRJ trivia question: How many DIYs can you spot in the picture above? :)

Furniture Friday // The Saarinen Tulip Table

I feel a series coming on! Let's start a new series about one of my favorite things-furniture. Not just any furniture, but classic, beautifully designed mid century furniture. There are a few key pieces that really give me chills, so I've decided to share a few with you in a new series I'll call Furniture Friday. 

First up-it's a good one! The Saarinen Tulip Table. Lord have mercy. 

Does furniture have this effect on you, too?

Image by Dylan Chandler, Via Apartment Therapy

This beautiful table is part of a collection designed by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen and produced by Knoll. According to Knoll,

Eero Saarinen vowed to address the “ugly, confusing, unrestful world” he observed underneath chairs and tables -- the so-called "slum of legs." A five-year design investigation led him to the revolutionary Pedestal Collection, introduced in 1958.

Photo Via The Decoist

This table's sleek, flowing lines make it a great statement piece, while at the same time, its unobtrusive shape allows it to work in many different styles of homes. I've seen it paired with Eames and Bertoia chairs or with a set of teak dining chairs, but I was surprised to see how well it works with more traditional styles of chairs and even cushy benches. The tulip table would be great in a cozy little breakfast nook or in a fabulous dining room.

Photo Via Coco+Kelley on Flickr

Image Via The Decoratrix

If I could handle the price tag, I would go all out with a oval-shaped marble top. With all different colors of Eames chairs around it...yes! The chair possibilities are endless, especially without those pesky legs getting in the way of your style.

Image Via The Decoist

Mid century furniture is hot right now. Ugh. I hate that. It makes it hard to find and pricey, plus you end up seeing these things everywhere you look. At least I do, probably because I do a lot of looking. But this table is very versatile, simple, and fresh, so it fits into a variety of interiors. I enjoy seeing it included in many different styles of homes, and its versatility keeps it from getting old.

Photo Via Street Scene

Photo Via Schoolhouse Electric

Unfortunately, like nearly all my dream furniture finds, this table's price tag is way out of my reach. Unless I have another amazing thrifty find like my freak Wassily incident, I will probably never own an actual Saarinen Tulip table. It's alright, though, because I'm a big fan of furniture knock-offs. If it weren't for knock-offs, great design would only be for rich people, but thanks to places like IKEA, us regular people can live stylishly, too.

Hey, look! It's the IKEA Docksta table! This table is very reasonably priced at $199, and looks close enough for me. I could see myself having this table for years and years and just switching out the chairs when I need a change.

For more tulip table information and eye candy, I recommend taking a look here and here.

So what do you think? Have you ever had a tulip table in your home, or would you consider one? What chairs would you put with it? What is your opinion on furniture knock-offs?

Our Sofa Search is Over! (Again!)

Sofa Search 2013/14 is officially over. For the second time. I can't remember if I ever told you what happened with our leather Mad Men sofa. Remember that guy? He was so, so, so good-looking. But he was not comfortable on our rears, which is huge for two coffee-table diners like us. We sold the leather sofa for a little more than we paid for it, so that was nice, but we were still left without a mid-century style sofa for the living room.

It wasn't blog-worthy, but we went back to using the ugly but comfortable leather sofa we got ten years ago. We even started talking about buying a new sofa, since we really wanted something bigger. Maybe a sectional? The thrifting fairies must have heard us talking.

My friend Aimee is a true friend. She always passes along tips for great sales. I'm not sure I'm a big enough person to do that for anyone. It was a Friday afternoon when she emailed me pictures of an estate sale on Craigslist. The sale featured lots of vintage treasures, so Rand and I hustled over on Saturday morning. $200 later (Well, more than $200...we'll save the rest for a Thrifty Finds post) we had a new-to-us mid-century sectional sofa!

It is perfect.

Comfortable? Yes. Smell and stain free? Yes. Roomy? Yes.

Fabric that doesn't seem to attract cat hair? Actually, yes. My only worry about bringing a fabric sofa into our house was that it would be covered in cat hair in no time. I'm happy to report that the big waffle weave fabric doesn't have hair stuck all over it. There's a little on it of course, but that goes for everything in this house, and the color of this sofa hides it well. Sofa heaven, you guys.

I went ahead and snapped a few more pictures of my living room, because that's what I'm into. That basket on my bicycle also came from the same estate sale. I really can't wait to report on this sale.

That color kills me.

The only problem I've noticed with the new sofa is that it slides apart really easily. It has those mid-century tapered legs under the skirt, and it slides across the hardwood floor with barely any force. Since the thing is actually three separate pieces, it often doesn't line up quite like it should. Maybe there are sticky pads I could put on the ends of the legs to help keep it in place. Is that a real thing?

Now Rand and I can both stretch out on the sofa at the same time. And later, when I'm in the mood for a change, I can rearrange the pieces. Thanks goes to Aimee, for the heads up, and to my sister's boyfriend Josh for driving all the way to Ozark to move it. Helping me accumulate great furniture is the way to my heart.