Apartment Files: Storage Improvements

As anyone who lives in a small place knows staying on top of clutter is the key to a happy life.  And probably being a minimalist by nature is the real secret.  However, I am not a minimalist.  I like to collect things and I want to be comfortable.  If I go for a hike, I come back with cool rocks.  If I go to the beach it's impossible not to pick up a shell or two.  If I go to a thrift store, I buy dessert plates.   I LIKE THINGS!!  So small space storage is going to be the key to my happiness as long as I'm living in a 450 SF apartment.  To this end I've made the following improvements recently.

In the living room, I upgraded my TV cabinet from a borrowed cast-off nightstand to this pair of IKEA PS Cabinets, with locking doors.  Perfect for when the little wandering toddler comes to visit. 

And in the bedroom I finally got a dresser.  I had the following three choices:

This lovely set of Danish dressers for $1200 (identical, only one pictured).  Beautiful, and not a bad deal for a pair of dressers.  However, more than I wanted to spend right now, and I don't really have room for a pair.

This Art Deco highboy for $375.  Actually really liked this, but I have some other pieces of 30s furniture in Albuquerque that I like, but don't love in the overall context of my home.  In the end I went with something cheaper.  Kind of regret it though when looking at this photo.  You are so pretty Art Deco dresser.

 

This is what I ended up with, a blondish no-name mid-century dresser which needs some refinishing.  I like the shape, but not the yellow-y finish.   The decision was made because this dresser was big, located 10 minutes from my house, and under $100.  I don't love it, but it'll do for now. 

Apartment Progress: Moveable Chair

This was waiting for me when I got home.

Yay!  Eames fiberglass shell chair with low rod base. 

 Inside the house it will reside across the living room from the couch, partially in front of the sliding glass door.  That way it can easily be picked up to serve as extra outdoor seating when I need it.  And this is the view through the window when seated.

Can't wait for the weekend so I can have a leisurely morning coffee while enjoying the view!

Object Love: Teak and Resin Cubes

I saw these side tables/cubes on the Andrianna Shamaris Tastemaker Tag Sale on One Kings Lane this morning, and I had to re-post them.  So cool!  And so expensive!  ($6899 each on sale).  For anyone who loves agates and geodes these are dream pieces.  They are teak and cracked resin and measure 28 inch square and 16.5 inches high. They would look so good grouped as a  coffee table.  

Here and here.

Virtual Decorating: A Nursery for a Creative Couple

I originally wrote this post as a guest post and never posted it here as a result.  Since I'm just getting home from a trip to California, visiting the happy couple and helping them work on their nursery, I thought it was appropriate to share it here now.

My friends are about to have their first baby!  She and her husband (above from their wedding announcement/painting) are really excited about the pending arrival, but much less so about the requisite accrual of baby stuff.  For ecological and financial reasons, the idea of buying a lot of new things turns them off.  Keeping to inexpensive new pieces, gently used pieces, things they already own, and focusing on furniture that will grow with the baby, I hope this imaginary nursery will inspire them.  (Click image to make larger).

I started with pale grey walls because its a landlord friendly color, and mom and dad rent.  Grey is soothing and a little unexpected in a kid's room.   Since small kids need color to stimulate their senses,  I brought it in through the curtains, wall art, and light fixture.  

To reflect the interests of each parent, I brought in a really cool staghorn fern and botanical rug, and a vintage child's easel.  Mom is a Landscape Architect and dad is an artist.

Finally for fun, despite the parents not being the type to theme a room, I brought in some circus elements-- a monkey poster, the somewhat garish chandelier, an elephant growth chart, and clashing patterns with polka-dot curtains and a striped rug.  Sort of a deconstructed circus.

The Elements:

1) Circus Growth Chart wall decal, $42. This is really cute, and claims to remove easily from the wall in order to be rental friendly.  However, it's more of an inspirational image since dad's an artist, and mom used to be a graphic designer.  I think they, or someone they know, can easily make something similar but unique. 

2) Urban Outfitters Mid-Century Rocker Chair, $288. I've never seen any of Urban Outfitters' furniture in person, but I can't imagine the quality is great for such a low price.  Mom has owned a mid-century rocking chair for years already, so this was really just a stand in for my mock-up.  

3) This rose patterned kilim was an ebay auction that is now over.  I didn't win it because it expired on a Sunday morning and I forgot to bid in time.  Sigh.  I love the graphic pattern, and think it works fine for a boy baby.  

4) IKEA Stockholm Rand rug, from $179. I know this rug is ubiquitous, but there is something playful about it, and the stripes help reinforce the circus theme.  Plus, its affordable.

5) Old dresser converted to changing table inspired by Young House Love.  Alternatively if you look to The Marion House Book's 'Hello!Neighbour' visit with Sian and Murray you'll see that they made a changing table using what look like two Malm dressers from IKEA. 

6) Staghorn fern, one of my favorite plants.  I think its a kind of cheeky way to put antlers, a traditional man/boy element, in a baby boy's room.  You should be able to find one a a good plant nursery, but price will vary greatly according to size.

7)Urban Outfitters Prism Chandelier.  I bought two of these a few years ago when they were on super sale.  I thought they'd be fun in my bathroom, but really they've been sitting in storage awaiting the right home. No longer available, but a very similar options is the Gypsy Chadelier, $78-$158. 

8) Monkeying Around poster, $55.00 w/shipping, while available. 

9) IKEA Henny curtain panels, $39 per set.  I wanted to add pattern to the room, and I've been eyeing these curtains for awhile.  

10) Oeuf classic crib in birch, $890.  There is no way that this family will be paying $900 for a crib.  They'll probably try to get a hand-me-down, or go with the birch IKEA Gulliver crib, which converts into a child's bed, and costs a relative wee $139. I just couldn't find a photo of the Gulliver that was at the right angle for my mock-up. 

11) 1960s child's easel, $140-$160, while it lasts.   So cute!  The top section has knobs that allow the graphics to change, like an old bus sign. Since Dad is a painter, this would come in handy since the little one will probably spend a lot of time with him in the studio! 

Friday Fun: Bookshelves

Original grey steel shelves.

Painted!  White to blend with the walls.

I'm slowly loading them with books, magazines and other things.

Whew, I finally finished painting the shelves for my mom's living room.  I never want to paint metal furniture again if I can help it, although I did learn some important lessons.  One, buy a good spray primer.  Then buy at least twice as much spray paint as you think you're going to need.  I hate spray paint because it smells terrible and really stresses my wrists to use, but I'd recommend it for painting something like this because there were so many rounded edges, which a brush just didn't cover well.

They look a lot better in the space now that they are white.  (Um, the old steel frame windows are so ugly, that they ruin every picture that they show up in, but window replacement will happen when the larger renovations occur, and until then, they'll just ruin my pictures).  I'm still trying to fill the shelves.  Its hard to balance books and objects well.  Since it's in the living room, I really want to focus on interesting books that visitors might want to look through.  Neither my mom, nor I, are the type of people who like to have objects out purely for decorative purposes, so the shelves will primarily house books.  Maybe some records, her small stereo, etc.  The top shelves are being particularly difficult.  I think we'll try moving the masks that are currently hung above the window above the shelves to draw the eye up, and I'm thinking that the books should lie horizontal.   So far I haven't liked anything that I've put up there.  I'd also like to try a small, possibly sculptural, lamp because it's a dark corner.  I like both of these, but I don't love them.

The Cindy Lamp, by Ferruccio Laviani, $273 from the MOMA store.

The Block Lamp, $135 from the MOMA store.

Any ideas?  Shelf styling strategies?

Project Updates: Bentwood Chairs

Discovered via Remodelista.

This is the Vienna Side Chair, produced by Thonet and currently sold at Crate&Barrel for $119 (also available in white).  Since it is exactly the same type of Thonet chair that I have sitting in storage awaiting my illustrious painting skills, can I just tell you that this is one of my chairs and that particular project is completed and looking fantastic?  No?  You are on to me and my lying ways, and know full well that the chairs are languishing waiting to be started?  Oh well, at least I know where to buy a sixth chair, since I only have five.  I am planning to paint mine matte black, so I kind of like the idea that a new one would be shiny in comparison.

Project Updates

I have a tendency to start a project and then get distracted and leave it unfinished for a long time or forever.  I also have a tendency to buy vintage clothes or an old piece of furniture because I see their potential for modification, and then never get around to modifying them.  There are many reasons for this, such as a big storage shed and my low-end sewing skills, or just the fact that I'm interested in a lot of things and something new is generally more stimulating.  However, I don't want to be a person who leaves things unfinished, and so I've been making more of an effort.  During the last month I've blogged about planned DIY projects at least twice, first some vintage re-working and then some furniture painting.  While I haven't finished either, I have been consistently plugging away at them both and here are a couple of photos to prove it! 

First, I've been taking the floral silk 80s dress from a drop-waist-shoulder-padded monstrosity to a loose hip-length tunic blouse with a belt at my real waist.  It's not ready for a full reveal, but that placket above is all new.  It's been shortened and reworked along the bottom edge.  Next up I have to tackle the shoulders, always a trick.  Once the shoulder pads were removed the shoulders are too wide-set for me.  I'm worried that I'm going to make a mess of it, BUT I'm soldiering on.

I've been painting too.  One shelving unit is almost white.  It is taking a ridiculous amount of spray paint.  I always think spray paint will be the easiest way to a nice quick glossy finish.  It's not!  Ugh, hate spray paint!  It aggravates my carpal tunnel, stinks to high heaven, drips if you don't apply meticulously thin coats and takes FOREVER!   (That's my future office-current garage used only for storage.  Its currently dilapidated like everything else).

Upcoming Projects: Painting

Furniture painting that is.  Wall colors are being chosen too, but I'm not ready to get to that quite yet.

These shelves came out of my office during the Great Office Clean-out of 2009.  They were over-stuffed with books and their silvery grey psuedo-industrial thing just wasn't doing it for me anymore.  Off they went into my mom's storage room for a year, where they gathered dust and overflow books from her own over-stuffed bookshelves.  Then the other day I decided that they might be a perfect filler solution for an awkward corner in her living room.  The silver color doesn't really work in there either, so I'm going to paint them white.   (Disclaimer, in case I haven't made this perfectly clear in previous posts, those purple-ish floors are due to a previous owner thinking that they could refinish the floors themselves.  I think they were going for a cherry wood stain?  Which they applied erratically, so its actually streaky in spots.  So so ugly, but having ceiling repairs, windows replacement, and sub-floor issues to deal with first, we are not refinishing the wood floors until a later date.  Even though they are awful, terrible, horrible no good floors as they stand.  BIG sigh).

My mom once bought five of these genuine Thonet chairs at a University of MN inventory sale.  There is a yellow one and another green chair, not pictured.  In order to improve their appearance I'm planning to paint them black, matte black, I think.  I'm also, in an uncharacteristic move, going to co-opt them to serve as dining room chairs at my house.  (Uncharacteristic because its much more common for my mom's house to be on the receiving end of my extra furniture than vice versa).

Hopefully next week I'll be able to post pics of the re-finished products!

Chairs, chairs, chairs

Wow, I'm fighting to stay awake this afternoon. Some sunshine at lunch seems to have sucked the life right out of me, and with no incentive to work on something useful, I thought I'd post about furniture. I always joke that my mom's favorite kind of chair is one that you're more comfortable looking at than sitting in. She is definitely one who would rather have no furniture than ugly but comfortable furniture. (Or even okay looking comfortable furniture). With that in mind, I'm always on the lookout for pieces of furniture that I feel might tempt her to buy, while sneaking some comfort in for those who come to visit her. A couple of years ago I saw these chairs from the Conran Shop, and fell in love with them. They would be perfect for my mom, but honestly they'd do just fine at my house too. Unfortunately they were $6800 each. Um, yeah.

Bassam Fellows leather chairs.

This morning, via Desire to Inspire, I saw similar chairs. They look even better with the worn in seat cushions. I've been eyeing this fairly close substitute, the Norton chair from Room & Board. I don't like the color of the brown legs, and wish that the crosspiece wasn't wood, but for a tenth of the original's price? I could compromise.

Norton Chair, from Room & Board $799.

Another inspirational chair for my mom's house is this chair that I saw while in San Francisco. It had a matching ottoman as well, but I couldn't find a picture. The chair alone rings in at $2025. It's beautiful, and comfortable in a non upholstered way, and being handmade with fine craftsmanship, totally worth a couple grand, I'm sure. However, way out of our price range.

Lounge chair made by Richard Patterson, from Propeller in San Francisco, $2025.

Sevilla chair and ottoman, $398 and $248, plus shipping.

And so I suggest this substitute from Anthropologie. Minimalistic, with woven (leather) seat and a shaker like back, it's kind of reminiscent of classic Wegner chairs (even further out of my price range than the one above). I like it a lot, and its fairly affordable. Or at least comparatively affordable.

Antwerp chair in Bloom, at Anthropologie.

I saw this chair in the background of one of the Man Shops Globe episodes, I think the one about India? And although its completely of a different style than those above, I really like it. I've always classified my style as eclectic, and I'd say this proves it. Its on sale now, for $800.

Furniture acquisition

Oh my god, why don't I live in LA? Most of the time I'm perfectly happy not to, but this is the second Modernica sale this summer that I've died with envy for those who are close enough to attend. Why? Because I want this bed but currently can't afford it (queen size, walnut please).

Meanwhile I just bought a rug on ebay and am stalking another one. I really want the second one, but the auction doesn't end until tomorrow and the price may rise above my limits before then.

Detail of new rug.

Little by little.

Oh, to be wealthy.

While I watch Charlie Rose talk about the recession and America's current savings rate, I'm gathering images for a design board for my Mom's living room which I'm calling Worldly Modern.  In doing so, I came across this gorgeous Art Deco Chinese Carpet on 1st Dibs.

  

Love it, love it, love it.  I'd be willing to put that rug anywhere in my home, even if it meant completely throwing out everything else I own.  Liked these red lacquered cabinets too.