Category Archives: Furniture

Weekends are for Thrifting, right?

Posted on February 13, 2012 by | Leave a comment

JT and I hit up the Green Shag Market this weekend.  After seeing it on Mister Modtomic’s blog and realizing it was a mere 2.3 miles from my house, there was no resisting.  With an open span of time on Saturday I could have spent on all of my 50 ongoing projects, I couldn’t ignore the siren call of a new and unexplored antique mall so gosh-darn close by. 

And it was worth it . . . .

There have been many-a-time that I have browsed through aisle after aisle of an antique mall (junk mall in my mind) and come away with nothing that just needed to come home with me.  This weekend I found two things — an amazingly non-smelly Pendleton wool blanket and a vinyl ottoman I’m pretty sure my grandparents owned at some point in the 70s.

What with it being a bone chilling 10 degrees out, a wool blanket seemed like a no-brainer.  I loved the colors and pattern and then I saw the little blue tag.

See, you don’t have to go to Target for designer names.  And it was $30 less than a nearly identical one I found on eBay. 

Shenanigan quickly proved himself the world’s best circus dog by trying out the ottoman.  I think because of his short little stubby legs, he likes to have a higher vantage point and gets up on everything.  We even find him laying across the top of the sofa sometimes like a 55 pound tabby cat.

I had been eyeing all the knitted poufs that seem to be all the rage now (see this one at cb2) and considering trying to maybe D.I.Y. one of those so I’m glad we stumbled upon this ottoman instead.  I don’t really have time to finish all the current D.I.Y. projects I have going on, let alone start a new one.  For now both thrifty picks have found their way into the music room but at this house, things move around . . . a lot!

We had some friends over for brunch on Sunday (yay New Year’s resolution in action!) and one of our friends said “Where do you FIND all this stuff?”  It was interesting to step back and look at our house through the eyes of others.  While JT and I are thoroughly enmeshed in a world of thrift and vintage, not everyone shops that way.  I like to think of it as being environmentally conscious and trying not to buy something new when a used version exists that might find its way into the landfill. 

Underneath it all, I think I nurture a strange pride at being able to pull together inexpensive items and make our home feel warm and inviting and not cheap.  There’s also the thrill of the hunt.  It’s fun (for me) to “pick”.    (I must clarify though, I’m a mid-level scavenger.  I’m willing to pay a little more to people who have already done some of the digging and leg work for me.)  And so while it may seem strange to some people, I still find it a compliment when people marvel at all the miscellaneous items in our home.  We’ll call it eclectic and everybody wins.

Update: After I published this, I realized it was our 100th post.  Since gratuitous pet pictures are our thing, I thought I would add one of Shenanigan the circus dog giving me a low five as a small congratulations on #100.

 

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Posted in Around the house, Dogs, Furniture, Thrifting

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Meet Mr. McCobb . . . I mean Paul

Posted on February 7, 2012 by | 7 Comments

I have been agonizing for a few short weeks now about what piece of furniture to replace the buffet that I moved into the kitchen.  It all came to its fruition on Friday when JT and I took the magic furniture-hauling Saturn for a visit to Vandeventer Vintage.  After seeing it featured on Mister Modtomic’s blog and knowing it was dangerously close to our house, I felt compelled to stop by.

I went there with an ulterior motive.  I went there to meet Paul.

Hi Paul.

Or would you prefer to be called Mr. McCobb?

No?  Paul’s okay?

Well, Paul, I think you were meant to be a desk of some sort, but you don’t mind being a bar do you?

You display bottles so well and can hide them away when our friends come over.

You have handy little drawers for all our accessories and an unopened bottle of wine fits perfect into the cubby holes that used to be meant for office supplies.  That’s not a coincedence, right?

And you have so much space for all our wine glasses below . . .

Welcome to our house Paul.  We hope you like living here.

 

So, that’s our big furniture news.  After plotting and planning about glass shelves and hutches and tall cabinets, we ended up with this.  I guess the joke’s on me.  I took down the artwork that was hanging on that wall but have yet to finalize things there . . . now I’m looking for a large statement piece to finish up that piece of wall.   Paul’s already doing a pretty good job and we couldn’t be happier with him.  Check out Vandeventer Vintage’s Flickr photostream for more items in their store . . . . I may be headed back for the marble coffee table so leave that one for me please.  Thanks!

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Posted in Around the house, Furniture

Sophie and Shenanigan, famous on the inter-webs

Posted on February 6, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Guys, I have achieved a life long dream. 

Sophie and Shenanigan (and JT a little bit too) were included in Desire to Inspire’s weekly “Pets on Furniture”.  See the post here.

Kim and Jo of Desire to Inspire cull the interwebs and pull together great inspirational images but my favorite part is definitely every Monday when they do “Pets on Furniture”.  As an animal lover AND a furniture lover, it doesn’t get much better.

Speaking of furniture, we have news . . . .

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Posted in Dogs, Furniture

Working for the Weekend

Posted on January 30, 2012 by | 2 Comments

Most of you guys know, but both JT and I are full-time workers.  Really most people are full-time workers but there are a lot of bloggers out there who are not 8-to-5 office types so I thought I would say it.  We’re 8-to-5 office types.  And lately for both of us the office stuff has been a little hectic.  So after an 8-to-5 or 7-to-5 or 7-to-7, neither of us really want to come home and do a lot of little stuff around the house.  So we don’t 

But when the weekend rolls around, there’s so many free hours to work on all those little (and big) projects that go unnoticed during the week.  And small steps keep getting made.  I’m sorry if these little things are a little boring or tedious, but for us, it’s all we got right now.  At some point, I’d like to have some amazing *ta-da* before and after pictures.  But right now we’re kind of in the middle of everything and just taking baby steps to get on through.

So here’s this last weekend’s progress.

Wait, that doesn’t look like progress, that looks like laziness.  We actually took the dogs to Francis Park (a gem in South City) and ran them around so they were pretty bushed.  It wore us down too but when there’s nice weather and some sunshine, you gotta get out. (And projects gotta wait.  Them’s the breaks).  But for those of you with very discerning eyes, you may notice that I did paint the vent cover on the back wall that was driving me bananas.  Small thing, but it helps it blend away more now that it matches the wall color.  (It would be even more hidden but I took down the peperonia plant to water it and left it on the windowsill to get a little sun for the day.)

The other little thing I did was some spray paint fun.  We have had this nice large ice bucket for some time. (I think I got it as a college graduation present from my aunt and uncle?  Like I said, long time.)  In our first apartment, the baby blue made sense.  Now I wanted to make in our more sapphire/teal blue to give the kitchen a little color (and a little more storage.)

That before picture of the kitchen make me shudder and that was only a few weeks ago.  It feels so much different in there now!  I started out with the same spray paint I used on my “T” collection a little bit ago here.  But it ran out and a spray paint hunt ensued.  I visited Home Depot AND Lowe’s and neither had an exact match.  So I ended up having to start over with a Valspar can I got at Lowe’s.  The color had more blue and a little less green than the previous can, so I had to re-coat and re-coat.  And my little Rustoleum attachment spray handle didn’t work on the Valspar can either.  Boo.  I ended up Smurfing myself a little by getting some blue back-spray on my hand.  But it was worth it (although this next picture is a little underwhelming – the color is so much nicer in real life . . . .)

Now we have a nice out-of-the-way place for all our oils and vinegars that we buy in bulk.  JT and I cook a lot and from scratch too so our kitchen gets pretty heavy use.  I’m thinking on the upcoming IKEA trip (how many times can I mention this trip before it happens?  I think I’m up to 6.) I will get a little plant stand on wheels to put under the bucket and make it a little more useful so it can just roll out from under the buffet.    I also did my “I hate cords” trick and taped the microwave cord and it’s extension cord to the back of the buffet.  Cords be-gone!

We also had a visitor who bought one of our Craigslist items.  One down, one to go.  Now we’re left with this . . .

Just a little microwave cart waiting for a new home.  I moved Little Walter (the tree) over to this spot — he’s sick!!!  I had purchased and photographed him a few weeks before I got around to posting about him and now he’s not doing so good!  I’m hoping by moving him away from the exterior wall, he will stay a little warmer and spruce back up. I also watered him a little more but I have anxiety about over-watering and thus drowning my plants.  I set him up on the milk crate for now because a) I kind of like the height and am using it as a placeholder and b) I’m kind of nervous Shenanigan will lift his little stubby leg on Little Walter so I wanted to get him used to having a big plant near his level. 

 Any other ideas on what to do for poor Little Walter?  I was holding off on re-potting him until after the IKEA trip (#7!!) but I may have to bite the bullet and do it now. 

Have a great week everyone — it’s 8:08 now and I have some office craziness to attend to!

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Posted in Around the house, Design Diversions, Dogs, Furniture

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Changing it up, one piece at a time

Posted on January 16, 2012 by | 2 Comments

Weekends have been good over here at Living Analog — things keep moving around and I keep checking items of my January to do list to get me closer to my big project goals — living room, bedroom and kitchen. 

This weekend I hit the kitchen.  By just rearranging a few pieces we already had, it made a big impact and set in action a chain of events that will (hopefully) lead to getting the kitchen to a happy place.

The wood buffet used to be in the dining room.  I was sick of all the clutter (and mess) of the open shelves in the kitchen and decided it was time to do something about it. 

Now a lot of special use items like the ice tea maker, griddle and food processor can sit down in the big drawer of the buffet.  The top drawers are deep enough for our ramekins and other cooking utensils.  The wood contrasts nicely off the white tile and adds an element of warmth to the kitchen.  It’s not a huge change but it’s enough to make a difference and get me started with the kitchen.

There are still many, many things to be done before this space is looking ship-shape.  We are putting down warm grey ceramic tile, and I need to do something about the wall color.  There will be window treatments and cafe curtains on the door.  The knife rack is going to be relocated to make space for some artwork and a pot rack is going next to the glass block window.  I’m on the hunt for a smaller microwave — that sucker is ginormous and takes up more room than I’d like.  I also need to sand and paint the door, especially where Shenanigan keeps kicking it.  Maybe we’ll get him a bell instead — that seems a bit more genteel. 

 The big blue bucket you could see in the “before” pic is currently at our “spray booth” (aka the back yard) getting a coat of teal.  It will come back in and sit under the buffet to hold some bigger items live vinegar and vegetable oil and rice.  These pictures are making me realize I need to get in there and corral that cord as well — I hate cords!!!  I’m also not loving the wood bread box on the wood buffet so that might get shifted around too . . . things are always shifting and moving around here (to the point where JT usually has to ask where I’ve put something . . . .sorry hubby).

I’m so excited to finally start implementing all the changes I’ve been dreaming up for the last little while now.  Unfortunately moving things around also tears up the rest of the house as things are temporarily relocated and accessories readjusted.  Case in point — the dining room where the buffet used to sit:

Right now it’s a holding zone for all the things that will go in the future-shelving-unit-with-glass-doors that I’m on the prowl for.  I’ve got a few leads too . . . but until then, it’s life with the repercussions of redecorating.  I currently have these bad boys up on Craigslist here and here.  Craigslist doesn’t seem to be turning things over for me or JT (with guitars) as quickly as it was before.  Has anyone else run into this?  At any rate, a little rearranging does a body (and our kitchen) good.

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Posted in Around the house, Furniture, Kitchen

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Missing Pieces

Posted on January 13, 2012 by | Leave a comment

I’m going on an upholstery hunt this weekend for  the new daybeds.  And then (small drumroll) I think I am going to try to sew these cushion covers myself.  Yikes.

As I scour St. Louis for that perfect fabric (you know a bright white one that repels all stains and dog hair.  That exists, right?) I found an inspiration image to use as a starting point.

We already have the same starting canvas - blue front door, hardwood floors, light walls.  Since the daybed also has wood frames, I like the look of this sofa — white cushions  layered with blankets, pillows and SHEEPSKINS! for our living room.  This is Liz’s living room and it was featured here on Apartment Therapy.  Pretty sweet.  I’m digging the rug as well and wondering what Sophie would do to a shag. . . .

But while I’m out and about hunting fabric, I also have my eye out for a few other things.  I showed you guys my shameful kitchen pictures the other day and now I am in the process of rearranging everything.  The metal tall shelf and microwave cart are going bye-bye (or should I say hello craigslist) and I want to move our nice buffet into the kitchen to class it up a bit and give some hidden storage rather than have everything out on shelves like we do now.

So that frees up the wall opposite the dining table and I’m on the prowl for some closed shelving.  Dog hair is our constant companion and I want to put our wine glasses and barware behind glass to keep it cleaner and more usable.  (Right now it needs a good rinse before any wine glasses get used.)

So, if anyone happens to find something like this . . .

Image from www.idealsurroundings.blogspot.com

Or this . . .

Image from West Elm, www.westelm.com

That would be great.  We’re also in the market for a new coffee table.  I’m thinking round to shake things up a little.  I saw the perfect one on an early episode of “Secrets From a Stylist” on HGTV.  Does everyone else watch that show?  I highly recommend it — she uses so much vintage and thrift finds in her rooms.

I’m not 100% sure what episode this was from, but you can watch them online too . . . This table is pretty close to perfect – round with glass so it feels more open.

I was considering this affordable-ish ($300) marble job from cb2 until Brookyn Limestone spilled that it is a little on the short side.  (Design Within Reach has a similar one for three times the price as well . . .)

Obviously the perfect coffee table would be a tulip (as I have obsessed over here and here . . . )

I don’t think one of these lovers is coming my way anytime soon.  Sigh.

I do have one trick up my sleeve – another Ikea trip is on the horizon.  Yes I need therapy.  Yes St. Louis needs an Ikea.  The Strind might be my Swedish coffee table savior.

It’s round, simple and clean and has a bottom shelf for extra magazine and book storage.  Also, for a Benjamin Franklin, it’s not too expensive and should my tulip come along, I could easily bear parting with the Strind to the gods of craigslist.

So that’s Furniture Friday.  Does anyone else obsess about furniture this much?  Maybe we should start a support group.  And meet every Saturday at the nearest antique mall . . .  JT’s guitar eBay auction ends tomorrow so maybe I might have a little extra furniture cash . . . Have a great weekend everyone!

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Posted in Around the house, Furniture, Thrifting

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First (and second) thing checked off my list

Posted on January 4, 2012 by | Leave a comment

One of my big goals for 2012 was to restyle the living room.  (I’m going with restyle because I HATE the word tweak.  HATE.)  To make my big goals more accomplishable (that’s a word right? update – spell checker said no.), I made a list of small steps that will get me to my big goal.  Items #1 and #2 were paint living room accent wall and clean out fireplace.  Check and Check.  Although after I cleaned the fireplace we had a celebratory fire so that one will have to be redone.  Oh well.

Here’s a quick before of a corner of the accent wall (color=Ecru from Sherwin Williams).  While it’s an awesome color in the can, on the wall it was a little too blah and dirty looking for my liking.  Plus, my previous color palette had more of a green/brown/tan thing going on and now I’m switching over to more blue/black/white/gray/natural kind of thing.

Then I tore the house apart, taped the bejesus out of the living room and banished all my decorative items to the music room.

The color now is Sherwin Williams Shoji White which is a few shades lighter than the Amazing Gray that is the rest of the walls.  I love Amazing Gray.  It is a color chameleon and adapts to whatever color you put in with it. 

I’m loving my new camera and its wide-angle lens.

I kept the fireplace mantel simple when I loaded things back into the room.  I also pulled my big log holder/old lobster pot out of the mud room to have our firewood close at hand for the upcoming months.  Another thing on my list has to do with getting rid of the standard issue black plastic pot on the ZZ plant.  It definitely kills this picture for me a little.  But it’s a work in progress (like everything in our house.)

We really needed some light in the corner next to our new Eames rocker for reading and general illumination.  I had browsed around Home Goods on the prowl for something thanks to a gift card from my father-in-law and his wife but to no avail.  So I borrowed a trick from my sister-in-law and used a $7 utility light that hooks onto the easel we already had.  Instant lamp.

Some more items on my list involve fixing that god-awful stain around the fireplace from removing the brass-n-glass surround that was there when we moved in and also fixing some boo-boos we did to the wood floor thanks to Christmas tree stands and dog water bowls.  Water+metal+wood floor = not good.  But I’m loving how much lighter/brighter/happier the living room feels as we head into the bone-chilling months ahead.  Cheers!

PS – My bestest helper, Shenanigan, snoozed on the sofa the whole time I was taking 200 pictures.  Thanks buddy.

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Posted in Around the house, Dogs, Furniture

From crochet to Eames

Posted on December 27, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Now that Christmas has come and gone, I can now show my crochet project.

I made the crochet chain loop necklaces for my mom and sisters.  They’re a lot of work!!! (See the tutorial here.)  The orange one I did as my trial run didn’t finish out quite right so I made it into a fun cat toy for Squiggy, my father-in-law’s cat.

I realize now it seems like I blogged up a lot of crochet angst for three things but there was actually 5 more I forgot to photograph before sending on their merry way.

The crochet necklaces are hanging out on JT’s birthday present . . . an Eames Herman Miller shell chair on a rocker base.  Beautimous.  (As I post this I realized my pictures as still sub-par even with the new camera.  It was dawn at the T household and we were on our way to family Christmas.  Sorry peeps.)

Has everyone seen the Eames PBS special?  It aired last Monday on the American Masters series and it was really engrossing but also (because it was only an hour and a half) touched only briefly on a lot of topics I would have been interested to hear more about.  JT got this great gift from his brother and sister-in-law and they had scored it from a local thrift store.  It used to be on a desk chair base which they switched out so JT could be a rocker.  I’m lucky my husband is a man of style and good taste so he can appreciate such an awesome present. 

In unrelated and random news and amusements, I got back in to the office today and had a postcard waiting in my mailbox.

Yikes! “Upholstery humor!”   I’m about to have some ”upholstery humor” as I pick out fabric for our new daybeds.  Wish me luck.

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Posted in Furniture, Gifts, Hand Crafted, Miscellaneous Diversions

2011 is going out with a bang.

Posted on December 20, 2011 by | Leave a comment

You guys, I’ve done something crazy. 

I’ve been working towards a bedroom remodel and also had my sights set on the kitchen in 2012.  Yesterday JT and I took the day off work and I bought living room furniture instead.

Yikes.

So here’s the living room as it stands now.

It’s working pretty good except we only have one sofa, two people and two very spoiled dogs.  All four of us end up crammed into the couch every night and it was starting to get old. 

Then I saw an interesting blog post pop up on Mister Modtomic’s site about some Danish Daybeds.  Two.  A matched pair.  One for JT and I and one for the damn dogs. 

(Image above from Mr. Modtomic’s blog)

I couldn’t resist.  I was helpless in the face of more leg room and vintage modern furniture.  Yesterday JT and I  trucked up to North County in the trusty Saturn and loaded her down.

We were once again able to surprise people with what we can cram into this car (like the queen bed before).  Luckily the legs came off and the backrest piece disassembled so it was pretty simple. 

Now — upholstery.  Almost the kiss of death for a designer because it’s so hard to choose.  Really hard.  We put our current sofa on Craigslist (for a pretty good price if you know anyone in the market – ad here) and the ottoman needs to go too so our new floor plan can end up looking like this:

Yep that dashed in circle is the round coffee table I’m on the hunt for next. And the squares are more FLOR area rug.  It never ends people, it never ends.  And my last batch of insanity has killed my crochet gift scarf pace.  I have three more to start and finish in about 5.5 days.  It’s like the bros before hoes rule – Furniture first, life later. 

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Posted in Around the house, Furniture

It’s Hush Hush time.

Posted on November 15, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Interwebs, it’s about to get a little quiet around here.  You see I’m starting up (hopefully not belatedly) some gift projects and I can’t exactly be posting those, not with all my gift recipients as readers.

(Yes we did have Elvis as our tree topper last year and we very well may do it again.  Elvis is the King.)

To which my family probably says “Oh no, not more scarves!”  Yes more scarves!  Deal with it. 

Ok, it’s not scarves.  But I’m not going to divulge anything here til after the holidays. 

So . . . . hmmm (crickets chirp).  I did start one other much belated project.


JT’s dad and step-mom gifted us this armoire when they sold their house and downsized over a year and a half ago.  Yep it’s been in the basement that long (and there are drawers, they just got taken out for moving).  In that year and a half the elder Mr. and Mrs. T have completely refinished and redecorated and reupolstered almost everything in their new house.  I should get some pictures for the blog –  the amount of work they have successfully undertaken is inspiring.  And this poor armoire?  It waited oh so patiently for me to get some motivation. 

I highlighted its new location on the bedroom floor plan in orange above (and no, the armoire is not staying orange, I’m thinking a nice white with some details.) That way we can have the little TV and all it’s pesky wires tucked away out of sight and the bedroom will be one step closer to being complete(ish). 

Has anyone else started working on their holiday gift scarves?  Just me?  That’s cool.  The smart people probably started those back in June anyways.  Sigh.  See you around interwebs.

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Posted in Around the house, Furniture, Gifts, Hand Crafted