Author Archives: CT

I am slowly but surely moving forward with our bedroom make-over.  One thing I have been mulling over is the furniture layout.  I finally worked it all out to be something like this . . . . All the major items we already own except for the round side table for the right side of the bed.  What would be perfect for that spot is a Saarinen Tulip table . .  .

As seen on the Design Within Reach website, they sure ain’t cheap.  The closest thing I could find on eBay was a reproduction and even that was $220.  But they’re so pretty . . . glossy white metal base, gorgeous white marble top . . .

This Saarinen (below) is featured in Dwell Studio’s staging of the Draper Stripe Ash Duvet  set.  Yummy.

This (below)  is the unattributed sexy man bedroom I keep coming back to.  Table looks great here too . . . .

Flipping through my latest issue of Elle Decor, what do I find . .  .

It is probably irrational, but there is something about having an original or vintage designer piece that is so alluring.  It’s a little piece of design history.  That’s why these same items show up in room after room after room.  Other designers are suckers for the old masters’ work — it’s like a secret handshake, welcome to the club kind of thing . . .  

Plus, we do live in Saarinen City, home of the St. Louis Arch, one of Saarinen’s great accomplishments.  (above image from the “Core of Discovery” Gateway Arch webpage)
Growing up we were fairly involved in the Exchange Student program and visited the Arch frequently.  Finally my mom caved in and bought the movie “Monument to a Dream” so we could watch it at home first (and save money).  It is a really interesting view into the making of the Arch.  What I find most interesting is that no one died while building it, an unusual feat given this landmark’s size and scale.  Here’s a (not-so-great) pic I took while up in the you know what with my cousin while she was visiting a few months back.

But until the day when I have some extra $$$ lying around for a table, I have been scouting around for some other options.  In order for the underbed storage to work, less leg-age is the best way to go, in keeping with Saarinen’s idea of reducing the visual clutter with the single tulip leg.  cb2 used to carry a copy cat table but I couldn’t find it on their website.   I fell back to my old stand-by Ikea, and what should I find in the 2012 catalog but this  . . . .

For $100, I think it might make a good stand-in until my Saarinen arrives and much like Janis Joplin’s dream for a Mercedes Benz,  I’ll keep praying (and singing) until it arrives.   Any other ideas for my tulip table obsessed self?  I’d love to hear them!!

(Click here to see the YouTube video for a little musical refresher in your day.  Still haven’t upgraded to that video package.  Maybe someday folks.)

Nothing in my house is safe now that I have brought home a can of white spray paint.

Case in point — this $3.43 vintage magazine stand goodness we picked up at Value Village. (They have really random pricing BTW).

The black handles and legs with the rich dark wood seemed to blend together too much.  A spray of white (and a wipe down with the Feed-n-Wax for the wood) later and . . .

. . . . suddenly *ta da* we’re in business.  The magazine rack also is pretty set where it is under the living room window — you  might be able to see the power cord snaking out from behind it.  Due to the nice ring we made on the floor from our 1st Christmas tree that we haven’t bothered to fix up yet, the dog’s bed usually sits here under the window.  But we were worried that having their bed right under the outlet wouldn’t be great.  So Mr. Magazine Rack came in and saved the day.

Don’t Sophie and Shenanigan look so thrilled to be in that picture?  There was major dog treat bribes going on and they still look all grumpy.  The bed is “Mr. Roboto” from Molly Mutt.  It’s great because you just stuff it with all their old chewed up towels or whatever old socks and stuff you have on hand.  Doggy eco-chic.

(Image above from Molly Mutt’s website) 
It’s nice because Molly Mutt also has some funky patterns — finding dog beds that don’t cost an arm and a leg that are not tacky = hard.  We have the Big City patterned one in the bedroom for Sophie.  Pretty cool, huh?  Shenanigan thinks so . . . .

He better watch out though, because if he lays there too long, I might get after him with the white spray paint. (Although he does already have a white tip of his tail, white chest and sprinkles of white on his front paws though).  I do have some plans for the rest of the spray paint though really . . . . coming soon!

I mentioned in an earlier post that cb2 would be paying a visit to my house.  Have you met cb2?  It’s the younger, funkier sister to Crate & Barrel (thankfully it’s also a little cheaper too, but don’t tell her that!)  Unfortunately the nearest one is Chicago but at least she doesn’t charge the outrageous shipping like her neighbor Ikea does.

Thanks to the hardworking men and women at the UPS, my new table runner arrived the other day.  Here’s a before shot of our little dining room nook:

I had a nice Plynyl runner on the table.  Thanks to JT’s love of the hottest of hot sauces, it did end up with a few stains that I (really he) didn’t clean off in time.  I’m thinking the Plynyl will get repurposed as the bottom of a tray — I’m thinking about cutting it off around the bubble edges to give it a soft organic look . . . .hmm, we’ll see about that one. 

Anyways, on to the new . . .

Yikes!  I loved the color but the machine-washable felt wasn’t really meant to drape off the side.   I got out my trusty exacto and took the runner down to my basement workshop of doom and gave it a haircut.  Much better.

Putting together these images made me realize it looks kind of like a crazy chair party in my little nook.  The dark wood chairs came out of the alley and JT is really attached.  He uses them for playing his steel pedal guitar.  They are probably destined for life in the music room (with said steel pedal guitar) but as that’s all torn up right now with the new shelving and various speaker cabinets he is storing for his friends, they live in the dining room currently. 

Also, you may wonder why such a nice wood table top is always in need of a runner.  This, my friends is why: Beer Pong. 

My (much) younger sister apparently used this table for inadvisable party games back when it resided in my parent’s basement.  So until I get around to refinishing the top, table runners it is.  I was flipping through St. Louis AT HOME Magazine awhile back (it’s the March/April 2009 issue — I keep old design magazines, it’s another addiction, all right)  and I spotted the ol’ table in one of the spreads:

This is what our table (and chairs) could have looked like if A) I had left it on the wood base with the sliding inserts B) my sister hadn’t partied on it and C) my mother hadn’t reupholstered all the chairs in denim to make it more casual and D) my sister’s partying friends hadn’t broken all the denim upholstered seats while playing Beer Pong.  End of story.  All in all though, I like it how it is.  It has some history (patina?) and it fits into our home.  The chairs were probably a little too clunky for my tastes.  Will I keep it forever?  Maybe not but for now it works and it will have an ever-changing display of table runners to match whatever new color I fall in love with.  Today it’s teal.

Let me just start off this post by saying I am not a big fan of TVs.  They are large, they dictate the layout of a room and they usually look like a big black hole.  I am glad we finally joined the new millennium and got a flatscreen — now it’s a big black hole that doesn’t require as much depth to store. 

So . . . our nice TV was just hanging out on one of our slatted tables before, without a real place to call home.

Which wasn’t great because the mess of wires (my pet peeve — can somebody please make all these electronics wireless please?  Please!!) were gathering dog hair underneath.  Great.

So, one fine day JT and I were out and about and we drove by the antique mall.  But I can’t drive by an antique mall without going in, so in we went.  (My favorite place is Treasure Aisles on Big Bend near Manchester.  Then, next door is the Big Bend Antique Mall so you can hit two spots without even moving your car.  Pretty sweet.)  It was at the BBAM that we spotted this gem —

It was a little rough but the width was right to fit in our space (I wish there was a spot for a bigger credenza but unfortunately 32″ was our max).  Plus it was already designed to hold speakers in the space below so it seemed to make sense.  AND it was only $24, another bonus. 

I got my tools out and went to work . . . Sadly it really did take all these things above to get this cabinet all gussied up.  JT used the drill to make some clean holes out the back for wiring.  I stripped out all the nice faux brick 1970s shelf paper and attacked it with a sock hand and Feed-n-Wax.  The Howard’s Feed-n-Wax has been my favorite thing for bringing a nice luster and sheen back to old wood.  It works wonders!!

Another nice detail of our media cabinet is that it was already on wheels.  I greased those up with some WD-40 and now we can swivel the cabinet around depending on if we are sitting on the sofa or at the table (yes we watch TV while eating.  Deal with it). 

Here she is all cleaned up . . .

I changed out the knobs for something less ornate, buffed that cabinet to a shine and let her rip.

All our devices fit nicely inside, including that pesky antenna and all the channels still come in great (we don’t have cable folks.)  And because you all know how I feel about those pesky wires, I included a shot of how I wrangled them on the back.  We zip-tied the plug strip to the handy little ledge midway down the cabinet and now none of the wires dangle to the floor to get mixed in with the dog hair.  Add a little painters tape to keep everything all nice and tidy and those wires are no longer visible from the sofa.  Score.

Because I can’t believe I just did a whole post about TVs and the cabinets who love them, I will leave you with what the dogs did this weekend.  It’s a rough life . . .

The Ts have a bed!!  I’m starting to feel like such a grown-up.  Here she is getting put together:

It took a lot of patience, one glass of whiskey and two cups of coffee to get all these parts doweled, screwed and assembled in general.  I was so excited about the storage drawers . . . until it came time to put them together . . . Thankfully the slats are banded together with elastic and didn’t need screws or nails on each one or that would have been a long night!  Assembly time — I didn’t watch the clock exactly– but we listened to Rolling Stone’s “Emotional Rescue”, then R.E.M. “Monster” followed by The Kinks “Lola versus Powerman” and then wrapped it up with part of Arcade Fire “The Suburbs” and Radiohead “Ok Computer” to wind down.  I find that’s usually a way I measure time — as in “that only took three songs” or something like that . . . weird I know.

On my list of things to do this weekend is to (try to) take some better pictures.  So I will post some more of the bedroom soon.  Have a great Labor Day weekend — try not to labor to hard!

Let me stand up and say it again.  “Hello everyone, I’m CT and I’m a Craigslist-aholic.”  Does anyone else want to join my internet self-help group?

Although I think I have gleaned some gems of insight from “Celebrity Rehab” and good ol’ Dr. Drew (such a handsome man!) — addictions are things that interfere with one’s life to the point where it compromises one’s well-being.

Well Craigslist hasn’t ever been anything but good to me, so I don’t think it has crept into the addiction zone yet.

Over the years, I have sold the following on Craigslist:
Sectional sofa
A car!
Pub table and matching bar stools
Flat screen television
Funky 60s shelving from my Gram (it was cheap melamine, don’t get too upset)
Two twin mattress sets
Pair of Pottery Barn lamps
Pair of Kroehler olive green lounge chairs I found in the alley
Pair of white vinyl diner style chairs (I may have an addiction to matched pairs, BTW)
JT’s college days futon

Basically anything that is not nailed down or heavy with sentimental value will make it on the internet resale chopping block around our house.   And that’s why Craigslist has been so good to me — it has allowed me to sell of things we’re not using or no longer need to sustain my fiendish redecoration/furniture habit.  Which, at the end of the day might be the real addiction I suffer from!

Not being able to sleep the other morning at 4am, Shenanigan and I were up, browsing the “list”.  We spotted this:

Do I need this?  Not really.   But one of my 2011 New Year’s resolutions was to have a library and/or display our books in the house.  And I haven’t completed any of my resolutions . . . So I dashed off an email to the seller and complimented his Bertoia and Eames chairs slightly visible in the pictures as some extra insurance to help guarantee me the shelves. 

Dave called and off JT and I went in the furniture-hauling Saturn.  Turns out Dave might be a bit of what we call a hoarder.  He had a storage unit (it was more of a barn but I digress) full of treasures.  I wish I could have picked through it American Pickers style.  Two trips later, my precious shelving is right now tucked away in the music room/storage room (along with the box spring from our old bed) waiting for its new place in the house.  More to come . . . .