The Twenty Dolla Holla

We paid about $20 for this credenza (I think it was maybe $23. So spendy!) way back when we first moved in. It's a very solid piece. So solid it was by far the hardest thing to move, including the fridge. I  love its clean lines, ample storage, and flat display space.

The middle section had doors when we brought it home, but the track was completely messed up. So eventually we took the doors off. I don't miss them, it opens up the whole piece. 

The problem with Mr. Credenza is this. His drawers are body are a decent enough wood veneer. The top is straight up wood grain Formica. I'm not always anti-Formica...but I am in this case. The Formica and the veneer aren't even the same tone. The top is quote cool, while the veneer has reddish undertones. (Oh, and I loved the aged brass handles.)

My first instinct was to paint the whole credenza. I even talked about painting it a mustard-y color way back when. I was inspired by Centsational Girl's office credenza, which is similar in shape to ours. 

Photo by Centsational Girl

 However, any time I even bring up the possibility of anything that looks even vaguely woodesque, someone in the house goes into a major meltdown. That someone is a Navy vet who sleeps to my left. The man loves the wood. So in the name of marital harmony I pondered other options. During this time I saw many dressers/credenzas with wood cases and white drawers. Pretty. I liked. J didn't hate. But we needed the opposite, a painted case and wood drawers. I saw an awesome version in the Design Sponge book. Then I saw this high end little number.

Cambium Credenza by John Gavin

The Cambium is amazing. Those reclaimed wood drawers! The simple, awesome shape! Love. Then I remembered a popular little blogosphere dresser with some similarities, the MCM dresser Young House Love rehabbed for their daughter's nursery.

Picture from Young House Love

So I went traipsing around the internet, looking for other white painted/wood toned vintage credenzas. This mid-century beauty is wonderful (also, I've looked for years for leggy MCM dresser with built-in wooden handles. No luck. Yet EVERYONE in bloggy land seems to find them on street corners. I'm filled with furniture jealousy).

Picture from Design Sponge

 As much as I love the white/wood credenza/dresser meme, I'm fearful (not nightmare level, but definitely obsessing about it at red lights or in line) it might look a little harsh in our space. I started pondering using a light to medium gray instead of white. Then, constantly needing reaffirmation, I trawled the internet some more. And promptly fell in love. Even J fell for this picture.

Photo from Sunset Bazaar

Of course, it looks absolutely nothing like our credenza, but this little beauty just made onto the "furniture we dream about owning" list. What, doesn't every couple have one? Granted, our individual lists are very different (J summed up the difference as "[his] list is comfortable, while [mine] only looks nice"), but on some items we more than agree.

Then I actually found a picture fairly close to what I want our credenza to look like.

Photo From Phylum Furniture 

 So, everyone now knows what my weekend will be devoted to. I'm really excited. After all, we've only owned Mr. Credenza for almost two years. It's not past time that I got around to give him a loving reboot (think JJ Abrams/Star Trek). I hope to have an update on Monday, but it all depends on how the weather goes.

You can lust over more amazingly awesome vintage and mid-century modern dressers/credenzas/changing tables over on Pinterest. Have a great weekend!

Good Lines, But A Total Mess

No, not Neeley O'Hara. Our credenza. It's a nice little mid-century piece with great lines (love those skinny legs), but it's become a total mess, probably because it serves many purposes. It's our landing strip. The drawers hold...well, almost everything. Stray electronics, important papers, wrapping paper/letter writing materials, and craft supplies all find a home here. The center sections holds magazines, books, and various decorative items. The top is our biggest flat surface, excluding the dining room table, in the house. A lamp, our key dish, books, pictures, the television...

Why is it such a mess? It's multi-tasking ways, the fact it's so convenient to drop things here, and not editing it as how we use the space changes. The ancient television isn't even hooked up, because we never watch television in here. And yet there are cords everywhere! J's pile of magazines is falling all over the place, the DVD player has migrated in here for reasons no one can remember (and is backwards, so obviously it's never been used in here!). Really, what's up with this mess? And I really like the credenza! In fact, I'd like to redo it, something I'll pontificate on in a later post. It's starting to stress me out, so time to attack.

After moving the tv and backwards DVD player to the Future Den (more on that UNHOLY MESS some other time), our t-shirt lamps are united for the first time! This also means I can eventually move the side table out of here, which is awesome, because as you can see here it's much to large for the space.

The rest of this fast little credenza makeover consisted of editing down the decorative items. I was hoping to edit the magazines, but J swears he needs all of them. Ahem. Anyway, in the name of marital harmony, I simply turned them around so they became a white block and popped a picture of Lila in front of them.

The credenza now reveals one of my deep, dark secrets. I collect vintage books. There, I said it. “Valley of the Dolls” has had pride of place for awhile now. “The Godfather Papers” now joins it to create a little vintage book/awesome for different reasons movie vignette. On the lower shelf is a stack of cookbooks and craft books from the '60s. Love the cover design on all of these books (and yes, I actually read them).

I love milk glass, and this little vintage hobnail milk glass “I Dream of Jeannie” bottle is one of my favorite things. Unbelievably, I found it in the trash! I think it looks great with the milk glass ashtray we use for a key dish.

And the ugly old curtain/homemade shade things are gone as of tomorrow (I'm making a new window covering as part of the Pinterest Challenge)! The window sported broken, plastic mini-blinds when we moved in with shorty curtains on the side. I threaded a tension rod through the hems of the shorties and hung them as a replacement for the blinds/temporary solution. Almost two years ago. Sigh. Still, they were the best I could do at the time and definitely better than the old blinds!

Did anyone else spend the weekend taking care of an overused/cluttered spot?