Recreate This Space: Making Danish Modern 2013 Modern

Photo From Retro Renovation

Have I mentioned how much I love Pam from Retro Renovation? She posted this amazing ad from 1952 featuring Danish Modern furniture from the late, lamented Rich's Department Store. Amazing how truly modern this vintage ad looks! I mean, I think I could live pretty happily in the room as is.

Also, as proof that nothing is ever new in home decor? This entire space is greige, the particular gray beige (...which is really taupe, in my head anyway) which took over the colorscape in 2012.

However, there are some dated elements to this amazing space. The window treatments The huuuuugggggeeee mid-century lamps.

So then I decided to use this as an inspiration and piece and design a very modern take on this room.

The Eisenhower Sofa from Thrive Furniture seemed a no-brainer when recreating the original Danish Modern space. I like the oatmeal-y gray textured upholstery. You might get lucky and find a couple of vintage sofas you could recover! I mean, I'M never that lucky, but still!

CB2 Arc Lamp

While I love the original, huge, unbelievably tall table lamps I do think they are dated. What I like best about them is their sculpturalness. So I thought a couple of these lamps would fill in nicely, adding height and interesting shapes to the room. I'd place one by the arm closest to the window on one sofa and place the second lamp on the desk side of the room on the other sofa, just to break up the symmetry a bit.

West Elm Andulsia Rug

I love the bright yellow and green the floor cushions bring into the room in the original picture. While I'm not a floor pillow kind of person I do like a good rug (and hate the monochrome carpet Rich's used in their ad). So I went with this West Elm harvest gold rug. The room needs a small shot of pattern!

West Elm Desk

Here's another West Elm pick. A wonderful, leggy desk barely peeps into the corner of the original ad. Instead of going with another set of Danish Modern legs, I decided the organic metal legs of the Metal Truss Work Table were a fresher choice, while honoring the simplicity of the original piece.

Room and Board

This Room and Board dining chair isn't the chair of my dreams, but its close. I wanted to mix another shade of gray and more shapely legs. I really like how it subtly recalls the designs of the era directly preceding the Danish Modern/Mid-Century Modern era.

CB2

So many pictures of "styled" fifties interiors feature coffee tables placed in completely unusable locations within the room. I like a coffee table in front of the sofa, where I can place a drink or prop my legs. I didn't want to cover up the yummy rug, and there's SO MANY FANTASTIC LEGS going on in this room I didn't want to add more. The clear CB2 peekaboo table was the perfect solution. It provides lots of workable space without creating additional visual clutter. This helps maintain the sleek modernity of the original concept.

Amazon

The original windows had some bizarre oversized valance and curtain combo happening. A simple bamboo roll up shade brings the room into 2013. It also layers in another warm texture. I do like how the window treatments are floor to ceiling and definitely think this new fictional room should follow suit!

Ikea

Ikea's AINA curtains appear to have a fantastic linen-ish texture. I love this soft gray, especially against the bamboo shades.

One Kings Lane

My initial impulse would be a whole wall of questionable art over one of the sofas. However. I do like the restraint shown by picking one, perfect piece. It appears the artwork in the ad might be a large pencil drawing or lithograph.

Eh. I love both of those things, but not here. Here I think a bright splash of color is needed. So this vintage piece that brings in the grays and yellow from the rug and gives the room a sense of movement.

Plus...I love seascapes.

Now, wall color? I couldn't decide! A true white? A warm greige? What do you guys guys think?

While there are affiliate links (Amazon, One Kings Lane, Thrive) I really do pick the items I love best when I do these kind of these posts!

Fantastic Vintage Valentines!

Many years ago I bought a used book (I believe it was Arthur Hailey's "Hotel") and found a beautiful vintage Valentine inside. I loved it, and for years it hung out on my fridge. I adore how retro valentines combine the beautiful typography and commercial artistry from the mid-century era.

The puns are also kind of classic. Here are some of my favorites from around the web.

artist valentine 

Dogs randomly appear in a lot of valentines from the 1950s and 60s. I approve! I love the little artist with her blonde topknot, pink artist coverall, and red keds.

 darn it valentine

Combining a knitting joke and valentines day? Darn it, why not?

Bat Girl Valentine 

This bat girl, "I'm Batty About You!" valentine might be favorite.

Donut Valentine 

Do-nut say that you don't love this valentine! Doughnuts! Coffee cups!

Head Over Heels Valentine

The kids on this "Heels Over Head" valentine sort of look like the Campbell Soup kids, doncha think?

My Heart Is Yours Doggie Valentine

A sweet vintage doggie declares "My Heart Is Yours."

Hello Valentine!

Here's a valentine honey Don Draper would approve of, since it appears she's mixing sort of cocktail.

Hot Dawg Valentine

A dog making hot dawgs! Get it?

Popcorn Valentine

This valentine pops a corny question- Will You Be My Valentine?

Singing Valentine

Another random doggie. This one sings! Love the crooner.

Strike Up A Match Valentine

I feel like there is some innuendo in this strike up a match Valentine, don't you?

Small Fry Valentine

This is a very wordy Valentine, but the two little eggs in the cast iron frying pan is so cute! I love anamorphic food, don't you?

Big Eyed Lovelies

This post requires you to know one thing about my childhood; I was gifted with two amazing sets of grandparents. Both sets influence this post. However, don't blame my dubious taste in art on them. That's all on me.

Remember how I posted that J bought me these paintings when we were in South Carolina while I was pregnant, but then I thought they were lost when we moved in here, and then J found the box? Yeah.

Photo From My Girl Thursday

And then I was flittering around Pinterest one night and saw this gallery wall, which stars my bongo drum boy?

Well, after I wrote the post I went and studied my paintings. Somehow I never noticed both were signed...with different signatures. The ballerina girl was signed MAIO, and bongo boy is signed Medeiros. The Medeiros name is interesting, but the MAIO really caught my eye.

Because I could see another painting when I looked at it. When I was eleven or so, my family, including my paternal grandparents, road-tripped to Rome, Georgia. I have absolutely no idea why. Anyway, my grandfather and I were in an antique store when I fell in love with a painting of a girl with light brown hair in a Patty Duke flip standing on a green hill, wearing what I considered a "Robin Hood" (the Errol Flynn version) outfit and wearing a quite fetch hat.

He bought it for me.

For the rest of my childhood it hung in my room. It was lost during a move. 

I realized the same artist painted my ballerina girl that painted my lost childhood painting. 

I did what any obsessive person does in 2013. I hit up google.

Image from eBay

The hairstyle is identical to the one remember, but my girl had darker hair and a different color outfit. Also, no poodle. Still, I quite like this Maio painting.

Image from eBay

Another one from MAIO's harlequin series. Another blonde girl, with a goat instead of a poodle.

Image from eBay

Very, very close to my girl, but mine was wearing her hat.

Image from eBay

My ballerina has a sister. I love the face on the blue ballerina the best, but I'm still coveting the red ballerina.

Image from eBay

Two more from the Harlequin series, a girl leaning against a wall with a parrot (!) and another playing a lute. I LOVE the haughty expression on Parrot Girl.

So during my research I quickly learned MAIO was considered a "big eyed painter".  I had no idea. Now, my parents started dragging me to antiques fair as soon as I could walk and I started frequenting thrift stores as soon as I had transportation, so I certainly know ABOUT big eyed paintings. I just never considered MAIO a big eyed painter! I tend to think of images like these:

Image From Keane Eyes Gallery

Lots of people enjoy Margaret Keane's big eyed paintings. I'm not one of them. I think there's enough sadness in the world without those demented children and their poor pets staring at me everyday.

Quickly I learned "big eyed" covered a much broader field than I was aware of. Both Medeiros and MAIO were considered "big eyed" painters.

Remember my excitement over the fact both of my paintings had W.T. Grants written on the back of them? That's because oil on board big eyed paintings were usually sold at "five and dime" variety stores like Grants, Woolworths (!), and other now-defunct chains.

Y'all, I am straight up obsessed with Woolworths (this is due to my maternal grandmother. We ate lunch at Woolworths at least twice a week during the summers when I was little) and love finding old dime store merchandise.

I feel an obsession coming on.

Image from Medeiros Online

Here's the Medeiros bongo boy with the dark haired harlequin MAIO girl, in matching frames. Just like my ballerina girl and bongo boy are in matching frames! I can't find a grown-up/teen boy by MAIO so I think the bongo boy was packaged with the MAIO girls for a his and her set.

By the way, MAIO did a whole set of big eyed kid paintings I find kind of creepy, but I love her adult/teen set of paintings. I haven't yet found the one I had as a kid. However, there are TONS of variations on the the harlequin theme that I've found, so I have faith I'll find it eventually.

(And if anyone sees it in the wild, well, you know where to find me!)

I've also determined that I already own another big eyed painting.

Mr. Owl!

Anyway, does anyone else have a strange little art obsession?

Vintage Appliance Porn

So I'm torturing J discussing with J my overwhelming love of the Frigidaire Custom Imperial Flair, as we waited for the penultimate Fringe to start. I believe I first mentioned my obsession with the most amazing stove ever made on the Bewitched post (lucky Samantha had one in her kitchen).

Photo From Hooked On Houses

I'm googling around so I can make sure J knows everything about vintage Frigidaires (because one day I WILL OWN A FLAIR. If anyone has one for sale in the Southeast/Georgia/Atlanta area you know where to find me!) when I discover a wonderful internet oddity. People make videos of vintage appliances (stoves/ovens/ranges/washers/dryers/vacuum cleaners) working and post them on Youtube. Seriously. I maybe spent an hour watching various old appliances at work. By the end of this little sojourn I could tell when the "money shot" was about to be shown. These are my absolute favorites.


Edited- I thought the videos weren't working, but they are just being slow to load. I've added links so you can go straight to Youtube to watch old appliances doing their thing. Because what else would you do today? :)

Watch a Flair in action. Everything about it works. Even the clock! The money shot? Pulling out the drawer and the burners all turning on. Yeah, baby, yeah.




A 1963 pink Custom Imperial washer. Sidenote: General Motors, or GM, owned Frigidaire during this period. I think a lot of the styling between Chevys and Frigidaire appliances share lots of similarities.

I've never watched a fetish video, but I rather felt like I had after I watched this. It's over nine minutes long, skip to the 1:00 mark and watch for about 30 seconds. You'll understand. Quickly.




A 1950s Westinghouse Dryer plays "How Dry I Am" when the clothes are dry. Also? I learned there's a washing machine museum.




Other must see videos include a matching aqua Frigidaire washer and dryer working in harmony, a man who really loves old vacuum cleaners, and this fantastic 1950s commercial for a Frigidaire french door oven.

So what's the oddest thing relating to your own hobbies/interests you've ever discovered on the internet?

Super Affordable: Anthropolgie Curtain Alternatives

So I mentioned Monday that Stephanie made me realize I needed some feminine pattern power in our living room, which consists of dark wood furniture, deep tan walls, a beige rug, brown leather couch, and nautical and horse art. Naturally, I went back to Anthropologie for some inspiration.

Anthropologie Finnia Curtain

I love the idea of these curtains. A graphic floral with a barkcloth look is exactly what my living room needed. But what I didn't need was an $188 a panel price tag. Ouch! Plus the colorway wasn't exactly what I was looking for.

Urban Outfitters Plum & Bow Wildflower Curtain

This $39 a panel Urban Outfitter alternative is a pretty close match to the Anthro Finnia. It's also available in a green and gray color way, which I absolutely love.

Urban Outfitters Plum & Bow Wildflower Curtain

Naturally, when looking for vintage-y floral curtains I hit up Mod Cloth. Love these aqua floral and fauna panels.

Modcloth Flora and Fauna Curtain

I think, though, that I love these Fowl Play curtains even more. And they are only $37.99 each!

Mod Cloth Fowl Play Curtain

These Target panels are pretty close to the Anthropologie curtains, but at a better price AND with a more forgiving color palette. $23.99 for a panel.

Target Maya Panel

These, of course, are the ones I went with.

Also, don't forget to check Etsy, eBay, thrift stores, and craigslist. Anthropologie's whole aesthetic is based around vintage finds. I mean, the $5 I paid for three panels certainly can't be beat! And it gives the exact feel I wanted from the more expensive Anthro version- feminine but not fussy, pattern, using colors already going on in the room while adding some new hues, and a vintage vibe.

Decorating With Vintage Curtains

Curtains, draperies, window treatments of all kinds are expensive. Especially if you have expensive taste in general-like the person who fell in love with these gorgeous Anthropologie curtain panels.

That person would be me. On that post the brilliant Stephanie from Sandpaper and Glue pointed out our living room is leaning a little masculine and could use some feminine balance. I realized she was absolutely right. And that's when I fleetingly considered vintage, but fell back into my "I'll never find curtains for the living room" funk.

Then, as my Facebook and Twitter followers know, I found some fantastic vintage curtains at a thrift store. $5 for three panels. Yes ma'am, that's an affordable curtain solution. They are stylized florals with a close match to our wall color, lots of blue-greens and greens, and a soft ivory background color. They also introduce some more orange-y and pinkish shades for us to play with. Love. Them.

So I thought a little how-to on buying and using vintage curtains might be in order, because the first time I bought some awesome barkcloth panels (over ten years ago on eBay!) I was a little freaked.

Buying Vintage Curtains

1. Inspect The Fabric.

How does the fabric feel? Is it brittle? Does it feel dusty between your fingertips? I usually avoid fabric that feels overly fragile or dusty. Old is okay, decaying isn't really my thing. Also look for holes and tears, and stitching any wear other than the hems. These curtains are in fantastic shape (it helps that they probably aren't that old. I was thinking eighties, but then a friend made a pretty convincing case for the early '60s).

2. Measure The Curtains.

Know the size of the windows you want to use the vintage curtains on, and bring a tape measure to measure the drapery panels. I didn't do this. I was running an errand and realized I was near a couple of my favorite thrifts, so I dashed in. Whoops. I "measured" the curtains by holding them up above my head. I'm a little over five feet, and the curtains seemed about twenty-four inches taller than me, so I thought all was good in the world.

3. Check The Workmanship And Look For Labels.

These don't have a store/manufacturer label but there is a care tag. Machine wash and tumble dry was fine for these curtains when they were made. The curtains are lined, there's a decent hem, and the hems are weighted. The pinch-pleats are well made (the top is lined with a stiff material to help give the pleats shape) and they have pleater hooks which also help support the pinch pleat shape. All the hems and seams are straight and well sewn. So, decent workmanship all around.

Using Vintage Curtains

1. Hang Them Up.

As soon as I got home I hung them on the curtain rod the previous owners left behind (it's ridiculously bent). See the problem? Yep, these curtains are just a little short of 84". Whoops. At first I thought they might have shrunk, but after inspecting them again I think they were probably special order curtains (explains the lack of a tag) and were made a little shorter for some reason, like to go on a window that was over baseboard heaters.

I had three choices. I could pick out a solid color from the pattern, find fabric in that shade, and add a band of fabric to lengthen them. If I did this I could even make them 96" curtains and hang them at ceiling height. Little Miss Penny Wenny did this, and her curtains look fantastic.

I've been a proponent of hanging curtains tall and wide since I saw a designer do it on Trading Spaces. However the opening to the foyer is directly next to the window and so I've decided against it here, because I think it actually breaks up the line and throws off the proportion of the wall.

So I could either rip out the hem or live with them. I decided to live with them. They are super close to touching the ground, and most of the bottom of the curtains will be hidden behind the credenza. If it drives me crazy I can always add some yardage or take out the hem later.

Photo From Web Restaurant Store

2. Deal With The Smell.

Most vintage fabric, especially fabric sourced from thrift stores or yard sales, might smell a little funny. These smelt like a basement crossed with an overabundance of old lady perfume. House Vintage suggested I spray them lightly with white vinegar and then set them out in the sunshine. I really wanted to try this, but apparently the sun no longer shines in Georgia!

So instead I went with my old trick, which is to hang up the curtains in an enclosed space and set a bowl of vinegar in the space with them. It absorbs the smells from the fabric. And it worked! 

3. To Wash Or Not To Wash?

Here is a fantastic resource on washing vintage fabrics. With other vintage curtains I've bought in the past I've hand-washed, or just decided they were fine as is (I fear messing with barkcloth). These, though, aren't that old and seem to be in fine shape.

So I took the plunge and washed them in the machine on a super delicate cycle. And...it worked! Then I put them in the dryer and kept an eye on them. Again, fine. Make sure you remove the pleater pins or any other metal hardware. (Tip? I also put a little white vinegar in the final rinse cycle. Peace of mind that all the smells would be gone. Vinegar in the rinse cycle will make mildew-y towels smell brand new, so its totally up to this job.)

4. Ironing Pinch Pleats.

These are cotton, so I went with a hot, dry setting. Starting at the bottom and working up I worked out the wrinkles. When I got to the top I folded the drapes and ironed like that. (True Confession: my camera's batteries died, and I wanted these curtains ironed and hung before Downton Abbey began. So no picture. But you all can imagine me ironing.)

Come back tomorrow for a DIY curtain rod and see the curtains hanging up for realsies!