Decorating Fun | Operation Home

So, yeah… the hunt was WAY less taxing than last time. Woo-hoo!!! Remember in this post, I mentioned that Drex (our first mid-century dresser) is now being used as a buffet in the dining space? And that we needed a new dresser for the bedroom?? Well…

I give you the newest member of our family. He’s a handsome, solid wood, Bassett mid-century gem of awesomeness.

Ya see, after we moved in, I began searching for a new dresser for Joey (he uses the dresser while I monopolize the majority of the closet. It’s just how we do.). I visited thrift stores and antique malls, but nothing. I tirelessly searched Craigslist, and after emailing no fewer than ten sellers about their dressers, I came across this ad…

It was towards the end of the 3000+ listings for dressers, so I figured there was NO WAY this dresser was still available. I mean, it had great lines and the original wood finish. Plus, it was listed weeks ago. So, color me shocked when the seller responded that not only was it available, but she’d dropped the price to $90. Um… Where do I sign???

We arranged a time to meet and my dad and I went to check it out. Seriously, I was shocked when I saw it. It was SO much more lovely than it looked in the Craigslist picture. It reeked of quality and character. The seller told me that she’d been trying to sell it for months and it hadn’t sold, hence, multiple price reductions. I was absolutely dumbstruck by this fact and jokingly stated that it was simply because I hadn’t come along yet. 😉

I paid the nice lady and brought him home. I shined him up with my favorite combo of Restore-A-Finish and Feed-N-Wax (for more detailed instruction on how to use these products, check out this post or this one). The Restore-A-Finish covered all the nicks, dings and scratches and the Feed-N-Wax shined him up beautifully. And that was all he needed. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

And so begins the jumping off point for our new room.

The rest of our bedroom looks like this currently, since we basically just plopped down the furniture on moving day and left it at that…

I think it’s definitely time to lose our current bed frame in exchange for something more simple and masculine to offset the more feminine bedding (Joey’s actually been lobbying for this for a while, thus engaged in major fist-pumping when I broke the news that it was finally time.). So, we’re gonna sell it (any takers?). The nightstands may get a little makeover as well. And the paint color…. Oh, the paint color. It’s hard to tell from these pics, but in person, it’s straight-up purple. And it’s dark. Darker than it appears in this pic. I really despise it more and more every moment that I spend in this room. It feels so oppressive to me. Which just goes to show how colors affect people differently. This color fit the previous owners decor well. And it looked nice with their stuff. But it just isn’t us. The only window in the room isn’t very big in comparison to our last house and the backyard is so shady that the room gets little light most of the time. Thus, we need a more neutral color in a lighter tone, stat. I actually already purchased the paint for this room and am getting on that soon…. I’m so totally stoked about it, too. I’ve mentioned it before, but I LOVE painting walls. It’s just so therapeutic and satisfying. Once the room is painted, I can work on the fun stuff… curtains and art and such.

Oh, and let’s not end this post without mentioning this ceiling fan….

Not only is it incredibly ornate and feminine which DEFINITELY doesn’t jive with the sleek, mid-century vibe that we’re going for in this house, apparently the blades were painted….

… but the paint didn’t take. We’ll be replacing it with another ceiling fan (’cause I mean, it’s Texas). I know the design world tends to shy away from ceiling fans (not that I flatter myself to actually think that I’m a part of the design world), but I’m all about attractive-function. We can find a more stream-lined fan that better suits the feel of the space. No doubt.

And while we’re on the topic of lighting fixtures…

Boob, be gone!!! We’ll be replacing this anatomically-correct bugger that’s in the atrium area between the bathroom and closet, as well.

So, that’s the plan. Stay tuned… I’ll have a paint update for ya soon. 🙂

This post begins as an ode to thrift stores. Oh, how I missed them. From the time that we found our new home and put in an offer until one mere week ago, I hadn’t allowed myself to step foot in one. I figured it was just more stuff to move if I found something. And I started getting twitchy. Nervous. Grabby.

I missed the hunt.

I missed the finds.

I missed the awesome 80’s slow-rock at Goodwill. (Yes, I’m that weirdo who sings along with the mad tunes as I troll the aisles. …I mean, come on… it’s WILSON PHILLIPS! Don’t tell me that you don’t pop into Goodwill strictly for a good WP fix.)

Anyways, I couldn’t wait to reestablish myself as Resident Thriftie of this establishment. And NOW, I have some specific items in mind to find (which, despite my recent thrift store visits, I have not yet found. So, it’s ON.)

For example, we decided to use Drex as a buffet in the dining area rather than our dresser in the bedroom…

(Please ignore the floor sliders under Drex… He ways a TON and I couldn’t get them out. And also, I forgot they were there until I looked at this picture just now. Go me.)

So anyways, now we need a new dresser for our bedroom. I know, I know… If you read about the PROFOUND struggle that I overcame to find a mid-century dresser the first time around you think I’m crazy. Well, I’ll have you know that I AM crazy. It’s a sickness of the MCM variety. I.just.cant.help.it. I’m seriously craving another mid-century modern dresser to fill the dumping ground that is our bedroom. Can’t you just see it?? …Isn’t it grand?? I’m hoping that the hunt is a little less taxing than last time and much quicker… I mean, poor Joey is living out of garbage bags. Garbage bags, I tell ya!! (In all fairness, I suggested that he use Drex in the bedroom until we found something else, to which he stated (and I quote) “I would rather live out of garbage bags than move that heavy {insert choice word here} again.” So, really, maybe it’s not that big a deal (tohim).)

Now, let’s hop back to the dining area once again….

This space really excites me because it’s the one (and only) space that I know exactly what I want to do. For example, the dining table will be painted white, then I’ll find a neutral, natural fiber rug (like jute or sisal) that’s large enough to accommodate the table and chairs. We’re very lucky as Joey’s parents had these patterned Ikea chairs and gave them to us when they bought new ones. Score. Our Ikea Lack floating shelves will be hung above Drex and I plan to hang a pair of floaty white curtains alongside the picture window (with bamboo roman shades between them?? I’m trying to come up with a window covering option for night that doesn’t obscure the view during the day).

You can see that I’ve put zero effort into styling the built-ins. Part of this was lack of time due to the many time-suck-must-do-tasks that have come up recently, the other part is that I want to paint the built-ins white before spending time making them pretty accessory-wise.

Getting back to my thrift store wish list, we’re also in search of a different media cabinet for the living space….

My cute little media unit from the last house didn’t work in here, so it’s in the foyer now. It was just too small to be a media cabinet now that the TV rests above it. We needed something larger to ground the TV. You may recognize the cabinets that I revamped for the foyer of our last house standing in. The TV stand between them was original to the set… I just need to paint it white if it stays. I’m just not sold on it staying. I’m on the hunt for some type of mid-century shelving unit or storage cabinet to replace it with, so that I can move these white cabinets to the atrium area of our bedroom. So, I’m searching for something cool. It might be a dresser. It might be shelves. It just depends on what I find. It needs to be something relatively narrow, but wide enough to accomodate the equipment. The world is my media-unit-oyster at this point. So, we’ll see.

The rest of the living room currently looks like this….

(Lucas, ‘er, Leonardo, requested a cameo… Icouldntresist.)

I haven’t officially hung any art yet. I’ve just been leaning things against the walls to get an idea of where I want them. As for window treatments, I’m kind of stuck on what to do for the sliders. I tried hanging a pair of white curtains the other day and it just looked silly. The fireplace is way too close to make curtain panels an option. I took them down almost immediately. I was thinking maybe bamboo roman shades hung high, but then the color is tricky as I don’t want them to compete with the fireplace. Hmmmm…. Only time will tell, I suppose.

And lastly, here is the wet bar as it is now…

I just accessorized a wee bit, though I’m still noodling with it. As I mentioned in this post, this area will be completely transformed once we’re done with it. Since there’s no lighting on this side of the room, I hung an inexpensive plug-in sconce from Ikea. Because the side view of the mounting bracket wasn’t super attractive…

I simply wrapped it with a bit of burlap ribbon….

Problem solved.

So, that’s where we’re at with the living/dining space after 1.5 weeks of officially living here. I still have a lot of work to do decor-wise, but at least we have our furniture in place and the spaces are functional for the most part. Our spare room is currently stacked with boxes of decor that are just screaming to be unpacked. You seriously can’t walk in there right now. I’ll get to it soon enough, I’m sure. And, of course, I’ll update ya’ll as we go.

So, does anybody have any window treatment suggestions for slider doors?? Any words of wisdom?