Decorating Fun | Operation Home

So, while we get the guest bath completely wrapped up (the faucet part still hasn’t arrived. Two-day shipping, my foot, is all I have to say.), I’ve moved onto planning my next ~~victim~~ project… Ever since posting our house tour page, I’ve been absolutely, positively itching to tackle our foyer. It currently looks like this…

Our foyer houses leftovers from our last home which looked great there, but no longer fit our style preferences. With the mahogany-toned floors the collection really makes the foyer seem dark and disjointed.

These cabinets were the end units of our media cabinet of yore…

I just squished them together and called it a day. I’ve mentioned before that I’d like to replace them with something with more character. And I would. But I’m tired of waiting for the perfect piece to enter my life. So, I’ve decided that I’m gonna try my hand at tweaking these guys to make them suit our current style a bit more. My thoughts are:

1. Refinish them with glossy white paint

2. Remove the rice paper glass film and replace it with a bold fabric, like the one that I used for our new shower curtains….

3. Replace the stainless knobs with some sort of oil-rubbed bronze handles. Maybe something like these or these.

4. Remove the baskets beneath the units to make them feel less heavy.

Then, I definitely want to address the art over top…

This guy was a Ross find years ago, and again… although, he’s nice, he’s not really my style anymore. So, I have two thoughts. First, spray paint him a bold color (or maybe brass?). Second, send him off to greener pastures and replace him with something bold and modern (Like a large colorful marquee-like letter or some sort of bold, colorful painting). I’ve also considered painting thick, white stripes on this wall behind the units. The result would be subtle because our Dolphin Fin grey paint is so light and soft, but it would definitely add oodles of interest. For some reason, this thought has always been on my mind for this space. Maybe I should just go with it.

Next, this rug…

First, it’s seen better days as one of the corners is unraveling. Second, this is probably my longest-retained piece of decor. I purchased it over 8 years ago for my first non-college apartment. Like the other items in this foyer, it’s not really jiving with the style or color palette of the rest of the house. I really, really want to replace it with a round jute rug that would be centered under the light fixture. I always see rugs like that at Homegoods and Marshalls, but go figure… they’re nowhere to be found for me right now since I’m actually looking for one. Hopefully, soon.

Speaking of the light fixture….

It’s nice and it came with the house, but alas, a boob-light is still a boob-light. I would love an oil-rubbed-bronze lantern-type fixture to replace it. Or maybe a capiz pendant of some sort.

On this wall…

I’m liking the leaning mirror, but think it would be more practical to have a small mudroom-ish area to sit and remove shoes, hang coats, etc. I’ve mentioned this before, but still haven’t officially decided how I want to do it. We’ll see what comes of that since, down the line, we’d like to add tall horizontally-planked wainscoting to all of the foyer walls. On which I’d like to mount hooks and stuff for said mudroom. I’m just not sure when we’ll get that done, so I don’t want to guarantee it as a “will be done soon” sort of project. But it’s on the agenda eventually.

So, that’s what I’ve cooked up so far. Anybody have any ideas to contribute?

As some of you may know, I’m a thrift store/Craigslist junkie. I love finding and revamping (or not revamping) vintage pieces. They lend so much personality and warmth to a room. I would LOVE (with a capital LOVE) to grow our collection and am constantly on the lookout for new, quality finds. Pairing vintage with modern allows both elements to shine in their own right and it’s a combo that makes me happy. So, when I received an email from One Kings Lane promoting their new Home Decor Resource and requesting a post on how vintage and modern team up in our home, I jumped on the opportunity. Here are a few examples of what we’ve got going on….

First, we have My Beloved desk chair. I wrote about him in detail in this post, and yes, I still hear cheesy 80’s love songs in my head every time I see him (and Joey blames me for this happening to him, as well. Mission. Accomplished.). I got him for a steal at our local Goodwill. He’s a mid-century modern bombshell of clerical chicness with beautiful wood construction and an original vinyl seat. He currently is the only vintage piece in the sea of modern furnishings that composes our front room.

For example, our unassuming Ikea desk…

Our clean Friheten Ikea sofa…

As well as our hacked storage cabinet…

And I love the combination. The contrast in colors and textures and the simplicity of the other furniture in the room allow My Beloved to truly steal the show (whilst smiling back at me through the glare of stage-lights… Yup. I’m going with it.).

Next, we have Drex…

Our mid-century, Drexel dresser that I scored on Craigslist after an exhausting hunt. I love his tarnished brass hardware and rich wood tones. This area still desperately needs some large-scale wall art, but in the meantime, I’ve done my best to style him in a more modern way with a linear tray (which I lined with some retro-patterned fabric), sleek vases and a simple, brushed-nickel Ikea lamp (and, of course, Hootie… Nothing completes a room like a white ceramic owl in my book ;)) …

I feel like the differing metal finishes plus less-is-more styling gives Drex more of a modern appeal.

Our living room is another space where modern plus vintage come out to play. This combination speaks to our personalities so well. Updated, with a hint of quirk. Our media cabinet was in sad shape when I purchased him at a local thrift store. After a little makeover, he shines his vintage aura across the land….

The contrast of rich, cozy wood plus our clean, white floating Ikea shelves totally puts the wind in my sails. The simple leather chair adds some sleekness and masculinity to the space while the floral pillow and garden stool help to balance out that manly vibe. In my opinion, this wall wouldn’t have a speck of the personality it does without our media cabinet. He adds warmth to an otherwise linear, modern space that might have come off cold without him. In fact, when I placed him in his current abode, I stated, “Character, I’d like to introduce you to our living room.” (I mean, it’s only polite to make introductions). Fortunately, they happen to be getting along swimmingly.

Then, we have our coffee table. After we adopted Kivvy (our beloved Kivik sectional from Ikea), I was dead-set on finding a coffee table with character to balance out the cool, clean lines of our new sofa. I searched high and low and finally found our sweet rattan coffee table on Craigslist, which we purchased for a song…

A spit-shine was all this baby needed to reach his full potential. I absolutely love the tone of the bamboo which plays perfectly with our media cabinet. He adds glorious texture without taking up a ton of visual space thanks to his glass top. I love the straight lines of the bamboo which have just enough curve to bring in the interest he deserves….

Coffee table… You. Complete. Me. Now, I must name you.

Lastly, I thought I’d throw something small into the pot. Our train whistle, which belonged to Joey as a child…

It currently resides in our hallway frame collage as the centerpiece for the mix of more modern frames. I simply hung it from a nail with a piece of twine (as described in detail here). And here’s the wall as it stands now…

You can see I’ve made some changes recently, which I’ll describe in another post soon. The mish-mosh of modern frames and differing finishes along with the antique train whistle forms my very favorite wall-hanging in our house. It just wouldn’t be the same without our “something old” thrown in. The train whistle is the cheese to the frames’ macaroni. The peanut butter to their jelly. I’m not ashamed to admit that I have crushes on inanimate objects. It happens.

So anyways, Modern + Vintage is a combo that I cant resist. They compliment each other so well. And I’m the first to admit that I’m still happily learning about this subject as fast as I can soak it up… I’m definitely no expert. But, I know what I like… and this is it. Non-cookie-cutter. With personality. Quirkiness, if you will. And nothing helps to match that description better than a good vintage piece. Which, coincidentally, is easily complimented by the clean lines of modern decor. Peas and carrots, people. Peas and carrots. 🙂

I have to tell you… right now, as we speak, I’m throwing mental hugs at all of my vintage finds and appreciating them all over again after having written this post. So, tell me… Where does modern + vintage fall in your style? Any one-of-a-kind finds that make glow in adoration whenever you glance their way?