Chair Makeover Before and After

I snagged this chair a few years back at an Atlanta thrift store for less than $10. It was missing a back chushion and so horribly soft that when you sat down on it you needed assistance to get out, but I loved the lines of this sturdy, mid-century construction and saw potential. I had been saving up for a while to have it recovered, along with another chair, and we picked it up from our upholsterer friend, Doug, last week. It has a new seat cushion, a new back cushion, the skirt was removed and I found some cheap wooden legs to replace the chair's not-so-awesome original legs.

I stumbled upon the dreamy dahlia fabric on Ebay for $8.99 a yard. It normally runs at closer to $35 a yard. It looked really familiar to me and I couldn't place where I had seen it before. Oh yeah, it is the same fabric used on the Anthropologie Naive Tropical Astrid Chair which was originally $1298, marked down to $799 and then discontinued. In total, I paid less than a fifth of that price for a brand "new" chair! Happy dance, happy dance, happy dance! 

 So yeah, I love sipping my coffee and reading in our new chair and maybe you think it's loud and crazy, which it kind of is, but it my eyes it's happy and fun and just the right pop I was looking to add to our eclectic living room.

The side table is a fun, marble-topped piece we bought a while back from some friends for $30. It was primed white and we decided to keep it white since the color looked good against the tan marble. Nick painted it in a gloss white and now it's basically our chair's new BFF. Anything smaller/less substantial would have been dwarfed, anything louder would have competed with the busy chair. I'm pleased these two pieces work so well together.

Yay for cozy living room vignettes! Stay tuned for my second chair's transformation!

Mid Mod Kind of Saturday

Lately I have been loving the gorgeous giclee prints of Inaluxe.

I wish they made these ten times bigger so we could hang one above our new sofa...

I forgot to mention that many a Craiglist search paid off! We found this beauty for a steal! It's from CB2 and was in perfect condition. It had only been used by its previous owners for three months! The color is pewter and the fabric is so nice and velvety.

I'll be sure to post pics of the new living room reveal! For now, new sofa is in the sunroom, patiently waiting for old sofa to find another home.

What I'm In The Market For...

When it comes to furniture, I'm sure many of you are like me and do not have the budget to pick something out of a catalog and have it shipped and assembled on whim. This can, at times, be frustrating, but it does force me to be creative and always on the alert for items with potential at Goodwill, on Craigslist, or at a granny estate sale.

So, without further ado, I present to you my long term wish list:

A vintage china cabinet that is narrow enough to fit in our dining room. I have a whole set of lovely china from our wedding and a bevy of retro cake stands just itching to be displayed! Alas, they will remain in boxes, nestled in their newspaper cocoons, until I find the right home for them.

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Nightstands for our bedroom. I have paid our bedroom only a fraction of the attention I have given the rest of our little farmhouse. I'd really prefer not to go buy crappy mdf side tables at Ikea, so I will wait until the perfect little set (or even mismatched pair) with character pops up. My husband hates me even mentioning that I want to paint real wood, but I think he'll get over it if the nightstands are cheap enough;)

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A new Sofa. There's pretty much nothing in our house, furniture-wise, that we've spent over $100 on. In fact, the great majority of our items are hand-me-downs or estate sale finds. Go us! That being said, when we are ready to purchase a couch we will probably not go vintage. Why? Well, vintage is great for accent furniture and side chairs, but nothing beats the comfort and durability of a modern sofa. I've hunted down a few models that have a nice vintage look without the smell and discomfort factor;)

So, in a magical world, I'd stumble across these beauties in a bargain basement...

Love the Anson Sofa from Room and Board!

Azure Sofa from Crate and Barrel

Greenwich Sofa from Pottery Barn

Ahh, isn't the internet fun for window shopping? What's on your wish list? Maybe I'll come across it the next time I'm thrifting and can snag it for you! Just leave me a comment with a few links!