The Light Fixture Family Tree ||why I don't throw things away||

I hate throwing things away.  My husband would say that makes me a hoarder.  But I believe that makes me resourceful ;)  I will often hold on to old parts from past projects until I can find another use for them - and sometimes my... resourcefulness... pays off.  

Last summer, I scooped up this faceted foyer light at my local ReStore.  I liked the look of the brass + bulb components inside and started thinking, maybe I can repurpose them into a DIY sputnik-style chandelier.  So I bought the whole kit-and-kaboodle and promptly took it apart.

After disassembling it however, I couldn't bring myself to scrap the faceted lantern.  I thought about turning it into a terrarium or a more functional table lamp again [I have a weak-spot for disassembling light fixtures apparently...] but in the end I brought it to our pop-up shop at Sweet Clover Barn and sold it as a dainty umbrella stand.

As for the original "guts" that had inspired the DIY chandelier on my 2016 furniture flip bucket list - well, I held on to those babies for almost a year [much to my minimalist-of-a-husband's dismay].  Until I found this lamp...

Behold!  That tall, handsome, square piece of brass pipe that's the perfect length.  I finally had all the pieces I needed for the frame of my sputnik light!

 
 

But after I had my hands on the brass pipe I needed, I still had the other perfectly-good components of the table lamp to play with - like the 4 decorative pieces of turned wood.  After stumbling on a $2 round wooden tray at the thrift store, I soon had a plan for those too: a mid-century modern plant stand.

So just to recap, here's a handy infographic on how one old lantern and one old table lamp came together to make 3 new beautifully functional  pieces and nothing was wasted in the process!

I'm still working on the wiring for the sputnik chandelier and [if all goes well] will be sharing the results soon!  In the meantime, I'm curious if any of you have created your own diy family trees by repurposing project left-overs.  Please share in the comments below!

Quirky MCM Nightstand

One of the perks of being the furniture flipper in my friend group is sometimes they give me er... presents...  In the form of discarded furniture.  

This asymmetrical wonder came to me when a friend got a fish tank off craigslist that came with a quirky base.  They kept the tank and were about to kick it to the curb when they probably thought, "Waste not: Cate not" and passed it off to me for some hail Mary refurbishing.  

But the good news is, being quirky has its perks.  In fact, mid-century modern furniture is iconic-ly quirky.  Besides making the piece stand out in a space, there's something... endearing about their asymmetrical lines: 

Source: 1st Dibs

Source: 1st Dibs

Source: Unknown

Source: Unknown

Upon closer inspection, this little odd-ball was certainly a little worse for wear: deep scratches in the finish, funky Christmas tree pulls, yellowing paint...  It would be undoubtedly be easier to paint the whole thing but that burled wood grain!  So in the end I put in the extra elbow grease and restored him with some repurposed leather pulls.

Yes those stylized tree pulls had to go.  They were easy to unscrew but the awkwardly-placed holes made finding new pulls to fit difficult.  And the textured drawer fronts made filling them in to drill holes for new pulls just as challenging.  So here's where I had to get creative with a touch resourceful: I had an old camel leather string belt lying around and cut three lengths that were long enough to fit the off-center holes with a some extra slack for easy grabbing.  

I punched holes in the belt for the cabinet screws, threaded them through with a washer for extra reinforcement, and secured them on the inside with a nut.

To add to the quirk of this piece, there is a slot cut into the left side of the nightstand.  At first I couldn't make sense of it.  I mean, was the nightstand designer so lazy that he didn't want to have to open the top drawer to put some papers away?  But then I realized, this designer wasn't lazy - (s)he's tech savvy!  This slot turns the top drawer into a charging hub for your personal electronics so instead of having a rats nest of cords cluttering up your bedside surface real estate (like I do), you can stow them away discretely!

Keeping the piece two-toned lets the texture of the drawer fronts play off of the banding in the warm wood grain.

Keeping the burled wood grain did mean I couldn't mask some of the discoloration along the edges.

I'm not sure what caused the "worn" edges but they are completely flush so the surface is still baby-butt smooth.  Plus, I think the markings lend themselves well to the vintage character of the piece.  

As a beloved teacher once told me, you have to earn your wrinkles.  I think the same goes for vintage pieces: they don't get to be this old without collecting some storied markings along the way ;)  

Two-Toned Mid-Century Modern Nightstand
21.5"W x 14"D x 24.5"H
SOLD
$85

If you are interested in this piece or a custom order like it, please contact me at cate@stylemutthome.com.

Blue + Wood Sideboard ||with a storied past||

Did you all hear our big news?  We just scored ourselves a gem of an intern!  I guess it's been a lucky week for us because I also recently scored this credenza off my local craigslist.

The piece had good bones but the poorly-done black lacquer just had to go.  I still had some Compass Blue by Behr Marquee left from this campaign dresser flip I did last year and taking a page from Chelsea's recent hunter green piece where she painted the body but left the legs wood, I came up with this:

Blue-hoo! (that's blue for wahoo!)
 

The paneling on the left hides three large drawers - the top one with dividers for utensils or what-have-yous.

The other side of the sideboard is a cabinet with half open shelving and three more drawers for ample storage.

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Besides good bones, this piece also came with quite the pedigree!  I uncovered a few fun finds in one of the drawers which I posted about on instagram.

 
 

I like to think that this piece belonged to a version of myself in a previous life.  A version of myself who received a letter from a friend with excellent taste in jewelry, and then tucked it away in her beautiful credenza so she wouldn't forget to "make arrangements," and then promptly forgot about it because it got buried in that drawer along with the original credenza's informational tag because she keeps EVERYTHING.   And is also named Barbara apparently.  But thanks to my former self Barbara-the-Hoarder, I now know that this storage piece was made by American of Martinsville for the Dania Collection - can you spot the original dresser in the images below?  

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See I always knew holding on to everything would come in handy one day.

I chose wooden knobs for the cabinet doors that had faceted gold corners to play off of the wood in the legs and the angles of the drawer fronts.

Based on the drawings in Barbara's pamphlet, this guy was missing some legs so I had to fit him with some prosthetics [or in this case, tapered legs].

I styled this bad boy with my beloved kilim pillow children er... covers.  I simply hung them with vintage wooden pant hangers to give the wall some textured drama. 

Add in some fun finds like these ceramic pyramids found at Sweet Clover Barn this past spring, a lamp, and a plant and you have yourself quite the eclectic vignette.

Oh and if you're local my friends, this gem is ready for a new home!   Original American of Martinsville credenzas from the Dania collection can go for anywhere between $900 and $4,000 but this blue guy [complete with all his papers] is a deal!

Blue + Wood Sideboard
60"W x 18.5"D x 34.5"H
SOLD
$580

If you are interested in this piece or a custom order like it, please contact me at cate@stylemutthome.com.