Teal Campaign Chest ||A Craigslist Experiment||

As active furniture flippers for the past 6 years, Chelsea and I really have our fingers on the pulse of our local craigslist.  In fact, between the two of us, we have found and flipped nearly 200 pieces in the DC Metro area - which has proven to be a crash-course in decor supply and demand.  We've often shifted our aesthetic to capitalize on budding trends: specializing in chalk paint + heavy distressing, hunting down mid-century modern scores, playing with bohemian touches, etc...  

When we decided to launch StyleMutt Home in September 2014 we started to really pushed the decor envelope to try out new styles, paint colors, staging techniques, patterns.  And we've had a BALL YA'LL.  Exercising these creative muscles started opening up design possibilities (see some of our latest here and here).  We chalk this up to the Lord's blessing.  And that being yourself is so much more rewarding than just trying to fit in.

Some Personal Fave Past Projects

 

So lately our Craigslist spidey-senses have started noticing some developing trends.  The price for Grandma's old dresser is going up in correlation with the sheer number of DIY pieces for sale.  Now, we LOVE seeing so much budding talent in our area.  But it makes us ask ourselves how can we stand out to potential buyers?

So when I found this campaign piece, I decided to conduct a little experiment.  (I actually do this often when staging my pieces for sale).  I LOVE bright, bold, loud colors.  On/ in/ around everything.  But based on what I've seen in our area, most people want a "tamer" more rustic look and something too eclectic could be a off-putting.  So I decided to refinish this piece in a color that would still play well with the neutrals that are so indicative of the farmhouse craze everyone is in these days.

If you're as obsessed with HGTV like I am, you may notice that the predominately grain sack and burlap color scheme of the farmhouse scene has started to relax it's restrictions the rest of the color spectrum.  Home decor shows like Fixer Upper (a personal fave) have started mixing in muted teals, deep greens, saturated navys, matte charcoals, and warm woods amongst all that greige.  And well I just happened to have a can of muted teal on hand from a custom order so I went for it.

I still styled it with some fun abstract art because well... it's me we're talking about here.  The hung art is intentionally undersized (it's so wrong it's almost right) in hopes that it shows how a "safe" piece can still be used in bold ways (you know - just in case it struck a cord with a another style mutt in the market for some new furniture ;)

I laid aside my overactive love of brass and styled with a silver lamp to match the chrome pulls.  In my mind, silver is a "safer" choice for hardware because brass can rub some people the wrong way (I used to only see the 80's when I saw yellowy brass, but just because I've changed my tune doesn't mean everyone else has).  Besides they original chrome pulls with in immaculate condition - all they needed was a little polish.

And for good measure (since FLFs are after all quickly becoming the standard for home decorators) I asked my newest plantchild Figadora the Fiddle Leaf Fig to pose with mommy's newest flip.

So now we wait for the experiment's results: will the piece appeal to a lot of potential buyers with a variety of styles?  Will it only attract another style mutt like myself?  Or will it sit in the garage shop until I try something new?  I'll have to keep you posted.  In the meantime, how would you characterize your style?  How does this gray-blue piece strike you - yay or nay?

Muted Teal Campaign Chest
58"L x 16"D x 30"H
Now Available for Sale
$545

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.