House Tour #3, Part 2: Our Kitchen and Middle Room

Our kitchen is pretty cozy but it is bigger and much more functional than the last one. There is room for a breakfast table, it's got great light in the morning, and the original cabinets are at least white. It's so much happier in white.

That's the old back door of the house. It currently leads into my studio and down to the basement. I love that it has a glass pane so Brett can look in on things but Ruby can't see me if it's studio time. Out of sight, out of mind! I added the old curtain from our last back door to bring in more color and to hide the mess. It's usually a mess as there are always at least a few projects in process. More on that space later.

I've loved this piece since I saw it on Dottie Angel's blog a few years ago. I used to have this one and Elsie had the one above. She saw mine and loved it and I told her it was great but the one I really loved (this one) was at Funtiques (local shop). She had just recently picked up the same one at a flea market so we traded! These are the colors I see myself moving towards in everything I do so it was just a better fit in our home.

The hairpin table was found at my favorite warehouse in southwestern Missouri. I'm not divulging the name and location of this place because it's absolutely my and my MIL's favorite little secret. I know, that's mean.

I saw this table but didn't pick it up right away as I wasn't sure it would fit in our small kitchen but I couldn't stop thinking about it. Once I found those vintage school chairs I knew they'd make a lovely set and had my MIL go snag the table. Thankfully, it was still there (and only $15.00).

The white mirror was found at a vintage shop in Ballard, a lovely neighborhood/town in the greater Seattle area. If ever we were to move back I'd want to live in Ballard. It's beautiful and quirky and full of happy shops and interesting people. Anyway, the mirror is super heavy but one of my favorites because of it's simple design.

The aprons on the door are vintage with an Anthro one thrown in from about six years ago. They are all green/blue/yellow/cream and lovely. The curtain is made from a bedspread from Urban Outfitters that I had to hunt down three years ago. It's one of my favorite prints.

We haven't had a built in dishwasher in most of our dwellings but with two kids and working from home, we knew doing them by hand would only equal piles of dishes all of the time. We purchased a counter top dishwasher around Christmas but it's about an inch taller than the space between the counters and cabinets so we've had to make do with it on a solid old end table that we scoot to the sink and back almost every day. It's ugly and annoying but we're willing to put up with it for now. Oh, how I look forward to the day when we can have a built in!

There used to be doors on the open shelving at the very top. I decided it was a great place to store some Pyrex and other vintage pieces that I love but don't use every day. It adds a lot of happy to our space.

Speaking of happy, the mug shown above is one of my favorites that was gifted to me by an online friend. I've never come across one like it! The glasses and dishware below have been collected over the last four years. I am still on the hunt for pretty floral glasses and an Alpine Swiss plate set but I'm thankful to have stumbled across so many beauties locally.

The dish towel below was cut from a vintage tablecloth that had some ugly stains on it in three different places. I was able to get two dish towel sizes out of it after cutting them down, hemming the edges, and adding a hang tab. It's an easy way to repurpose and add something unique to a vintage kitchen.

Below is what our fridge looks like at the moment. Along with a handful of coupons that are out of sight! The aqua magnet was a gift from my mom from a shop in OKC and the California card was in a gift from Rubyellen. I'll always be a California girl!

I turned the Polaroids and Instax into magnets by adding sticky magnet paper to the backs. The small ones are from when Sebastian was Ruby's age. Also, that's Ruby's first real coloring project. A lot of her work ends up on our walls these days so we're working hard at redirecting her to paper.

This next room is what I call our 'middle room'. It's about 8' x 8' and has one or two entries or doors on each side. The above photo shows a linen closet to the left and our only bathroom to the right.

This is the little corner between our bathroom and bedroom. The shelving unit was originally built to be a bench for the kids' room but it got set here on move in day and I loved it. It's a good place to display parts of my typewriter and thermos collections. Every now and then I'll hear little fingers tap-tapping on the keys of the bottom two.

The art work shown above the shelving unit are both by AshleyG. The typewriter print is from LifeLovePaper. It's actually a photo of the Olivetti typewriter I sold to her through my vintage Etsy shop, PonyParty! And that chair...oh, I love that little chair. I've mentioned before that I had it on my lap in the car as we moved halfway across the country.

This corner is opposite the last corner on the other side of our bedroom door. That mirror was a lucky Craigslist find from a local warehouse. The table, tray, lotus bowl, and little tray were all thrifted. The artwork is again, Ashley G. I spray painted the bronze lamp in a nice shade of blue and bought a new shade at Target. This is our catch all and it no longer looks this neat. It only took two hours.

And the bedroom, well...that'll have to wait for another day. You can see our living room here and the kids' room here. Thanks so much for your sweet comments on our space so far!

xoxo, Rachel

Behind The Scenes

EEEK! My e-course is THIS close to being written and ready to add to the private blog. Most of Friday through Monday was spent finishing up the DIY's and firming up photos for each post in my outline. This is a meaty chunk of everything I know about styling your home with vintage and has been really fun to put together.

I've also got the pleasure of featuring a handful of very talented creative types with some beautifully styled homes! I've been inspired by all of them in some way in the way I think about home decor so it's extra special to have them join me in this project.

All of that to say I've been a little absent over the weekend and may be a bit more this week as deadlines loom but I appreciate you checking in and want to say thank you for all of the great comments on our first house tour post! You guys are so NICE!

Be back soon!
xoxo,
Rachel

House Tour #3, Part 1: Our Living Room

I'm so happy to finally be able to share with you the rest of our new(ish) home after four months of feeling out the space, finding everything a home, donating, thrifting, and filling in the gaps with DIY. You can see the kids' room here. Our space will probably change again within a year since we're a military family now so it was important to make it feel like home as soon as I could rather than seeing this as a temporary place that wasn't worth the effort.

I don't want to bore you with every detail of every corner or the fact that I have a story about almost every single item in our home so I'll share the majors and if you have any specific questions I'll try to answer them in the comments below.

We live in an older house with lovely hardwood floors, plaster walls, two bedrooms, one bath, a large studio, and an unfinished basement. The exterior doesn't have much of a style but the inside has enough charm to suit us. We have always been renters so I've learned to decorate standard off-white walls with plenty of color in our textiles and furniture. We both love the character of vintage and have a collection of mid-century and industrial pieces that I've gathered in the last three or four years.

All of our furniture (except our bed) and most of our art/accessories/kitchenware/linens have been found at a flea market, garage sale, thrift store, by the side of the road, or handed down. We happen to have landed in a city full of affordable vintage which has made it so fun to gather together a whole household full of second-hand that we truly love.

Almost everything we had from the last house was purchased after we'd moved in and with that specific house in mind. Most of it works in this space but the biggest change is having a combined living/dining area. In our last house the formal dining room was quite large and doubled as my studio. We ate from the table as a family whenever it wasn't covered in fabric or paint, which was most of the time, and there were always projects stacked along the walls.

We sold our lovely vintage Lane coffee table and the two matching end tables from our last home tour to have more room for baby gear when Ruby was born. There are days when I'd love to have something to set my coffee on but I love that our kids have plenty of space to chase each other through the living room now. It's been one 'must have' that I've been happy to give up as our needs have changed but I may hunt something similar down in a few years.

The yellow chairs used to belong to my friend, Janae, who purchased them from Funtiques, a fantastically curated vintage shop on Commercial St. here in Springfield. I had always admired them at Janae's house so when I saw these on Craigslist I e-mailed to ask if they were hers. I just knew they'd be snatched up right away but decided if they were still available after a week I'd buy them. Long story short, Janae sold them to me and even hauled them over to my house and I've never regretted replacing our previous set.

That mirror above the dining table was found for $5 at a garage sale in our old neighborhood, the table was $40 on craigslist, and the vinyl tablecloth was $2 at a local flea market. I can remember what I paid and where I got almost every thing in this house and have always wanted to tally it up. It's amazing that I have all of that filed away but forgot to put the trash out today.

The large metal wardrobe was a craigslist find that I almost passed up. We have lovely friends who always, always let us borrow their truck to haul big things home and I was able to load that up for $15. Two weeks later I had sanded and painted it pink. I'm now ready to tone things down and may repaint it minty blue or dark gray in the coming months but pink was fun for awhile. It houses all of our Christmas decorations and random items I change out seasonally.

The orange chair is from Urban Flea Market (Charley's) and will someday be reupholstered. I covered the stool with new foam and some inexpensive fabric. It doubles as a launching pad. The crooked globe almost didn't fit into the back of Elsie's Prius on a thrifting excursion and the chalkboard was made from a piece of pre-cut plywood and chalkboard paint.

This wall is my favorite. It was one of the last to get decorated because I didn't know what to fill it with. I didn't want to recreate the same art wall from our last house but didn't have anything else on hand that felt right. One day I was at Urban (Charley's) and spied white plastic letters strewn down an aisle. After finding enough to spell something relevant, I brought them home. I decided to leave them white rather than spray painting them to let their impact be a little more subtle.

My third grade teacher, Mrs. Kirschner, regularly told us that 'nice' was a lazy word. She wanted us to become more creative in our selection of descriptive words rather than using the popular fallback. That lesson has encouraged my writing to this day and often comes to mind when I have a choice between sharing something generic or something colorful. It's also funny to get the same reaction from every person that walks in the door and turns around to see it. You can imagine their tone when they say, "Nice!"

I originally had this shelf in the kids' shared room in the last house but it was begging to be added to the party under the sign in this house. The vintage wallpaper is a 'nice' compliment to the golden tones of the chair and throw on either side. I've currently replaced the yellow bud vase with a larger arrangement of something from the fence line in our backyard and the pink blossoms are gorgeous.

This little corner is tucked away between the sideboard that houses our entertainment set up and my new favorite vintage chair. The crates used to be in the bathroom but are just the right size to corral some of my favorite art and diy books. I attached the metallic trays above them with 3M strips and have some polaroids from the old house on display with magnetic clips.

I didn't share a photo of the vintage Broyhill sideboard with our flat screen because the whole set up isn't really that aesthetically thrilling. We use a flat screen as a monitor and have an external hard drive, mac mini, speaker, wireless keyboard and wireless mouse to watch movies and tv online and to use as a second computer. The sideboard was a craigslist find that was going to be burned if we hadn't brought it home. It's one of my favorite pieces in our house.

When decorating this new space I didn't want to fall back on old arrangements and ideas from the last house because it felt like an opportunity to play and try new things. I always want our home to be warm and welcoming but I love that it can have a sense of humor, too. Having our home reflect who we are and be somewhere we enjoy spending LOTS of time is important to us and we're thankful not only for this space but for the friends and family that we're able to share it with.

I'll be sharing our kitchen next and then our bedroom so stay tuned for parts two and three!

xoxo,
Rachel

Resources
Couch, Craigslist. Curtains, handmade from Urban Outfitters bedspread. Record Player, Urban Outfitters. Lampshade, Target. Scooter pillow, blog giveaway. Vintage wallpaper, CraftVintage, Art, MaryKateMcDevitt, and LifeLovePaper. Cross-stitch, handmade by me.

My Enid Collins Hand-Me-Down

I have come across about fifteen or twenty lovely Enid Collins wooden and woven box bags and purses in the last few years and most are either worn to bits or asking a lot. The very first one I sold in PonyParty, my vintage Etsy shop, broke me into the world of Enid Collins. It was a wooden purse with a trolley cart in green and blue with a white leather strap and handle and I had it priced pretty low. A sweet commenter told me how much they went for elsewhere and told me she would feel bad buying it at that price. So, we made a deal and I started doing a little more research for future purses! One of my favorite parts about selling vintage were the history lessons that came with it.

Upon discussion of my Enid Collins enlightenment, my very fashionable grandmother told me she used to have one and, after digging through her closet, procured the one above. She offered it to me to sell in my shop but I just couldn't let it go. It's been sitting in my closet for months now but I think I might take it with me on a few dates this spring. It's in pristine condition and I love the leather work on it.

Thanks, Grandmother, for being so trendy and keeping your things in such good shape!

Here are a few lovelies from Etsy.

Pinehaven2


ThatVintageHandbag


Jantiques


ShayRose


PurpleDeerVintage


FashionHouseVintage

These are all original Enid Collins bags, hence the hefty price tags. You can find similar bags in the EC style for much less on Etsy if you love this look. If you're not sure if it's real from the listing or if you find something you want to resell check for the EC mark on the inside or out. If there's no mark or signature, it's likely a knock off.

Do you have an Enid Collins favorite?

xoxo,
Rachel

p.s. Don't miss the giveaway below!

Vintage Mama, Whitney

This week's Vintage Mama is Whitney of Little Reader Vintage. She's got an adorable daughter and a way of mixing vintage with modern that makes it look so easy. I'm on the hunt for some shoes like hers!

Q: When did you start wearing vintage and why?
A: I had some vintage clothing in high school, most of which were just awesome things I found in my mom's closet. (Specifically: a Mickey Mouse shirt which she got on her honeymoon, and a ringer tee from a furniture company in Portland where she used to work.) I think I originally started digging through my mom's old stuff because I'd spent my monthly allowance and I wanted new clothes. But it ended up being so much fun, I started going to thrift stores and vintage shops around Portland to find more.

I'm wearing:vintage plaid shirt, thrifted. pants, f21. vintage leather shoes, thrifted. vintage leather purse, thrifted. earrings, upper metal class on etsy.

Q: What do you look for in a piece when you're shopping?
A: I pretty much already have all the 'basic pieces' in my wardrobe, so when I shop for myself I look for accessories. This is my favorite way to integrate vintage into my wardrobe - through items like shoes, scarves, jewelry and bags. I just try to add a few pieces into the mix here and there. My "guilty pleasure" is looking for button ups and plaid shirts. My overall style is pretty casual - I could wear jeans and a vintage plaid shirt everyday. (I usually find the best shirts in the little boys department!) No matter who I'm shopping for, I really try to find pieces that have a timeless style. I also try to make sure I only buy things that I think will actually last for a long time - no one wants something that will fall apart after the first wash or wear.

Tayvee's wearing: vintage hand knit sweater, thrifted. leggings, baby gap. shoes, found by grandma.

Q: Favorite vintage find to date?
A: I really love my vintage shoe collection. Shoes are something I go through quite often; I am constantly donating old ones so I can make room for any new ones I find. There's only so much room in the closet! I just recently found the ones I'm wearing in the photos (for $4!) and they are my favorite shoes right now.
But, my most cherished vintage possession is my wedding ring set which I inherited from my great-grandmother. I love that my husband gave it to me, and I love how it is so unique - I've never seen anyone with something similar.

Tayvee's wearing: vintage white peter pan collar shirt, thrifted. navy polka dot skirt, made by whitney.

Q: The one piece that got away (or would've broken the bank!)
A: I am the person in thrift stores that will carry things around forever trying to decide if I should buy them. Usually I'm pretty good at knowing what I don't need, but I do have a list of memorable items (mostly boots) in my head that I wish I would have bought, but chose not to because I either had something similar or it was the wrong season. This is part of the reason why I opened up my shop - I couldn't handle saying no to great vintage stuff just because it didn't fit my daughter!

Tayvee's wearing: vintage yellow swiss dot dress, c/o little reader vintage. saltwater sandals, thrifted. sunglasses, white pine boutique.

Q: How do you style your daughter?
A: Typical days involve leggings paired with simple shirts and sweaters. When I look for vintage clothing for her, I really try to find the simplest pieces. Anyone in my family can tell you that I'm really picky when it comes to what she wears! I also sew her a lot of skirts, and I try to find vintage fabric to use for those. My favorite thing I have found for her lately is a vintage dress with ferris wheels across the bottom. It's awesome, and I secretly wish it was my size (and that I could pull it off).
******************
Thank you, Whitney, for sharing your vintage style and photos of you and your ADORABLE daughter! Her hair is beautiful. Oh, and if you ever come across another pair of vintage shoes like the ones you're wearing I wear a vintage 9.5. Ha!

Be sure to stop by Little Reader Vintage and see what treasures she's got for little ones!

xoxo,
Rachel

***** vintage mama features *****

vintage here, vintage there: vintage mama heather

vintage here, vintage there: vintage mama karen

vintage here, vintage there: vintage mama james

vintage here, vintage there: vintage mama alix

vintage here, vintage there: vintage mama beth

vintage here, vintage there: vintage mama danielle

vintage here, vintage there: vintage mama stacy

vintage here, vintage there: vintage mama gisela
vintage here, vintage there: vintage mama whitney

Ruby and Sebastian's Room Tour

Sebastian and Ruby's shared room has been one of my favorite rooms to decorate in our current rental. I imagined it being a place that not only met practical needs such as storage but inspired play and creativity. I wanted them to have memories of their space being a little imaginative and full of color.

I used my vintage globe collection for color inspiration. I have always loved the muted colors of these old globes and knew it would allow me to use traditionally boy and girl colors in the same space easily. I took the pinks, yellows, greens, and some aqua when putting Ruby's side together and the aqua, yellows, greens, and browns on Sebastian's side.

I had this one bare wall near the entry that had so much potential that it kind of intimidated me. I wanted to do something big and fun but didn't want to spend money on more furniture or a big art piece. One day I was out thrifting when I came across the largest blank chalkboard seen above and suddenly knew I had enough to warrant a collection and that they all needed to be displayed together.

I hung them a little lower than usual for practical reasons and secured them with screws and double-sided 3M tape to make sure they wouldn't fall on little toes. Our neighbor's kids came over last week and one of the little girls instantly started drawing on the chalkboard. That's when I knew it had been a good idea.

In the first corner by the entrance is a bookshelf we found for free in Seattle. I've filled it with art prints from Michele Maulle, Freya, an interactive art journaling piece inspired by Shauna, some other items I've made for Ruby, and a lot of thrifted vintage toys and decor. We've got photos and board books in the baskets as well as momentos from her home birth and those first few weeks together.

I found this vintage fan at a shop in Ada, OK and grabbed it as soon as I saw the brand was the same as Ruby's middle name (minus an 'm').

The white wardrobe was the solution to having small closets in our last place. I found it at a resale shop, sanded it, painted it, and added a curtain rod and hooks on the top level when I was seven months pregnant with Ruby. It was one of the most enjoyable DIY's I've ever worked on because when was done I got to fill it with tiny pink clothes! The bottom houses most of their toys and games. I love having all of those loud colors out of site.

The rocking horse in the foreground was one of Ruby's Christmas presents from Plan Toys and the rug was purchased new from Goodwill but is originally from Target. Ruby comes in here and lays on it almost every day.

I made Ruby's crib sheets (as well as two other sets) out of vintage flat sheets, crocheted her afghan, and painted the rainbow. You can see the set up in our old house here. I purchased this Ashley G. print for our living room originally but it worked perfectly with these colors. I love her work.

The crib skirt was handmade and the bumper is from IKEA. This is the fourth crib we've used between the two of them due to recalls, moving, and borrowing.

The print on the opposite side of the crib from the Ashley G. print is from Pretty Little Thieves.

I made the curtains for their room from a vintage sheet as well. I really love the mid-century headboard on Sebastian's bed and was so happy to have discovered it for $7 after searching for something for months. The hand-tied quilt is vintage and the afghan was thrifted. I painted the wood grain piece three years ago and made the triangle mobile earlier this year.

I've collected vintage Melmac saucers and aluminum cups in small sizes for the kids to use while playing kitchen. They're durable and extra easy on the eyes!

Sebastian's 'closet' was a Billy bookshelf from IKEA that we picked up for free in Seattle and used as his wardrobe in our one bedroom apartment right after he was born. Since then I've covered the inside backing with wood grain contact paper, added a rod and hooks, and adjusted the shelving as his clothes have gotten bigger!

I've thrifted various display pieces such as the signage, typewriter, and metal toy gun. He's currently into Transformers so I cleared one shelf off for him to display them without worrying about Ruby's little hands reaching them.

The garland on the chalkboard wall used to be above Ruby's crib but I relocated it when I hung her rainbow painting. The Modernica rocker was a birthday gift about three years ago and the doll house was purchased on Amazon for Ruby's birthday. It's still a work in progress as I'm slowly collecting vintage Fisher Price furniture and people to fill it.

It's been over four months since we moved in and I'm finally ready to call this room finished! The kids have plenty of space to dump out legos and build towers, read on the soft rug, and even play indoor basketball. I totally took the basketball hoop off the back of the door for pictures. It got us through many winter days and will probably get us through a few hot summer ones, too.

I think it's really important for kids to enjoy their surroundings and I'm thankful that we've been able to create a space that fits in with the rest of the house and is easy on the eyes. It's been a fun process of collecting, thrifting, and repurposing over four plus years and has yielded us a room we all love.

Thanks for taking the tour!

xoxo,
Rachel

p.s. You can see Sebastian's room here, and how we changed it to be their room at our last house.