Mid Century Modern girls

[charlielove]

So I love this style. LOVE. But, I have not a single piece in my home. I would love to slowly buy pieces so that our kitchen and living room reflect this style, but we live in a 1960's ranch and I just don't know if it "goes". Plus, won't my house look silly if I have a mid century modern buffet and Ashley furniture side tables, KWIM?

So I need your input. Where did you find your furniture? Is it actually antique pieces or reproductions?

Right now I'm looking for a buffet/sideboard for our dining area, and I've found a couple cute ones on Craigslist, but again, I'm afraid it will look silly with my other stuff.

(I may also be secretly hoping that this prompts house pictures.)

thedahliharpa claralou

[shevacc]

I like the idea of slowly buying pieces you LOVE over time. If you love what you have now, then I'd worry about if it goes well together with the new stuff. If not, then I wouldn't worry that much and only make sure that the new stuff goes together. I figure my house is a work in progress .

[rjamz]

Feb 26, 2013 12:29:39 GMT -5 shevacc said:

I like the idea of slowly buying pieces you LOVE over time. If you love what you have now, then I'd worry about if it goes well together with the new stuff. If not, then I wouldn't worry that much and only make sure that the new stuff goes together. I figure my house is a work in progress .

I agree. My house is currently a mix of stuff we inherited from our parents (like our 25 year old couch) and stuff I've bought along the way, which is more modern (I love Room and Board and their style). It works. 

[erniebufflo]

I say it's fine to buy pieces that you love and slowly move toward the style you want for your home. The more time passes, the more I'm into vintage eclectic. So who cares if stuff isn't all from the same era.



I have GOT to learn to upholster, though, because my ivory vintage sofa is in desperate need of some new clothes.

[charlielove]

Feb 26, 2013 12:32:32 GMT -5 rjamz said:

Feb 26, 2013 12:29:39 GMT -5 shevacc said:

I like the idea of slowly buying pieces you LOVE over time. If you love what you have now, then I'd worry about if it goes well together with the new stuff. If not, then I wouldn't worry that much and only make sure that the new stuff goes together. I figure my house is a work in progress .

I agree. My house is currently a mix of stuff we inherited from our parents (like our 25 year old couch) and stuff I've bought along the way, which is more modern (I love Room and Board and their style). It works. 

Yeah, I don't love our furniture, I bought it when we bought our house sort of as "place holders" and it's fine for now because we have little ones that are hard on our stuff, but I do want to slowly buy things I actually love. I guess we will just have a transition phase for several years until we get there.

[rjamz]

Feb 26, 2013 12:40:07 GMT -5 charlielove said:

Feb 26, 2013 12:32:32 GMT -5 rjamz said:

I agree. My house is currently a mix of stuff we inherited from our parents (like our 25 year old couch) and stuff I've bought along the way, which is more modern (I love Room and Board and their style). It works. 

Yeah, I don't love our furniture, I bought it when we bought our house sort of as "place holders" and it's fine for now because we have little ones that are hard on our stuff, but I do want to slowly buy things I actually love. I guess we will just have a transition phase for several years until we get there.

That's what we're doing. Like the couch is going to go when H finds out where he's Doug his residency. The coffee table from his parents went when I got pregnant and replaced with a leather ottoman, the oversized ornate bedroom set from his parents went when I couldn't handle sleeping like Marie Antoinette anymore

[charlielove]

Feb 26, 2013 12:33:20 GMT -5 erniebufflo said:

I say it's fine to buy pieces that you love and slowly move toward the style you want for your home. The more time passes, the more I'm into vintage eclectic. So who cares if stuff isn't all from the same era.



I have GOT to learn to upholster, though, because my ivory vintage sofa is in desperate need of some new clothes.

I think this is me too. I don't want to hardcore commit to only one style and then be stuck with it.

[claralou]

Agree with pp's about building up individual pieces slowly. For the record, I think midcentury modern pieces would look amazing in a 1960's ranch! The key will be finding the right finish that goes with the rest of your stuff. Some of the laminate finishes they used in the 50's look really, really "red" against other wood colors, but generally if it's in decent condition, it's neutral enough to go with anything! I also really, really hate having all the furniture in a room match too closely- I think it looks "themey" and that it's much more elegant to have several simple pieces across various time periods that work well together. The important thing (for me at least) is that everything is well made and has clean lines. If you use that as your guideline, everything seems to go really well together. (I've made comments before about my house being an MCM theme park, but in reality we try REALLY hard to avoid that and try to choose simple items that just blend well together)



I have several pieces of MCM furniture (almost all from Craigslist or local antique stores that we've either refurbished or came in decent condition) that sit alongside Ikea (like in C's room) or Room and Board (our bed, and our couch in the main kitchen/dining/living room) or Crate and Barrel (in the TV room). All of our furniture is really simple, with clean lines and neutral colors so that blending everything looks more seamless. I couldn't really swing something elaborate or Victorian in my house, but we've managed to blend new/old/traditional with MCM and so far it works pretty well.



Also, several stores do really nice reproductions of MCM furniture, and have better finish options (Room and Board, West Elm, Ikea, Crate and Barrel, etc.) As much as I like their stuff, I've had zero luck with places like Pottery Barn or Restoration Hardware (for furniture. RH has been pretty great for hardware-type stuff).



I'll admit to an obsession with MCM sideboards/buffet tables. Unfortunately our dining area is tiny, so we have no room for one. I LOVE them though. I imagine that consignment furniture stores in California are FULL of these things given the prevalence of MCM houses out there. (Yet ANOTHER reason to come out there and go shopping:) PIP the pieces you're looking at- I wanna see!!

[charlielove]

Clara, you described exactly what I want my house to be! Our room is already Ikea, and same with the girl's rooms. I want you to come decorate my house exactly in the way you just described, mmmK?



I'm totally willing to refinish and whatnot. Our house living room and dining room is full of dark furniture, but that is something I want to change.


This one is nice but probably more than I want to spend:



The price is right for this one:

[charlielove]

I like this style too, it's just too big for the space.

[claralou]

ahhhhh sister wife, you read my mind. That first pic is exactly what I would love to have! It's gorgeous. Sigh. I imagine they're pretty pricey in Cali. Out here (when you can find them- they're not that common), they're actually priced pretty well. I think the second one would look really nice with dark furniture, and could also be repurposed more easily than the first later on (if you ever decide you want to use it in a different room). Both are great options- jealous!

[claralou]

Feb 26, 2013 13:08:47 GMT -5 charlielove said:

I like this style too, it's just too big for the space.

True story: I tried unsuccessfully to convince H that we needed something exactly like this for a TV stand. Love it. (This is also a good example of how they can look really "red" - this flat out wouldn't work with our walnut dining table, but would look great against a darker or lighter wood)

[charlielove]

Feb 26, 2013 13:11:40 GMT -5 claralou said:

Feb 26, 2013 13:08:47 GMT -5 charlielove said:

I like this style too, it's just too big for the space.

True story: I tried unsuccessfully to convince H that we needed something exactly like this for a TV stand. Love it. (This is also a good example of how they can look really "red" - this flat out wouldn't work with our walnut dining table, but would look great against a darker or lighter wood)

Ohh...I hadn't even thought about this for a TV. That would totally work! It does seem very red though. I have a walnut dining table/chairs too (of course ).

Ah, sister wife, why can't you live closer?

[lolaburns]

I love MCM clean lines and have pieces mixed in with my eclectic, transitional Hollywood Regency style. Luke's rocking chair is a Herman Miller design.

It think MCM looks best worked in with other pieces. A 1960's ranch is the perfect backdrop for this style since that's when it was designed.
check out Craigslist but Wayfair.com, overstock and allmodern.com have some really good furniture deals. CB2.com has a pretty MCM style to their pieces, as well.

[thedahliharpa]

Our house is small and we only have a few pieces of furniture that we love and it was all purchased new. Our table is from Room & Board, the dining chairs and lighting fixture are from West Elm, our crib is Oeuf, our rocker is Monte, and we have the Concept One crendenza from this site www.radiusstyle.com/concept-series.htm. I'm a sucker for merchandising and marketing and I'm terrible at weeding through things. We are not handy, DH could not refinish something nor would he try.

That credenza is similar to the large piece you posted above serves as our media console and it was so hard to find. I wanted a vintage piece with a record player but most of the vintage stuff was either too expensive or too small for modern components. There is a lot on Craigslist down here. DH is a gamer with a ton of systems and accommodating that was difficult. I loved the selection at Room and Board but it was too expensive. I favor true walnut over the Danish modern teak and the Crate and Barrel type dark laminates. The rest of what we own is Ikea and will be for quite some time. I'd love a new couch but with a dog and two little ones it is just not worth the expense. Our next purchase will probably be patio furniture this year or new chairs for our dining area. I'd love a bedroom set but that would be the last room we would buy stuff for.

I'm all for adding a piece at a time and only buying something if you really love it since you have place holders. Room and Board has their floor model sale in Decemberish every year and I'm constantly stalking Dwell Studio for their sales. If you can get their I hear there are good deals to be found at the Design Public warehouse sales in S.F. Palm Spring vacation home rental sites are fun to look at for inspiration.

[charlielove]

Feb 26, 2013 14:25:43 GMT -5 thedahliharpa said:

Our house is small and we only have a few pieces of furniture that we love and it was all purchased new. Our table is from Room & Board, the dining chairs and lighting fixture are from West Elm, our crib is Oeuf, our rocker is Monte, and we have the Concept One crendenza from this site www.radiusstyle.com/concept-series.htm. I'm a sucker for merchandising and marketing and I'm terrible at weeding through things. We are not handy, DH could not refinish something nor would he try.

That credenza is similar to the large piece you posted above serves as our media console and it was so hard to find. I wanted a vintage piece with a record player but most of the vintage stuff was either too expensive or too small for modern components. There is a lot on Craigslist down here. DH is a gamer with a ton of systems and accommodating that was difficult. I loved the selection at Room and Board but it was too expensive. I favor true walnut over the Danish modern teak and the Crate and Barrel type dark laminates. The rest of what we own is Ikea and will be for quite some time. I'd love a new couch but with a dog and two little ones it is just not worth the expense. Our next purchase will probably be patio furniture this year or new chairs for our dining area. I'd love a bedroom set but that would be the last room we would buy stuff for.

I'm all for adding a piece at a time and only buying something if you really love it since you have place holders. Room and Board has their floor model sale in Decemberish every year and I'm constantly stalking Dwell Studio for their sales. If you can get their I hear there are good deals to be found at the Design Public warehouse sales in S.F. Palm Spring vacation home rental sites are fun to look at for inspiration.

Great idea! I'm perusing those right now. 

[dojo]

I love mcm, I get most of my stuff from kijiji (like Craigslist) for cheap. You just have to be careful that you don't wind uo making your home look like a shrine to mcm.

[sno&2peas]

My parents inherited a lot of pieces from my great uncle and aunt when they passed away. They live in a 60's ranch also, charlie love... My parents dining room has that style furniture in it... My mom compliments that room with pieces she has found antique shopping...My sister's bedroom also has a bed and bedroom furniture from that time.

They are not hoarders by any means but their garage has a lot of stuff in it also including two large wardrobe closets... I'll post a picture someday of the dining room if your interested... Other rooms in the house have today's furniture and it doesn't look odd at all...

[charlielove]

Feb 27, 2013 6:30:07 GMT -5 sno&2peas said:

My parents inherited a lot of pieces from my great uncle and aunt when they passed away. They live in a 60's ranch also, charlie love... My parents dining room has that style furniture in it... My mom compliments that room with pieces she has found antique shopping...My sister's bedroom also has a bed and bedroom furniture from that time.

They are not hoarders by any means but their garage has a lot of stuff in it also including two large wardrobe closets... I'll post a picture someday of the dining room if your interested... Other rooms in the house have today's furniture and it doesn't look odd at all...

I'd love pictures! If only I'd known that I would love MCM 15 years ago. My grandparents had lots.