So A Girl Walks Into A Bar...

Introducing one of my new vintage purchases. A super cool mid-mod metal cabinet with sliding doors complete with a black leather-esque writing pad on top. I picture this coming out of Don Draper's office on Mad Men...at least in my mind.

{Drum roll}...I'm making a liquor cabinet out of it! Uh, yeah, brilliant - I'm just saying. It's perfect for it - shelf inside, right size, right height. I really can't decide whether to have it repainted a hi-gloss white while leaving the top and legs as they are...but the more I look at it, the more I love the old-school gunmetal gray. I've already consulted a fine furniture painter, Maaco Auto Body Repair & Painting {joke, but not really}. Super good resource to get metal furniture painted with a car quality finish at a reasonable price.

Now the last question to answer is shaken or stirred?

image courtesy of me

Diamond In The Rough

She shoots and she scores! Coco and I headed to Concord on Memorial Day to check out the The Depot at Gibson Mill, a HUGE antique mall. The mid-century stars were all aligned and I scored a vintage...and authentic... Bertoia Diamond Chair! It still makes my heart race thinking about it. They retail around $1100 new and the vintage ones go for $500 minimum, but I scored this one for $186! O-M-G! Vintage is always the way to go when you are talking about mid-mod furniture, well that's my two cents anyway.

It's in super great condition and it is surprisingly really comfortable - doesn't feel at all like a torture chamber. Harry Bertoia designed this chair in 1952 and was a master when it came to space, form, and function. Now I just need to order a new Diamond Chair pad from Knoll so you don't get those weird marks that make the back of your legs look like a hopscotch board {whoa}!

The Depot at Gibson Mill was so much fun - it literally takes all day to go through there but they have fantastic vintage pieces crying out for a new home. They have everything from sign letters, to mason jars, to furniture, to vintage yarn spools. The Mill was a former textile mill and it's gorgeous inside with beautiful old wood floors and huge windows. They have a diner in the mill where {yes!} you can even buy beer or wine while perusing the aisles. I will be visiting again real soon as I had my eyes on several other items.

Diamonds really are a girl's best friend.

image courtesy of me

I {Heart} DIY

FINALLY!!!...Thank you Lord for letting me finish these projects, AND, they actually aren't half bad. First off, my weapon of a cutting board - this thing has more glue than all of the elementary schools in town put together. It's beautiful, delightfully heavy, and the contrast of the walnut and purple heart woods came out better than I thought. I cannot wait to take out all my vegetable aggressions on this thing. And, it can always double as a self-defense device in a pinch.

Lastly, my little 50's table with hair pin legs - oh, how I love you. I didn't love you when I was making you...um, and cussing at you...but the end result, sweet! Definitely a labor of love as many times as I had to redo cuts on this table but worth it...I guess. OK, yes...worth it!

images courtesy of me

I...Die...

I'm a drooling, babbling idiot when it comes to the Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman, specifically in white. {This is me without words yet with tears in my eyes.}

I think Heaven must be filled with these chairs - just picture it...

{Pearly Gates - Saint Peter in a chic white cashmere kaftan sitting in a white Eames chair with his feet crossed at the ankles delicately resting on the ottoman. Saint Peter says, "hey now, how was your trip, what took you so long, come on in." The pearly gates open and O-M-G...a sparkling sea of white Eames loungers filled with Charles and Ray Eames and all their peeps Eero Saarinen, George Nelson and Harry Bertoia.}...I Die.

My parents had an original Eames Lounge and Ottoman in the late 70's/early 80's but of course it seemed to be just another chair then...little did anyone know what impact it would have. I regret to inform you that chair is no longer in the family {I profusely shake my head until my brain rattles around every time I think of that.}

One day, just one day, I will have the white chair and ottoman that I long for in the mid-century modern home that I long for...it's likely to be the only piece of furniture in the room and I'm pretty sure I'll be rocking the white kaftan too.

image courtesy of Jules Seltzer Associates

Nothing Says Home Like Concrete and Cork

As most of my friends and family know, I'm totally obsessed with mid-century modern houses, those super cool gems of houses built between the 1940s and 1960s. Do you know that question of "if you could have dinner with anyone, who would it be?" My answer is definitely the Rat Pack. To sit at the dinner table with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammie Davis Jr. at Sinatra's house in Palm Springs. Are you kidding me?

In keeping with my obsession, I have been a loyal subscriber to Atomic Ranch magazine for years now. Every three months you can find me waiting by the mailbox salivating and giving my poor mailman the evil eye each day until the paper beauty arrives. I have bought and sold several houses over the years but rest assure my next house will be the mid-century masterpiece I crave and if all the stars are aligned, it will be adorned with the most gorgeous butterfly roof you've ever seen.

image courtesy of eHow