A while ago, I mentioned that I have a love of mid-century furniture. Much like my fabric dealer, I used to have a mid-century furnishing goods dealer, who was a former schoolteacher turned vintage furniture refurbisher, and he sold his wares out of his cute Craftsman house garage. His prices were incredibly reasonable and the quality of his products was topnotch, so I’ve purchased quite a few things from him.
For example, I got this great walnut credenza for a steal (about $200) and he had completely restored it to near pristine conditions and delivered it for free. I’m a fan of this era’s furniture because of their petite stature and often simple, streamlined silhouettes. They fit perfectly in our late 1940s townhouse. Sadly, he is no longer in the biz, and I miss him.
The lamp was a thrift store find for eight dollars. It was an excellent haul – I seem to have good thrift store karma because I usually find exactly what I’m looking for (I’ll have to show you my amazing mid-century dining chairs from Goodwill some time when I get a chance to photograph them properly).
I’m a fairly neat and organized person and I’ve been doing pretty well with the purging, but time and time again with my hectic schedule, the last place I focus on is my home and we still have so.much.stuff. I don’t want you to think my house is normally this minimalist (though I would love it if it were), because usually there are piles of bills, paperwork, my sketchbooks, my camera, both M’s and K’s parapernelia — they’re cluttering up the beautiful clean lines. Everything seems to end up on this credenza.
I’m excited for fall for a thousand reasons, but at the top of the list is that K’s return to school means focused time for me to get more done. And that means getting my house back in order. I need better organizational systems. I might even get all feng shui. I want to unlock the front door and feel like I’m returning to a sanctuary. I’m much more of a fall cleaning person than a spring cleaning one – I feel the need to massively revamp and organize and clean when the leaves start changing colors.
What about you? Do you have fall plans to organize?
This is my fall goal as well. As much as I’m going to miss my two little ones when they are in school (especially my little guy who starts nursery school this year :() I can’t wait to de-clutter and be able to do it in peace and quiet ha! I just love your credenza, it is really beautiful! This type/era of furniture is my favorite too 🙂
Thanks, Meghan! I know, I’ll miss K too (especially after the intense amount of time we’ve been spending together), but OH, the extra time!! 🙂
Oh that is a beautiful piece!! I love mid century furniture as well, but I haven’t found a reasonably priced place to purchase any of it, so our home is filled with older antiques…many of which were found for a steal, free or hand me down…I, too, have been feeling the cleaning/organization bug…I find that happens in the fall and at the beginning of the year as well…the mess of my house from summer fun has suddenly begun to drag me down…and I must reorganize before moving forward with new projects!
Mid century is so awesome! There are a few places in Seattle that charge an arm and a leg for mid century, but I’ve found some amazing deals online. I also love antiques and have a few pieces and one day hope to add more!
Gorgeous! I love walnut so much!
I think I get the urge to get rid of half of what we own in the spring and the fall, though I never get around to following up on that feeling.
Haha, I feel the same way, Jams. My goals are always super sized and my time…not so much.
I just organized and rearranged the furniture in the family room two days ago! I have tried to take a room a month and do touch up painting, rearranging, organizing the like. Unfortunately last year I made it through two rooms (the kids) and wore out. I’m going to start with different rooms this year! 🙂
What a good idea to focus on one room a month! I find kids’ rooms to be the hardest, so I’m impressed that you got through yours! I’ll need to give that a go…
We were visiting grandparents in Europe for a month and when we got back I started organizing/clearing out stuff like crazy. I have been working through things little by little, like art supplies one day, piles of papers from the kitchen another (I had a giant pile of every.single.paper my daughter brought home from 1st grade, why? I don’t know), all her clothes and yesterday refolding my fabric stash. Over two weeks I have made considerable progress and I hope to cover our entire place. A generous amount of outgrown stuff (including toys!) has already left the house and huge amounts of random papers have been recycled.
Granted, I might be a bit crazy since I have found stashes of beads here and there and I decided to organize them by type. I am separating wood, plastic and glass. I might be a tad obsessed with this organizing/purging thing..
The interesting thing is, I do this kind of organizing/clearing out on average 3-4 times a year, last time was in spring, and yet there is always so much more to get rid of. And we live in an apartment. Stuff must breed at night 🙂
Wow, you sound incredibly organized, Anu! I admire a woman willing to sort through beads. And yes, I’m convinced that stuff breeds at night too!
So beautiful! I love the colour, the shape, lines and the crosses -remain me to stars :)-. It goes so well with the lamp. I think because I was raised in a country without seasons, I’m not use to the seasonal cleaning -that is something I’m learning here in my new location- we used to get ride of the mess in the first week of every the year and as a symbol of fresh start.
That’s similar in Japanese culture too. In Japan, families and businesses typically clean frenetically before the first of the year, then they take the first three days of the year off.
Sanae, your statement: “I seem to have good thrift store karma because…” tickled me, as I never hunting for thrifty furniture. I maybe have to give it a try and see if I’ll have good thrift store karma like you or not…hihihi…but your credenza was in pristine condition, it’s really a good deal! I also WANT it and your lamp too! 🙂
I’ve probably jinxed myself by writing that, Yeka! I’ll probably never find anything good at a thrift store again 🙂 But thrifting is fun – you should try it out!
I am with you. Autumn is my time for cleaning and organising. This year my littlest starts school so I’m planning to redo the whole house…renewing windows and doors, redecorating, new soft furnishings and curtains…the whole hog. It will take a while but I’m very much looking forward to it. And in the meantime I’ve got a whole week blocked out of the diary dedicated to cleaning every available surface and putting the sparkle back into our home.
Yes!! I’ve been blocking time in my calendar too – it’s so motivating to read other people’s organizational/cleaning goals! Thank you, Evie!
I’m glad you “confessed” that typically your beautiful credenza is covered in all sorts of life flotsam and jetsam, because when I saw the picture my immediate thought was “where does all the stuff go”? Because clearly I am waging a losing battle with containing the “stuff” of life and three kids. You would be horrified to see our landing spot where it all remains until typically I’ve missed some due date or field trip. Sigh.
That credenza is gorgeous, and beautifully restored. I can see why you miss your guy!