Vintage Headboard

 The pink headboard is a vintage piece a friend of mine had purchased at a yard sale. It was hanging out in her basement until she decided what to do with it. Enter me. I was was working on a design for a bedroom in a show house. I asked if she had anything I could use for the bed. She led me to this headboard and although it had seen better days it was still kind of fabulous.  I loved it. My friend repainted the frame ( she's quite talented) and I selected a beautiful dark taupe velvet and had it reupholstered. The result is below.
                                                                            Stunning.

This is one of my all time favorite vintage make overs. I had the room painted a very soft pink and used gorgeous fabrics from Mulberry and Kravet for the bedding. They are beautiful but the stand out piece is the amazing vintage headboard.

TFA The Future Antiques

TFA  The Future Antiques is a mecca for mid century furniture, lighting,  home accessories and clothing. It is, as they call it, A Retro Plex.. I've been visiting and purchasing from TFA for several years.

Recently TFA moved. They are now located in a bright space at 6514 Chippewa St here in St Louis.

I am a fan of buying and using vintage. I like the charm of it, the good lines, the character. I like the reasonable  

prices and I like that it is green.  Renew Reuse

 The space is bright and well lit. The vignettes are well designed and the accessories are fun.

 Vibrant color combinations...

 Such a great selection of pendant lighting. I love the giant hounds tooth lamp shade.

 Modern, colorful, delightful...

 The bright yellow seen and favored this summer is available on this retro chair and table.

 The tile pattern on the table top is a cool detail.

 I love the scale and design of this floor lamp.

 Another great wall art collage. Take one or take them all.

 Do you collect vintage radios? Would you like to?

 Then there is the vintage clothing, starting with this wonderful wall of ladies hats.

 Hats for men as well as other great accessories.

 And again for the ladies.

 TFA is a wonderland of vintage and retro.

 This is a vintage chair I purchased from TFA. It is now covered in a Designers Guild fabric and sits in a client's bedroom.

 I recovered and used this Milo Baughmanesque chair in a designer show house in 2007. The cut velvet fabric is from Designers Guild.

 This chair was a bit of a mess when I found it. After recovering it in another Designers Guild fabric I decided to keep it for myself.

 I used an Osborne & Little chenille to recover this low profile chair for a client's living room.

 Same living room different chair in a Groundworks fabric.

 

The bold stripe Schumacher fabric gives this chair a whole new personality.
If you appreciate vintage TFA is a great place to shop. It is filled with all kinds of trinkets and treasures.

Upcycled Furniture

I hear the term upcycled furniture used a lot these days. To clarify its meaning I went to an expert resource. Chris Plaisted of Hammer and Hand has been designing and importing upcycled furniture for years. According to Chris the term upcycled means to take an item such as a vintage door and use it to construct a new piece such as a cabinet. So at Hammer and Hand you will see upcycled furniture.

 The majority of the pieces come from the area near Jodhpur, India, which is referred to as The Blue City. Many of the buildings in Jodhpur are painted in shades of blue. In turn much of the furniture from the area has remnants of the blue paint of the city.  As old buildings are being demolished to make way for the new elements of the old are salvaged to create new pieces from the vintage.

The large nail heads on the cabinet hold the layers of the doors together. Originally they extended out farther to keep the elephants from leaning in to and wrecking the pieces.

Larger trunks are cut down to a more usable size.

The interiors of trunks are also constructed of vintage woods.

These vintage doors conceal the new mirror behind them.

I like the idea of taking a large trunk and cutting it down to make coffee tables.

Even the smaller items have been upcycled and given new life.

Upcycling creates beautiful new furniture from discarded pieces. To upcylce is to recylce. It is sustainable and green.

The Power Of Fabric Part 2

This beautiful chair resides in the bedroom of a client. It is a vintage piece that was not so beautiful when I found it. When I first saw the chair I could see that at one time it was a pretty pink chair. I pictured it in a girl or woman's bedroom. Time had taken its toll and it was now shabby and a bit smelly...
The updated version of the chair required new foam and padding on the inside. The outside was covered with a deep rosy pink and gold cut velvet from Designers Guild. It looks comfortable and wonderful in its new home.

Designer Guild The Power of New Fabric

I found this chair at a vintage shop. It was a bit worn and the vinyl covering was, well, horrendous. I cleaned up the frame and covered the chair in a beautiful floral linen from Designer Guild. Now I love it.

Vintage

A lot has been written about the green element of using vintage furniture. Giving furniture an extended life is good for all of us.

Vintage

There's something else great about using vintage furniture.

You get to redecorate.

This vintage chair in a bold stripe takes on a new personality.

New To You

A tattered chair becomes new again in a silver grey chenille fabric.

A chair redone in a soft white velvet.

Whether you buy vintage and renew it or recreate a piece you already own you get new to you furniture for less than the price of buying new.

Renewed furniture

Repainting this table adds a new level of charm and glamour.

A worn out 60's headboard becomes fashionable again with updated fabric and a faux finish on the trim.

Renewed vintage furniture adds an important layer to good design. The classic lines take on a new life with fresh updated fabric and trim or a coat of paint.