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Posts Tagged ‘Dining Room’

Get The Look: Retro Blend Living Space

Just discovered this gorgeous space over on Smile And Wave (click here to check out more images of the room) and am totally inspired. I love how they blended clean midcentury lines with vintage light fixtures and splashes of country-cozy, and then threw in a few weather-beaten signs just to make the whole thing exactly up my alley.

This is what I’m talking about when I refer to a space that’s “collected” rather than “decorated”…and as you can see, “mismatched” doesn’t have to mean “messy”.

Of course the best way to achieve this look is by putting on your thrifting pants and hitting an excellent patch of luck, but if you’re not into scouring your local flea markets, below are some purchase-able ways to get your own retro blend.

Some of the above pieces are affordable; others, not so much. My advice for decorating in this style? Thrift as much as you can, and purchase only those key elements that you simply can’t live without. Because the real key to this look is loving what’s around you and making it your own.

Product info after the jump.

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May 15th, 2012 | Home | No Comments »

Let’s Find You A Fabulous Dining Room Table, Shall We?

Q. Hi Jordan,

I love what you’ve done with your apartment and can’t wait to see what you do with your future house (fingers crossed)!

I’m moving into my first solo, single-girl apartment, and I’m really trying to make this place a reflection of me. I’ve done pretty well finding my furniture but have been so stuck on the dining set. I’ve been desperately searching for something interesting, but keep coming up with zilch! I would love any ideas you have.

Thanks again, 

Cristina

A. Hey Cristina!

Funny you should ask about dining room sets, because I’m kind of obsessed with them lately. See, the one we have in our apartment at the moment was inherited from the previous owners, and is a) Formica, and b) falling apart.

What I’m planning on doing is getting a farmhouse-type table (the kind that looks better and better the more beaten-up it gets) and surrounding it with some (faux) Eames chairs. I just love this look, and it can work with lots of different decor styles.

Now, farmhouse tables can get seeeeriously expensive, but on a recent JITH shoot I chatted with the owner of a place called Frazzleberries, and he told me that you can commission a farmhouse table of any size from them. They make them on-site with reclaimed wood from the surrounding area, and they’re still pricey (several hundred at least), but considerably less so than their Pottery Barn-ish counterparts.

This version from World Market is also great, and I love the bench along one side.

Or you can look on Craigslist (or follow my favorite Craigslist finds Tumblr, tinatimestwenty); that works, too. In fact, if you’re into a mismatched look, I bet you could easily come up with something like this:

So cute, right? (Click here for my tips on how to overhaul inexpensive mismatched chairs to make them look fabulous and finished.)

But in case that’s not the style you’re looking for, let’s try some more ideas.

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April 11th, 2012 | Home | 2 Comments »