Yep, that's my sweet hubby. Keeping it real. :)
But, like I said, since then, my "style" has evolved. I went from nursing home style. For a while our apartment looked like we lived in a cabin in the woods. Then I went through a "primitive Americana" phase. And most recently, our apartment literally looked like we bought IKEA and put it in our home.
Now, though?
Well, now it's a little bit of everything that makes us happy. And what really makes us happy is vintage. More precisely, vintage-industrial. There's a fine line between buying cool old stuff and becoming an antique museum. It takes a lot of balance and awareness of what you're actually bringing home. It also take a lot of knowing that some antiques can be useful as well as beautiful. And in our little apartment, form and function make me a very happy girl. :)
So, I figured that while I may not be an expert when it comes to this stuff, I do know a few things. I'll begin randomly posting various vintage decorating tips now and then.
My first tip, and I think this one is MOST important:
Know what you love.
Dear Sweet Hubby and I love vintage cameras. We love industrial looking goodies. We love distressed pieces. And I have a ginormous soft spot for pyrex. And LBB? Well, our little vintage nut already has a penchant for vintage toys. What better way to decorate a room, right?
Now I love cool old furniture pieces more than anything. But right now, we have our small apartment, and limited funds, so we are quite content mixing our cool vintage pieces in with our modern IKEA furniture. (Although, someday, we will slowly be merging in some cool old furniture along with our modern furniture. It's all a slow, wonderful, creative process.)
In our dining room, we have a cube shelf...the 4x4-cube Expedit shelf. Modern, modern, modern.
But, mix in a little of this:
and a little of that:
Well, now it's not so plain anymore. :)
You're going to have to wait a few posts to see the whole shelf...we're still in the process of doing a few things to fine tune how it looks.
But, did you notice? Awesome old cameras. Cool pink pyrex (from a dear friend of mine.) And a sweet, simple pic of LBB as a baby. It is completely unique to us. The old projector camera was my main Christmas gift from my hubby (he rocks.) The Canon AE-1 was my hubby's (who got it from a family member.)
Vintage. Personal. And nothing close to being just some antiques sitting on a shelf.
Look for things you love. Things that catch your eye. Not every piece you discover will have a super special meaning to it, but when combined with the pieces that do, along with whatever furniture you won, you will end up with a vintage style all your own!
Tell me...what vintage things do you love? What's the one vintage thing you're constantly keeping your eye out for?
Owen's room definitely doesn't have a theme, but one thing I wanted to do was incorporate some vintage items into it. At an antique store, I found a huge stack of old MN Twins programs. I bought three and framed them in cheap IKEA frames, and put them on the wall. I loved that it incorporated on of Dave's favorite sports team with my vintage decor desire. At another antique store, I found an old train toy and an old tractor...they're specfically used as decoration and are out of Owen's reach, since I don't know if they have lead paint. At another antique store, I found this cool old metal lunch tray that has a circus scene painted on it. It all sounds random, but it's the color in all of these items that pull it all together. The decorations in his room are my favorite in our house. I think a lot of that comes from the fact that I actually searched high and low for unique decor for his room, and it's not all from Ikea or Target (although there is some of that too!).
ReplyDeleteJenny,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you!!!! We have a vintage john deere tractor and an old fisher price train up on LBB's shelf. :) It's mixed in with his star wars bobbleheads, pez collection, and IKEA furniture. :) And I'm the same way, LBB's room is my favorite so far (although the dining room is slowly coming around.) His room is a perfect mix of new and old, and everything fits him just right. Kids rooms are so much fun to do! And I love that in owen's room you were able to pull some of Dave's likes into it too...I think that makes the room even more personal!