Stylish? Get back to me on that.

According to a recent Bloglovin' article, we vintage lovers have finally arrived. Once outliers operating on the design fringe, we are now au courant. I ticked off everything on the list, and I bet most of you could have too...years ago.

Listed in "7 Things Every Stylish Person Has in Their Home"* are the following:

1. A mix of vintage and new furniture...Check!
2. A gallery wall...Check!
3. A statement rug...Check!
4. Houseplants...Check!
5. A carefully styled bookcase...Check!
6. Sculptural objects...Check!
7. Mixed materials...Check!

Funny thing, though.  Being "stylish" wasn't my goal when I started buying vintage furniture and accessories. I just loved the stuff. I think I liked it better before everyone jumped on our bandwagon.

New/Vintage/Rug/Mixed materials/Houseplants:
New Joybird chairs and vintage Paul McCobb table
with a 9' x 12' "statement rug" and Ficus elastica (rubber plant)

Houseplants/Mixed materials:
 Dracaena marginata in living room,
textiles, wood, glass

Houseplants/Vintage/Mixed materials:
 Architectural Pottery, bullet planter,
Sansevieria (mother-in-law's tongue or snake plant)
and Beaucarnea recurvata (ponytail plant)
in my bedroom

Sculptural object/Mixed materials/Vintage:
Metal, wool, wood, glass, ceramics, brick, tile,
and another vintage Paul McCobb table

Gallery wall:
Prints by artist friend René West

Styled bookcase/Mixed materials:
Sculptural objects, metal, pottery, wood,
glass, woven natural material, brick, stone

* The grammatical error in the title of the article drives me crazy, but I taught English for a living, and I know that I care more about the number of pronouns and antecedents than most people do.

Upstairs, downstairs

Our focus has been on the lower level of the main house till now, because that is where we want to put the bulk of our money. However, we have finally started buying a few things for the upstairs garage apartment. If you are trying to furnish a new home or apartment on a budget, I think you will like some of these bargains.

First, we picked out an upholstered platform bed from AllModern.com.  It has 4.5 stars based on almost 600 reviews, and, depending on the size, ranges in price from $268.99 to $308.99.

Ortho Therapy upholstered panel bed by Zinus
allmodern.com

We also got the Jonah cream/smoke shag rug by Corrigan Studio from AllModern. The 8'6" x 12' size we purchased is on sale for around $400, while the 5'3" x 7'6" size is only $149. Granted, it is polypropylene rather than wool, but it serves our purpose and was easy on the budget. This rug received 5 stars based on almost 800 reviews. The existing carpet in the upstairs apartment, which will probably be replaced with hardwood at some point, is a generic beige, so the rug ties the carpet and gray bed together nicely with an iconic mid-century pattern. We plan to create a very minimalist look by using a pale cream comforter with gray/tan throw pillows on the bed.

Corrigan Studio Jonah shag rug
allmodern.com

Again, AllModern was the source for a 60" TV stand/console in a taupe reclaimed wood look. It received 4.5 stars from 24 reviewers. It may be replaced later if we find a bargain on a vintage credenza, but for now it fills the bill, coming in at around $350.

TV stand/console by Monarch Specialties
allmodern.com

We are still looking for a couple of easy chairs, but I am sure we will find something soon. Till then, we are happy to be making progress...and even happier that it has been accomplished relatively inexpensively.

Note: AllModern offered no incentives for my writing this post. All items were purchased from their website the current listed price.

Rugs by Stefan Scholten and Carole Baijings

Rugs that look good in a modern setting can be hard to find. While looking for lines to carry in the store, I recently ran across these by Stefan Scholten and Carole Baijings. Not only are the rugs themselves delightful to look at, but the photos of them in situ are also beautiful.

Colour Carpet
hay.dk

Colour Carpet
hay.dk

Colour Carpet
hay.dk

Dot Carpet
hay.dk

Dot Carpet
hay.dk

Dot Carpet
hay.dk

Vecco: The answer to the rug dilemma?

We mid-century/retro lovers constantly bemoan the fact that good period rugs are either impossible to find, or if we do find them, they're prohibitively expensive. Designer Elise Metzger may have solved our problem.

According to the website, Vecco is a painting technique for creating rugs and carpets inspired by you. With stencils, colorant sprays and sealants, you make custom designs that will tie any room together. With 13 colors (sage, golden yellow, rust, merlot, dark brown, dark blue, blue, hot pink, purple, orange, bright green, gray and dark gray)  and 147 beautiful stencils to choose from, the design possibilities are almost endless. Kits are available, or you can buy items separately.

Vecco works best with nylon and polyester rugs in a cut pile, rather than a loop weave. The colorant does not adhere to olefin and polypropylene carpets, which has a continuous loop. A saxony cut pile, plush or velvet cut pile, or a friezé/shag rug is recommended. The site has a handy rug guide with pictures, in case you're not sure what to buy, or you can buy a rug from their site.

The website give step-by-step instructions for this DIY project, and the really cool thing is that mistakes need not worry you. The colorant vacuums right up until you apply the sealant, so nothing is set in stone until you love your rug. 

Vecco stencils come in a variety of geometric, chevron, floral, animal and alphabet designs. They even carry stencils suitable for kids' rooms. Here are a just a few examples of the many stencils (and stencil combinations) you'll find.

Birchy Grove stencil pattern

Stark Bark stencil pattern

Birchy Grove and Stark Bark stencil combined

Diamond Bling stencil pattern

Diamond Bling stencil
 combined with Happy Daisy, Wild Waves and
 in an owl design

Awesome Blossoms stencil pattern

Awesome Blossoms rug

Bubbly stencil pattern

Bubbly rug

Fast Forward stencil pattern

Fast Forward  rug

Laughing Lines rug

Buzzed  rug

Better Basics rug

Charmed Classic Link stencil pattern

Jazzy Dots stencil pattern

Laughing Lines 3 stencil pattern

Mushabloom  stencil design

Vecco products will be available on fab.com for the next few days, so check there too.

Overstock rocks!

I find it very difficult to find vintage rugs in good condition.  If I do, odds are they're not going to be in the color or style I need, or I can't afford them, so I usually give in and buy new rugs in geometric patterns to use as focal points in rooms with solid colored chairs and sofas. 

I've been looking at this rug for weeks. When I first found it, overstock.com had it for around $200. Then it dropped to $172 and stayed at that price for ages. A couple of weeks before Christmas, it dropped to $147, and I decided I'd better go ahead and buy it at that price.

For a long  time, I was hesitant about buying wool rugs from Overstock, because where new items are concerned, I figure you get what you pay for, but one day I saw that they had a $2500 rug I had previously purchased at a deeply discounted price from a high-end local furniture store that was going out of business. I thought I had bought it at a steal, but Overstock had it for much less than I had paid (and much less than Select Rugs was asking too).

Later I saw they had a rug identical to one I'd had bought at Macy's...again for much less than what I'd paid, so I was a believer.  Since then I have bought a couple of rugs from Overstock, and I haven't been disappointed.

Over the years, I've had several experiences with expensive wool rugs "pooling," which is the name for that inexplicable phenomenon of pile reversal that makes rugs look like they have a wet or stained area. Everything I've read says it's not caused by traffic on the rug and that most rug experts aren't really sure why it happens. I've also read that it happens to rugs in all price ranges, from the most expensive to the least expensive and that there's no way to predict whether or not it will happen, so I finally decided to quit paying a lot for rugs and simply replace them when I don't like the way they look anymore, whether it's because they've begun to pool or wear or I just want a new look.

I love the way my new cheap rug looks in front of my couch. :) The one I had there before looks good under my dining room table too. And at $147, I won't even get upset if the grandkids spill something on it or it pools.

My cheap wool rug from overstock.com

Here are a few examples of rugs from the 1950s and 1960s, the likes of which I can't ever find...and couldn't afford if I did.

1950s
1stdibs.com

1950s
1stdibs.com

1951
1stdibs.com

1950
1stdibs.com

1960
1stdibs.com

1960s
1stdibs.com