new blog

I'm not shutting down this blog but I am doing most of my blogging at my mid-century modern life now. Please feel free to pop on over and check it out!

A Mid-Century Modern Marvel

…in Cincinnati! Even though it's not in East Nashville, I couldn't resist sharing some photos of this beautiful house in Cincinnati. It belongs to our friends Renata and Sean who just recently moved from Nashville. Pardon the messiness of some of the photos. We were busy assembling furniture!

Unassuming from the front, on a sloped lot with beautiful, tall old trees.

original bathroom with cool slanted wood vanity

pale pink tile, boomerang formica counter tops, a laundry chute built into the vanity - so MC!

original wood doors throughout the house in great condition!
(I can't wait to see this room once it's decorated for Baby Benjamin!)

Great built-in cabinets everywhere!

Upstairs hallway open to the living room. (The house is 4 levels!)

Master bath is also original with green tile and a slanted wood vanity

View from the front door: slate tile floors, living room with 2-story brick fireplace and built-in shelves. The stairs go down to the kitchen, dining room and entertainment room or up to 3 bedrooms and a bathroom. The master bedroom and bathroom is to the left.

The dining room and entertainment room downstairs. More great built-ins!

Kitchen countertops with very unique Italian granite

So many cabinets to fill! Beautiful kitchen! (Not original obviously!)

Custom glass pendants to match the counters

More storage!! That bottom cabinet is going to become a secret hideout for Ben, I just know it!

Private patio and screened in porch. So relaxing!

Design Sponge

My favorite design blog of all time, Design*Sponge, featured our bench before and after project today! Check it out!

Before & After: Patio Seating

Before: (3 office chairs found in a dumpster):

After:

(Also, notice the cute birdhouse Jason built and painted. It's inhabited by a cute little wren.)

New Front Door Color

Ignoring the results of the poll I posted on my blog Make a Good First Impression, Jason and I decided to paint the front door mustard yellow. We're still getting used to it but pretty sure we're happy with it. It gives the pop of color we were hoping for.


Side note: You may have noticed we pulled out the overgrown bushes that had been flanking the house. We haven't decided for sure what to plant as replacements but we're leaning toward a forsythia bush on the left side and a couple of tall, skinny evergreens on the right. Between the 2 windows on the right side we're still planning a screen block architectural feature.

Cobalt Creamer & Sugar Bowl Set

When I saw this at an estate sale, it immediately caught my eye. I was looking for items to resell which is a new venture for me. I know that I have to get a great price on something legitimately valuable. Although this set is beautiful and unique, it doesn't have a designer/maker listed on the bottom which concerned me. It also was priced a little high. I thought about it a while but decided to pass.

Two days later we went back to the estate sale (It was a 3 day sale) to see what was left. I was surprised to find that it was still there. Not only was everything reduced to 50%, one of the sale workers who we had spent some time talking to at our earlier visit kept giving us even better deals. We ended up getting this set for only $3. After Jason carefully washed our purchases and I photographed each piece, I decided that even if I sold this set for $20 I'd still be sad to part with it. Jason encouraged me to just keep it. After all, it was only $3 and I LOVE it!

Our biggest, heaviest MCM find yet!

Two weeks ago Jason and I found this beast at an estate sale. We fell in love with the design and color. It's big. It's long. It's a sleeper sofa. A mid-century sleeper sofa. Therefore, it is HEAVY! We're guessing it's at least 300 lbs. No joke. And in case you've never thought of it before—I hadn't—the people who work at estate sales won't help you load or move your purchases. Can you imagine Jason and I (who weigh less than 300 lbs. combined) dragging this sofa across a carpeted living room, shoving it through the front door and putting all the energy we had left into lifting it, carrying and heaving it onto a friend's borrowed truck? I still can't believe I was capable of that! The next 2 days my arms, legs and back were all sore. I'm so thankful that neither of us got hurt! The sofa is vinyl and needed a little repair but Jason did an awesome job! I helped to mix the colors from the vinyl repair kit—one of my specialties. By the way, this beautiful specimen cost only $25!

We went back to this same estate sale when it was almost over (reduced prices) and snatched up all the unique collectibles that were left. Most of those are now for sale on my brand new Etsy.com shop light hand design & vintage, with two exceptions that we couldn't bear to part with. I'll be blogging about each soon.