New Year, ReNew your home!

DID YOU KNOW?

Many of my items are not sold Mid Century Modern purists?  That’s right, these beauties are being mixed in with other eras and designs! You guys know I skirt the era and often add things to my inventory that are not typical mcm. I do this because I want to follow design trends.  Many of my clients are interior design pros and I love helping them to complete a project with the perfect piece. My keen eye for stylish well made pieces spans eras and I love placing them in well designed spaces.  

As we get ready to start a new year, I would like to offer some thoughts on sprucing up your space.  We have been in our home almost 15 years!  It was new construction and we are at the point where we need to do some refreshing.  First thing we did was repaint the main bathroom.  The walls get to a point where they just need redone and our light mint green walls were no exception.  I convinced my husband to use grey semigloss this time and I am much happier!  We swapped out our foyer light with a used but newer fixture. It is not vintage but neither is our home so I do not feel too bad there.  Our tastes have changed over the years and it is time catch up with them.

The new light installed and the grey paint being cut out.

Next, my husband has been patching wall holes and nail pops in the drywall.  Another thing necessary before painting.  The foyer is getting cut out for rolling as we speak and we should have enough paint to move on to the hallway.  I am excited to bid the tan adieu and move on to grey.  We are keeping 2 walls darker brown as they did not see much wear and tear.  The next thing we need to tend to is the carpet.  I am ready to rip it up but we only have plywood under there.....another sad reality of new construction on a budget.  You just cannot do it all.  We went with a custom builder and got to choose every last detail of the house and while the carpet was medium grade and the best we would afford, it has served us well but it now is toast and needs to go.  We have been looking for flooring alternatives but at this point, probably cannot afford to tackle that, even doing our own labor. I’d like to have this plan executed prior to restoring the Pearsall couch in my garage that I am seriously ready to get upstairs but the restoration work will be tedious and thinking waiting until warmer weather is probably the best.  

What is on your agenda for renovations and updates this coming year? 

New items ready to go: 

Lane 1050 series end table.  Great shape, amazing joinery in contrasting woods. This is a sweet and harder to find line.   

Some design inspiration for the next item......

Wallpaper from F Schumacher (expensive, but I can get it for you!) 

Gorgeous mod wing back in spring green upholstery.  This has been fully restored by my beloved upholsterer.  It is an amazing queen throne and the perfect accent for your  maximalist decor.  You can work this into bohemian, jungalow and midcentury decors.  I see it with some amazing jungle walls........

F Schumacher fabric.  This chair needs to be surrounded in bold.

F Schumacher.  I love this dragon print.  If you have not stepped into the high end design world lately, I suggest you do! Amazing things are being done with pattern and color! This chair would rock in a busy room and it needs a fab pillow!  

Karastan Chableau Shag carpet (6 by 9) circa 1969-1973.  Made with Karastan’s state of the art Kara-Loc technology only during these years.  It is in great condition!  Neutral with cream, brown and black wool yarns.  This piece came back with me from Westchester.  It truly is a rare find in this pristine condition.  

All of these items are available in my Etsy shop.  Don’t forget the Broyhill dining set is out in my retail space at an amazing pick up only price of $600.  You will not find another for this price! It is the last of 2 rooms of stuff I picked up a month and a half ago! Do not miss out as the other items already found homes.  

Happy New Year!!!

XO MALISSA

Spring refresh, back to school and other thoughts on business.

The Etsy shop sale is winding down.  Please check out by midnight Saturday to save.  I will hold price onlarge items with a deposit.  Message me to secure your favorite piece! 

Thanks for al the love I the last two weeks! I have been packing, shipping and delivering some great items! Spring is such a great time to spruce up your home. We just repainted our bathroom and I picked up an incredible shower curtain by Sin in Linen so set off the warm grey we chose.  More painting to come and hopefully some new flooring before I get to work on my couch restoration.  Here’s a peek at the bathroom.  Our home was built in 2004 with 70s era blueprints so we have new home luxuries with smaller rooms like an older home.  I do miss not having cool things like tiles and hardwood but as things are aging we can refresh with the details we love. 

We formerly had a light green tint wall, which over the years showed a lot of dirt and wear.  I choose the flooring with green so needed to work some green into the space and this shower curtain really brought it all together! 💕. Cannot wait for the next transformation!

I have been taking a Small Business class with a division of Kutztown University and am about half way through the session.  Learning how to take my business to the next level and our final project is presenting a Pitch to lenders.  I am not looking for a loan, but will be a good experience.  I am focusing my efforts into reaching a more regional audience of interior designers and Home stagers for other services besides just sales.  I am about 5 years into selling and although my numbers are fantastic, it really leaves little in my pocket and the goal was to replace a full time income which I am still very far from.  I do not feel it wise to go into debt at this point.  I have a great inventory I built up with little personal investment so I feel slow and steady wins the race.  I also feel  like my own area is not my market and I do hope that after spending time working that market and alternative revenue streams, I am pleasantly surprised by my findings. This business is very volatile.  Not only do trends change quickly, you are at the whim of big box knock offs and worse, the crappy economy.  Last year has given me PTSD as overall I did well but there were many successive months that I scraped by. The only pay I get is that this business pays my car payment and I had to reach into my pocket to do that last summer.  My pocket can not afford that payment.  😂. So this year, I am going to start going lean and keeping a stash in case that happens again. I will be picky about my buys from this point forward just because it is easy to just keep buying but when things stop selling it is a very stressful place to be.  Summer generally is the slow time.  Anyway, I plan to offer more custom services so reach out if I can assist in coordinating a restoration for you.  I have a few stunners ready for new upholstery now! There is something special about saving a piece and making it your own! The pride you will get of showing off the piece and talking about how you helped create it, that is priceless! 

Enjoy your week!!!! Malissa