Noted: The Fancier Side of MGBW

So I was browsing through the headlines this morning when I saw that Mitchell Gold Bob Williams is in the midst of their sample sale (get their quick, because it ends on Thursday). It's not a huge discount--basically, buy three reduced items, get another 10% off.

I was more preoccupied with the new spring stock at MGBW, which includes this fancy chest of drawers (left). MGBW designs generally had a more pared down aesthetic, so it's surprising to see more romantic forms that you'd normally see at retailers like anthropologie. Really, you should take a look.

Thoughts: Does this mean that the so-called "modern" look is pretty much over and done with, or are we heading in to a more juxtaposed aesthetic?

Photo from mitchellgold.com

Adventures in Craigslist Furniture Ads

In the spirit of yesterday's guide to furnishing your first home on the cheap (without loss of style or comfort), I've plunged in to the world of the Philadelphia section of Craigslist to dig up some examples.

Here are this week's great finds, along with tips on updating.

1. 1890's Sofa Table. This sofa table is a (relative) bargain at $125, looks very sturdy and could be used as a makeshift dining area, bed stand or side table. The leather upholstery (on the table top) seems to be well-weathered and doesn't require any updating. The finish itself isn't terrible, but I would personally spray paint the entire piece in a cream color. Maybe robin's egg blue. As you can see, the beauty of the piece is in the shape of the legs and the general proportion. A solid paint color will highlight those aspects.

2. Chaise Lounge, $375 A bit pricey for our general purposes (furnishing a home for not a lot of money), but not so bad when you consider that Baker is selling a similar one for $2,000+. I personally find chaise lounges to be entirely necessary to my very being, so if I were so inclined, I'd buy this, then re-upholster in a turquoise or raspberry linen, then painting over the wood in gold, white or black (if with raspberry).



3. 1950's Blonde Oak Dresser, $65 Slightly hotel-esque, but sand down that oily sheen, replace the knobs and paint really any color you wish. I'd advise spray paint specifically made for furniture, available at Home Depot/Lowe's. Could also be used as a sideboard.

Much Ado About Antiques

I was positively suckered in to reading an article in the New York Times H&G section last week, merely because the accompanying photographed included Joan Rivers and folk art. Not that I have a particular interest in Joan Rivers and folk art, mind you, I just enjoyed the juxtaposition.

(Here is the article, in case you didn't see)

Well, not only was there scant information about Ms. Rivers and her folk art, the article turned out to be a very serious investigation on what well-heeled people worry most about: What their designers think of their family hand-me-downs and antique purchases.

To wit, "You know these pieces: The baroque, over-size bedroom set, fit for the home of a mountain king; the circular mahogany table that seats 14. Angèle Parlange, who grew up in an 18th-century Louisiana plantation house and is the author of “Creole Thrift,” just published by ReganBooks, calls it “big brown furniture.” And unlike the mistakes you make at a flea market and can unload on eBay, when you take this stuff home, you’re stuck for life."

What a limited and dreary world view to have. I was highly appalled by the glaring lack of imagination that I felt a need to give some soothing tips on what to do with your antiques:

-Paint it gold. Unless Aunt Mimi wrote a brilliant manifesto on her writing desk, feel free to paint it gold, replace the hardware and use it as a mini-bar. Aunt Mimi probably used it in that respect, albeit informally. If you're short on space, take the doors off a closet and place in there. You can always stuff your ill-fitting sweaters and stretched-out bathing suits somewhere else.

-Make a dining room. Even if you have the most microscopic apartment, it will behoove you to make your own dining room. If given the choice between some clunky entertainment center and uncomfortable futons, and a circular mahogany table for 14...you are better off with the table, a deck of cards, and the phone number of the nearest hotel for your dear friends. Throw caution to the wind, when it comes to scale.

-Burn bridges. Some people WILL be cross with you if you start painting "antiques." The resulting grudge will only be short-term, and really, you probably needed a break from their presence/phone conversations anyway.

No, It's Not an Upholstered Coffin

This is actually an upholstered leather bench, available through Scarlett Alley (241 Race St.). The top opens up, allowing you to store all sorts of goodies and messes. When closed, it can provide extra seating while looking unassuming. I certainly wouldn't think this stylish little number was actually full of incidentals.


I also like the tailored, confirmed-bachelor-esque qualities inherent in this piece. It's the same feeling you get from a Chesterfield sofa--you're ten times more interesting when you sit on one, and also ten times more likely to drink out of a conspicuous silver flask.

Photo from ScarlettAlley.com

Are you in the market for a sock depository (no, not suppository, silly)? Or perhaps a curio for your votive candle collection? Then mosey on over to New Jersey.

The Investment Chaise

Behold the $8,000+ chaise lounge.

If you have that sort of cash, then head over to the Baker Knapp & Tubbs showroom at the Philadelphia Marketplace Design Center (2400 Market St). Remember to bring your designer, as only licensed professionals can purchase from there.

However, you can indulge your fantasies by browsing during consumer hours (by reservation, I believe), or by heading over to the Baker website. I'm a big fan of Baker's wares, for offering luxurious contemporary interpretations of classic designs. The curved lines of this particular piece look very up-to-date, but the chaise is based on a Neoclassical era design. Overall, Baker's offerings are a very refreshing antidote for modern/mid-century overload.

Try juxaposing the classic pieces with these very neat mosaic tiles, available in Short Hills, NJ (amongst other places).

Your Bed Also Counts As Furniture

Looking for a new bed? Head to Princeton. It's nearly enough to make you wish that you still lived in a studio apartment, if only so more people could see this fabulous piece of furniture.

Actually, nothing is enough to make one wish they lived in a studio apartment. But you catch my drift.

Bachelor Chic, Re-Interpreted

When my good friend Chris moved in to his first apartment, he inherited a lot of furniture from his friends and family. Especially from his old man bachelor uncle Kevin. He was--and might be still--a "confirmed bachelor" and a "skirt chaser." He wears blazers with embroidered, customized crests. He's in his 60's and lives life to its absolute fullest, and I'd like to think that he rides around town, leering, while on a Vespa.

This fabulous creature gave Chris a ton of his bachelor-chic furniture: tall bookcases (cause the ladies' love a man who reads), a king-sized headboard with built-in lighting (do I even need to say anything?) and of course, the ultimate bachelor sofa. It's, of course, bachelor-chic by way of the 60's, so it's a tufted, glazed leather with burnished brass upholstery tacks.

There are plenty sofas that fit the above description, but current ones lack the cushy overscaled dimensions of the old bachelor sofa. And usually, as is the case with contemporary sofas, you end up paying for design, instead of comfort. There seems to be no middle ground.

But a close ringer to the spirit of this sofa is the Chesterfield Couch from Dwelling (4050 Main St.). It's bachelor chic interpreted, overscaled and sumptuous, but with a lighter fabric. Would look equally right with a shaggy carpet, or a serious art collection.

Especially for basement dwellers...

...or anyone else living in an indirectly-lit, ultra dreary apartment.

In July's Vogue, I saw a mirrored/metallic-finished bureau that would infuse a dark space with a bit of light and whimsy. And we all know that whimsy is of utmost importance. Remember, you'll never-ever-ever fool someone in to thinking that your 300 square foot shoebox is really a grand penthouse. That just happens to be a basement apartment. You get my point.

But you can fool someone in to thinking that your apartment is a fun-filled space that reflects a bit of personality. And maybe a little light.

So that's where the whimsical metallic furniture comes in. Matthew Izzo carries quite a selection, though you could always spray paint a boring old piece (it took me roughly 3 cans of gold spray paint for a medium-sized desk with drawers). Moderation is key, as if I had to tell you- limit yourself to one metallic piece per residence. Okay, maybe two. But only if they are in different rooms.

P.S: "Gold or Silver?" Normally, I would go with the undertones on this- gold is warm, silver is cold, etc. But some of the silver finishes on the Matthew Izzo pieces appear to be olive-based, so this adds up to a matter of personal style. I'd go with silver if you have a lot of 'modern' boxy type lines, and gold if you have more antiques. For some reason, mixing metallic this way works.

Philadelphia Salvage: Where to Go, What You'll Find

The Problem- You live in a castle with gothic stained glass windows. Your neighbor's bratty child threw a baseball through said stained glass windows.

The Solution, presumably after you had a restorative cocktail- Architectural Salvage.

When you've lost something that happens to be irreplacable, when you're restoring a historic home, or when you're just looking for an interesting kitchen sink, the first place you should head to is one of the city's many architectural salvage clearing houses. These stores buy up wonderful old items- from mantles to columns to claw foot bath tubs, and everything in between- from renovators, clean them up and re-sell, at a fair price. Here's a few good places to go:

ReStore (3016 East Thompson St.): A very comprehensive selection, includes cast iron ornaments, tile, doors and sinks. Also offers a design service and never-used pieces.

Found Matter (1320 N. Fifth St., by appointment): In addition to handcrafted furniture pieces made from re-harvested wood, a very good selection of architectural pieces. Stained glass windows, doors (including double-doors), moldings and more.

Architectural Antiques Exchange (715 N. 2nd): If you have a sudden need to buy a complete, paneled library, this is where you go. Gates, lighting, beds, bars...and everything in between.

Occasional tables are the Jan Bradys of the Furniture world...

Today's Times Home & Garden section has devoted space to telling readers where to find Parsons tables. Parsons tables! You really can't walk a block in the design district of any metropolitan city without finding a very tasteful Parsons Table at any price point. Heck, I can't even go to the doctor's office without seeing one of those holding up a collection of outdated Time magazines.

Anyway. Occasional tables are the Jan Bradys of the furniture world. They usually aren't designed to be statement pieces, because they are either meant to merely compliment other, more glamorous items, or are holding up some lovely objet d'art of some sort. The Parsons table, I think, appeals to people because it's the most unobtrusively designed piece of furniture, and has a certain minimal style.

At left, is proof that an occasional table can still co-exist peacefully with your other items, while still making its own statement. This is a Parenthesis table by Philadelphia-based VJD3 Designs. The lines wouldn't compete with your other pieces of furniture, but the curves add a dash of the unexpected. Other proportions and finishes, including custom options, are offered, but the luminous sheen of this particular piece (the veneer is a bleached maple) caught my eye.

Bettie, Bettie, Bettie

There is only one thing I need to say in reference to that Bettie Page bio-pic that's coming out soon to three movie theatres in the area. While Ms. Mol looks adorable in the period outfits, and the plot sounds interesting enough, there is just one thing that I feel the need to say: ENOUGH WITH THE BETTIE PAGE.

There.

Bettie Page is to vintage chic, as Monet is to art: meaning accessible, recognizable to even the lowest common denominator and a very easy reference to "get." There's nothing inherently wrong about Page or Monet, but well...let's just say we need to broaden our minds a bit.

There is a lot more to 1940's and 50's style than Bettie Page. How does this relate to furniture/home decor, you ask? Well, think about it. If you're going to commit yourself to a 40's or 50's style, the first instinct is to go for the Bettie Page look- dark hair with blunt bangs, red lips, leopard. But it's done. You can walk down South Street, or hang out in Northern Liberties, and you will see at least 5 girls with that same look. There's even whole brigades of Page worshippers in the form of those Rollergirl teams. It's not fresh, or new, and involves total commitment to the look in order to not look completely silly (Bettie Page, I suspect, never grocery shopped at Superfresh).

When people are going for a retro-50's look for their homes, they end up buying loads of mid-century-esque stuff from Ikea or West Elm. There's nothing inherently wrong with Ikea or West Elm, either. But the result doesn't read Retro-Chic: It reads "I got all my stuff from Ikea or West Elm. You might want to keep any open flame away from, well, everything."

Mid-Century modern is easy to achieve at all price ranges. At the smaller budgets, leave the references to paint color and lighting: make your walls your furniture. Pick two colors (Tiffany's-box Blue with Cream contrast works), and do a bold, graphic pattern such as polka dots, or vertical stripes. Spend most of your budget on lighting, which can make even the cheapest table look delightful- even when the lighting itself, is cheap. Go geometric, and leave the paper shades behind. The Fado Lamp (no, not named for the irish-themed hookup spot) at Ikea comes in two sizes at the store- buy a handful of each size and arrange in groupings, chandelier-like. Spray-paint all eyesore hand-me-down furniture gold. It's all very Dorothy Draper, preacheress of the maximalist aesthetic and namesake of this very blog.

Those with bigger pockets should head to Mode Moderne specifically for tables and seating, and Matthew Izzo for the Jonathan Adler collection (the couches are much coveted).

But at all price points, keep the Bettie Page rule in mind: don't commit yourself to the safe, easy- to-conjure, look. Mix everything that strikes your eye, don't be afraid to break out the spray-paint and don't concern yourself to the strictly authentic.

Book Learning

With all the end-of-the-world statistics these days regarding the state of America's rampant illiteracy, you'd think we would all put our books on display in an effort to show that we weren't part of some dreadful statistic.

And then I saw Pottery Barn.

If you notice, there are books displayed behind the unoffensive and neutral sofa, yes. But the books are displayed with the bindings facing IN, which would make finding the book you'd need positively impossible to find. Whatever this fictional Pottery Barn family is doing, it's certainly not tucking in to Nancy Drew novels.

Books can certainly make a nice display, as long as you're not trying to pass them off as something other than what they are: that is, books. And not a neutral backdrop for your sofas. Besides, people will end up hypothesizing that you're really just hiding a massive collection of tawdry titles if you turn the bindings in.

But what if you have nothing but tawdry paperbacks? Well, Philadelphia has more used-book stores than it knows what to do with: Book Trader on N. 2nd is a particularly good choice. Bookhaven (2202 Fairmount Ave) is one of those fabulous old-style bookstores that are practically bursting at the seams with stuff. The AIA bookstore (17th and Samson) is self-explanatory: lots of glossy architecture tomes.

Bookshelves are fine to use, but tread carefully when it comes to the non-traditional. The Chicago Shelves from DWR are modern, but are unobtrusive. Perfect for those with a small collection, or would like to avoid the massive-wall-of-books look. However, the Sapian shelves are a bit reminiscent of sad starting-out days (Ramen noodles anyone?).