Gather & Collect

About a week ago I received an email from a customer sharing her before/after photos of a recent chair project using a chair she found at Gather & Collect.  Since then I’ve had vintage chairs on the brain.

 (Great midcentury chair covered in a Hudson Bay wool blanket)

(Old Courthouse chair painted and recovered using an old quilt)

(Vintage chairs feeling quite modern in this space)

*All of the above pictures were found via Pinterest*

It just takes a great chair, a vision, some fabric and a whole lot of staples to make a vintage chair new again.  Our customer Meghan had that vision when she stumbled across a chair at our store.

Here’s a fantastic “Before and After” shot of her project.

(before picture)

(After!)

Isn’t it gorgeous?!  I remember loving this chair in the before state, but a fresh coat of paint and some cheery fabric breathed new life into it.  So fresh and so clean;)    Great job, Meghan!

Cheers to a vintage life well lived.

Jessica and Julie

*If you’d like to share the vintage items you’ve found at our store, please email us your story and photo.  We’d love to share how your finds have helped make your space a little more special.

Hello Folks!
Do you ever find yourself browsing the internet only to be sucked into it’s black hole of photos and information? Well, that very often (read “daily”) happens to me and I end up searching for things I didn’t even know interested me. Well, in this case all I needed was one photo of a vintage interior and I became obsessed with searching for vintage photos of interiors from the 1930′s – 1970′s.

1930′s

1940′s

1950′s

1960′s

1970′s

I absolutely love looking through all of these photos and seeing so much of the artwork and accessories and even some furniture are what we look for when shopping for the store.  And it’s even more fantastic to see that so many design elements never really go out of style.  I mean seriously, don’t you just want to hang at the lake house with the folks above;)  I know I sure do.  Especially when it’s 20 degrees in January.

Cheers to a vintage life well lived!

Jessica and Julie

Happy Monday people!  Yup, Monday’s don’t have to be so bad with the right attitude, a strong cup of tea and a little vintage sports memorabilia;)  I received an email yesterday from a long time customer with a great photo of her sons vintage sports themed big boy bedroom.  It inspired me to go on a Pinterest hunt for some good ole sports americana.

(all of the above images came from pinterest, the land of “impossible to locate image source”.  I apologize.)

Below is the image Shelby (the women who inspired this post;) emailed to me of the room she created for her son.  She hand painted the dresser this amazing green color all on her own and found other items on ebay.  The numbers, chalkboard and stadium blanket all came from Gather & Collect.  I love the way it turned out and that green dresser has me weak in the knees.

Thank you Shelby for sharing your sons room and we wish you all a fantastic Monday!

Cheers to a vintage life well lived;)

Jessica and Julie

I can’t believe it’s been a full 4 months since my last blog post. When I realized this I was shocked and saddened because I’m not much of a slacker so I couldn’t believe I let this slide for so long. I think it was a combination of not being greatly inspired, busy and just unsure of the direction I wanted to take the blog. So, for now I’m just going to stop thinking and just do it.

Today I LOVE the color blue. To tell you the truth, I always love the color blue, in all shades possible. I love blue skies, blue eyes, vintage blue glassware, blue velvet couches and blue blue oceans. So here is an ode to blue…

The color blue helps keep me afloat during these dreary winter months. Do you find a certain color has that same effect on you?

Well, it’s my youngest’s 6th birthday today (oye!) so we’re off to get her ears pierced;) Have a great weekend and cheers to a vintage life well lived!

Last night I was having a little fun creating rooms inspired by various vintage items we have in the store.  It’s kind of a fun exercise and I found that really the options are endless.  So here’s where I found my inspiration for todays design board:

We have some really beautiful vintage tins that are great for hiding little trinkets in the bedroom, kitchen, etc.  The colors on this particular one are so lively yet comforting.  So I gave it a go and this is what I came up with:

I’m not completely sure what the wall color would be.  Maybe a beautiful pale pink, or even leaving them a creamy white while adding some long gold toned drapes on the windows. What do you think?  Could you live in this vintage tin inspired room?  Or maybe just living in a vintage tin is more your style;)  Somedays that doesn’t sound so bad.  For today I’m going to pretend I live in this room all by myself…

Cheers to a vintage life well lived.

Jessica and Julie

I came across this great house tour a week or so ago.  Some of you Apartment Therapy readers may recognize it, but I thought it was worthy of sharing for a little Monday morning inspiration.  I’m hoping that once the kids are in school a little mental space will be freed up and I’ll be blogging on a regular basis once again.  For now we’ll just take it as it comes.

Anyhow, this home has such a great feel to it.  Don’t you think?

(found here)

I think that might be my dream entryway.  I’ve always dreamed of having an entry big enough for a long bench and wide enough to not feel as if you’re in your guests face as soon as they enter your home.  And I love the sparing decor and general earthy vibe of the space.  But alas, we will not have that sort of entryway anytime soon.  And…life goes on;)  Happy Monday!

Cheers to a vintage life well lived.

Jessica and Julie

Desyrel

Like everyone else in the world, I swear I receive a bizillion catalogs every week for stores I’ve never even shopped at. One for instance is Land of Nod. Sure, I’ve thumbed through their catalogs and their stuff is cute and all, but I never find anything exciting enough to actually purchase. Last week however, was a different story.

They must have gotten a new set of merchandise designers and or stylists because I thought their latest catalog was pretty fantastic, especially since it included Camp Wandawega. The styling included loads and loads of great vintage details. Take a look, but before you do be warned that these photos are pretty horrendous! They were taken from a crumpled up catalog with an iphone. Hey, I was just working with what I had.

Talk about a feel good catalog!

I’m always a sucker for a good boys room, especially if it includes plaid or stripes, so the last 3 images absolutely killed me when I saw them. I just might have to order my son those fantastic plaid sheets. And the styling of the last few images is great!

After flipping through this catalog I was quickly reminded that a few months ago we had a customer who is a prop stylist for Land of Nod (and a few other stores) and was buying vintage props for Land of Nod window displays here in the area. I just might need to take a trip to the Oak Brook store and check out the displays.

I swear that every last vintage detail you can find in this catalog, we probably carry or have carried in our store. Basically, this catalog is Gather & Collect approved.

So, here’s a nod to the Land of Nod and cheers to a vintage life well lived.

Jessica and Julie

Isn’t this an amazing art wall? And the room, it just feels so good.

(found here)

I find images like this completely inspiring. Lovely art, lovely furniture, lovely light. And none of it is high end or precious. But everything is pulled together in just the right way.

Cheers to a vintage life well lived.

Jessica and Julie

Remember this post I did last week creating this mood board around one of our red tables found in the store?

Well, I came across this room that was nearly identical in color palette and feel to that mood board, so I thought I’d share.

(via)

And take a look at that great paint by number above the bed (in the “forest” mind you;). See, EVERY room looks and feels better with a little vintage mixed in. It keeps things from looking predictable and boring. Experiment with color and pattern. Mix colors and texture you never thought would look good together. Break the rules and have fun doing it!

Cheers to a vintage life well lived.

Jessica and Julie

I decided to give myself a design challenge this week. I thought it would be fun to take a piece from our store and incorporate it into two very different bedroom mood boards.

So here’s the piece I decided to start with this week. This red side table is just so poppy, versatile and fun and I wanted to show how it could be used in very different spaces.

First, I tried incorporating the red table into a fun, lively modern yet bohemian feeling room. The room feels zesty yet mellow. I imagined snow white walls with charcoal grey floor to ceiling drapes. The rug, ceiling and headboard are modern in feel, but adding the vintage side table, art work and dresser really ground the space and make it feel warm and inviting. This might actually be my dream room (after all I did just purchase the rug for my bedroom;).

Next, I wanted to create a more sophisticated space using the same table. You’ll notice I also reused the vintage artwork and sunburst mirror since these items are solid design pieces that transfer well into the new space. The walls in this space could go dark or light, depending on the amount of natural light and millwork involved.

I really love the feel the rug gives the space. Everything else just sort of fell into place. I could very possibly obsess over this room as well.

Well that was fun, don’t you think? Let me know if there’s a specific piece you’ve seen in the store that you’d like me to play around with and if you think this should be a weekly post. That’s all I need is another interwebs obsession;)

Cheers to a vintage life well lived.

Jessica and Julie