Mid century modern Archives - The Weekend Country Girl

How Red Wing Dishes Made Me Famous

December 27, 2022 Karen

Hello friends! It has been a while since I posted because life got in the way but I am back.

I am not quite, but almost, but not really famous now. Let’s call it famous adjacent. Of course famous is an overstatement but it is probably as close as I will be and here is why:

If you have been with me very long you know that my buddy, The Social Planner (TSP), and I love to explore new places and shop in resale, thrift, antique stores. We took a quick trip to Crockett, Texas one Thursday. I love that we can just take off shopping now that we are retired.

The Social Planner and I in front of he new Crockett mural.

Crockett is awesome, visit if you get a chance. While we were shopping I saw these beautiful vintage Red Wing dishes and immediately thought of one of the people I follow on social media Sara @SimplySouthernCottage. They were mid century, pink, had flowers and butterflies, and were American made.

She is making a difference along with others in her community of Minden, Louisiana. (If you watched the most recent Hometown Takeover on HGTV Minden was one of the cites and she was one of those people working to make her town awesome.)

Sara (Simply Southern Cottage) has her own very inspirational story to tell and I hope you check her out of Facebook, Instagram, or her Blog. I love, love, love her sense of whimsy and how bold her color choices are. Annnywayyy back to my story. Sorry for the digression.

In the thrift store I took a picture of the dishes and thought I sent Sara a message with the photo of the dishes. The message didn’t go through until much later- like not until we were driving home. Sara contacted me later that day to ask if I knew the name of the store because she would like to see if they could be shipped. By then I had TOTALLY forgotten where I saw the dishes so I hustled over to The Social Planner’s house to ask for memory assistance. She couldn’t remember either. (Crockett has lots of cool shops to our defense and we saw lots of things we thought about buying.) Immediately she said let’s go back and get them for her. She even figured out how to rope in our husbands. It involved lunch and a brewery.

I contacted Sara, told her I would go buy them and drop them off in Minden on an upcoming trip to North Carolina. Sara was sweet about us going and told us not to worry if we couldn’t go back but we are always up for a challenge.

The Social Planner, our two husbands, and I headed back to Crockett and started searching for the correct shop. I thought it was one place, but it wasn’t the right one, TSP thought it was another but it wasn’t there either. I did learn something though. You can look at your iPhone photo properties ( just swipe up on your photo) to see the location the picture was taken. Using that after searching a good hour we found them! They were sitting in the exact spot just waiting for us to come back. I think I was a little too excited to find them because the price went up. We negotiated and still got a great deal on the dishes.

The husbands were fine with the shopping trip because they got to eat at an award winning bar b q restaurant and a brewery on the way home. We do love a road trip.

When we headed to North Carolina the weather was terrible and traffic was super slow. We arrived in Minden an hour later than planned so instead of a leisurely lunch at Geaux Fresh with Sara we met up, introduced ourselves, took photos, and handed off the dishes. Sara had food bank food delivery duty. She is that kind of person.

We did eat at Geaux Fresh which was one of the spots featured on HGTV and loved it. We shopped at Paris Design Company. It is a cool shop that sells items from local artists, drove by The Villas, then headed on our way. Sara is so busy I honestly thought that was the last I would hear from her.

Sara let me know a few weeks ago that she used the dishes in a photo shoot for Cottage and Bungalows Magazine and that they would be used in one of her Villas. She is renovating a set of 1930’s Spanish style apartments called The Villas that have been abandoned for more than 20 years. They look a-m-a-z-i-n-g. The colors, mix of patterns, and preservation of the historic charm are unique to her style. The Villas are being featured in Cottages and Bungalows and guess what? Sara told them the dishes story and let me know that they wrote a side note telling about a follower who brought her dishes in an upcoming magazine. I feel like an extra in a movie. Only my friends will know that I am her follower but it is still fun. Check out Cottages and Bungalows February/ March issue. It is out now.

Photo from Cottages and Bungalows magazine. The dishes are circled in the photo.

I am now a follower in Texas. Photo from Cottages and Bungalows Magazine, February/March 2023

Minden right off Interstate 20 not far from Shreveport. It is a great little town and her short term rentals, including The Villas soon are located at Minden Stays.

I will be signing autographs soon!

Apartment living, cedar lumber, Coldspring, Mid Century

Hairpin Leg Cedar Desk and Shelves

July 21, 2020July 21, 2020 Karen

Have you ever held onto something for a long time time just waiting for the right time to use it? I do, probably too often, but this time I am so glad that I waited.

In 2014 my dad gave us a load of cut cedar. I thought at the time I would never use it all, but six years later we are almost out of cedar. We have used the cedar A LOT. Just a few things we have done are:mudroom bench, cedar shelves, and cedar shutters for the 8th and M house.

One of the last large slab sections I had I knew would make a nice coffee table or desk. I even found hairpin coffee table length legs at a garage sale back in 2017. I shared a whole post about the slab of wood, the short legs and my plans, but my heart wasn’t in it. I knew if I finished it then I wouldn’t have a place for it and would have to sell it. So, it all hung out unassembled in the shop. For.Three.Years.

I had three table height legs that I pulled out of a burn pile at our deer camp and really wished there had been four. I even showed you pictures of the three in that old post. This past spring Mr. Math was using his tractor to level the ground around the burn pile when he unearthed the missing fourth leg. I knew the slab of cedar would get to be a desk but I still didn’t have a home for it. I also had this photo saved and have an orange chair like the black in the photo. The site where I found it is no longer active.

In February a relative asked me to start looking for furniture for him. I knew immediately that the desk and chair would have a home.

Mr. Math added plates to a crack in the wood to make sure it would be sturdy and hold up and attached the legs.

I love how it turned out.

I also made a great find on the 90% off shelves at Hobby Lobby. These two shelf brackets for $4.99. They were missing the bolts and boards but a couple more pieces of cedar will go well with the desk.

All together I have a little over $10.00 in everything that is in this post.

It is going to look great in an upcoming apartment bedroom for a young man.

I hope your week is going well.

Blessings,

Karen

Chair, Coldspring, DIY Furniture, reclaimed wood, vintage style

Mid Century Chair Makeover

June 24, 2015June 24, 2015 Karen

We picked up these beauties at the best garage sale of the year this past winter. They were rough. They were broken. They were two dollars each. They were meant to be mine.

I loved the classic style, and the solid wood frame. Two of the three are going to go in my guest shed. The third is going to The Southern Belle. She will have a project on her hands.

I like mid century style, but my partner in crime, life and projects- Mr. Math, doesn’t. He has given me free reign in our soon to be guest house. The colors are going to be vibrant and the style is definitely modern mid century. I cannot wait to get started on this project. I stand and stare at the guest shed every time we go over to the place we are buying.

These chairs were a serious upper body workout to make over. After the glueing, clamping, and weighting down to fix warps in the wood from hanging out in a barn for oh- fourty years or so, I moved on to stripping, then sanding. It took f.o.r.e.v.e.r. Sanding such a simple wooden frame should not have been so hard but the spindles, the curves and the crevices all had to be hand sanded. I’m not whining. I promise. I love these chairs and even when I was in the middle of getting them sanded, I knew it would be worth it.

When the natural wood- walnut- was revealed I knew that bringing these back to life was the right choice. The wood grain is interesting, especially on the arms.

One thing I regret for this project was using gel stain. I should have gone with traditional stain on the chairs because the gel tended to goop up in the had to reach areas. I had to use paint thinner to get the dark spots out. Live and learn. I went with walnut stain because I wanted to return the chairs to their original look as much as possible.

I polyurethaned the frames with an exterior poly because the guest shed is going to have a window air conditioner so the climate won’t always be controlled. Everything that goes in has to be able to stand up to heat, humidity, and cold.

The seats originally had leather strapping. One of the chairs still had the strapping in place when we got them and it was gross. The humidity in the barn and time had turned the leather to a sticky but weirdly brittle mess. After removing the old nails, we used hemp upholstery webbing to replace the leather. Mr. Math did this for me using an air nailer to secure it. I really do like him being off in summer!

The cushions were a happy surprise from Mr. Math. He ordered them online for me. The bottom cushion needs to be altered, but I love the outdoor fabric, the bright turquoise color and the clean lines. They look like they could have been original to the chairs. He snagged them at Target when they were on sale 40% off plus using the 5% off Red card meant they were about $30.00 each. Way to be a good shopper, Mr. Math!

All in we have just over fourty dollars a chair so they were not cheap but in my opinion they are so very worth the effort and money.

The chairs turned out even better than I hoped.

The chairs are so comfortable and beautiful. We were lucky to have found them.

Blessings,

Karen

collecting, Fun with friends, Mirror, moving, resale finds

Weekend Finds

April 13, 2015April 13, 2015 Karen

Saturday, before I found out that The sale of our near the lake house fell through, I took off in search of treasures for the home we hope to purchase. (It is funny how attached I am to that place. If it doesn’t work out I expect sympathy cards 😊) My buddy, the social planner, and I took off in search of treasures mainly for the Guest Shed and the outdoor kitchen.

Our first spot was my honey hole. A church thrift store where a ton of my treasures came from.

At the honey hole I spotted these two mid century pieces.

An iconic pink swan planter. I picked up this one in perfect condition for 50 cents. A succulent is going in it out in the guest shed. What a fun piece.

A vintage bamboo planter. Shawnee Pottery is very popular. I like the subtle color of green. I especially liked it for 25 cents. I am planning to put some sort of succulent in it, too.

My final purchase at this stop was a small white pitcher. I collect them. I don’t know why, but I just can’t seem to pass them up. It was 50 cents.

Our next stop was new to me but I loved it and will be going back.

Two etched glass mirrors. The rectangular one will be going in the guest shed bathroom and one will be part of a mirror wall going in the guest bathroom in the main house. ( I have a mirror problem.) I hope it looks something like this photo I found on Pinterest.

The link to the picture is broken or I would provide the source.

I picked these two beauties up for 3 dollars each. I know what you are thinking. I absolutely take the worst photos of mirrors.

The social planner spotted this cream and sugar set in the most amazing teal color for me. I got them for another 3 bucks.

The social planner found stuff at the first stop too, then found a teapot to match her dishes and a salt glaze cow pitcher. Her stuff was a little pricey but was a steal for what she was getting. At check out she found out it was a cash only spot. We pooled resources to get her treasures. After she checked out she spied an awesome walnut mid century side table for me. It was marked 20 dollars but the owner offered it to me for 15. We reminded her that we didn’t have another 15 dollars between us. She asked if we could scrape up 10 and we were able to cobble it together. I love having a buddy who enjoys shopping at the same places I do. I also love that she and I are good enough friends that we are able to share resources.

By the time I got pictures of her treasures she already had them working.

The clean lines on the table will be perfect in the guest shed just as it is with a little waxing. I am getting excited about the treasures I am collecting for this space.

Our next stop was a church garage sale. We picked up 4 gallon sized glass jars for 50 cents each. They are going to be squirrle feeders. Our hubbies are going to make the four of them. One for each of our houses and one eac for gifts. I am thinking my grand dog needs one so she can have squirrels to chase in her yard.

Finally, we stopped at a church bazaar where we literally had to collect coins in order to buy two old colanders for an upcoming craft night.

All in all it was a great time shopping.

On the way home the social planner got busy looking up what we purchased. Here is what we would have paid online for the items:

I guess if this whole selling the house thing falls through, I can start selling my treasures!

I hope you all have a wonderful week.

If you are new to my site, welcome. I hope you enjoy the ride.

Blessings,

Karen

cedar lumber, Coldspring, Country living

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Storage Building

March 2, 2015March 2, 2015 Karen

Do you remember when I wrote about this amazing house in December? It is a historic home that had sat vacant for years before a very nice man bought it and started bringing it back to life.

Saturday morning we got up and loaded the truck with my cedar lumber. It was another bittersweet moment. I now know I won’t be making anything else in the Garagemahal from scratch. My projects will have to wait until we get the house sold and move into the place we are planning to buy.

As we headed toward our storage unit, we rounded the corner and low and behold, the house I sort of have a crush on was having a clean out the barn sale. There were old windows stacked four feet thick. Of course we stopped. The homeowner’s sweet mom was there to greet us. When I asked how much the windows were, she said $2.00! I almost swooned. I couldn’t just grab them up and go because I couldn’t live with myself. I told her the windows were too cheap. She said her son told her nothing over $5.00 because he wanted it gone and me buying them was better than a burn pile. She explained that the windows along with the other items were in the barn, not the house, and probably belonged to the dentist who lived there from the mid-fifties until the early eighties. He must have been a character. He had his dental practice in an office on the property and was known as a bit of a collector and frequent visitor at garage sales. I ended up getting 20 windows,

a vintage door,

(no photo because it got put directly into the storage facility and I did not have my phone or my camera.)

a cast iron sink,

Google Link to sink.

I don’t have an actual photo of this one either for the same reason, but, I did find an exact replica on Pinterest according to the site it is a 1926 rolled front farmhouse sink. I am going to have to have mine reglazed but it is in great shape and going to be a stunner.

6 Art Deco light covers,

(By the way, have any of you ever seen the light on the left? I can’t find it on the internet. I know it is 1940-ish Art Deco, but nothing else.)

3 mid century Danish lounge chairs,

Once again.. no pictures but I did find examples of the chairs on Design Addict.

I believe they are teak but they could be walnut. They have leather strapping in the bottom that needs to be replaced and they need to be stripped and refinished. I am going to look for some wild outdoor fabric for them.

a section of vintage adjustable scaffolding platform,

(Boring but it will a huge help when we are working on the porch addition.)

two really old crutches, (No photos or no idea what I will do with two mismatched handmade crutches but they were cool and I could not pass them up.)

and finally I picked up a cool chrome retractable light that was purchased in 1959 but never installed. According to the internet it is a atomic era UFO ceiling light (This thing even has little holes that let a row of pinhole light out through the edge of the light and a diffuser at the bottom of the light.

UFO Atomic Light from 1959. New In box.

Here is a link to the light on EBay. I could only find the copper version online. UFO Light

Folks, I racked up. The whole load was $100.00. The windows are definitely old. I would love to know their history. I am going to keep some of the windows for my crafts, but I will probably sell many of them.

All this treasure really helped me to decide what I am going to do with the guest shed should we get our property. ( Fingers crossed. The lake house is being shown regularly.)

The guest shed doesn’t look like much from the outside but that puppy has cabinets, sheetrock walls, reclaimed hardwood flooring from a gym, a wood burning stove, and it is going to have a bathroom and a kitchenette (insert today’s cast iron farmhouse sink here).

My plan for the guest shed will be to finally have a space that has my mid century aesthetic. Hubby doesn’t love mid century but I do. The cool UFO light is going to go over the game/dining table. The Art Deco lights are going in the bathroom and over the amazing farmhouse sink.

The chairs will go in the space and can sit out on the porch when needed.

I happen to have a mid century headboard just waiting for the space along with an atomic era end table and burled walnut atomic era light.

I am almost there… but only in my mind right now. Oh how I want this property to work out for us. I would love to hear from you.

Blessings,

Karen

Apartment living, Behr Paint with Primer, Painted Furniture, resale finds, yellow and gray bedroom

Furniture Should Be Fun(ctional)

April 21, 2014 Karen

It is my belief that furniture should be sort of like clothes for your home. It should serve a purpose, it should reflect who you are as a person or family, and it should have an element of fun. Oh, and one more thing… your furniture style can (and in my opinion, should) change, just like clothing styles. How many of you remember leg warmers, ponytails on the side, Farrah Fawcett wings and big hair, shoulder pads in everything, or broomstick skirts? Yeah, me either. 🙂 That must have been before my time 🙂 As I have matured, so has my style. I am a lot mor eclectic, and not as afraid of what others think. I have a really good sense of who I am, and frankly, I really am not overly attached to most of the furniture in my home. I know that it will change as I find things I like more or if the space we live in changes.

Today I am going to tell you a tale of three end tables. I like all three of them. I painted each with the same light neutral color; Behr Sea Salt, and in the right room, all three of these beauties would be a stand out.

I am arranging them by decade… at least I think I am. I could be off with the 1960’s table.

1950’s Mid Century Modern. This baby was built when we were all about the space race. Sputnik, clean lines, homes of the future. Think George Jetson. Our national facination with space and exploration along with beating the Russians to the moon affected home design, clothing, house wares, and furniture.

Do you have any buildings like those where you live? There were tons in the city I just moved from, but not so much out here in suburbia. Everything is new, and frankly a little plain vanilla boring.

I painted the body of end table one sea salt, then stained the drawers and legs dark walnut. She is going back to her owner and will happily rejoin the headboard and dresser once they are painted but she would also be a stunner in a modern home with bright accents, a loft or a mid century modern home.
Here is my inspiration piece

I loved this look. I did decide that my interpretation needed dark legs to help it stand out a little more.

Mid century modern furniture mixes well with modern furnishings in today’s homes. I chose this shot because it has a credenza with a white painted top.

Mid Century Night Stand

What do you think?
Here he is all dressed up and ready to go. I like that I had a piece of 1950’s McCoy Pottery for the top.

Next..
My late 1960’s/ early 1970’s traditional style end table:

The late 60’s/ early 70’s. What can I say? Well… the one word I would use to describe most furniture in the late 60’s or early 70’s is safe. It was traditional in style. Varnished wood, rounded legs, , spindles, maple, pine and oak.

Raise your hand if you had a couch that looked something like this in your home? I see those hands. We had a couch like this with some scratchy plaid fabric for several years.

This next side table would have been perfect in that room. It was brown on brown on brown. It also fooled me. The top was Formica, but was so dirty I thought it was wood.
Who in their right mind thought Formica on top of furniture was a great idea? Not this girl. It was “the bomb” in the late 60’s/ early 70’s though.
This side table came to me as part of a group of furniture I purchased using the “American Picker’s” bundling technique. Buy several pieces at reduced costs. I think I paid two dollars for it but I don’t remember exactly.
After sanding the Formica top within an inch of its life to give it some grit, I then painting it with Glidden Gripper primer, then sanded the top again with really fine sand paper. I decided to go with sea salt on the legs and Behr revival mahogany for the top to sort of replicate a stained top. This little formerly frumpy table would be great in an apartment or small home because it does not visually take up much space.

Here is Centsational Girl’s take on a two color table. I wish I could have stained the top of mine.

Here is my version:

Finally, My 1970″s Fabulous side table. I mean come on. Who doesn’t love a table that is fun and funky? The mid to late 70’s furniture was fun. It was the era of disco, leisure suits, and over the top hairdos. I love this style. In small doses. I could not have my whole home full of this curvy wonderfulness, but I do have a few pieces and I enjoy having them. They make me smile.

This curvy china cabinet is in my office full of vintage books. It looked like this when I bought it.

Here it is now.

I bought this pair of mirrors and redid them. They are fun.

The side table on the left was found by the side of the road. It is now in another home, but I enjoyed it in my yellow and gray guest room.

This particular side table would be great in a teen’s room, college dorm room, or as a bedside table. I painted it sea salt with a Behr Gray Area on the top. I like it a lot.
I glazed it with a gray glaze to make the detail stand out a little, but not too much. I debated painting it turquoise, navy, or yellow, but I like the light color too.
I am not sure where this one will end up. Who beside me, is ready to have some 1970’s love in their home?