One of the many things that I realized since entering my 30’s is that I’m embracing my inner “little old Italian lady” especially with my choices in home decor. I’m mostly joking but who knows, maybe next year my couches will be covered in plastic?
Growing up, I spent a lot of time at my nonni’s home or visiting one of her sisters and their home decor always stood out to me. Sure, their living rooms was covered in a bunch of rosaries, pictures of Jesus and saints but when you looked beyond that they had some pretty nice home decor pieces. The glass grapes, coloured vases, the record player cabinet and weird looking clocks. For years I had no idea what this style was called but I always had a soft spot for it. Turns out it this style is called mid-century modern.
There’s tons of resources online describing what the mid-century modern style, Mid-Century Coast to Coast has a short summary: http://www.midcenturycoasttocoast.com/history-of-mid-century-modern/
When I became a homeowner I knew I wanted to incorporate as much mid-century modern pieces into the space. I bought my dining table from a thrift shop that has the metal design and legs, I was lucky to get my nonni’s cabinet where I put crystal decor into it that belonged to her sisters and a few other things. The main challenge I found in getting these pieces where I live is availability. While mid-century modern fans on Facebook and YouTube were finding amazzzinnngg deals in their cities, I found the options up here were pretty limited and a bit costly. If it wasn’t for COVID, I would love the opportunity to travel to nearby cities to see what mid-century gems I can find. Whenever a beautiful vintage cabinet came up through Facebook Marketplace or Kijiji it was gone within a day. I think I spent about 4 months seriously looking for a credenza until one night I randomly went on the local Kijiji and the MCM gods heard my plea!
I bought this beauty for $60!
Since purchasing it, I sanded it down and stained it a dark brown colour that I thought would be better suited to my home instead of the teak colour.
This is the most recent photo of my credenza refinish. I put varnish on it earlier this week so hopefully I can finally put it inside the house!
There’s also this piece which I’m still trying to figure out how to decorate for the entryway…I’m open to suggestions!
These are only a couple pieces that I have but I’m planning to get more and maybe even do a bit more refinishing. I would love to refinish a chair but that might be a little too advanced for me at the moment.
I plan to post more about my growing obsession with MCM in the future and what other neat pieces I’ve been lucky to find in my area. Who knows, maybe once this quarantine is over I can take a road trip to a nearby city to see what their thrift shops have to offer – the possibilities are endless!
What are your favourite pieces of MCM furniture? Who do you follow for tips on refinishing these pieces?
being elle 