Restored Mid-Century China Cabinet ||Now Available||

Hi friends! It feels like it's been a while since I've come by with a furniture flip so it sure feels good to be sharing one today! We've been working steadily with a couple more eDesign clients, interviewing intern applications, andon a personal front, I'm getting ready to step back a bit as soon as my Colin and Shire are out of school for the summer, (6 days to go and it's reminding me of the last 4 miles of a marathon; lots of pep talks, jelly beans, running through water and praying). The piece I'm sharing today is a china cabinet I found outside the Old Lucketts Store on a rainy day.

Due to the water damage I needed to let it dry out quite a bit once I got it home, (thanks to Cate and her truck). This was one of those finds where I wasn't confident it would work out - the structure of the piece was solid, but the condition of the wood was questionable. If it was severe I was willing to dump the entire piece since we are not in the business of covering up rotting wood with a band-aid of paint. I left it in the garage to dry for several weeks and, low and behold, once I looked it over the condition of the wood was restorable!  

After a lot of sanding and resealing, this piece is as good as new!

Upon first seeing this piece outside the antique shop I intended to give it a back. It had one at one time, (as well as sliding glass doors on the front as you can tell by the grooves). But my Momma, who was with me when I found this piece, encouraged leaving it backless, (so scandalous). I figured it was worth seeing how it looked before investing in materials and time, and it turns out that it's lovely all open like this! Way to go, Mom! :)

I haven't done many, (four, to be exact), but china cabinets are my favorite type of piece to refinish. I adore the idea of a piece that can tuck in seamlessly in various rooms. I've only styled this piece in our dining room and living room, but I've sold a china cabinet that went to a client's sun room, another for a study, and a third that went to a craft room! They're brilliant for storage without taking up a large footprint.

Here's our handsome friend in a living room setting - doesn't he look sharp?!

While this piece was in the garage drying over several weeks, I was hunting for hardware. These pulls were in my head long before I finally found them! I wanted these 'T' style pulls in brass and bone, but couldn't find them anywhere! Anthropologie saved the day. Of course. They're a little bit glam, a little bit bohemian, a little bit masculine, and a whole lot of perfect.

I'll tell you what, styling with all your books, even the ugly college text books you forgot to sell back, and suddenly you'll take on the presence of a prestigious professor genius. Just be ready to artfully dodge questions like, "Have you read all of these?!", "What did you think of Plunder and Deceit?", or "So, you like to read, huh?"

Open Mid-Century China Cabinet
66"H x 54"W x 18"D
$750
Please contact me at chelsea@stylemutthome if interested in this piece or a similar custom order!

Thank you so much for dropping by!

Modern Bar Table ||and treat yo self to a Giveway!||

One of my favorite parts about furniture flipping is finding something that could be cool - even if I don't know how exactly.  I've mentioned it before, but I often run through a checklist when I'm debating a new potential project at the thrift store: 1) Is it cheap?  2) Does it have good bones?  and 3) Can I make it cute?  When I found this chrome and laminate table, it hit points 1 & 2, but I was a little fuzzy on 3.  

I thought at first it should be transformed into a glamorous marble and gold console table.  But it was a little too short to be a suitable console and I wasn't really loving the cost of two custom-cut marble slabs.  But this is where it's handy having a partner in the biz.  I bounced some ideas off of Chelsea and was inspired to start simple and see if I liked where the project was heading before investing an exorbitant amount of time, money, and energy into it.

I took a long look at it again and realized this petite table might not be the best height for and entryway piece, but the unique gaps between the chrome trim and the flat surface of the top shelf made for some handy handles...

I replaced the bowing fake parquet with white melamine for a more modern look.

The porcelain pyramids are a Sweet Clover Barn find from their May sale weekend.  Chelsea and I braved the rain and mud and were rewarded with all the goodies.  Guys, if you're anywhere REMOTELY near the DC area, you should plan a day out to Frederick, MD for one of their sale weekends and capitalize on the best barn deals around my friends.  

You heard it here first ;)

I've been a little obsessed with brass lately, but something about the bright reflection of the chrome [can you spot me??] made me reconsider applying a faux gold finish.  Chelsea advised me to finish the table without painting the chrome to see if I liked it as-is.  And BOY am I glad I listened to her.  I never thought I would like to look of chrome so much!

This time of year Chelsea and I have a lot to celebrate: my birthday falls and the end of May with Chelsea's bday and anniversary right behind in early June.  Being the party people that we are, we thought we'd extend the invitation to you all and invite you to also

Treat. Yo. Self. 

To a StyleMutt Giveaway that is!!!  In the spirit of celebration, we are giving this wall hanging to one lucky winner.  Handmade by yours truly, this wall art is made from a swatch of Milton & King wallpaper, some vinyl letters, and white spray paint.  Their array of patterns is so diverse and downright juicy that it was difficult to pick just one.  But I stumbled on a sinful yet playful pattern named Gluttony and thought the Parks & Rec quote was too perfect.  [That little framed art print is also a swatch of the same wall paper].

To enter, comment below with what you would most like to treat yourself to today and find us on Instagram [@chelsea_stylemutthome and @cate_stylemutthome] for more ways to enter.  US/ Canada residents only. Winner will be announced next week!

And if you're in the DC Metro area, this smashing bar table is now available for sale ;)

Modern Chrome Bar Table
41"W x 17"D x 26.5"H
SOLD
$145

If you are interested in this piece or a custom order like it, please contact me at cate@stylemutthome.com.  

Oh Grow Up... Art ||Flip List Item No.4||

For a few months now, my collection of original abstract artwork has felt...off.  It's like you're trying to copy your mom's crowd-pleasing artichoke dip and yet it just doesn't taste the same when you do it - you feel me?

In an effort to solve this art conundrum, I declared "Grown-Up Abstract Art" as item No.4 on my furniture flip bucket list and began to do some research on what ingredients may be missing from my art collection.  After consulting pinterest, I kept stumbling on some delicious abstract art showcased in gorgeous, minimal floating frames.  

Source: Ellen Dodd

And so my first theory was formed.  I rummaged up some spare wood trim to fashion a make-shift gold frame for one of my smaller pieces, but when I finished it still felt juvenile somehow.  

Using my day off to work on a #furnitureflip #bucketlist item: grow up my artwork. I'm starting by experimenting with #diy modern frames. We'll see where this goes... #abstractart #floatingframe #gold #stylemuttprojects

A photo posted by StyleMutt Cate (@cate_stylemutthome) on Feb 26, 2016 at 11:54am PST

After mulling over it for a little while longer, I began to think that perhaps my portions were off.  I love to paint but I'm no professional artist - when I paint, I can't help myself: I love ALL THE COLORSSSSSS.  But perhaps I need to balance out the generous helpings of bold pops of color with some graphic patterns and white elements like this large piece I painted to help stage the cowprint bench.  [It actually sold at our Pop-Up Shop at Sweet Clover Barn so I never got the chance to mix it into my new abstract art recipe.]   And interestingly enough, despite my obsession with large-scale abstract art, I don't actually have any pieces hanging in our apartment. 

Ok so let's meet the "art ingredients" I do have in stock and let's see if we can mix them together for a winning combo.

Van Gogh's Les Alyscamps

• "Les Ales Camps" - a 3rd Grader made this piece at a school I worked for.  The elementary art program was doing a series on Van Gogh and this young artist was studing Van Gogh's Les Alyscamps (which she mistakenly labeled as "Les Ales Camps" in the top right corner lol.  I loved the playful take so much that I had it printed on a canvas to hang in my office.
• "Unnamed" - this is the largest piece of abstract art I've done and yet I haven't found a place for it.  I think I feel like it would overpower any of our small spaces so I've never hung it in our home.
• "Hadley" - this is the piece I tried to give a floating frame.  I think the proportions are off and I would like it better if the frame were thinner and little daintier.
• "Picasso" - this is another piece I can't take credit for.  I just love this line drawing so much that I traced it on some paper and popped it in a frame - forgive me Pablo P.
• "A Riot of Color [in a dreary world]" - name that movie!  I painted this poppy-inspired piece while watching a Heath Ledger favorite (may he rest in piece).  You may recognize this pop of red from staging this piece here. 

For plating purposes, I've enlisted the help of a fresh flip who'll be heading to his new home in DC soon [I removed the original toe-kick and added tapered legs with the nickle caps cut off and painted the top and sides a glossy white].

Art Recipe No.1:

Playful "Les Ales Camps" with a side of "Picasso" garnished with plant, brass candlesticks and record player served on a Mid-Century Record Console Table with storage for your vintage record collection.

[How cool is that rolling door for space-saving storage?!  And there are four compartments inside with removable vertical dividers.] 

To combat my tendancy to over-saturate with color, my thought here was to pair the two "lighter colored" art pieces on a white-wall background.  The smaller graphic "Picasso" cuts the intensity of the color in "Les Ales Camps" and the record player.

Art Recipe No.2:

A large helping of "Unnamed" abstract with a side of "Picasso" drizzled with candle sticks and a fern for garnish.  Since "Unnamed" is such a powerful flavor, I also tried to soften it with the dainty print and anchor it with a large plant. 

Art Recipe No.3:

Spiced "Riot of Color" and "Hadley" with creamy "Picasso" served with natural elements encased in glass cloches and garnished with a potted fern.

[Look at that gorgeous wood grain in the slats of the console table's rolling front.]

Since I was using two bold paintings, I again employed the "Picasso"print and accented with the airiness of the glass cloches.

[Fun fact: the stand for the raw mineral is just one of my fluted candlesticks turned upside down].

Which recipe hit the spot for you?  Any suggestions on how to make my art collection more flavorful/ refined/ spicy?  Leave your tips in the comments below!

Mid-Century Record Console Table
48"W X 18"D X 29.5"H
SOLD
$525

If you are interested in a custom order like this piece, please contact me at  cate@stylemutthome.com. 

Check in on the progress of this year's furniture flip bucket list: