I’m going to get right into it. This week involved a lot of unpacking, picking up packages from the post office, rearranging, organizing, and a trip to Ikea! Thanks to my mom for the copious amounts of help.
A hint of things to come:
New thing #1: 1950s pole lamp! A gift from my parents.
It’s brighter now, since I’ve put new fluorescent bulbs in. It bathes the whole room in a warm red glow. It’s made of four sections of metal tubing. I ended up having to take a section out because complete it was too tall for my ceiling. Once I put it up on the bench it was just about perfect (here it’s got some fabric folded underneath. I’ve since gotten a wooden stand that I still need to paint black.)
Since we’re in the main room, let’s continue there.
As you can see I moved my dress form up onto the bench. The dress form was originally bought to display kimono, and now that my kimono wardrobe is here I can do that! (And I have now). Also new are my folding kitchen chairs. I only have three, and they need some work, but they’re comfortable.
But what’s that piece hiding behind the coffee table?
If you know Mid-century stuff at all, you probably recognize the manufacturer. It’s Heywood-Wakefield. I couldn’t find a stamp on this piece, so it’s conceivable it’s not. I think I’ve posted about it on Facebook. Anyway, I got it for $100. Someone had started to strip it and gave up when they couldn’t figure out how to get the shelves out (it’s not that hard, but you have to take the pegs out). Dad and I refinished it using reproduction stain (we both stripped it, he did all the staining). Unfortunately I only had three original pegs, so they aren’t the same. But doesn’t it look awesome? I may use the extra stain on the kitchen chairs when I get to fixing them up.
Other main room details:
Detail of the bookcase all cleaned up.
With stuff in it (and dust in front). Yes, I’ve got a wide range of decades there. A Megabloks ice dragon, a tiger from GI Joe Sigma 6, a Sky BAT from the same line (you can hardly see him) all from about 2007. A Thundercats bank (now full of money) and below it, the Tongue-a-saurus. A norfin troll from around 1990 and a Radix Adventures ogre from around 2005.
The top of my coffee table. Under the glass is a furoshiki (Japanese wrapping cloth) that we got from one of our Japanese exchange students when I was a kid. I’m thinking of replacing it with another one, but I’m not sure I have any more that are the right size.
Slightly better pictures of the front of my desk.
It needs to be cleaned and oiled and it’s even more cluttered now. But I’m getting there. On the right is a file drawer. On the left is two drawers.
That pretty much covers the main room. Why don’t we move the the bathroom real quick?
You can see my new 1950s trash can.
Isn’t it cool?
Two not Mid-century things.
The wash cloth was a gift from my parents (with towels, obviously). It’s about the only pink thing I have in the bathroom so far. As far as the towel rack, I originally wanted a 1950s tension rod one, but I couldn’t find one for less than $100 (except for the first one I saw, which I let get away). This one is from Ikea and folds up compactly, so it works quite well.
I know you all want to see the cool medicine cabinet, so here it is.
The door is really heavy duty. Look at that hinge on top! The glass shelves are supposedly adjustable, but it’s been painted too many times and I can’t get the brackets out (bummer). And as you can see, it has the slit for old razor blades! (The cup is just there because it’s cool. Yes, that’s my bathroom cup. It came with some bento box stuff my sister gave me one Christmas. You can’t see it, but the manufacturer is ‘Lube Sheep.’ I am not kidding.)
There’s one new thing in the dressing area.
1950s nightstand. At first I thought it might be Heywood-Wakefield, but it’s not. It was apparently made in Japan, from reclaimed wood. The underside of one of the drawers has a stamp from a shipping crate or something (I don’t remember exactly.) There was another one that was in worse shape.
Why is the Lego Batman shirt there? What does that have to do with the 50s? Well, Lego Batman is awesome. The 1950s are awesome. Therefore it’s totally relevant.
This is getting really long and I still have a bunch of kitchen pictures to show, so I’m going to split that off to a different post.
Enjoy this post? Support me on Patreon or Ko-fi
