Grand Rapids, MI: Living Area and Kitchen
See my bathroom here and my office here!
This is almost the end of my apartment! I have to post my bedroom, but there are still plans a-foot in there. But here are my living room and kitchen - these might be my two favorite rooms in the house. Living room is about 15' x 18' and kitchen is 7' x 10'.
Most of you have seen all of this stuff before if you checked out my old apartment. But, to recap! The coffee table is a Lane table circa 1949 according to the serial number underneath. Someone left it in one of my apartments and I refinished it. The red chair is by Milo Baughman, from the early 60s - I got it cheap off of ebay and had it reupholstered. That red chair is my favorite piece of furniture. The tv center I found on ebay for a local pick up. It was probably the top part of a hutch but whomever had it before me put feet on it and used it as a cabinet. The rocking chair is 1920s mission style chair that my boyfriend had re-seated and reupholstered for me for Christmas. The little round table was part of a set for Shakespeare in the part (my boyfriend is in theater). Let's see, the table lamp and the bookcase are both from Ikea, the couch is from Pier One and the rug is from overstock. I don't remember where the other lamp came from - some big box store. Whew!
Better view of my chair - also, you can see the curtain pattern. Those are also from Ikea. The top painting is from a gallery in Barcelona. The lower painting was painted by a friend (hard to see in the photo).
The other chair! The top print is by Stephen Huneck.
I used an old, enamelware chamber pot for my plant.
The copper plate is an a letterpress from a newspaper advertisement circa 1930. The red pig is from Barcelona and the large white water pitcher is english ironstone. I sourced the mark to 1860-1880. the little candles are from Villainess.
Looking in from the doorway.
Better view of the cabinet. The two framed pictures I got from a vendor outside the metropolitan museum of art. The basket is from South Africa, the box from Tanzania and the little black vase from Oaxaca, Mexico. The little painting I got in Athens, Greece.
Looking from next to the tall lamp towards the door. The pillow covers I got from an etsy seller and my mom knitted that blanket for me.
That table is mission style from the 1920s. It was DIRE. My boyfriend and I refinished it together.
Close up! The large print is by Audry Kawasaki. Top left watercolor I purchased from a guy outside the Metropolitan Museum of art. Top right is a mixed media piece that I purchased at a gallery in Barcelona. The two on the lower level are plates that I got in Canterbury, UK. The red lamp is from Bed Bath and Beyond and the two turquoise candle holders were a gift from a good friend.
Art detail! The picture on the left I got from a street vendor in Barcelona.
Shelf detail. Top: Two wine ducks I won in a housingworks auction, probably midcentury. I found the pewter decanter at a random thrift store and I have no idea about its origins or age. Sadly there is no mark. The coffee pot also has no mark, but I suspect 1920-30 at the latest as the top button is made of celluloid but not bakelite. Top shelf: conch shell legally collected in the Cayman Islands. Second shelf: Painted ostrich egg shell from Cape Town, South Africa; vintage glass fishing float from the Oregon coast; small collection of vintage bottles from here, there and everywhere. My cousin made the glass fish. Third shelf: Pottery is from Guatil, Costa Rica and the elephant book ends were hard won in negotiations in Kenya. HARD WON. Bottom shelf: Statue from the Dominican Republic (love the way that the African influences are so evident in the traditional art there) and the key bowl is from Kenya. Pretty book ends I got at one of those rocks and minerals stores at the mall when it was going out of business when I was still in high school.
Doorway. The picture is from Kenya.
Such a ham.
Okay, now a tour of the kitchen.
From the back of the kitchen. My kitchen is small, so we mounted a bunch of shelves from Ikea on the wall to give more space. My boyfriend found the table on the street and we de-rusted and repainted the legs. It was perfectly good. The chairs I ordered - I love those folding chairs but they did not come cheap. I originally wanted to get 8 or them, but I ended up only getting two because they were so pricey.
Chairs!
Standing by the sink, looking backwards. The two white framed prints I got at NYCC and are by Tara McPherson. The CYRK poster is a vintage, 1966 polish circus poster. My boyfriend HATES it, but I love it. The stove and fridge are on the right. The birds on a branch is a painting I got in Xi'an, China.
Sigh, love.
I had chickens in my backyard in Manhattan and this was my egg basket. Sadly urban chickens are illegal in Grand Rapids, MI - but I still have my chicken egg basket!
Looking in from the hallway. The sign was legally acquired at the Museum of American History when I was in college. The bar cart I got at a thrift store - it's probably mid-late 1970s, early 80s.
Close up of the bar cart. The white enamelware water jug is my recycle bucket. I'm looking for something equally cool that will kind of match for my paper recycling.
Vintage cocktail shaker and modern penguin ice bucket.
I like magnets.
Front wall of the kitchen. It sucks.
I got this suncatcher in Portland, OR.
Okay, I think I'm done now.
This is almost the end of my apartment! I have to post my bedroom, but there are still plans a-foot in there. But here are my living room and kitchen - these might be my two favorite rooms in the house. Living room is about 15' x 18' and kitchen is 7' x 10'.
Most of you have seen all of this stuff before if you checked out my old apartment. But, to recap! The coffee table is a Lane table circa 1949 according to the serial number underneath. Someone left it in one of my apartments and I refinished it. The red chair is by Milo Baughman, from the early 60s - I got it cheap off of ebay and had it reupholstered. That red chair is my favorite piece of furniture. The tv center I found on ebay for a local pick up. It was probably the top part of a hutch but whomever had it before me put feet on it and used it as a cabinet. The rocking chair is 1920s mission style chair that my boyfriend had re-seated and reupholstered for me for Christmas. The little round table was part of a set for Shakespeare in the part (my boyfriend is in theater). Let's see, the table lamp and the bookcase are both from Ikea, the couch is from Pier One and the rug is from overstock. I don't remember where the other lamp came from - some big box store. Whew!
Better view of my chair - also, you can see the curtain pattern. Those are also from Ikea. The top painting is from a gallery in Barcelona. The lower painting was painted by a friend (hard to see in the photo).
The other chair! The top print is by Stephen Huneck.
I used an old, enamelware chamber pot for my plant.
The copper plate is an a letterpress from a newspaper advertisement circa 1930. The red pig is from Barcelona and the large white water pitcher is english ironstone. I sourced the mark to 1860-1880. the little candles are from Villainess.
Looking in from the doorway.
Better view of the cabinet. The two framed pictures I got from a vendor outside the metropolitan museum of art. The basket is from South Africa, the box from Tanzania and the little black vase from Oaxaca, Mexico. The little painting I got in Athens, Greece.
Looking from next to the tall lamp towards the door. The pillow covers I got from an etsy seller and my mom knitted that blanket for me.
That table is mission style from the 1920s. It was DIRE. My boyfriend and I refinished it together.
Close up! The large print is by Audry Kawasaki. Top left watercolor I purchased from a guy outside the Metropolitan Museum of art. Top right is a mixed media piece that I purchased at a gallery in Barcelona. The two on the lower level are plates that I got in Canterbury, UK. The red lamp is from Bed Bath and Beyond and the two turquoise candle holders were a gift from a good friend.
Art detail! The picture on the left I got from a street vendor in Barcelona.
Shelf detail. Top: Two wine ducks I won in a housingworks auction, probably midcentury. I found the pewter decanter at a random thrift store and I have no idea about its origins or age. Sadly there is no mark. The coffee pot also has no mark, but I suspect 1920-30 at the latest as the top button is made of celluloid but not bakelite. Top shelf: conch shell legally collected in the Cayman Islands. Second shelf: Painted ostrich egg shell from Cape Town, South Africa; vintage glass fishing float from the Oregon coast; small collection of vintage bottles from here, there and everywhere. My cousin made the glass fish. Third shelf: Pottery is from Guatil, Costa Rica and the elephant book ends were hard won in negotiations in Kenya. HARD WON. Bottom shelf: Statue from the Dominican Republic (love the way that the African influences are so evident in the traditional art there) and the key bowl is from Kenya. Pretty book ends I got at one of those rocks and minerals stores at the mall when it was going out of business when I was still in high school.
Doorway. The picture is from Kenya.
Such a ham.
Okay, now a tour of the kitchen.
From the back of the kitchen. My kitchen is small, so we mounted a bunch of shelves from Ikea on the wall to give more space. My boyfriend found the table on the street and we de-rusted and repainted the legs. It was perfectly good. The chairs I ordered - I love those folding chairs but they did not come cheap. I originally wanted to get 8 or them, but I ended up only getting two because they were so pricey.
Chairs!
Standing by the sink, looking backwards. The two white framed prints I got at NYCC and are by Tara McPherson. The CYRK poster is a vintage, 1966 polish circus poster. My boyfriend HATES it, but I love it. The stove and fridge are on the right. The birds on a branch is a painting I got in Xi'an, China.
Sigh, love.
I had chickens in my backyard in Manhattan and this was my egg basket. Sadly urban chickens are illegal in Grand Rapids, MI - but I still have my chicken egg basket!
Looking in from the hallway. The sign was legally acquired at the Museum of American History when I was in college. The bar cart I got at a thrift store - it's probably mid-late 1970s, early 80s.
Close up of the bar cart. The white enamelware water jug is my recycle bucket. I'm looking for something equally cool that will kind of match for my paper recycling.
Vintage cocktail shaker and modern penguin ice bucket.
I like magnets.
Front wall of the kitchen. It sucks.
I got this suncatcher in Portland, OR.
Okay, I think I'm done now.