LATEST THRIFTING SCORES!

I'm working on a project for my favorite type of client ... the kind who understands that a mix of old and new is the absolute best way to achieve a lovely layered, put together room, and who trusts me enough to let me hunt for vintage pieces and pull the trigger when I find them!  
Because that's really the way this process works best ... great vintage scores must be scooped up before someone else gets them, so having the autonomy to do that in a project is key.  The usual process of presenting ideas and getting purchase orders approved is slooooww and doesn't work so great in this instance.  I'm always happy to have a client who "gets" that and lets me do my best work as a result.   
My latest vintage scores! 
Here's what I've found for this project so far at my local thrift stores, antique haunts, and the famed Rose Bowl Flea Market.  All of these pieces are now at the refinishers getting gussied up with glossy new lacquer finishes, and once you see these "befores" you are going to LOVE the "afters!"
For the master bedroom:
a pair of campaign nightstands...

People you can NEVER go wrong with a good campaign chest.  There are just SO many directions you take them in!

Emily Henderson

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Emily Henderson

Remember this campaign dresser makeover I did?  Check out the "before" version in the tour of that gorgeous home that I posted here.  You won't believe the transformation!

Rosa Beltran Design

I also scored a lovely traditional highboy dresser for the master bedroom that will go either ivory or soft grey, I haven't decided. vintage highboy dresser...

Inspiration for the dresser ...

Next up for the guest room is a vintage desk and chair to re-do.  My client begged to re-create this orange and cobalt bedroom she saw and loved from a previous project of mine ... it was actually the reason she came to me in the first place, because of this happy room :)

Rosa Beltran Design

a little writing desk to 

paint(in orange or white, 

what's your vote?)...

a windsor chair to pair with the desk 

(in either orange or white, whatever color the desk is not)...

Now on to the living room, where I'm using this vintage solid wood cabinet to house the dvd player and other media components:

a vintage chest for the media cabinet...

The lines are clean and simple and I really think that once it's been lacquered and the hardware changed to simple brass rings it will be reminiscent of this stunning console my carpenters once built for me for a lovely English Colonial home I decorated (which you can check out here and here.)

And lastly while at the Rose Bowl Flea Market on Sunday I found this long regency-style cabinet that I'm having painted and turned into a window seat bench by adding a top with an upholstered box cushion:

a regency cabinet to become a 

window seat bench...

It will wind up looking a little something like this ...

That's what's up in my world!  Thanks for stopping by :) Happy hump day.

SNEAK PEEK: BRASS & PEACOCK BLUE LEATHER DINING CHAIRS!

You guys!  I picked up the prototype for my peacock blue leather dining chairs that I told you all about here,  here, and here.  
Inspired by all these gorgeous metal dining chairs below, I was excited to find a set of mid-century director chairs made right here in LA by a company called Virtue Brothers.  I actually found the first 2 in an antique store, and scored the remaining 4 on Craigslist.  I've since seen them listed on Etsy and Ebay as well.

via

The chrome finish on my vintage chairs was in need of refinishing, so I opted to have them professionally powdercoated in a matte brass tone.  Of course electroplating with real brass would have been the most fabulous option, but it's super pricey.  Powdercoating is an ultra durable baked-on paint finish, and at Tortoise Industries here in LA it runs $350 for a "batch" (which can include anything from your metal furniture to your bicycle to your stair railings.)  

I debated about the color of leather to replace the vinyl with, and thought long and hard about a peacock teal blue...

 I am SO glad I went with this choice...I love it!!  The teal blue and brass look great together!

This combo is just wildly better than the cognac shade I first considered, which is my usual favorite "go-to" color for leather ... just look at Amber's inspiring shots here to see what I mean about that.  But in this case it was just too much brown on brown on brown.

It won't be long until I can show you images of these chairs situated in my dining room with the new wall art I'm dying to tell you all about!  Hint: it's another one of those DIY large scale photographs I like to do ... you're gonna love, I promise.

SCALLOPED SIDE TABLE MAKEOVER

This pair of little lovelies were looking a bit unloved down at my local junk shop, and I just didn't have the heart to leave them.  Sitting there all alone there.  

Well actually first they looked like this.  Until I got my DIY-lovin' little hands on them.  

I'm like a PETA sort at the animal shelter...except my obsession is furniture and objets d'art.  Just kidding.  I'm a big ol' animal lover.  But I do find it easier and more socially acceptable to continually adopt furniture and small inanimate treasures than I do to be constantly bringing home new pets.

So I did.