2020 Furniture Flip Bucket List

The Beginning of the year means it’s goal-setting time. And around here, that mean’s it’s time for my annual Furniture Flip Bucket List. This is the time of year where many of us reflect on what we’ve done (did you see Chelsea’s 2019 eDesign round-up?) and set our sights on what we want to achieve.

Each year, I like to publicly declare what I’d like to tackle over the coming months. Now I should mention that we’re not afraid of failure (see years 2016 and 2018, and for a laugh - the post script in this post from 2017…) so we release this annual list with a caveat. Yes, this list is meant to be a means of holding myself accountable to my aspirations. But it also comes with preemptive grace when I fall short (and I do). This list allows me to take bigger risks in my creative field and gives me the chance to surprise myself (like the year I built a chandelier from scrap parts)!

In an effort to set myself up for success again, the 2020 Flip List is a short and sweet:

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DIY a Sling Chair

I have long been fascinated with the idea of making my own sling chair. I’ve been tinkering with the frame of an old thrifted chair and a rug remnant I scored from Chelsea to see if I can make something cool and sittable… stay tuned!

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Use These Metal Legs on Something

My typical creative process is to find a raw piece I want to flip before I start sourcing it’s bells and whistles. But every now-and-again I find some hardware or accessory I would love to see in play and I purchase it on a whim. These legs here were an impulse buy from Amazon for a good deal I didn’t want to go to waste. Now I just need to find the right body for these gams…

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Rehab this Dresser

Ok this is an inspiration pic but I did find this exact dresser body on my Facebook Marketplace. He’s been sitting in my garage workshop with some unfortunate damage and sans his original legs (who in their right mind would amputate such a fine specimen?!?!). So now I need to figure out how to best bring him back to life.

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Share my Home More

So I have this notion that I can’t share my home on social media unless I have deep cleaned the place from top to bottom and shoved 67% of our stuff into closets and behind closed doors. I honestly love our little rental and feel compelled to share it more in all it’s glory. This flip list item is really a twofer because it means I will also have to work on taking better indoor pictures on the fly (Chelsea is so good at this - have you seen her Insta?). I can easily snap a pic of a piece in the workshop because I know the angles and my lighting like the back of my hand. But when I try that in our house all I see is dog hair, or baby toys, or an infestation of paperwork. And frankly, when I do share something, social media punishes me for being “off-brand.” Well I’ve decided that that’s just a stupid reason to withhold a piece of myself so get ready to be upset Instagram!

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Apply a Concrete Finish to Something (Anything)

Ever since Leanne Ford started shmearing everything with Roman Clay, I’ve been itching to try this. This year, I’m on the hunt for something that I can apply this concrete finish too to get the look of stone (but without the substantial weight!).

There you have it friends! Here’s to another year of risks and (hopefully) rewards!

Lighting of My Dreams || 2019 Flip List Item No.3

I have a secret weapon when it comes to introducing Caleb to new items in our home. See, my husband isn’t what I would call a fan of sudden changes. When I want to try something new in our home I follow a strict regimen of 1) casually mention the item in conversation 1-15months in advance 2) install it when he’s not home 3) call to warn him about it 4) tell him is just for a trial period if he hates it and 5) never disclose that the “trial period” is indefinite.

This method works to a point but it does not prevent him from griping along the way. So I have a secret weapon for that. The secret is to out-vote him 2-to-1. See, the spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down is getting the dog to love it as much as I do. Think a living room rug is a waste of money? It’s totally worth it when the dog loves to roll around on it. Think a “decorative” old army cot is pointless? Not if the dog starts taking his afternoon naps on it. Think the old coffee table was just fine? Well now the dog can curl up at your feet under this one. Yeah, whatever I manage to drag in usually stays.

Now I have been campaigning for a better dining room light fixture for a year now but I’ve hit a bit of a snag. See, our current rental came with a mal-placed ceiling fan:

To me - this would be the perfect place for the diy chandelier from our last rental. But how do you spin a chandelier as a dog-friendly addition? Needless to say I’ve come up empty.

And then we had a little swing vote this spring.

Somehow Caleb has managed to beat me at my own game. If Caleb hadn’t married me, he probably would have married a ceiling fan… and apparently like father like daughter. Huntleigh’s developing eyesight is really into high contrast these days. And a spinning fan is the equivalent of a high school quarterback. One minute she’ll be playing quietly and the next she’ll be giggling at it from across the room. The longer this flirtation goes on, the stronger Caleb’s position in the matter gets.

Well played Caleb. Well played.

So how do you get a cool dining room light without replacing the ceiling fan? You install this bad boy:

I have actually admired this France & Son light fixture for a long time (did you catch that Chelsea used it in her latest eDesign reveal??). I used to sit in our last apartment and try to justify where I would use it but the scale just didn’t make sense in the bitty living room. When it became clear that this fan had to stay, I went back to imagining it in our new space and resolved to put it on my 2019 Furniture Flip Bucket List.

Now I wouldn’t call my style traditional in any sense, but I do have an appreciation for an old-fashioned look with a twist. We embraced the “traditional” moulding in our rental by painting it (and the walls) in a creamy flat paint and kept it fresh with our unconventional art positioning and eclectic dining set. Then juxtapose a light with odd modern shapes and our cool take on a traditional dining space is complete.

Caleb and I often disagree over form vs function. I always seem to fall in love with pretty things that aren’t always… practical. And Caleb will fight tooth and nail to keep something butt ugly… as long as it’s comfortable. Ha! God knew what He was doing when He paired us together. A marriage of opposing forces sometimes means conflict, but mostly it means compromise. Sometimes Caleb lets me do something he has deemed crazy (like two coffee tables) and other times I try to find an option that is both beautiful (for me) and functional (for him).

This wall-mount light is fully articulating so I can swing it over the dining room table when I want to pretend I have a real chandelier…

And Caleb’s precious ceiling fan can stay.

The oversized wall sconce also adds light to the adjoining living room.

This space is where we spend the majority of our time - which means I can stare and giggle at this light fixture as much as I want (like daughter, like mother). Let me give you a quick tour:

Even though our landlord let us paint the whole space, we didn’t want to wager that he’d be ok with us hardwiring a bunch of things into the wall. The swing arm sconce is a plug-in that we can take with us when we leave. And the TV is surface mounted above the fireplace with a hidden cable box. Can you spot it?

We used a HIDEit Mount to conceal the cable box behind the TV so we wouldn’t have to live with this electrical eyesore:

If you’re renting or don’t want to hassle with running wires through your wall, I highly recommend giving their affordable gadgets a try.

Across from the TV is a lucky $10 find - a mid-century arm chair with mustard vinyl cushions.

He’s guarded by a 20-year-old rubber plant I found on Facebook Marketplace. I knew I’d never be able to grow something this mature from seed so I’m hoping his age means he’ll mostly take care of himself. Maybe just do a load of laundry every now-and-then or need to be let in if he forgets his key?

Baby and dog abstained from voting on the plant, so I resorted to bribing Caleb in order to keep him. Now Caleb has the plant naming rights - and he’s been torturing me with some hilarious (and obscene) titles but mostly we just call him BAP (Big Ass Plant).

Behind BAP are the stairs to the top level and a pair of cabinets from the US Patent Office. I bought them off a retired employee who even had the original patent paperwork for the uniquely designed drawers!

Beyond the dining room, you can see the stairs to the lower level and our sunny kitchen.

And that concludes our main level tour! Like I said before - if he hadn’t married me, Caleb probably would’ve married a ceiling fan. But if I hadn’t married him, I probably would’ve married this light.

That’s a wrap on this year’s bucket list - with 6 months to spare! I can’t promise I’ll be that efficient next year, but I’m already dreaming up some new goals to meet and challenges to tackle.

Five down and that’s a wrap! Catch up on the 2019 Furniture Flip Bucket List.

Chrome Cantilever Chair || 2019 Flip List Item No.2

I know. I know.  I said that my last post would be the last flip before baby.  But what can I say?  She was apparently too comfortable to vacate the premises any earlier than she had to so I’ve been left to my own devices while she takes her sweet sweet time.  Is this any indication of what she’ll be like on the outside?  Heaven help us. 

We all know I love me a good cantilever chair (see here and here).  In fact, I’ve been hoarding a chrome cantilever chair in my workshop for a few months now so it was the perfect quick flip to crank out in my impatient 39-weeks state.

It was a gray vinyl with a speckling of rusty patina on the chrome.  What drew me to it was the mod lines and I started to see it becoming something modern and lux.  Plus it was the perfect opportunity to try out a new decor crush of mine:

Burnt Orange Velvet

We also know that I love me a good terra-cotta color but guys...if you put it in velvet then I’M JUST SMITTEN.

As I said before, the chrome wasn’t in the most perfect but it was easy to shine up for the most part using some wadded up aluminum foil and water.

That velvet - I mean COME ON!!! 

On the back of the chair, I added some matching chrome nailhead trim.

And styled the whole shebang with stark shapes and vivid contrasting colors (also faves of mine): chartreuse and aqua.

Ok that’s it I promise - I’m officially on maternity leave.  The good news is, with baby’s due date being today and all, this means I’ll at least have one more bucket list item to share in the near future - No.5: the Nursery!  So stay tuned for that reveal and Baby H’s big debut!

Burnt Orange Velvet Chair
Now available for sale
$295

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

Three down, two to go. Catch up on the 2019 Furniture Flip Bucket List.