A New Kind of Play for an Old Toy Chest

Grandpas are special.  They let you eat sugary cereals and watch early morning cartoons when you’re parents are out of town.  They slip you gas money before you drive back to school.  They build things in their basement workshop and teach you all about their tools.  And sometimes they even give you the old family toy chest he built for your mom and her siblings and tells you to “have at it!”

 If you’re popping by from Apartment Therapy, welcome!  We are StyleMutt Home, a sister-in-law duo  (Chelsea & Cate) who love to mix and match a myriad of styles in the pieces we refinish and the spaces we design...

Now my husband (Chelsea's brother) and I don't have any kids of our own yet so I was challenged to rethink what else I could do with this piece of family lore.  So I got to thinking... what if it could still be used for a more grown-up sort of play...

It was a simple transformation really.  I took the lid off the toy chest and flipped it on it’s side to screw in some hairpin legs I had from a thrifted find and boom: record player stand.

Inspired by grandpa's original paint color, I refreshed the muted black paint on the exterior. of the box.

But for the interior I couldn’t bring myself to sand out the assortment of dings.  To me, they are the map of a playful childhood.  

So I just waxed the wood to at least give it back its buttery sheen.

It turns out that the chest is the perfect size for a standard LP sleeve!

For the styling, I used plumb foliage (scavenged from the parking lot no less) + DIY moon phase chalkboard art + a framed floating ghost lady (taken from Gustav Klimt's Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer ).  To me, they all subtlety tip their witches' hats to Halloween without being overly ghoulish.

Adding legs gave it the height it needed to be used as a record cabinet or even a bar - either way it's ready for a more grown-up type of play.

And as much as I’d love to keep this bad boy in the family, we simply don’t have the space!  So DC Metro area: my loss is your gain.  If you are interested in this piece - pop over to our shop to get more info.  

Hairpin Legged Record Cabinet
Now Available for Sale

Mid-Mod Dining Chairs

Not even two weeks into the summer and somehow I managed to get my hands on some Brody mid-century modern dining chairs!  Can I get a holla?!?!  Except there was only one problem...

 They looked like this:

See that splitting vinyl??  Tres tragique!  What's worse was even the underside of the chairs had instructions on how to care for the upholstery.  Someone had seriously neglected these puppies in a past life...

I motion that they add to the *DON'TS column: "Do not give to frat house or wreckless bachelor" (which is how I got my hands on them).

Since the original vinyl was so SHOT, I  had no choice but to replace the fabric.  New upholstery challenge accepted! 

As is my usual reupholstery MO, I went with a cream linen that really lightened up their silohuettes.

In a perfect world, I would've restored the original fabric.  But the seats and the backrests were truly unsalvagable.  The back panels, however, where in mint condition so after some jerry-rigging, I found a way to keep them for a two-toned contrast.

The chairs' original swivel chrome bases were in excellent shape as well. 

The backrests had some cute keyhole detailing - which I'm not gonna lie, was one of the trickiest parts of the reupholstery project.

But those wishbone keyholes, coincidentally, inspired the unconventional staging wall-art.

And (of course), I couldn't style a chair without my favorite Kilim pillow kid (shhh don't tell the others).

Is it just me or do they look like a chorus line?  

Let's practice that high kick ladies.

If you're in the D.C. Metro area and are looking for a set of dining chairs (or even some occasional or desk chairs if that's what you're in to) - hit me up.

Mid-Mod Dining Chairs
Now Available for Sale
$175 each/ $600 for the set

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

Milo Baughman Dining Chairs

Hi guys! I'm back from the trenches of a two week long virus that wiped out my kids...slowly...and one by one. Talk about long days spent in my bedroom, (the selected 'quarantine room'), sitting with each sickie at a time! It was after the first week that I decided, out of boredom, to jump on Craigslist and browse the pickins in our vast DC metro area. That's when I spotted the chairs that would bring me back to the land of the living!

It was a set of 8 Milo Baughman cane back chairs with black leather seats. The wood was scuffed up on most of the chairs and one had a tear right in the middle of it's backrest. I strapped in my sickie du jour, puke bucket and all, and drove to pick them up beating the next person interested by 5 hours. What a rush!

But so worth it.

Is it obvious how inspired I was by Cate's formerly available mid-century chairs and currently available settee?! These chairs are like the love child of both of those flips. (Don't think too much into that haha!) Anyways, I decided to pull the best six of my set and reserve two to play around with and sell as a pair later. I revived the wood on the set of 6 with oil, cleaned up the leather, and now they're just so devilishly handsome they're breakin' my heart!

Each chair is stamped and tagged underneath as proof of their manufacturing. They are original Milo Baughman for Dillingham chairs and I've found them over and over online between $1,500 and $2,800. I honestly don't know if my hands have ever touched a piece so valuable! I didn't want to change their look, but rather revive them for glory days yet to come.

Milo Baughman Dining Chairs Set of 6
SOLD
Please contact me at chelsea@stylemutthome.com if interested in custom order like them!

Thank you all so much for coming by!