If you love the idea of bright interiors, clean looks, and crisp lines, …..mid-century furniture is just about the only thing you could buy which can be new and old at the same time.   Mid-century furniture has timeless composure, and a classic simplistic appearance, that most designers would consider it a great buy.

Mid Century Modern 10-Drawer Double Tall Dresser with Metal Legs, Nature and Rose Pink $696 Amazon

“Midcentury modern” loosely defines a design trend in architecture, furniture, and graphic design from the middle of the 20th century.  From 1933 to 1965, millennials were tired of the closed cramped interiors of the older homes, and were drawn to the open floor plans and the latest looks the new world had to offer after the war.  Boomers raised in the country wanted a change, and found the city life a fresh start.

Most boomers didn’t grow up with the high-end furniture …..Herman Miller, Knoll and teak Danish designs, because like back then, the costs were premium.  Frankly, today they are out of reach for most of our pocket books.  Although, if you look around at flea markets, thrift stores, and heck...craigslist, you can find very affordable mid century pieces that just need an update.

While many mid-century collectors would watch in horror, and scorn the idea of painting a piece from the mid century,…. there are some pieces that just look dated, old and out of style.  If you do find a mid century piece, and are considering updating it…..  go for white.  Look through the pieces at Joseph Anfuso’s collection as they seem to have a handle on transforming these pieces into absolute beauties!

White paint really shows off the design, and at the same time, gives it a fresh appearance.   Over the last 15-20 years we have seen a more refined color palette focused around whites and grays.  Simple, yet elegant has been the trend, and one that I think won’t go out of style.

Consider spraying these pieces with a white paint with a flat or a slight satin egg shell finish such as Rust-Oleum’s Enamel Paint in White Satin.  The oil based paint will allow you to skip the sanding, which often can cause scratches to the wood.

Go a little modern in your house, by working with vintage furniture! Update it with a new fresh look.  Get an idea what mid century dressers cost on Ebay.  Want something other than white for your 70’s pieces?  Here is a post with 10 examples of mod dressers with color.  In this article we show you the very best colors to go for when working with this style.  See it at  The Kids Room Decor

 

Mid Century Lacquered Credenza after Vladimir Kagan From Joseph Anfuso 20th Century Design

Mid Century Tapered Leg Lacquered Credenza From Joseph Anfuso 20th Century Design

Mid Century Floating Lacquered Credenza From Joseph Anfuso 20th Century Design

Sleek Mid Century Lacquered Credenza From Joseph Anfuso 20th Century Design

Hollywood Regency Curved Front Credenza From Joseph Anfuso 20th Century Design From Joseph Anfuso 20th Century Design

Circa 1960’s Galleried Credenza Joseph Anfuso 20th Century Design

Floating Lacquered Wardrobe From Joseph Anfuso 20th Century Design

Mid Century Brass Appointed Lacquered Credenza From Joseph Anfuso 20th Century Design

Mid Century Decorating and Furniture

Hollywood Regency is great because it can be put together with inexpensive, good quality thrift store & flea market finds, mixed in with a few high end luxuries.

Magnificent Hollywood Regency Style Mirrored Commode vintageluxuriesnj on ebay.

How To Select The Right Mid Century Modern Furniture For Your Home

(Author AtiqUr Rehman )

Making the right choices when it comes to choosing furnishings can be essential to have long lasting pieces for years to come. You should not only focus on style of the furniture, but also the upholstery, constructing materials, and wood should be factors in determining high quality furniture

Furniture Materials:

Solid wood furniture:

Wood furniture doesn’t break down with time, it actually gets better. Over the years, wood can actually look rustic and distressed, making wood the top grade material when it comes to furniture. Hardwood is actually cut from deciduous hardwood tress most commonly oak and maple. This wood is most frequently used in home furniture and cabinetry.

MDF:

MDF is also known as engineered wood. This wood is made up of many wood fibers glued together under heat and pressure. The benefit of MDF is that it gives almost same look as solid wood, which allows it to be shaped easily.

Wood veneer:

Wood veneer are thin slices of real wood which adhered to surface of furniture giving it a rich appearance of real wood. This type of wood is mostly used to make table tops, end tables, accent tables, accent chairs and more.

Wrought iron and stainless steel:

Wrought iron refers to the iron which is hammered and then bent into different shapes. Stain less steel has chromium within it,preventing it from corrosion.

Chrome, steel, and black lacquered wood are common accents for modern or mid century furnishings.

Dux Mid Century Scandinavian Design Wood Frame Sofa, 1960s.

( Author – AtiqUr Rehman )

Modern Furniture Considerations:

Midcentury furniture pieces are characterized by their clean, simple lines. Wood pieces, often made of teak, are simply finished to showcase their natural beauty.

Keep a look out for geometric and angular shapes when it comes to accessories and art. Squares and rectangles are also shapes that are frequently found in the mid century and modern interiors.

Danish modern chairs can be re-upholstered to show off the beautiful wood that they are well known for. Update the upholstery to make them new again.

Midcentury table lamps often are featured tall, because they were at one time designed around lower nightstands and tables. These lamps can are easy to find at vintage stores, and can be updated with spray paint, or metal polish. Look for tall, slim lampshades, and if necessary recover the shade with new fabric.

A Mid century chandelier can instantly add style to your home. Look on Amazon for remakes of these retro modern ceiling lights.

Modern style is a clean, streamlined furniture and architecture style from the 1930s with roots in Scandinavian and German design. Follow designers who do the mid century well. Emily Henderson

Designing Your Rooms

Consider using a neutral color palette when decorating around the modern or mid century styles. Modern style is fairly minimalist, and this goes for the color scheme and furniture itself. Work with an overall color palette of Neutral colors such as beige, ivory, taupe, black, gray, and white. This allows the accessories and furnishings to draw the eye more effectively. It is recommended to keep your interior light, although this isn’t always a rule. Decorators have worked with punchy colors, and darker hues, as long as there is enough natural light. Modern living rooms typically have a lot of light flowing in, and are designed around larger windows that allow maximum sunlight.

For the living room give room for space. Consider drawing attention to a couch which can then complement or contrast with your furniture with rugs, art canvas prints on wall, paintings and other decorative items.

Once you have a base of neutral colored furnishings, add punches of bright color with your accent pieces. Bight color or bold patterns can act as conversation pieces in the modern style living room. Fire engine red, tangerine orange, and lime green can add drama into your space.

Designer Reed Krakoff

Reed Krakoff Architectural Digest

Pair Mid Century Wood and Glass Three Tier Side Tables Judy Frankel Antiques

Mid Century Ike Udechuku and Kathryn Smith Home in Belgium

Metal/Glass Bead Wall Decor $51 On Amazon

Mid-Century Modern Decorating Using Glass

(Author Jason Phillips )

Current home decor trends are focused on simplicity, emptiness, and brightness. Living rooms are painted in nude or pastel shades and bedrooms are adorned with mirrors and structural, contemporary decorations. One of the most convenient and stylish ways to add a bit of spark into your home is to include glass items. Glass tables and chairs, glass bowls and vases, accessories made from glass elements, and even glass flooring or glass stairs are highly appreciated by the modern homeowner.

Translucence and Gauziness

Glass is an amazing material that can be reshaped in a wealth of forms. It doesn’t have to be colorless to widen a living room as there are many colors and patterns homeowners can use to decorate. Use stained glass for the dining table and your guests will feel under water at dinner, or opt for glass accessories in different colors palettes to make a room seem chic and elegant. The material’s gauziness is stirring. If you don’t have a lot of space in the living room, using glass items is an excellent way of making more space.

If your kitchen opens up to the dining areas, you can use glass bricks to maintain a certain level of privacy. Often used in interior decor as dividers, glass bricks will give your home a modern allure, and it will also make it look lighter, cleaner, and more appealing.

Vases and Trays

Vases and decorative trays have multiples purposes in a home. Apart from holding floral arrangements and candles, these items are meant to reflect natural light and broaden a room. Perfect for living rooms that are modern and contemporary, opulent glass vases will certainly make you feel rejuvenated and relaxed. Glass accessories offer visual beauty to a space; they can be used in combination with flowers and other decor pieces to add spark and make guests adore a classic yet chic style.

As far as trays are concerned, we truly love glass and metal trays placed on a modern coffee table (make sure it’s made of glass too, to add continuity and height). If you want to add some innovation to your decor, include trays in unusual colors, sizes and shapes. If you can afford, invest in a statement piece and your guests will certainly be wowed by your taste for intriguing home decor ideas.

Glass Tables & Glass Chairs

It’s not very often that we get to see homes decorated with glass tables and glass chairs. Nevertheless, this idea is perfect in limited spaces such as tiny kitchens and undersized dining areas. This new trend of adding space with glass is absolutely mind-blowing. When used right, glass doesn’t just widen a space, it also makes it seem clean, airy, and welcoming. Tables made of glass gives homes a dramatic appeal. Excellent in living rooms and dining areas, these showpieces are both peculiar and striking, which means your loved ones will certainly appreciate your ingenious taste in interior decor.

Choose a table with shelves underneath, place china set and some books just to fill up the emptiness, yet keep the translucence.

Add cleanness and minimalism to your living room with a ground-breaking coffee table made of glass. Place a tall vase (preferably made of stained glass) on top and some candles. If you’re fond of DIY projects, you can always make your own coffee table with glass elements. Here’s what you need to get started:

·Choose a shape for your table

·Start with the base, which can be: flower pot, some books, chuck of wood, old stool, etc

·Invest in a sturdy piece of tempered glass, which can be: colorless, stained, smoked, tinted, etc.

·Place it on top of the base

·Adjust the positioning

·Use silicone clear adhesive to glue the base to the glass top

·Add decorations

Glass is such an amazing type of material you can use to adorn a space, make it bigger, and more stylish. It comes in a wealth of shapes, colors, and patterns, so you have all the time in the world to decide what fits your home decor and what doesn’t. Make your home shine with glass, purchase unusual elements, add natural light, and make it welcoming for friends and family.

3 Homes With Mid Century Furniture

 Jerry Maggi & Mehall Griffey’s Drawing Room – Italian Elle Decor

3 Homes With Mid Century Furniture

1.  Tuscany Country House With Modern Mid Century Furniture – nuevo-estilo

Paolo and Alessia and their three children live in this beautiful country house in Tuscany among meadows and rugged peaks. The couple found this building in a state of total abandonment. They decided to restore the house and return to origins. ‘The “skin” of the house was left as it was, some walls were removed to let the light in. The original stone floors , whitewashed walls , wooden terraces , beamed ceilings , brick arches were also kept. Picture Credit – nuevo-estilo

2. Renovated Home in Alsace, France

It took almost a year to restore this Belle Epoque house in Alsace, but the owners managed to preserve the original architecture of the house with the large entrance and a central staircase. Fourteen rooms of the house were redesigned in a contemporary style with the mix of contemporary pieces and vintage finds, unusual colors and design furniture and objects.

3. Jerry Maggi & Mehall Griffey’s Drawing Room

The first thing you notice about Mehall Griffey and Jerry Maggi’s apartment in Catania, on the island of Sicily, is the floor. The couple live on the second story of a palazzo in the city’s historic center, and the handcrafted, hand-painted Sicilian tiles were laid when the building went up, between 1860 and 1880.

The Pompeian red and the Mediterranean blue of the bedrooms, the smoky, deep gray of the drawing and dining rooms, and the blood orange of the guest bath, this last specially developed with their painter.  In the dining room, armchairs from a local flea market surround a Saarinen table painted in Farrow & Ball’s Down Pipe; the Murano-glass chandelier is antique, the Neapolitan console is circa 1850, and the plates are by Fornasetti. See more of this house at Elle Decor

Paolo and Alessia’s Tuscany Country House  – nuevo-estilo

Paolo and Alessia’s Tuscany Country House
– nuevo-estilo

Paolo and Alessia’s Tuscany Country House
Modern Mid Century Furniture – nuevo-estilo

 Renovated Home in Alsace, France

Mid-Century Dining Table By Baumritter –Horseman Antiques Inc

Svenska Möbler

Italian Mid-Century Wood and Glass-Topped Round Dining Table –Xavier Nicod

Set of Ten Walnut Dining Chairs Danish Mid Century Modern –SOHO Treasures

Designers from Hollywood’s Golden Age, like Dorothy Draper, William Haines, Jean Harlow, Carole Lombard created a trend when they decorated their homes with overtones of glitz and glamour.  This trending style was eventually called Hollywood Regency.  This modern, rich, extravagent style has been fueled by modern designers like Kelly Wearstler and Jonathan Adler.

Here’s how to adapt a few Hollywood Regency elements to your home decor:

Design With Pieces You Love

Hollywood Regency design is meant to be an eclectic mix of furniture and accessories all within an overall theme of luxury. Consider incorporating furniture and accents that are upscale and luxurious. While there are no rules to Hollywood Regency decorating, one common mistake people make is to throw any design element into the mix. Colonial furniture, or shabby chic furniture wouldn’t naturally work with upscale polished furniture.  Many designers pull Danish, mid- century, Asian  furniture into Hollywood Regency decorating.

Lacquer Furniture

Hollywood Regency focuses on showpieces. Larger furniture often makes more of a presence, so look for grand pieces that will make an impact.  Hollywood Regency style used a lot of bright, glossy colors on furniture. Spray painting furniture with gloss is an easy and inexpensive way to get the look. Black, white, and metals are the most common colors seen in Hollywood themes.

Upscale Fabrics

Velvet and silk are also a common element in many Hollywood Regency themes. Silk pillows, thick velvet drapes, sculpted carpets, raw silk lampshades, velvet upholstered furniture are all marks of the Hollywood Regency design style.

Invest In A Select Few Great Pieces.

For those who truly want to imitate the master designers, a few classic pieces can be a real point of pride. Dorothy Draper and William Haines pieces are recognized to be some of the best pieces in Hollywood Regency furniture.  Make an investment, and buy a large sectional sofa, or wall cabinet. Finding smaller pieces like lamps or side tables in your local area are easier to find and re-purpose. Vintage lamps are very inexpensive and common to find. Update your lamp by spray painting it and pair it up with a modern barrel shade found at your local decorating store.

Rust-Oleum Lacquer Spray in Chinese Red, Lacquer Spray in Clear, Lacquer Spray in White, Lacquer Spray in Canary Yellow, Lacquer Spray in Charcoal Gray,Lacquer Spray in Sail Blue,Lacquer Spray in Cobblestone, Lacquer Spray in Gloss Fern,Lacquer Spray in Red Lobster

Brass sculptures canbe another decorating element which can be found on ebay. Mixing in marble decorating elements can make your home upscale and very rich. Create balance by introducing bold colors and layer in some chinoiserie pieces to give your home glamour.

Lilly Pulitzer Home Collection- The White Dresser Blog

Klismos Chair by Taigan

A pair of unusual and stylish Art Deco period neoclassical style
(Hollywood Regency) candelabra lamps (currently electrified, but may be
converted to candles), each surmounted by a fan of wheat over a fluted
column draped with a swag of beaded chain ending in tassels on a stepped
black marble plinth from which issues an urn flanked by 2 curved candle
arms, fitted with painted wood candles.

Charming brass etagere/bookshelf, consists of four tiers each has embossed red leather top

Set of Eight Maison Jansen Painted Arm Chairs-bamboofurnitureblog.com