Kitchen retro-chic inspired conviviality is making a huge comeback.  The heart of the home is becoming a haven of activity again, even in the midst of the high tech gadgetry that we find ourselves to be bombarded with, which is supposed to speed every process from cooking, toasting, baking, mixing  and other forms of food preparation to dish and even clothes washing.  Whether millennials or baby boomers, many of us have a palpable fondness for grandmother’s warm and homey kitchen design. There certainly is a demand for vintage and retro-chic appliances which conjure up fond images of the simpler, less complicated days of the  early 20^th Century.

Photo Source: Georgiana Design

Creating that vintage look with its vibrant pastel hues of yellow, mint green, soft blue or vivid red or orange stoves, ovens, refrigerators, mixers and toasters, and even nostalgic dish washers and top-loading washing machines can be accomplished by refurbishing the actual appliances, or having it done by a growing industry of experts, in order to get a real Magic Chef, Wedgewood, Hotpoint,Smeg, Frigidaire  or other “true classic” from back-in-the-day installed and operational once again, with all the sounds, sleek stainless trims, simple lines and silhouettes that evoked feelings of treasured gathering moments in a space where aromas mingled with lots of unconditional love.

Photo Credit: Filipe Dilly

Vintage restorations can be expensive and may require constant appliance repair or washing machine repair, depending on the age of these treasures and whether parts are still available.  Therefore, savvy seekers of these mod and compelling pieces of labor saving equipment, often choose to purchase retro-chic appliances which are new and have been designed to recreate the “vintage look” but  are manufactured with technology, based on the latest industry standards, for efficiency and cost effective maintenance.

Photo Credit: Lilla Blanka

To get the true retro-chic and mod feel you seek and create a space that is the perfect setting for great cuisine, fun feasting, and priceless memory making moments,  don’t feel compelled to purchase all the bells and whistles.  The simplicity of those days when less was more, suggests appliance sales of one or two major pieces, and a few smaller vintage items such as a mixer, blender, or toaster, in order to allow that special warmth and revelry to evolve gently and continue to be of invaluable significance in your kitchen gathering space.

Friends, we are moving and unfortunately do not have room in our new home for my beloved mid-century modern library card catalogs.  I have three identical catalogs, and the measurements are 60″ tall x 40″ wide x 17″ deep.   The library catalogs have tapered MCM legs, are made of solid blonde wood, with 60 drawers each. They are in fabulous condition and are very difficult to find, especially in matching pairs. You’ve seen them before here as a display case for my air plant collection, and they are also so useful as art supply organizers, wine rack, and so much more!

The price is $900 for one or $1600 for a pair, and I’m happy to cut another deal if you buy all three. They are available for pickup in Walnut, in Los Angeles (zip code 91789), are very heavy and would likely require two men to move them. I’m also happy to accept payment via PayPal if you would like to coordinate shipping on your end. Please email me at poetry@poetichome.com if you are interested in giving these treasures a loving home!  Thanks so much!

I’m so excited to finally share with you a project that I’ve poured my heart and styling into, and now we are celebrating the grand opening!  Tailor and Stylist is an online boutique featuring a tightly edited collection of feminine, flattering, and nostalgic clothing.  As many of you know, I’ve worked as a photo stylist for the last eight years with credits in magazines, catalogs, and national ad campaigns, but what you may not know is that my husband was one of the youngest tailors to ever work on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, designing bespoke wardrobes for celebrities and even royalty.  Combining our love for fashion and nostalgia, we’ve teamed up to launch the aptly named Tailor and Stylist, which brings high-styled, well-tailored clothing to you – all at affordable prices.

I think you’ll see my vintage decor aesthetic throughout the collection, lookbook, and photos.  You might also recognize a few of the vintage decor stars from Poetic Home.  I’m so proud to share the Tailor and Stylist lookbook, which was inspired by my favorite poem, “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost.

Here are some of the fun “Poetic Home” inspired pictures that I styled for our website.  Oh, but of course I had to repurpose my library card catalog for those shopping the Tailor and Stylist “shoe catalog”.

And I couldn’t resist having some of my favorite pieces from my vintage typewriter collection enjoy a moment in the spotlight too.  Here’s a photo from our “Find Your Shoe Type” concept, starring an Olivetti Valentine and Red Royal Quiet De Luxe. I promise no typewriters were harmed in the production of the photos. 

And why would a girl need a purse when she could accessorize with an Olivetti Valentine?  I thought this iconic typewriter fit well with our Broadway Bound Jacket and Polka Dot Tights and Red Velvet Art Deco stilettos.  What do you think?

And here are some of my favorite looks from our in-studio shoot, including our adorable Take a Bow Peplum Dress, which is a modern take on the style of the roaring 1920s.

Our Kingston Glamour Dress is just waiting to make a memorable statement at any holiday party this year!

And last but not least, my version of 50 Shades of Grey featuring our Pure Elegant Pleated Maxi Skirt, which coincidentally or not, also happens to be the monochrome it color of the season.

And now the best part – exclusive coupon codes just for Poetic Home readers!  Use code DressPoetic for 20% off through December 17th.  And the first 10 Poetic Home friends will also get a free gift of our antiqued namesake tailor scissors necklace!

I would absolutely love to hear what you think, and if you would like to host a giveaway or coupon code on your blog, please just let me know.  I would deeply, sincerely appreciate my Poetic Home friends helping to spread the word about Tailor and Stylist, a poetic closet from yours truly.

Can I be totally honest with you? I’ve been cursed with design bloggers block, partially because my son is Still. Not. Sleeping. Through. The. Night.  And he will be three in January!   While I have so many design projects planned, they are only in the dusty house that is my mind.

So as I take more time getting my house under control, would you indulge me, as I wax poetic on the blog with more doses of life musings than eye candy?   After all, I just turned 30, triggering a mini identity crisis whose resolution has provided me with new found philosophies.  Since I don’t journal, I was wondering if I could share them here?

Here’s my first piece, written here with a timid heart.  It’s about the cosmic connection between mattresses where we spend 50% of our lives and subsequent life lessons.  Maybe you can relate?

As a child, I slept on Japanese-style mattresses, which essentially meant hardwood boards covered with a quarter inch of quilt.  They were rigid and uncomfortable, much like my childhood.   I’d get smacked with a wooden hanger for grievances as small as spilling milk, so growing up, I never understood why I shouldn’t cry over spilled milk.  Because I did.  A lot.  The lesson?  Children can’t make the bed they sleep in, but when you’re an adult, you can tell you dad to f*ck off until he’s willing to apologize and take responsibility for his actions.

After graduating from Cal and moving to Hawaii, I bought my first adult mattress on a meager AmeriCorps volunteer salary.  It was a king-sized, bright pink mattress from the 1970s with a faded floral pattern.  It cost $20 and came from a garage sale in a very sketchy part of Honolulu.  I certainly wasn’t looking for a king sized bed, and I became a small island in the vast ocean that was my saggy bed.  It made my loneliness, being in a new city 5000 Pacific Ocean miles from my friends and family, much heavier to bear at night.  All I had was the company of the squeaky springs of the mattress.  If I listened closely, I could almost hear the sad, jubilant, and nasty stories this old mattress could tell.

After sleeping in the Ocean of Loneliness, I soon fell hard for the first boy to come my way.  Of course, being both model gorgeous and a struggling musician, he was easy to fall for, with his finely sculpted olive body, dark twinkling eyes, and stories he would tell through song on his guitar.  All of my senses were addicted to him, but it turned out, he was addicted to cocaine.  The lesson?  Don’t jump at the first thing that comes your way bearing stories in paradise.  And most importantly, don’t buy a king sized bed when you’re single!

Flash forward to healthier times, when an absurdly funny, truly charming, and classically handsome man’s steel moral compass drew me to him like a magnet.  When this boyfriend (now husband) and I moved in together, we slept on his mattress, which was expensive, plush, and entirely too soft.   It was like most falling-in-love chapters, when you go out to expensive dinners every week that are probably beyond your budget and spoon feed each other creme brulee.   That beautiful time when all of life’s realities, your fears, and your weaknesses are enveloped by the soft yearning of new love.

We slept on this luxurious, soft mattress atop an ottoman bed until our relationship progressed to the next stage, when the haze of infatuation wears off, and you are left with real love, when you can say what you mean without any fear the person will run out on you in the middle of the night.  This was the point that I actually realized his dreadful ex had slept on this same exact mattress too, and I freaked out with hot tears, the cold shoulder, and the “don’t you dare f*cking touch me” line.  How could he make me sleep on the same bed as HER?  Right?  Being the amazing man that he is, he went out and bought a new mattress that day.  The lesson?  Clearly, this would be the man I would marry.

Years later, when we learned I was pregnant, I went into an organic frenzy.  I gave away all my synthetic fabric clothes, stopped painting my nails, ditched my cell phone, and ate only organic foods.  I then bought an “organic” mattress by Danny Seo, which was simply greenwashed because it was still polyurethane foam, just blended with a little soy to make it “eco-friendly.”  RIGHT.  The entire left and right sides of the mattress collapsed, which meant that I ended up sleeping in the middle gutter, with my husband’s chest hair taking full-time residence in my nostrils all night.   The lesson?  Don’t kill yourself (and your olfactory glands) trying to be 100% green.

Now, as parents, we sleep on a very firm latex mattress, which is highly supportive, with just enough memory foam topping softness to be perfectly comfortable.  The lesson?  A happy marriage has a solid foundation of unwavering support and healthy boundaries, with a memory foam layer that always remembers how to handle each other’s hearts, aches, and insecurities with the perfect softness.  And maybe latex, but only if you are both into that.

We have an extra guest room in our house, but no one would know it, as it is currently our free-for-all storage mess.  I’m slowly beginning to bring sanity to the room, and the first step is to decide on a guest bed.  A fantastically budget-friendly option I’m considering is pallet beds, although I am also in love with the style of the French Loire style beds from www.wooden-beds.com too.  I’ve written on the toxicity of pallets before, but if you wear proper protection when you sand them down, it should minimize any of the chemicals and bacteria present on the wood.  Nonetheless, I would not use repurposed pallets in my son’s room, but since a guest bedroom is rarely used, I feel more comfortable with it.  Here are six wide-varying inspirations for DIY wood pallet beds, ranging from masculine chic to minimalist and all the styles in between.

One of the first ever pallet beds I saw, this comes from a stylist’s beautiful apartment in Paris, as showcased on DesignSponge.

I love the wabi sabi feel of this pallet wood bed seen via Bodie and Fou, which has been left au natural.  Keep in mind that not all pallets are created equal; some are meant to be thrown away after a few uses, while others have higher quality wood for long-term pallet use.  The latter is most ideal for a DIY bed project.

Who knew that a pallet wood bed could be so masculine chic, as seen via Platform Bed?  I love the rich wood colors of the pallet here, which has also been extended into the DIY nightstand.  So lovely!

Whether Scandinavian or shabby chic, a wood pallet bed can be the perfect accent painted in white, as seen via Vtwonon.  It would also look lovely in a Belgian soft gray.

While firemen may not approve of the candle setup of this bed, and it is not particularly my aesthetic, I do love the inspiration via Indulgy nonetheless!  Using pallets larger than your mattress gives you a convenient space to stash your bedside treasures – and a few extra  candles too (perhaps fire-safe LED ones).

Pallet beds can also be brought outside as day beds!  This is a brilliant DIY by Prudent Baby with step-by-step instructions on how you can achieve the look at home too.

While totally different in design, this is the French Loire bed style I really like too, and it would give my guest room a completely different feel than if I went with the pallet bed.  What do you think?  Should I be budget-friendly and have a pallet bed for my guests, or should I splurge and pamper my visitors and the room with a French style bed?  Decisions, decisions!

Now that we are a bit more settled in Los Angeles, we are contemplating painting some of the rooms in our home.  Despite all of the vintage furniture pieces I have liberally painted, I have very little experience painting actual walls.  Where’s a gal with a vintage soul to start?  Vintage paint colours, but of course!  Vintage inspired paint hues are enjoying a tremendous revival, but what better way to find inspiration than the original ads and paint swatches?

I love the cheerful hues in this 1956 Benjamin Moore paint ad (found via vintageadbrowser.com), although I am positively sure it would be impossible for me to look as graceful as the lady on the left painting the chair.  Or maybe if I buy myself some Benjamin Moore paint, I could look so ladylike!  The subliminal advertising is working on me…

How fabulous (slight pun intended) is this house and advertisement from the 1950s?  I would have never independently picked yellow trim and red roof, but it is the perfectly daring combination for a mid-century modern home.

Speaking of wall colors, here is an advertisement where the toilet seat complements the bathroom wallpaper.  Why didn’t I think of this before?  Joking aside, the combinations are quite sweet and cheerful.

If you are planning or have recently painted your home, please let me know what colors you picked.  I’d love to hear and see photos too!

As a small child, I always loved watching my glamorous, high-society grandmother getting ready for the day at her well-stocked dressing table.  She would pick out the perfect red for her lips, delicately dust her face with a pink pouf, and choose the perfect sparklers from her mind-boggling jewelry collection.  While not used often today, dressing tables are feminine, chic, and most importantly of all, far more comfortable and flattering than our bathroom countertop!  If you are looking for a way to tame your makeup collection in your powder room, consider adding a dressing table as part of your collection of fashionable and luxury bedroom furniture.  If you’re still not convinced, be inspired by these silver screen dames who look simply marvelous getting primped at their dressing tables.

Yes, this is Betty and Marilyn both at a dressing table together.  The trio looks so gorgeous!

I’m in love with the French Provencal lines of Carole Lombard’s dressing table.   Even if you have no where to go, at least where you get all dressed up is fabulous!

Sweet Audrey Hepburn’s dressing table is organized, simple, and shows how little makeup this true beauty really needed.

Barbara Stanwyck’s dressing table has just the right touch of functionality and Hawaiiana.

Today, we have YouTube and our favorite fashion and beauty bloggers for makeup advice.  However, decades ago, there was only beauty school, taught by men, but of course!  Nonetheless, I love the curvy lines of these dressing tables that are petite, perfectly charming, and lovely inspiration to help you  find a modern dressing table.

After living in Maui, right next to the rainforest on the Road to Hana, I became enamored with bromeliads, and specifically, air plants.  After all, what’s not to love about a plant that seems to spring out of thin air, requires no soil, and only needs watering in the sink once a week?  Air plants are the “it” plant for 2012, as they have endless display possibilities.

For my first air plant display, I decided to go all out, and I have a dozen air plants, technically called tillandsia.  I have displayed all of them in one of my vintage library card catalogs, and I think the end result is a botanical cabinet of curiosities!  What do you think?

Here is a closer view of the air plants.  There are so many different species, each with its own texture, color, and style.  I only put the air plants in the top section of the card catalog, as I didn’t want my little one bumping his head on any of the drawers.

And here is a card catalog of mine from many years ago.  Clearly, I’ve always loved putting plants in card catalog drawers, but air plants have allowed me to take it to another level!

Have you too been bitten by the air plant bug?  I’d love to hear!

Laundry rooms and I have always had an eclectic relationship.  When my husband and I lived in the Hollywood Hills, our laundry room was outside on our deck, which was tucked into a gorgeous hillside with trailing leaves and lush foliage.  I loved doing laundry there – until the raccoons decided to live under our deck and torment our dogs.  When we lived on the slopes of Haleakala on Maui, next to the rainforest, our laundry room was also outside, which was fabulous unless the trade winds were not blowing – meaning the mosquitos were biting me as I was sorting our colors.  Now we have a somewhat “normal” laundry room in Los Angeles, which is jammed in a tiny room that dumps us out into the garage.  At least we have garage doors by Garaga!

Did you know that the average American household does 400 loads of laundry every year, according to the California Energy Commission?  That means we spend an inordinate amount of time washing, drying, folding, and ironing!  To help make our time in the laundry room as pleasant as possible, I’ve rounded up four charming, vintage inspired laundry rooms that can easily take the pain out of cleaning stains!

From Southern Living comes an enchanting laundry room in a relaxing soft blue (specifically, Sherwin-Williams Waterscape) that is especially lovely on the wood plant walls and ceilings.  Vintage charm from the porcelain enamel pendants makes laundry time lovely both day and night.  Using open shelving with glass jars makes the room feel airy, while lending aesthetic appeal.  With the washing machines and dryer tucked neatly under the black soapstone counter, I would not mind laundry day so much if it were in this charming room!

White and light grays are the perfect backdrop to clean laundry, as beautifully showcased by Cabbages & Roses.  The vintage accents, ranging from the tin sign and wash board to the metal canisters artfully holding detergent, can infuse personality into any laundry room.  I especially love the curtains below the counter, perfectly accenting the deep farmhouse sink.

The vintage industrial ambiance of this laundry room from Elle Décor tops my list!  I just love how the garden room and laundry room can live together so harmoniously.  The deep trough-like sink, vintage bottle drying racks (perfect for drying intimates – genius!), and the fantastic collection of galvanized watering cans make me swoon.

Home & Harmony  has created such a warm, relaxing, and achievable laundry room, and I especially love the vintage industrial touches throughout the room, like the galvanized locker-style baskets and the hanger, which are such genius organizing ideas.  Even the fruit baskets tie in beautifully with the entire feel of the room, along with the warm texture of the Roman blinds.

I’m inspired to transform my laundry room dungeon into a place that can cleanse my soul – and our family’s socks.  How about you?

I’ve been immersed in so many projects, which will be fun projects to share here soon and a site redesign and very exciting announcement – along with a new way for buyers and sellers of library card catalogs to connect through Poetic Home!

For those who are knitters, you may enjoy some of my posts over on KnittingYarn.com, where I am a contributing blogger.  My first post was about repurposed knitting yarn storage ideas that I hope you too may find inspirational, whether for organizing your knitting yarn or other crafty supplies.  How could I not start with a repurposed post?  It’s in my bones!

Some of my favorite repurposed storage ideas that I share on Knitting Yarn include bits+bobbins‘ library card catalog sewing center, as seen above, along with the antique china cabinet that ABC Dragoo used to gorgeously display the rainbow of knitting yarn on spindles, as seen below.

I wish everyone a wonderful start to 2012 and look forward to resuming poetic posts soon!