department of the interior: home decor

Don't talk to me, I hate you, too.

it's not a working fireplace, if that helps.

It does, slightly.

there's one in the dining room, too. it doesn't work, either.

Well, you could put fire in it, I would just not recommend it

they're plastered over so you can't even do that! all you can do is arrange things preciously atop the marble mantlepieces.

WHICH I HAVE DONE.

out of curiosity, what does everyone here think a fair average price for a decent sofa should be? I don't really care for the pieces on the Thrive site but the prices don't seem crazy for solid wood pieces with wool upholstery, especially domestically produced.

I need to find a new use for my mantle. I currently just have stuff sitting there that I am too lazy too organize, and an antique clock that's been in my family that probably doesn't fit with my decoration scheme anymore. I had a pair of candlesticks my mom got me, but she repossessed them last week when I was gone when she realized I'll never put them out.

I DIED bringing the useful questions!

Re furniture prices, I am not a grown-up and my salary/lifestyle does not allow me to own grown-up furniture, so I think anything over about a thousand dollars is completely out of reach. I don't know what's fair, though. The only sofa I've ever owned was $50 from Housing Works.

Oh yeah, my actual reason for coming to the thread:

After having a new bathroom exhaust fan installed, including having an expert actually vent it (instead of it just blowing up above the ceiling), I pulled the circular glass diffuser cover off the light over my sink. Discoveries: it is halogen, which is cool and would be awesome if it hadn't been covered by a giant diffuser, and it appears to be covering up another, probably older, ceiling bathroom exhaust fan. So if I replace this light, I am going to need to get creative or patch the ceiling?

I don't really care for the pieces on the Thrive site but the prices don't seem crazy for solid wood pieces with wool upholstery, especially domestically produced.

yeah like i was saying it's pretty much ethan allen prices, the difference being you can get still get good-to-great midcentury stuff for thrive prices (esp if you're avoiding the big DWR names) but you can't really get good condition federal stuff for ethan allen prices

what does everyone here think a fair average price for a decent sofa should be?

LOL what's yr income bracket

My MO if I had a garage or a living room big enough for a couch would be to buy/source an old one off cl and learn to reupholster it.

also, re: sofas -- I was chilling at this awesome designer furniture store in mpls (looking at the few things I could afford), sat on this couch to make some notes on my phone, and noticed as I got up that I was sitting on a $10 piece of furniture

sorry, _$10K_ piece

see why pay thrive $1000 when you can

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-DANISH-TEAK-LOUNGE-CHAIR-RECLINER-OTTOMAN-BAUGHMAN-COGGIN-VODDER-HVIDT-/280807847408?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item416173b5f0

OTOH if you're actually going for the new big brand name stuff

http://www.dwr.com/product/milo-baughman-recliner-fabric.do?sortby=ourPicks

thrive seems to make more sense

i don't know, you gotta craigslist this stuff

i got this no-name midcentury dining set + chairs for $250, the top is laminate but i bet for another $100-200 i could get someone local to make me a new top

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8177/8044595340_87d

bad linky

try again

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8177/8044595340_87d06a960a_b.jpg

good find

not exactly a holy grail find, this stuff pops up on the regular on craigslist for similar prices, this was just the one i grabbed. needs new upholstery probably, but i made friends w/ a lady who is studying upholstery and textile design and i think she can do it for like $20 a cushion

braggin'

I'm sitting at a knockoff Saarinen dining set I got for $200, but I definitely understand why a lot of people might just want to buy a new piece of furniture instead of scouring craigslist and then trying to find someone to reupholster it etc.

but that's fun!

$200 is a good price for a knockoff saarinen, i've seen them going for five or six bills

for some people
xp

(xp) It's fun for people who think furniture is fun! Which is maybe 2% of the population unfortunately.

sadly, 98% of sheeple will never wake up to the awesomeness of thrifting furniture

i would fully pay someone to scour craigslist for me and reel in good furniture, musical equipment, etc
i mean, that's a job in itself really

I got a full cowhide from Spinneybeck (Knoll-owned, atoning for the Saarinen knockoffs) and reupholstered the 4 seat pads and cut a circle of cowhide as a sort of table pad for the 42" table, it's great but I'd really like my next dining table and chairs to be something badass vintage or some custom built millwork.

i think some furniture is fun! i don't think craigslist scouring is fun

there are not a lot of dining sets up right now on my CL but there are mad awesome desks

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/fuo/3308922757.html

this one is actually rather expensive for what it is but still cheaper than new

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/fud/3270748349.html

and a bomb coffee table

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/fuo/3296879840.html

Scouring cl right now because my platform bed is falling apart and I should upgrade to a queen but I can't afford to buy frame and mattress together so I guess...get frame first, then mattress later??

"bomb coffee table" - half-hoped coffee table made out of a bomb :(

mattress first! you won't sleep poorly on a bad frame but you'll sleep poorly on a bad mattress.

i'm sad because i love my bed but i've broken it

I like my mattress!! It's old and it's only a full, and I've always meant to get a queen, but I can put my old mattress on a queen platform more easily than the reverse.

ah well if your mattress is still usable

my mattress is good too but the bed is almost terminal. unless i disassemble it, get some strong-ass wood glue and vice grips, and spend a weekend gluing all the pegs back in place. one of these days it's going to collapse under me, every morning i have to get up and push the pegs back in place

In the UK at least, midcentury stuff is relatively affordable if you go for the domestic brands rather than the famous Danes. Lots and lots of households were kitted out in G-Plan/Stag/etc. from the 50s on. I have a sweet teak/afromosia Austinsuite chest of drawers in perfect condition that I got for <£300, I think it's the same as this one:

http://www.retrospectiveinteriors.com/files/imagecache/product_pop_up/28.11.11%20353.JPG

yeah in america it's like lane and drexel and stewart you want to be looking out for

My mother has an enormous early 70s Lane hope chest. They sure as hell don't make 'em like that anymore.

The problem with bed frames is that I don't really like anything under $800. Bother.

After having the world's worst (read: virtually nonexistent) bedroom furniture for my whole adult life, I bought a dresser/bed frame/nightstand last year. I feel... different.

indoor plant experiment #4!

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8458/8045822625_37d29fc9c2.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8321/8045875603_8a641e0a05.jpg

I am jealous of all your succulents and cacti – I think racking a bunch of those up is my next move. I took some plants home on my scooter and it worked better than anticipated. This is important to do before, say, buying a couch, or any of the more grown-up things on this thread. (I can't get a couch home on my scooter.)

i do live in a habitat suited to these plants

it will def get a lot of light through the window but i hope the glass doesn't fuck up the uv light in some way that will starve it for sunlight

the diatoms in the turtle tank are certainly getting enough sunlight to keep infesting the tank