The Struggle to find Mid-Century Decor – One Room Challenge Week 5

Mid-Century rooms are not the most popular or prevalent style these days.  To create a mid-century style room is a challenge for both the search and the budget.

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Originally this week, I was going to feature our new painted concrete floor for week 5 of the One Room Challenge™.  However, a weekend of rain and temperatures in the 50’s, and a broken finger, have slowed down that process. What I could do this weekend is shop!

When I decided to decorate my new all weather sunroom in a mid-century theme, instead of the wildly popular Farmhouse style, I new it was going to be a challenge.

Mostly because I wanted more than just mid-century inspired furnishings and décor.  I wanted some real vintage items. 

Vintage Mid-century style furnishings and accessories are harder to find, and they can be expensive!

I have read magazine articles where some people have been sourcing vintage mid-century items for years for their homes.

During interior design school, I fell in love with Mid-Century style during my modern design classes.  It helped that my instructor was also a devoted lover of mid-century furniture.  She encouraged a love of all things modern for me.

I started shopping for and collecting mid-century furniture and accessories nearly 15 years ago when we first bought our home. My love for the style of vintage mid-century and this home needed to go together.

Something my budget could not support very often. 

Some of my items are true vintage items, and others are knock-off items that have the right look, but without the vintage price tag.  My practical nature won’t let me go all crazy with it.

My new sunroom will have a mix of both vintage items and knock-off or mid-century inspired items.

I just have to add in here that I am NOT an expert on vintage mid-century items.  There is no way I would trust myself to verify a true mid-century piece of furniture.  I leave that to the experts at the vintage store I shop at.

What I do recognize is the clean lines of the mid-century style furniture and the fun and quirky style of the atomic items. Things we saw on the Brady Bunch show and the Jetsons!  Boomerangs, starbursts, and atomic cats are just fun little icons of the mid-century atomic era.

My sunroom will have a little bit of all of these things just for fun.

I have spent the last month visiting one thrift store after another looking for accessories and furniture for our sunroom.  As much fun as I have had shopping, I am still struggling to find just the right mid-century home décor items for the sunroom.

Just finding something as simple as a new ceiling fan in a modern style took some time.

Thankfully, I found several good options at Home Depot for the ceiling fan and an area rug – which you will see at the final reveal.

At a home goods resale shop I found a retro table lamp that reminds me of the I Dream Of Jeannie lamp (remember that show?).  It just needs a new lampshade.

Or I might use this one I purchased years ago at a now closed vintage store that specialized in things from the 1960s or 1970s. 

Or even this lamp I found at a church rummage sale that I usually display on top of a vintage record player table. 

Either way I think I have the lighting part of the room figured out. 

My dream vintage sleeper sofa that I found at my favorite vintage mid-century store, Mid Mod Collective, was way out of my budget and was quickly scooped up before I could get there to see it in person.  But to be honest, with four dogs in the house and the dog door to their outdoor pen in the sunroom, there is no way I could put a vintage sofa in the sunroom.  I would freak out every time they jumped on it.  Instead, I have found a mid-century style sofa at Walmart online. The look and price is right for my budget.  I will show it off at the reveal. 

I found a fun unexpected item for the room!

There was one item they had at my favorite mid-century store in Knoxville, Mid Mod Collective, I wanted no matter the cost and easily convinced myself to splurge a bit.   I was actually 9th on the waiting list for it and did not even think I had chance of purchasing such a fun item.  So you can imagine my surprise when they contacted me that it was mine if I wanted it!

The sunniest corner of our new sunroom will have this fun retro plant stand!

This retro plant stand is definitely something different. Especially when the majority of home décor items are Farmhouse style these days.  

Farmhouse style is stunning – in a farmhouse. 

But I don’t live in a farmhouse.

Anything in Farmhouse style would look ridiculous in my home.  No matter what, I think a home’s interior design should remain true to the architecture of the home. Mine is mid-century inspired, and I fully embrace it.

I will also be shopping my own home to use things like my Burke Tulip Table, my two knock-off Wassily chairs, and these Boho inspired bowls I made a few months ago.  But I made those before I decided to make the entire room mid-century style so those may just have to find another home.  

And maybe this fun bucket planter.  Another project I made for the sunroom – before I found out that I got the retro plant stand, so it might find a home somewhere else instead too. 

Accessories and pillows have been the biggest challenge, so I will continue to browse thrift stores until the very end of this challenge and shop online at Etsy.com, Amazon and Facebook Marketplace until I find just the right accessories for my new sunroom.   

Until next week,

Revelation 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”