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House Call: Tonya & Bryan's Vintage Mix

Names: Tonya & Brian
Location: Tennessee

Tonya and Bryan have pulled together a great looking home filled with vintage pieces. They write: Our home is 2 bedroom, 1200 square feet and was built in 1936. We like the older style of the home so we have made no major modifications, only paint, new flooring, light fixtures and new windows. When we bought the house it had holes in the walls, torn wallpaper, old light fixtures, a moldy basement, loose parquet flooring you could move around like puzzle pieces and dry rotted window frames. We corrected all the cosmetic issues and then the rest was just decorating to our taste....

 
 

We love white, bright red and green. Sounds like Christmas until you see we mix in a lot of other colors too. We love vintage and have lots and lots of Etsy finds scattered about. Only the essential furnishings in our home that should be bought new, like the mattresses, were bought new.

We live in a pretty conservative town where everyone’s home looks like it was decorated straight out of Ethan Allen’s gallery. So, it feels good when we have guest over that tell me that our home has motivated them to go their own way and stop decorating for those who might visit instead of those who live there. Most people plunder around the whole time they are over just looking at all there is to see.

My biggest surprise was having a lady who was quite elderly just take over and start giving tours of the home at a cast party that we had for the local theater. Our house is decorated like tweens live here because we both enjoy toys so much. It really surprised me that someone older would enjoy it so much too.

Thanks, Tonya & Bryan!

Photos: Tonya & Bryan

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Comments (29)

Some fun elements and colors! But brace yourself, for the comments on the 'Keep Calm' poster!

posted by LuvModern on March 23rd 2009 at 8:32pm
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Love it!!! Love the mixture of colors!!! thanks for sharing with us :D

posted by mariachigirl126 on March 23rd 2009 at 8:35pm
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By the way,

where did you get that "keep calm poster"? Lol

Luvmodern seen that one coming!! lol :D Thanks ;)

posted by mariachigirl126 on March 23rd 2009 at 8:39pm
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That green. That gorgeous, mid-century/arts and crafts bungalow green. I love it. Name please?

posted by Miriam on March 23rd 2009 at 9:19pm
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Love love love the plates display. And I usually don't like them at all.

posted by auburny on March 23rd 2009 at 9:37pm
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Definitely a fun home! The plates display is awesome and I love the mix of furniture.

posted by suzy8track on March 23rd 2009 at 9:39pm
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It doesn't surprise me one bit that an older person would love your cute apartment! It looks so much like my Nana's apartment when I was a kid, very cozy and old-fashioned, and the same type of furniture. I'm surprised young people like that look, not surprised older people would like it. Looks great!

posted by MansardRoof on March 23rd 2009 at 9:50pm
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well done with the plates!

posted by melanie8 on March 23rd 2009 at 9:55pm
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I LOVE your place! Thanks so much for sharing it with us! I love all of your vintage touches and have been on a green/red kick myself!

Behind the TV ... is that a Margaret Kilgallen 'Fancy" print? If so, where on earth can I get one???

posted by peppermint-lover on March 23rd 2009 at 10:09pm
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love the plate display... and that green paint color!
what color paint is that?

posted by erinpearce on March 23rd 2009 at 10:23pm
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where is the "Fancy" print from????

posted by amandadom on March 24th 2009 at 6:03am
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Lol, PowerPuff girl pillow! Love your place and also like the wall of plates! Nice.

posted by E.I.F. on March 24th 2009 at 7:20am
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luv luv luv those plates. Im like auburny, i dont really get down with the plates on the wall, but this is really cute.

Also diggin that coffee table!

posted by ndoublel on March 24th 2009 at 7:39am
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Very cute place! Did you guys paint the fireplace or was it already painted? We keep finding houses that have REALLY ugly bricks that don't seem to match and always think "oh, we can just paint them" but it's such a scary thing, to paint something like bricks. I like how yours turned out. :)

And I really like your plates!

posted by Erin Lang Norris/Yellow Canoe on March 24th 2009 at 7:49am
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I love the plate display. How are they secured to the wall?

posted by pearfreak on March 24th 2009 at 8:07am
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The fancy painting is a collaboration I did with Bryan. He drew and I filled in. It is our little tribute to Margaret Kilgallen because we love her work so much. We used the word Fancy because I couldn't recall her ever using that word in her work.

I will have to check about that paint color but I’m sure I can find it somewhere.

We used plate hangers to hang the plates. You can find them in the hardware section of most department stores. They are very inexpensive.

The fireplace was already painted when we bought the house but it was one of the things that drew us here. I wouldn’t hesitate to paint a brick fireplace now that I’ve seen how well it can be done. If it had been left up to me on the start, I would probably have been too scared to try.

We have a home set on flickr if you’d like to see more of the house. These are just a small sampling. You can find the set here.">http://www.flickr.com/photos/uglyisthenewpretty/sets/72157612319506099/">here.

I get the keep calm thing. It does need replacing but I'm still happy to have help out with buying handmade.

Thanks everyone for your kind words. They are very much appreciated.

posted by tonyaru on March 24th 2009 at 9:34am
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Great use of colors. I especially dig the assymetrical plate display rounding the corner.

posted by evad on March 24th 2009 at 9:43am
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Your right about how conservative the town is, and everyone's home looks straight out of Ethan Allen's my father in law lives there as well and what do you think his house looks like it was decorated straight out of Ethan Allen’s! Nice to see something different cute house! If yall buy used don't forget Watertown's mile long yard sale coming up I found a few vintage pieces there last year great little town!

posted by Puddin POP on March 24th 2009 at 10:08am
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I like how your plate arrangement makes them look like bubbles floating up the wall. Very lovely home.

posted by heather77 on March 24th 2009 at 11:56am
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love how that dresser tucks into the corner... and the lamp that's the same color as the walls... very nice!

posted by sunan on March 25th 2009 at 11:34am
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"So, it feels good when we have guest over that tell me that our home has motivated them to go their own way and stop decorating for those who might visit instead of those who live there."

I have been in homes that are decorated for the latter and, while they are magazine lovely, I can never imagine how people are content to live, sprawl, curl up in such houses. Good for you! Your space looks like people live there, and that's a good thing.

posted by dianalily on March 25th 2009 at 6:57pm
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The way you've arranged your plates is so appealing. I don't even like plates!

posted by Where You Hang Your Hat on March 30th 2009 at 8:56am
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I like the way you didn't put the lamp-stand in the "obligatory" corner. It is the off center decor that makes it feel funky and classy at the same time.

posted by baileyb on April 4th 2009 at 6:46pm
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beautiful use of colors, I love this home. . .

posted by bcthree on April 6th 2009 at 10:34am
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This is so dang cute! Love the sofa.

posted by Jesse Lu on May 8th 2009 at 9:04pm
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please oh please what is that gorgeous color green called?
:)

posted by jennybasel on June 22nd 2009 at 2:06am
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ah yes and the lamps? I adore them!

posted by jennybasel on June 22nd 2009 at 2:21am
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what a great mix of modern vintage. where do you shop vintage in that area? In my quick 2 day stay, it seemed TN was similar to TX and hidden pockets of Cal; lots of mid century that you can happen upon.

posted by ashleynorth//thewanderous on July 1st 2009 at 1:34pm
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Love your home!! The post for more pictures of your home does not work:(

posted by elmaelsiena on July 1st 2009 at 7:14pm
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