Ever since we posted on schoolhouse inspired lighting, we've been noticing the style everywhere. However, unlike many trends, this one seems to have enough vintage weight and variations to keep it from going the dated way of many themed decor crazes. What's your take?
My natural style preferences include a bit of rustic, vintage, and industrial elements, so I'm rather smitten with a style that combines all three. Like all good things, the theme can be overdone, but let's explore some examples where schoolhouse style reigns supreme without teetering into the realm of cliche...
• 1., 2., 3. If you haven't yet discovered the beautiful home and photography of Mari Eriksson, you are in for a serious treat. I've been devouring these pictures of her schoolhouse inspired workspace. Subtle and not so subtle touches like metal lockers, maps, and a card catalog turned storage cubbie combine in the room for a look that's super casual but cohesive. Anyone who can make a standard issue file cabinet look purposeful and chic has my vote.
• 4., 5., 6. I keep coming back to Monique and Keith Keegan's Ohio home featured in Country Living last October. Every inch is thoughtfully planned with salvaged pieces and school days inspired collections that have been arranged throughout the home in a way that exudes old school vintage charm with a cozy cabin feel.
• 7. Love it or hate it, large chalkboards can't help but remind us of school, even if they have become obsolete in our own childrens' classrooms due to power point presentations and dry erase boards. I love the idea of using them in the kitchen or bathroom for unexpected rotating inspiration boards.
• 8., 9. I really can't get enough of Lynda Gardner's home, featured on Design Sponge. Nothing is explicitly schoolhouse, but there are little nods throughout the home: vintage pendants with an industrial edge, globes, and yes, a chalkboard wall.
Too theme-y or just right, what are your thoughts?
(Images: 1, 2, 3: Mari Eriksson via angelattable, 4, 5, 6: Country Living, 7: Russel Smith, 8, 9: Design Sponge)
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Comments (12)
table in the last image is really cool. Perhaps that is something that Restoration Hardware should consider copying
Images 8 and 9 are inspired by the schoolhouse but are not as much of it as all the other images are. Like the difference between the woman wearing the clothes and the clothes wearing the woman.
The stool chair and desk lamp are amazing!!!
Love almost everything except the sink in pic #7. Not the sink itself, but its placement, which is wrong-headed.
Otherwise: chalkboards, maps/globes, library card catalogs, metal lockers ... bring 'em on! And the table in pic#5 is dreamy.
I am in love with the pendant fixtures you see in a lot of these shots like the green one in #2. I have found things like this in abundance online but have yet to find what I consider a good price, aka cheap. Anyone have leads for anything like that on the cheap?
I am in love with the shelving unit in the first picture.
I've been looking for a reasonably priced public school-style clock like the one in picture #3. Where's a good place for something like that? Craigslist has been a bust.
For old school clocks and lights look on ebay.
Ooh! A Sputnik photo holder! Where did that come from?
I think that's a shoe trolley in the middle (from an old shoe factory!) I was lucky to find one of those at Brimfield. I don't think this style will ever look dated because the vintage antiques from factories and schools aren't from a particular decade per say. That's my hangup on buying mid-century modern pieces or even many modern pieces of today — I feel like it'll look dated tomorrow.
Thanks for posting my work! My retail store and studio are now open in granville ohio!
www.enjoyco.net
www.enjoyco.blogspot.com
thanks so much!
Monique
I'm a teacher...it would be like living at work for me. I'll pass, ha ha.