apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Absolutely - I have an antique chest of drawers that I've had since I was 11 or 12 - it's in our guest room...it is beat up so I'm still deciding whether to sand and stain it or paint or do the fabric faced drawers that I saw on AT!

I also have a small 4 shelf bookcase that my granddaddy made with my dad's help when he was a teenager...it was orginally a walnut stain and has been painted black then white and now chocolate brown over the years. There is a corner of the bottom back edge that has a hole that looks like a little sweet mouse lives there that wears clothes and has her own life...but I do love it and will never get rid of it.

That's our exact dining table and chairs growing up in the 70's! Who knew my parents were so design forward?!

I had a kid size version of those chairs that I used until I outgrew it. Even though some of the cane part has been damaged from 15 years of use between me and my sister, my mom has held onto them. She wants to get them re-caned so I can (one day) have my children use them.

I was lucky to grow up in a very modern house. We had the Ligne Roset togo couch in the living room, an arc lamp, barcelona chairs to name a few...my dad was an architect and very into design. I never realized how "in" he was because all my friends parents furnished their suburban houses with ugly overstuffed furniture with no design elements. Now I wish I could steal everything out of their house!

We had those exact same chairs at the dining table of our beach house when I was growing up (in the 80s)! They definitely give me a warm, fuzzy, nostalgic feeling!

oh wow. those chairs look so great!!

my parents didn't think much about design per se. Once I asked my mom if she wanted to go shopping with me and I'd help her choose some things for her [BARE STARK WHITE] walls. She looked puzzled and asked why anyone would put something on their walls that didn't mean something to them. At the time I thought she was being ridiculous. but in the years since, though i still have a paranoia of white walls, i've come to realize the difference between a house and a home. A home may not be designed, stylish or even this decade, but it is full of meaning and love and memories. :)

I have the cherry desk that I loved when it was in my grandparent's house when I was a little girl, then when it was in my parent's house while I was a teenager. Even though it doesn't quite mesh with the rest of the stuff in the dining room where it sits, I'll never get rid of it. How could I? My dad did his homework there when he was growing up. Our family pictures used to be in the lower drawers and I'd spend hours just looking at them.

It also has all these little drawers and cubbies in the top part that are fun to go through.

We had those chairs too! Takes me right back. Weird.

Love those Ceska chairs. I hated them in the 80s. Then, one day I saw them at the MOMA and I suddenly 'got it'.

My family had a teak Danish modern coffee table when I was a kid. I remember marveling to myself how 'soft' and smooth the wood seemed. I saw that same coffee table 20 years later at a girlfriend's new house. And yeah, seeing it gave me pangs of nostalgia... and envy! My friend said that when she and her sister were kids they used to hold up one end of the table use that table and use it as a slide. Why hadn't I thought of that?

I have those Breuer chairs - purchased new in 2006 for my elderly parents from Home 123 Furniture.com at a very decent price.

One of the best designs I found for utility, stability, and comfort.

Just checked the site though, and they seem to no longer have them - glad I got them when I did!

Purchased these as Breuer chairs new in 2006 from Home 123 Furniture.com at a very good price.

Best design I've found for stability, utility and comfort, especially for my elderly parents at that time.

Just checked the site, and didn't find them -- glad I got them when I did!

I love that table and chair arrangement - always loved Cesca chairs - I could easily be happy with those in my apartment...
(but what's up w/ the placemats on the floor?)

Oh, but the only things from my childhood in my apartment are small paintings that they bought at garage sales and a few other little knickknacks - my folks had so little money...
...so I'm filling my place with the types of things that I would have liked to have grown up with.

I have a glass stein from the Flintstones Park in Kelowna, BC, proclaiming me an "Honorary Member of the Royal Order of Water Buffaloes". I found it at a Value Village for $1.99 and I love it. I always wanted to go to Bedrock City when I was a kid but for some reason my parents weren't interested...

I have an amazing coffee table made from driftwood that my grandfather pulled from the Tchefuncte river north of New Orleans, smoothed the top, finished and preserved. It was in my parents' house growing up and they recently gave it to me.

I also have a small needlepoint that features my astrological sign. I can't remember ever not having it in my room. At 4x6, it doesn't matter that it doesn't go with anything else in my house.

I'm also trying to convince my grandmother to give me the Saarinen table that she bought new in the 50s and used for the next forty years. That table will always mean my grandparents' house to me.

My family does not get rid of good-quality, hand crafted furniture - ever. All the antiques that my parents and grandparents collecting when I was growing up (and before) are still with us, some with my parents but many with my 2 sisters and me. Thankfully, it was mostly all oak and had good, clean lines (craftsman-like) so it can blend into more modern decor. We have hoosier cabinets, bookcases, dressers, tables, trunks, beds, etc. It means we rarely have to turn to Ikea.

one of those big ol' wicker chairs with the peacock backs - man sometimes I think, wow, my parents were that hip once upon a time!