Have you discovered BackGarage yet? Sonia over at Unplggd did a great "Behind the Blog" feature on it last month, and it's a fantastic resource for decorating ideas on a thrift store budget. For the past hour, we've been checking out some of the featured apartments in the archive, and we absolutely love Brad and Sarah's home. Combining mid-century modern tastes with a shoestring spending allowance, their home has a lot of fantastic solutions and charming decor...not to mention, they didn't buy anything new. Take a look at some of the photos after the jump...
Entryway:
Three Ikea Norebo shelves are hung on the wall to create an entryway table. The mirror was salvaged from an apartment building.
Living Room:The couch was a Craigslist find and reupholstered using organic fabric and foam. The blue chair which looks like a bit like an older version of a Knoll chair (love the studding) was $3 at a vintage shop in Chicago!
The floating wall unit was won in an eBay auction--but only after it failed to get any bids, and then got relisted at 1/3 the price.
Dining Room:
The windows were collected over several years, salvaged from Chicago alleys. The Eames shell chairs were bought at the Blue Star Antique Pavilion in Michigan and eBay. The table itself was an attic find.
Bedroom:
The retro pendant lights were originally from a former apartment building and left by a neighbor. The forest mural is mounted on foamcore and hung on the wall as the apartment is rented.
Instead of a dresser in the bedroom, they installed Ikea kitchen shelves on the wall for storing clothes.
Kitchen:
Their small kitchen originally came with a linoleum floor, but Brad (with the blessing of the landlord) ripped it up to reveal the hardwood underneath.
These photos are merely the tip of the iceberg--make sure to see the entire tour with even more details over at BackGarage. And if you have some extra time on your hands, check out the At Home archives for even more inspiring ideas.
(Images: BackGarage)
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Comments (24)
I actually loved it until the last two pictures. The cabinets on the wall for storing clothes look more like boxes and the kitchen, well it looks both dated and dorm like.
I'm curious:
The walls have been left "Landlord Drab" and they mounted their photomural on foamcore rather than on the wall because the place is rented...
...but they've got to have nearly 100 holes in the walls & ceiling now from all the shelves, lamps, cabinets, speakers, cubby-boxes, windows, mirrors, cord-covers, etc. mounted everywhere.
They're going to have to patch, sand and paint over all those holes when they move out anyway - so they might as well paint/wallpaper to their heart's content.
Cute little space and I love that everything is repurposed. I wish there was a few hits of color in there, though.
bepsf - i was wondering the same thing, but maybe they just intend to take the mural with them when they go?
i kind of agree with bepsf. the walls are going to be full of holes so why not paint, at least a bit. i'd paint the big wall in the kitchen to cheer it up. but i think the plants in the window are superb. they look like they're an extension of the tree outside the window. it's wonderful. i like the hanging cabinets and shelves. and ikea stuff is easy to find cheap on craigslist.
I like it. It's fun. Fun on a bun.
Apartments often charge as little as $5 per large hole, including patching and painting. But if they have to paint an entire room, it might be something more like $100.
LOVE the sofa...its encouraging me to keep trolling CL!
Can you tell me how you mounted the windows? I have a few windows (found them in a Chicago alley too!) and I'm not sure what the best way to hang something so heavy would be.
I'm a little surprised that there isn't more love for a budget-friendly space with some really interesting ideas. I do agree that more color would bring the place together and while wall-mounting cabinets wouldn't be my choice, I think it's different. As far as holes vs. paint. None of my NYC rentals has ever had any major restrictions on drilling holes in the walls (probably because of the bad plaster jobs they all had) but every one has restricted painting. It makes no sense but I suspect that is the case here, too.
Can you tell me how you mounted the windows to your wall? I have a few I'd like to hang, but I'm a little nervous about properly hanging something so heavy.
Not crazy about the wall mounted cabinets...I think a dresser would look much better. The place is nice, but I agree with others that it needs more color.
I really like the idea of using kitchen cabinets for clothing storage. (I'm assuming these came second hand or from the 'as is' section.) I think your kitchen is super sweet. I'm jealous of people with real windows in the kitchen. I have one tiny little window on a big blank wall in mine. I so badly want to beg the landlady to knock out the wall and stick bigger windows in.
i was most curious about the night table set-up. just small salvaged wooden boxes?
Where is the coffee table from?
About nail holes: I used to always get a jar of the paint used on walls of my apartments from the landlord when I moved in, in order to touchup scuffs etc. I always filled all nail holes and touched up the paint before moving out, and never had any problems with deposits in limbo... and always got nice references from my landlords, too. (If you ask for the touchup paint when you move in, since usually they have just painted or are about to anyhow, it makes you look forward looking and responsible. Landlords love responsible tenents.)
"Where is the coffee table from?"
I-I-IKEA...
I totally have that birdcage pillow too
I really like this place's muted palette of wood and off-white. Very serene and Scandinavian.
I agree with oakland that some pops of color would help. The wall of windows could use some perking up, too.
I think the best part is that you found items you loved on a budget and created a home. I love a clean uncluttered look.
super cute!!!
In Chicago, landlords are required to repair nail holes in the walls, but tenants must paint the walls back to the original color (crappy not-so-off-white).
As far as the lack of color in the apartment, I don't see the big deal. I like the sparse minimalism. It feels very quiet and peaceful. The only thing I would do is maybe get some more green plants and perhaps hang a few pieces of unique art on the wall, but I suspect that we're not getting the whole aesthetic of the place just from these few pictures. It's hard to judge a space when you don't have the opportunity to actually be inside of it.
Sarah here (half of Brad and Sarah's apartment) to answer some of your questions...
The apartment was (and still is) a work in progress when Back Garage photographed it. We're currently awaiting a build up of funds to continue with repainting over all the holes, adding splashes of color with artwork, and other small touches. It's always a work in progress! But, overall, I prefer a very clean and minimal look since it's a limited space and I am constantly purging what I feel is unnecessary.
KITCHEN:
Since those photos were taken Brad also redid the kitchen so it doesn't look as dorm-like. We've filled the blank wall with huge functional shelves that house metallic boxes, pretty jars, and herbs.
DINING ROOM WINDOWS:
See Back Garage's "How to Hang Almost Anything" article on this technique: http://www.backgarage.com/?p=1710
BEDROOM CABINETS:
The floor space in the bedroom is really limited and I am obsessive about cleaning so that's why we did Ikea cabinets mounted on the wall for our clothes. We used to have a dresser but it was too much effort to clean under. We still plan to mount rasterized images on them so they become more like pieces of art than cabinets.
BEDROOM NIGHTSTAND BOXES:
They are actually Ikea plant boxes! Our bed wall is so narrow and after months of fruitless searching for tables we decided to do these boxes, which we love. And, again, I don't have to lift anything to clean.
BEDROOM MURAL:
We were not allowed to paste this mural to the wall --it's actually wall paper. So April 7's on Chicago Ave. applied it to foamcore. We love it!
LIVING ROOM COFFEE TABLE:
It's from Ikea. We're currently hoping to afford a metal or lightly painted wood replacement...