Inspiration and Rough Drafts: Our Vintage Purchase

Lately, I have been doing some research for a magazine article I am writing for one of my classes. The article is all about incorporating antique and vintage furniture into one's home, as well as affordable places around Chicago to find pieces. It needs to be in rough-draft stage by Wednesday, but yesterday, in the name of research, Scott and I stumbled upon Andersonville Arts Weekend.

We drove up north to the area with the purpose of checking out a store called Room Service. Can I just say it was a gorgeous fall day? It looked like fall with the beautiful changing leaves, reds and golds, but felt like the end of summer with temps in the 80s. I was thankful that Scott was up for helping with my research but it actually turned into more of a fun weekend activity, almost a date of sorts. We soon spotted signs with the orange Arts Weekend logo on many of the locally-owned businesses and realized we had accidentally found a great reason to be in Andersonville.

Scott browsed some nearby stores as I checked out Room Service's mid-century modern furniture and decor and asked Lindsay, the shop manager, a few questions. Then we stopped by Starbucks before we popped into an artist's gallery, a packed-to-the-brim antique shop, and a two-floor shop with antiques on the basement level. (Two large trunks displayed outside one of the shops = $95 each; the antique trunk inside that could have been destined to become our coffee table = $550... ouch, not going home with us after all.) Passing by restaurants along the way, we saw people sitting outside in the sun and shared the sidewalk with some cute furry friends too.

The weekend before, I had stopped into Chic Antique, a store near our Lakeview condo, and found a light brown leather armchair from the 1960s (among the many other things I wanted immediately). It had a tall tufted leather back, curved wood frame, nailhead trim, fabulous wooden carved legs, and a $275 price tag. Not bad for a vintage leather chair in perfect condition! The shop also had cute refinished dressers and tables that the owner Crystal had painted in hot pink, turquoise, and cream. I dragged Scott into the shop to see the chair and convinced him it would look great in the corner of our bedroom (okay, we made a deal I would clean up all my piles of stuff from the dining room table by the end of the month). Then I allowed myself to contemplate the decision all week long.

So yesterday, after a quick drive and a visit to Praha (which falls in the North Center area according to Yelp and is stocked with antique items found on the owners' European trips), we decided the chair at Chic Antique had to be ours. It now sits in all its glory in the corner of our bedroom between my side of the bed and the big window - an inviting spot, a relaxing perch, not a place for my discarded clothes (ha!). I am currently on the hunt for a little "modern" pillow for it. After all, mixing vintage pieces with modern items keeps your house from turning into your grandmother's!