My youngest moved into her new home several months ago, so I have been keeping an eye out for great pieces with good bones – things that can be used in various rooms in the years to come.  Items with a touch of chalkboard have such a classic feel, mixing with most decorating styles.  This solid wood hutch features ten drawers with blackboard inserts.  Its shallow depth makes it a nice selection for the breakfast area to store extra linens and tableware.  The rustic finish gives it that vintage feel she loves.  Best of all, it could function well in any room.

Reminiscent of French Country style, this painted chalkboard cloak rack combo includes space for daily reminders.  It would be cute to cover a few sections with corkboard, fabric memo board or vintage prints, making it one-of-a-kind addition for the back hallway.  Down the road, it could be placed lower on the wall in a child’s room or playroom for drawing and holding dress-up clothes.

With a little imagination, anyone can create a treasure.  A $3 garage sale score was vamped up with model car spray paint on the drawers and blackboard paint on the cabinet.  The perfect chest of drawers for a boy’s room, but equally fitting elsewhere.  For a bigger chalkboard statement, jazz up pair of sliding closet doors in an office or playroom or an entire wall in a contemporary  kitchen.  Great ideas, great pieces.

Sources:
Wooden Chalkboard Hutch $592,  Rian Rae
French Country Chalkboard Cloak Rack $79, Wisteria
Flickr, Robot*Jumping*Rope

“Mr. Watson — come here — I want to see you”.

March 10, 1876:  With his assistant, Thomas Watson in another room, Alexander Graham Bell speaks into his new invention, the telephone, for the first time. An entry in his lab book on that day describes the results of his experiment:

”To my delight he came and delivered that he had heard and understood what I said.  I asked him to repeat the words – he answered “you said Mr. Watson — come here — I want to see you”.

Decades later, as the telephone progressed from wall-mounted to a stationary corded version, furniture makers introduced a combination hall-bench and table to set those heavy phones on.  Gossip (also called Telephone) Benches, allowed the caller a place to sit and talk, and featured a space to hold a phone book. They came in various styles to fit with the decor of the period.

The bench pictured above features a pierced seatback with gothic inspired quatrefoils designs.  Circa 1930’s.  (Photo via GoAntiques).

This Duncan Phyffe style mahogany bench with an inlaid design has both a door concealing an area for storing phone books as well as a pull out writing tray above. (Photo via WorthPoint).

Paging all mid-century modern enthusiasts, this chair-style bench, albeit in need of a good cleaning, is one cool piece of furniture. Fashioned more like a comfy accent chair, this fully upholstered variation in a retro shade of teal dates to the 1950-60’s.  (Photo via WorthPoint).

For the most elegant of spaces, this American Federal Lyre Back bench with scalloping crest rail is made of mahogany and dates to 1920. The padded brown leather seat is framed with upholstery nails.  There is a shelf beneath the seat for storing a phone book. (Photo via RubyLane where the bench was listed at $695 and marked as Sold).

Two vintage 1940-50’s vinyl chair style benches in era-popular colors and trimmed in upholstery tacks. The twist on these benches is the seat lifts up for storage.  (Photo left via Worthpoint, right via Picasa Densel).

Gossip benches are still being produced and can be found in various reproduction styles. Vintage examples like the ones above come up at auction.   The benches pictured here are from previous auctions and (sadly) not for sale.

View Alexander Graham Bell’s Lab notebook

Award winning San Francisco designer duo, Vernon Applegate and Gioi Tran transformed an elongated wall in this Pacific Heights condo bedroom into a modern double-duty storage zone.  Flanked on both sides by a set of doors, the center section’s built in drawers [above] rise halfway up the wall leaving the lighted area above open for display.

A pair of sliders to the right [below] opens to reveal more drawers housing a flat screen television above.   Opaque glass-front French-style doors painted out in white trim are what sets this “closet” apart and keeps the wall looking open and light.

Applegate Tran Interiors

When the owner of this wonderfully fresh retro kitchen bought the 19th-century house, the shelves and cabinets were a mess. She knew the kitchen needed a transformation and that green would be the color as it reflected all her collectibles.

To establish a vintage feel, celadon green for the cabinets was mixed with mint-green for the table and checkerboard floor. Then, a darker “awning” green was added to anchor the beadboard wainscoting.  All three shades worked together and because thy tied in visually with the owner’s  collections of jadeite glass dishware, glassware and vintage accessories.

Cookbooks were stashed in the butler’s pantry [right], just outside the kitchen. While that space is painted a fourth green — one just lighter than the kitchen wainscot [below],  the inside of the shelves were painted blue. Easter-egg-colors also were used for kitchen chairs.

Then there’s the antique 6-burner, 2-oven Magic Chef 1000 from the 1930s [above]. These beauties are not for everyone (pilot lights are on continuously and ovens tend to be small) but this one  helped complete the overall look and fit perfectly in a space between a window and a door.   The painted, checkerboard floor was professionally done .

Open shelving around the sink is used to display the wonderful colors of vintage bowl and glassware collections. How amazing to have everything that well coordinated and edited colorwise.

Filagree brackets add vintage detail below the shelves and, as a practical matter an old-fashioned dishtowel rack was hung directly above the sink. Green milk-glass canisters are displayed in a shelf found at a local antique shop.

(Photos via Country Living)

Please don’t forget to visit our friends at Met Monday and see all the fabulous transformations!

Clue: made of silicone

These quirky colorful men will hang out with you at home or work until needed.  What are the use of these items?  Post your best guess and I’ll return on Tuesday to reveal the answer.

Answer: Cupmen

Place a Cupmen on a cup of soup before microwaving.  His color fades away as the soup gets hot.  By Akira Mabuchi Design, Japan.

Source: AssistOn.co.jp $9

A refinished antique ladies writing desk proves to be just the right size for displaying the homeowner’s dainty Limoges collection, giving those who round the corner an unsuspecting stop-in-your-tracks reason to study this charming array of French porcelain boxes.  Add in the re-upholstered chair in a lush fabric complimenting an exquisitely made and equally lush floral Persian rug and you have a spot worth lingering over.  (Source: Sara Hopkins Interiors)