I’ve been on the prowl for the perfect desk for several months. This is because I’ve been working at our kitchen table for several years—not ideal real estate when it comes to focus, privacy, storage, or anything work-related, really. Since our new house features an office that we’ve cordoned off as strictly adults-only, I claimed half of it as my own upon moving in, and set about searching for the furniture to create my ideal work set-up. The good news is that, after much searching, I finally found the desk of my dreams this week at Room Service Vintage here in Austin! It’s from the late ‘50s/early ‘60s and is in perfect condition. Here she is now, just moved in:
That’s a shitty phone pic, but this is appropriate here, as it’ll soon serve as a shoddy ‘before’ shot… I plan to find a just-right lamp, switch out the rug, rig up a bulletin board and create a grown-up work space that screams Me Time and beckons to me by day. This way, when I finally settle down to do my thing at night, I won’t regret that I’m not doing something more relaxing or fun than, well, work. This is me deliberately confusing my brain into loving late working evenings. If you can’t beat ‘em, make ‘em sparkle… is what I always say.
Aaron and I also picked up a dresser at Room Service, so now we can actually put our clothes away (true confession: they’ve been in ‘dirty’ and ‘clean’ piles since we moved in). We’re kind of hooked on the furniture hunt high now, too. We began our journey to these two items by looking out broadly over local Goodwills, and then narrowing in on our treasure-- at increasingly targeted establishments-- from there.
The Goodwills, as expected, featured endless junk: George Foreman grills circa 1999? No thanks… But then, sparkling across an expanse of raincoats and worn tennis shoes on a plastic cupcake holder strung with mismatched earrings, sat the two amazing vintage Pyrex coffee mugs shown at the top of this page... who evidently have relatives sprinkled across America. $2 for both? Yes, please.
No noteworthy furniture, though.
Aaron and I also picked up a dresser at Room Service, so now we can actually put our clothes away (true confession: they’ve been in ‘dirty’ and ‘clean’ piles since we moved in). We’re kind of hooked on the furniture hunt high now, too. We began our journey to these two items by looking out broadly over local Goodwills, and then narrowing in on our treasure-- at increasingly targeted establishments-- from there.
The Goodwills, as expected, featured endless junk: George Foreman grills circa 1999? No thanks… But then, sparkling across an expanse of raincoats and worn tennis shoes on a plastic cupcake holder strung with mismatched earrings, sat the two amazing vintage Pyrex coffee mugs shown at the top of this page... who evidently have relatives sprinkled across America. $2 for both? Yes, please.
No noteworthy furniture, though.
Click Read More below for the deets on our score.
Next we hit the used furniture sellers who collect without curating, and sell to apparently undiscerning hoarders who’ve lost perspective… or something. Although Far Out Home Fittings and Austin Furniture Consignment made for fun Austin experiences and looked like, if scoured regularly, they might turn up the occasional awesome find, they too featured mostly junk, and at a price-point that made Aaron feel we could do better (I was all, “We could totally paint this!”… AHEM hoarder alert… Thankfully he urged me onward). Frankly, too, we don't have the time to scour regularly, so we needed to step it up and find the places that find the really good stuff for you.
Thus we landed at Room Service (and also Hog Wild across the way), on a little cul-de-sac of cool on Austin’s North Loop Strip. These stores muster up the MadMen-worthy finds without the musty smell, damaged edges and sketchy stains of the next tier down (both stores boasted excellent customer service, as well). Their prices were also, surprisingly, comparable to the stores that didn’t impress us nearly as much. We eyed an Eames chair at $300, and then talked our dresser dresser down by twenty before stopping dead in our tracks at my desk. I’d initially, months ago, fallen for this one from World Market, but thought I might be able to do better—i.e. find something truly unique and equally classy-- used (plus, new furniture is usually made with freshly dried formaldehyde, which is not welcome in our home). And what do you know? My desk appeared. At twice the gorgeous, and half the price, of the other one. Mission accomplished.
Stay tuned for my Before and After: Home Office Edition! And tell me: what kind of furniture love have you found lately?
Thus we landed at Room Service (and also Hog Wild across the way), on a little cul-de-sac of cool on Austin’s North Loop Strip. These stores muster up the MadMen-worthy finds without the musty smell, damaged edges and sketchy stains of the next tier down (both stores boasted excellent customer service, as well). Their prices were also, surprisingly, comparable to the stores that didn’t impress us nearly as much. We eyed an Eames chair at $300, and then talked our dresser dresser down by twenty before stopping dead in our tracks at my desk. I’d initially, months ago, fallen for this one from World Market, but thought I might be able to do better—i.e. find something truly unique and equally classy-- used (plus, new furniture is usually made with freshly dried formaldehyde, which is not welcome in our home). And what do you know? My desk appeared. At twice the gorgeous, and half the price, of the other one. Mission accomplished.
Stay tuned for my Before and After: Home Office Edition! And tell me: what kind of furniture love have you found lately?
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