Opendoor Studio: Home Tour Part 2

11.14.2012

Home Tour Part 2

HOME TOUR PART 2 FROM THE VINTAGE BAZAAR INTERVIEW WITH KATHERINE

with new photos added

part 1 published 11/11/12

( found a photo of the house being moved... thought I would add it here!)

You’ve got a great mix of cottage, antique, vintage, and industrial. Where are your favorite places to pick up each different style?

Thank you for your kind words about my scattered style. I call it “Warehouse Chic”. That is a combo of the industrial, schoolhouse, cottage and shabby styles all rolled into one!

My blue velvet couch and chair, as well as my living room table, are from my mother’s living room, a room that was almost roped off from the rest of the house — and God forbid you put something on the table without a coaster back then. It was passed down to me after her passing and I love it. The diminutive size fits beautifully into my little living room!

The industrial dining table was a display piece at a little shop in Dekalb. I love the combo of the massive size, the glass and the industrial feel! It is perfect in every way!

Aside from that, I love a good road trip. I am a back roads taker at heart! I travel to Michigan with friends. There is a GREAT place along the roadside just south of South Haven. Wonderful industrial finds there, nice and chippy and rusty! Aged to perfection! Up the road a bit, near Saugatuck and along the Blue Star Highway, there are some great antique shops.

I LOVE road tripping to Milwaukee and beyond. Our favorite place to go is Door County, Wisconsin, stopping at Dodge Antiques along the way in Algoma (that is where I found the old windmill piece I use on my dresser). The owner will tell you the back story on each and every piece he has… and after his regular shop closes the party begins at his ‘in-town’ barn. I have yet to stop in there… but that is on my bucket list!

On the way to Door County last year we took a little detour through rural Wisconsin and came upon a vintage travel trailer that was in need of restoring. I bought it on a whim and we now use it for our Wisconsin flea market road trips. It is our U-haul and Motel 6 all in one!

I find great things along roadsides and am not afraid to stop in a posh area, drop the top on my vw convertible and stash what I am able inside. After all, the sky’s the limit!

Talk about some of the pieces in your house that you salvaged from the aftermath of Katrina.

After Hurricane Katrina, my sister and daughter headed down to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast on a mission trip. While there, they had the daunting task of cleaning up some out lots and trying to pull them together and rid them of debris. An old Shell Oil sign that had been lost in the mud years ago was unearthed. The owner of the home was not interested in it and my sister brought it home for her son. It sat in their garage and when they had to sell their home, she asked if I would like it, I jumped at it and it has spent some time on my mantel. I love old colorful signage.

I found some old lube barrels in her garage as well… before they hit the dumpster, I salvaged them, cleaned them, and now they sit proudly as our living room side tables. Pop a round piece of glass on anything and make it a cool functional piece!

Speaking of salvaging things from nothing, do you have any favorite dumpster or curb finds?

I would have to say my most functional is the lube side table collection, but I found a wonderful old hutch top outside an antique mall… curbside. I was just moving into the mall and needed something to elevate my pieces for display. It fit in magically and I now use it as a piece on top of another curbside castoff, a science table I found in front of the old Cenacle in Warrenville. Both work together to make a great art space, and a place for me to display my work and my ever growing globe collection.

(I remember stopping a Chem-Lawn truck and asking the driver to help me hoist the scientific table into the convertible. So happy I did — would not have lasted long on that curb!)