Design Challenge from Chairish

Imagine my surprise (and glee!) when I was contacted by a representative of Chairish.com, an online consignment marketplace for exceptional pre-owned furniture and home décor. They were posing a challenge to design-obsessed bloggers everywhere: to use pieces of midcentury modern furniture on their site and create a styleboard for an eclectic room. To quote my daughter “it’s like they picked the exact thing you love to do!”

So I rolled up the proverbial sleeves and got to work. Part of the challenge was that I was given a set of furniture to choose from. I choose the following pieces from Chairish and decided to do a dining room. Those Shelby Williams Tufted Executive Desk chairs just seemed like the perfect style to sink into over a leisurely dinner. A lovely walnut credenza could serve as a sideboard, and the Chrome Sputnik Chandelier keeps things fun and interesting. What great pieces!

Mid-Century Walnut Credenza Dresser Shelby Williams Tufted Executive Desk Chair

Pairing midcentury modern furniture is fairly easy to do; the lines are clean, uncluttered, and come in textures that are fairly common. My gut instinct was to introduce both an ethnic/bohemian vibe and an industrial edge to make the overall scheme eclectic, but still work together. Mixing these styles is exactly what I’m trying to achieve in my own home, so this was a great test of how much I could stretch my own limits. As a general rule, if you are going to mix styles, you should find some commonalities so that the senses aren’t overwhelmed when taking in the space. In this case, I kept the metal elements similar (i.e. chrome), as well as wood colours/grains. I also repeated colour schemes throughout, even though the pieces initally seem pretty disparate.

So those chairs needed a round table that would suit their lines. I chose the Aero Dining Table from Restoration Hardware; the combo of metal and wood picked up the same elements in the light fixture and credenza. The industrial features, like the exposed screwheads and the aged patina of the metal work great with the softer edges of the chairs. To add visual interest and some ethnic charm, I chose a jute rug from West Elm. The MCM light fixture’s interesting features are able to shine since all of these other elements are fairly regular in shape.

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To dress up the credenza, I found a great looking vintage print of the constellation map of the stars. The aged paper and palette give that rustic/industrial look but pairs well with the lines of the credenza. The light fixture even looks a bit space-agey so there is some commonality there as well.

Overall, what I have so far is a little lacking in visual interest, so this is where the fun comes in. Still keeping with an ethnic/boho feel, I chose these wonderful tiles from Fired Earth that picked up the yellow and black already present in the room. They have an amazing aged look. I would put a few rows of these just above the credenza, with the star map above all of that.

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Finally, I felt the room needed one more element to give it some personality and tie in the various pieces. Something on the floor, in the corner, opposite to a fig leaf plant. I chose this Vladimir Kagan Chrome ‘Skyscraper Lamp’ I found on Chairish. It helps gives some ambient lighting in the room, and repeats the chrome elements found elsewhere.

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