The Puffy Coat is the Fashion - Framing Vintage Posters as Art

When I purchased my 1960s posters from Hungary - which first found a home in the townhouse kitchen, and then moved to the master bedroom in the lakehouse - I intended for the poster with the girl in the tweed suit and the poster with the green hat to hang side by side.  When a weirdly high outlet threw a wrench in my plans to hang two posters side by side in the kitchen, I ended up hanging all three posters together to hide the outlet. 

 
Quite frankly, I didn't look at them all that much because normally I had my back to them while I was cooking.  When we moved to the lakehouse, I hung all three together again - almost out of habit. 

Once the posters were positioned across from the bed, I looked at them a lot more.  Every morning and every night, I contemplated the arrangement.  I no longer liked the three together because the two figural ones really competed for attention.  But two alone seemed too skimpy (I like big art, or big groupings of art).

I started casually shopping for another poster.  Then, a few months ago, I received an email from the seller from whom I bought my posters when I was in Budapest.  He was having a sale and some of his posters were marked down.  Lo and behold, a poster I had admired while I was in Budapest - but had deemed too spendy - was 50% off!  I thought it would be the perfect piece to shake things up, so I ordered it and had it shipped here - much to my Mom's chagrin (it was one of her favorites too).  When it arrived, I had to wonder why I didn't scoop it up in the first place.  What was I thinking?  The design is so cool and the colours are really vivid - plus I still love a good houndstooth.

I recently got it back from the framer - was it ever tricky trying to find the exact same frame as the others - and I'm so happy!  I am really quite besotted with the new arrangement.  Each one has a really different scale and style, but the styles seem to jive better than the previous arrangement, and the colour green unifies them all.

Here's a better look at the new addition.  It says, "The Puffy Coat is the Fashion". 

For now, please ignore the new furniture.  I've mentioned that some bedroom changes are on the horizon and I'll spill the beans soon - you know how one change sometimes has a cascading effect?  For now, here's one sneak peek at what's to come. 

One small detail I overlooked: where to hang the displaced gal with all of her parcels??? 

Old New House: For Your Walls

My 1960s Hungarian posters garner a lot of attention.  In fact, when Amy first put in an offer on the townhouse, she asked for the posters to be included!  Trolling Old New House I spotted a neat selection of vintage posters, including these two gems:

1970s Chinese advertisement poster

1940s-1960 Rodeo poster

Old New House actually has a lot of unusual things to adorn walls (white walls!!).  From vintage maps to science diagrams, retro "no smoking" signs and antique train logs.  They also have a great selection of, for lack of a better word, genuine art.  Here are some two more of my favorites:

Girl with Daisy lithograph

 Striking geometric ink drawing (and there's other similar pieces for a bold grouping)

If you've been in the market for something unusual to adorn your walls, see more at Old New House.

This post was sponsored by Old New House, but all words and editorial decisions are my own.

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Our Sleep Easy

Embarrassingly, Hubby and I didn't immediately move into the lakehouse after our grueling move.  We unloaded the stuff (with help, thankfully), returned the U-Haul truck, and then bee-lined it to my parents' place, where we camped out for a bit.  Their home has the lure of clean towels, hot dinners, and fast internet.  Moving really took the wind out of our sails and trivial things like getting groceries (and turning them into meals!) seemed like Herculean tasks.  We drove to the lakehouse everyday though, and steadily got it to a more livable order.  We were totally busted by Hubby's family, who came over (with dinner) for a tour.  They immediately spotted our mattress propped up against the walls, barricaded by boxes.  They need to come by again.  Look: a bed with sheets and everything (I even found the bedskirt, but not the iron to smooth out those wrinkles). 

 
The headboard and side tables my Grandpa welded weathered the move!  The paint is a bit scuffed so come spring time a new paint job is imminent.  Should I keep it matte black?  Try glossy white?  A bright colour?

We hung the vintage Hungarian posters across from the bed, and I think they are perfect for the bedroom.  Magically, the minty chair and table pair well with the posters.  I'm so happy that, so far, I've been able to rearrange pieces from the townhouse with relative ease.  

The dresser is a stand-in, borrowed from my Mom.  We didn't have a dresser in the townhouse, so I naively thought everything would fit in our closet (what is it with me?).  When we downsized from three bedrooms to two, our closet contents were smushed together.  I still have surplus clothes, so I'm itching for more storage.  They are so pricey, but I'd love these two Room and Board dressers. 

Even though I've squashed the bed as far as it will fit on the wall opposite the closet - and I've even turned the nightstands sideways to take up less room - I'm dubious about my prospects of having enough room for bi-fold closet doors to open, which I should have explained when I chatted about the closet earlier this week.  I'll take some measurements and start shopping options.  I appreciate everyone's suggestions!   



High on the bedroom to-do list: refresh the headboard and tables, buy (make?) closet doors, sew curtains, get my hands on better storage, accessorize, add more colour, and maybe try something nutty.  I've been slowly building my collection of Fab trays, picking them up for $1-3 a piece.  I think the collection (grown much larger) would look fun in the same room as the fashion-focused posters because the trays are little time capsules of 1960s and 1970s fabrics.  I am putting my little red armoire into storage, so I think the blank wall behind the door might be a fun place to hang them - floor to ceiling, salon style.

Still lots to do, but for now we can get a good night's sleep in our own home!  As a reminder, after painting the walls, doors, ceilings, and trim white, removing the window coverings, replacing the boob light (not pictured), and filling the room with our art and furniture, we've turned the room from this . . .





into this . . .

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The Kitchen and I, We're Cool Now

Since adding the vintage Hungarian posters, the kitchen is a fun place to be.  They are HUGE and (fashionably) fill up the whole wall with saturated colour.  I love the statement they make against our relatively plain kitchen.  Although there are elements of the kitchen I love (the herringbone tile backsplash we installed, the teak chairs we re-upholstered with houndstooth fabric, the funky black and white floor), if you've been reading for awhile you know there's lots I don't love (the wood cabinets Hubby loves, that we refinished, but still aren't my cup of tea, the awkward layout, the windowlessness).  But now I'm at peace with the whole package and am committed to this art (as opposed to version one and version two). 

In no particular rush, I am finally accessorizing the kitchen with a direction, using the posters as my guide.  When I can, I like to pick art for a room first, and then pull inspiration for colours and textures from it.

My new (to me) FAB trays look fun in the space, especially because the retro fabrics really bring to life the vintage attire sold in the posters.  I'm using one to corral the hand soap and dishwasher pods I like to keep at arm's length (I'm officially too lazy to bend over and retrieve the pods from the cupboard under the sink).  The horn dish is from Hungary.

I also have a beautiful new tea towel, sent all the way from Berlin!

 
This graphic black and white (Zebraria) tea towel is from La Kattun, handprinted fabrics.  It's hand-printed on organic cotton by a Berlin-based artist, Eva Reisinger.  I'm in love with her fresh and modern designs (available in her etsy shop).  I knew this crisp pattern would look perfect with my punchy posters (especially the one with striped parcels), and black and white floor!  She has also makes pillows with the same design and I am smitten with those too.

Next up: MORE COLOUR!  But summer is coming and with it, yard sale season!!  I know I'll find some great accessories, for a great price, if I'm patient (my Krenit bowl was last year's sweet kitchen find).



Our counters do get a daily dose of colour courtesy of my growing Pyrex, Anchor Hocking and Federal Glass collections, which we use for fruits and snacks every day.

P.S.  Eva is thrilled that I'm so enamored with her hand-printed textiles, so she's offered to host a giveaway for Dans le Townhouse readers!  She has sewn something gorgeous, just for you, so stay tuned next week for details on how to win.  I also asked Eva a few questions, so we can snoop inside her design process as well.  If you can't wait, take a look at her lovely blog, peek inside her studio, or check out her etsy shop, La Kattun.

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1960s Posters from Hungary, Framed as Art

The kitchen has never felt "just right," even though it has so many things I love, like the herringbone tiling we installed and the vintage teak chairs we covered with houndstooth fabric (you have no idea how many teak stools and chairs with black and white houndstooth I've ripped from magazines and filed).  The black and white floors (already here when we bought the place) have grown on me.  Simple projects made over what was less than desirable, like the chalkboard knife block project and microwave re-do.  I've even gotten used to the wood cupboards Hubby loves - the ones that I painstakingly re-varnished, instead of painting like I wanted. 

But it's been missing . . . something.

I firmly believe that every space needs art (even if it's a DIY project or framed scrapbook paper).  I was confident that the right piece would make the room work, but I tried in vain to find it (first we hung a DIY painting, then a photo I took). 

I am happy to report, though, that I am now madly in love with the kitchen and finally found unique art that stitches together every aspect of this room:

I bought these three vintage posters when I was in Budapest.  Each poster is from the 1960s, when Hungary was Soviet-controlled.  The posters were issued by the Party to encourage Hungarians to shop.  We had them framed in identical, very simple, black metal frames.  We had planned to make floating frames but decided that preservation was important, so we took the pieces to a framer that uses archival grade material.  We skipped matting (it looked weird) but there are little spacers between each poster and the glass, helping air to circulate so the posters don't get humid and stick to the glass, which can damage the ink.

I originally planned to hang the girl with the parcels separately, but an outlet foiled my plans.  We had totally forgotten an outlet was hiding behind the art that was in the kitchen.  Unless we wanted it smack in the middle of the posters, we would have had to hang them thisclosetogether.

We finally decided to hang all three on one wall.  The middle one covers the outlet, so we were able to space them how we liked.  They are all slightly different in size, so we put the largest one in the middle and lined up the tops, which was Hubby's genius suggestion.  They really really fill up the wall, adding a lot of visual interest to the kitchen.  The 1960s aesthetic is a perfect fit!  The textiles represented in the posters look fabulous with the houndstooth and herringbone, and the brown in the tweed suit makes the wood cabinetry look intentional.

I am planning a few new accessories, like a new kettle (ours broke) and linens, so I'll take photos of the whole kitchen soon, but I couldn't wait to show you the new art! 

P.S. Want to know what they say?  When Hungarian is translated verbatim, it sounds like Yoda talking so perfect translation is no easy feat.  Here are my super rough translations:

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