There’s nothing better than putting before and after pics side by side (or top to bottom as the case may be) to see the progress that’s being made on the Dream House. This is especially important when we start getting impatient with ourselves and feeling like we’re not getting enough done. So let’s take a look at how the master bedroom has changed since we moved in a three months ago.
I’m looking for big rug for the living room in the Dream House and, as with the other new items in the house, I’m going to try to find one that’s American made. While I was looking around, I compiled a list of some of rug companies with factories in the States…
You’ve probably heard the idiom, “You haven’t got a leg to stand on,” right? Well, clearly whoever coined that phrase didn’t know about The Floyd Leg. (Which is undoubtedly because it wasn’t invented yet!) This new DIY table leg design from Detroit duo Kyle Hoff and Alex O’Dell is so simple it’s brilliant!
One of the best things about furnishing the Dream House with secondhand goods is coming across things like this cabinet. We were browsing around an antique mall in a nearby town and came across the old wood cabinet with glass door. The little tag on it said something simple like homemade cabinet. How charming, right?
When we signed up for internet for the dream house, we were informed that we’d also have to have a land line. How quaint, right? Mind you, we haven’t have a land line in almost seven years. If we’re going to have telephone service in the house, we may as well have some fun phones! We already have a vintage rotary phone but, of course, we’ll need more modern touch tone phones as well.
We came across this Michael Graves-designed phone in the same thrift store where we found our glassware. (Only $2!) As I helped an older patron carry her purchases out to her car, Mr. Blandings had this conversation with the cashier.
“Oh! What a fun phone!” she said.
“Yeah, I couldn’t resist,” Mr. Blandings said. “It’s so fun.”
“You know, I use to be the one who said “number please,” she said as she looked at the phone.
Mr. Blandings asked, “Oh, so did you work for the phone company?”
“Yes,” she proudly said, “for $1.50 an hour — and that was big money back in 1967 — people would pick up their phones and say, “Give me such and such number” and I would connect them. Sometimes I would tease people, because I knew who it was, and when they’d ask if it was me I’d say, “Oh, I’m sorry, I can only give out my operator number!””
“So,” Mr. Blandings asked, “did you continue working for the phone company after they started direct dial calls?”
“Well, no! Once everyone could dial directly, there was no need for us anymore!”
We’ll think of you every time we place a direct dialed call, thrift store lady.
— Mr. and Mr. Blandings
Image: Mr. and Mr. Blandings
