This week was insane! We celebrated 9 years of marriage (!!!), made progress with some new rug ottomans that will be complete on the site soon, spent quality time with the boys at The Katonah Museum of Art's Family Day, and relating to our bedroom update, received in so many goodies! This bedroom update is overall my birthday gift and our anniversary gift to ourselves and I am not sure it gets any better as we get to enjoy this for a long time to come!
]]>The showstopper also arrived - my very first piece of Lauren Williams art - the fiber art of my dreams! I am dying to paint these walls dark and get this gorgeous addition hanging so I can truly take it all in. It is amazing! The little bits of light pink and dusty sage green - gah, it is beyond better in person you guys! I am obsessed.
So how does this Saturday Week in Review work? I keep it short and sweet and post a bunch of my unedited phone pictures (with the occasional profesh picture sneaking in) so you can see a true behind the scenes over here - things I maybe took for myself or maybe took for Instagram but never posted or maybe I posted them in my stories and that was it for one day. If you ever have any questions on photos like you don't know what is going on and want to, just let me know!
'Till next week!
xo,
Melissa
]]>Well, the last two weeks flew by! Still working (slowly) on our bedroom update and I just could not wait to paint our bed frame so I enlisted the help of our 3.5 year old and we got the job done to a certain extent.
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Hopefully next week I will have more to show for myself in the bedroom makeover department - I have been having a hard time choosing the right dark paint color and am receiving in my first piece of West Elm furniture and hoping for the best on it because it will be an important one in the room as we lack storage and will hopefully be a perfect solution. We also received in some pretty darn beautiful Rejuvination nightstand lamps that I have yet to set up and cannot wait to show off! Until then, enjoy the weekend and week ahead!
xo,
Melissa
]]>Saturday in review through the tons of photos on my phone that may not have seen the light of day! Mom mode excursions where me and the boys went around designing the master bedroom was the big theme!
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Okay on the above I do have to write a bit because I have been wanting a Lauren Williams art piece for 3 years and I finally have one (this one) en route! It will soak up the wall behind our bed and as I love textiles and abstract paintings, it is just so fitting and perfect. Cannot wait!
Sometimes I get nervous thinking about customers coming in and seeing our 3.5 year old boarding up our phone booth because he is "fixing stuff" but then I realize this truly is the world of family business and I proudly love it. It is really fun and sweet being able to work alongside my husband and to have the kids visit me at work as much as they do - very lucky over here. And till next week!
xo,
Melissa
]]>I've realized that especially when it comes with the intention of taking them for Instagram or some other social media device, there are so many images that never see the light of day! So every Saturday I am going to post a bunch of the "outtake" photos of the week with no other description or caption of what they area all about - just like a behind the scenes into me thinking something was worthy of capturing and stashing in my phone for a rainy day.
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When interior designer Natasha Habermann asks me to help find a rug for a gorgeous space, I hop right to it! It is amazing being able to place ONH rugs in the beyond well designed rooms of hers and to really see them as well as the room come to life.
]]>xo,
Melissa
]]>Shop rearrange days are my favorite! Moving this heavy duty original vintage 1960s phone booth was quite a feat and I love that people can come enjoy it in the shop now!
]]>Switching things up in the shop is a once every couple of months process but the painting of this wall in a chalkboard gray (country gray by Benjamin Moore) and moving the phone booth had the biggest impact in our little shop to date, in my humble opinion. Next up, we will be flipping our little "living room" scene with our rug wall so that we can make the living space smaller and hence, have more space for showing bigger rugs. Hoping everyone's Spring is kicking off beautifully and come and visit us (and our phone booth) in our Katonah shop sometime soon!
xo,
Melissa + Dave
More of our shop after moving things around:
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We recently acquired what technically is a third location for us. It is tiny and our other two locations serve very specific purposes (and at many times multi-purposes like our flagship store that is also our office and where we do most of the behind the scenes web work - this will likely change soon too though). So this third location, while not a huge storefront in Brooklyn, it is still a huge milestone for us! I call it the little shed that could, but it is really the mini ONH photo studio, designed specifically to do what our full size barn studio does on a smaller scale - to store many of our rugs but also have the ability to photograph them within it.
]]>If you follow us on Instagram, you may already know about it but we recently acquired what technically is a third location for us. It is tiny and our other two locations serve very specific purposes (and at many times multi-purposes like our flagship store that is also our office and where we do most of the behind the scenes web work - this will likely change soon too though). So this third location, while not a huge storefront in Brooklyn, it is still a huge milestone for us! I call it the little shed that could, but it is really the mini ONH photo studio, designed specifically to do what our full size barn studio does on a smaller scale - to store many of our rugs but also have the ability to photograph them within it. It is right near our barn studio AND our flagship store, if you were wondering how we manage these spots. We call it "the triangle". I guess we like naming things?
First, just one "before" picture and then the photos of what it looks like now! Very happy with it and beyond thrilled to have some extra photo ops for our rugs!
Such a huge shout out to our amazing employee AJ for working hard on this space and our friend Joe for coming in to do a lot of the painting - these two guys made the vision come to life for sure. And while this will mainly be a storage location, why not have it be a nice to look at one?!
Need a rug photographed against a dark floor instead of natural wood color? Just ask! We can now do this! And boy oh boy, do I love my dark floors. We have to get back to the kids and to the next week's new arrivals photo session but wishing you all the happiest of holidays and thanks as always for following along!
xoxo,
Melissa and Dave
]]>While the transformation of our guest room is not complete, I will take what I can get with any updates I can achieve amidst a crazy work schedule. We removed clutter and simplified what was inside the room, and then went for an eclectic and colorful bedspread to add that pop of bohemian.
]]>When we first set it up, we intended it to be a guest room hybrid space so we found this antique brass bed on Craigslist and the person selling it was expecting and cleaning house -- hence, desperate to get rid of it as it takes up so much space! It took a truck rental, road trip, and some back pain to get the thing situated in this little green room, but I have always loved it and its original creaky metal box spring ever since. The bed was as far as we went though and for a time, our leftover vintage pieces (didn't know how to sell and didn't know where to put) would go to live (or die depending on how you look at it). So, despite having cool items squirreled away in it, the room was admittedly a mess.
We always try to support local or shop vintage/pre-owned for our home furnishing purchases but once in a while a Target fun feels in order. When I saw the new Opalhouse line at Target (definitely not sponsored, just love!), I was smitten and thought this bedspread would be the perfect combo with the brass. I know that there is still so much to go with this room (like a rug that the empty floor space is just screaming for) but I liked the idea of starting small and cozy, and am really happy with the mini transformation. (Notice my 3 year old helper in some of the photos - he loves moving things around with me which I love!)
xo,
Melissa
Sources - side table: family vintage, footstool: found vintage, brass bed: found vintage, laundry hamper: Target, gilded mirror: found vintage, bedspread Opalhouse collection at Target
Coming up soon on the blog:
- Kids Room Makeover continues (I swear): Wallpaper, Some DIY with curtains over blinds, and Art
- Next Home Project: Entryway
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Summer break is here and I am ready to dive more into finishing up our boys' bedroom to move on to the next projects of our own bedroom and our entryway!
]]>It has been a while and there is still a lot left to do! The rug is down and the furniture placed and the boys have been very happy with their room since the changes began which has made this project the most worthwhile. What is left? A lot of little decor things but the biggest part yet in my opinion - the walls and the windows! We polled our readers on what to do with the blinds that I loathe in the room -- and painting them white was one option that I liked but ultimately I have opted to go the route of curtains in front of the blinds so that there is a light blocking element that will help these creatures sleep! It is literally only in total darkness that our 2.5 year old will let his eyes close so yeah, kind of important. I am working on finding the perfect black out curtains because I have had a lot of strike outs in the past when we attempted this in our old apartment -- any suggestions?!
And before we commit to curtains, we have the art for the walls set aside (besides the comic poster that will of course be included) and are excited to get started with that zebra wallpaper that I selected a couple of posts back. It is by Kate Zaremba Company and is 100% removable without being vinyl which makes my semi-hippie heart very happy! Very excited to receive the wallpaper in and get started on the one wall where it will live for as long as we love it.
Here is the layout I came up with for the mini gallery wall that would go above Little M's bed, opposite the awesome 1970s comic poster. I think when I get the wallpaper up, I will be able to make a better call on how to arrange it all but I love the pieces - all hand-picked by little D, how perfect, personal and fun.
And another photo of the rug in the room -- we are just so happy with it! Having it fill most of the room makes the space feel huge!
Very excited to get this room done so the boys can have at it and so we can move onto the next projects -- the entryway and our bedroom! And in case you are wondering, yes, we love hearing your feedback so keep it coming!
xoxo,
Melissa
]]>Frequently asked questions answered! Find out a little more about our philosophies on this business and what vintage/antique means for these rugs and more!
]]>When Dave and I met in 2009, I was working as a freelance portrait and wedding and photographer and well into 2014 that was a huge part of my life; it was my career path really and I was quite satiated by it. However we began Old New House as a hobby venture in 2010/2011 and by around 2014 had decided to grow it full-scale and have it become 100% of our focus in our work lives. This did not leave room for my wedding photography business, sadly, and though I do miss it at times (the happiest day of people's lives is so so rewarding to capture!) I do feel very fulfilled by photographing rugs every week and being such an integral part of what we have grown ONH to be. The truth is I am still finding myself within the business - like which aspects I enjoy the most, which aspects I am happy to delegate to others, and which aspects I may like to explore in terms of incorporating into a new workflow (like re-decorating our own home as you may have seen in other posts).
It's funny, there are so many things I never really pictured or prepared for in having our online store and retail shop -- one is that we get asked a lot of questions and sometimes, the same ones over and over again. I don't mind it at all, not in the slightest actually, but I do sometimes wish I had a better way to answer all of them. So here I find myself turning this post into a little FAQ post. I want you to understand me and our business better when I blog! Of course if there are other questions that come up, e-mail us please so I can add them!
1. There are so many rug sellers to buy from and I am overwhelmed! What makes you different from them and your selection different?
We know the feeling and feel the same even in our sourcing! What we hope truly sets us apart is our photography, descriptions, and knowledge of the rugs (+ our drive to share that knowledge with you). Every step of the process still involves me and Dave personally, and when you get in touch with us via e-mail, Etsy message or phone, you are most likely talking to one of us. We have always believed in 100% customer satisfaction at its core. We literally do this to bring joy to the lives of others as cheesy or odd as it may sound!
2. Why the photos with you and your shoes on them?
When we first started ONH, I (Melissa) photographed the rugs in visually interesting positions like draped over chairs and benches to really show the sheen and the artistic qualities of the rugs, but also in a room context like with a chair on top of it or next to a door or in a hallway. Now we are seeing in interiors, more of an emphasis on being with the objects you own and have in your home, and so this context of the rug is really nicely acheived by having an actual person (a lot of times me) on the rug so you can see it from the imagined perspective of "this is in my home and I love it and I am looking down at it in awe". Often times I am actually in awe of these carpets, so it is like a perspective shot I am sharing with the viewers. At its simplest form, it is like a "point of view shot" in film.
3. Where do you get your rugs from?
We source from all over the world, creating new connections with suppliers and building on old ones constantly. Reliable and consistent suppliers are who we mainly work with, though occasionally we will attend flea markets with our kids and pick up some small pieces here and there.
4. Why are some rugs so expensive?
With vintage and antique rugs, there is a one of a kind factor. Often, we won’t be able to easily replace the exact rug we are selling. It is like custom. Also, the quality of the past was much higher in most circumstances. Oftentimes for one of our vintage rugs to be made today, its cost would be higher the price. Some of our rugs are collector caliber also. Some have provenance. A vintage and antique rug is typically unbranded and therefore prices will fluctuate.
5. Is there room for negotiation on prices?
We typically do not negotiate as we want the pricing to be as transparent as possible for all buyers. Be on the look out for discounts and monthly markdowns, and as you become a repeat ONH buyer, the discounts become more prevalent.
6. Do you offer designer discounts?
Yes, we have a trade program – you can e-mail us here to register for an account!
7. Why does the rug look creased / have fold marks and will they come out?
Because many rugs being stored are folded, they will have these crease marks but they do release with time and use. We have never had a complaint.
8. What does vintage mean? Are the rugs pre-owned? Are they clean?
Vintage in our world is post 1920 and no newer than 1990s. We will call a rug “new” if it is made within within last 15 years or so. Vintage means having age. Not pre-owned in all circumstances as it is conceivable that a rug bought from manufacturer in 1970s sat in a rug showroom for 40 years. Vintage to us tells a story, is often of higher quality and is often a steal for what it is. The piece made “then” would cost a lot more made “now”. All of our rugs are professionally hand-washed, some repaired or restored. Some are sold as is with tatter, but still yes, cleaned.
xo,
Melissa
]]>Welcoming a second person into this kids room! Our 2.5 year old little M is ready to go from our bed-sharing to his own bed with this Oeuf crib converted into a toddler bed!
]]>While we are waiting on some items to come in to really dive into completing our son's bedroom makeover (wallpaper, curtains, and more), we have been busy updating some current furniture we have in the room. If you missed my other posts, we are trying to make the bedroom into a shared space for both our boys (one is 5 and the other 2.5). The Oeuf Sparrow crib we got before our first was born barely got used, as we became a bed-sharing family, but it was beautiful and I have been dedicated to keeping it in our family and our home. The conversion kit that Oeuf offers seemed like the perfect fit rather than getting a brand new toddler or twin bed, and perhaps even less money in the end. It also became a great way to spend quality time with our 5 year old while the little one napped -- we took off the crib side and put on the converted rails within one hour. We are all happy with it, especially little M, who went right to sleeping in it (most nights).
If you are like me and got a crib you were hoping to really grow into and have for the long haul one like this one, you may have also wondered if it was worthwhile to get the conversion kit. I can say from this experience, it really was and is! Our son's twin bed is from Land of Nod and while we beyond adore it, this Oeuf bed is sold and has a great organic mattress that we sprung for also, so it just made financial sense to keep everything as long as we humanly could! Now here's to hoping when I style it and spruce up the bedding, it looks even better with the full room reveal!
xo,
Melissa
Coming up on the blog in the next couple of weeks:
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We have discovered non-vinyl removable wallpaper and cannot wait to get started with it in our son's room makeover!
]]>Little D's room is one that I have felt the most unsettled about since day one because it housed (and will continue to house) the most transitions of LIFE -- meaning we had it painted pale yellow when we moved in because he was 6 months old and it was a gender neutral shade that felt happy and sweet. Now he is five years old and he has epic taste in antiques (especially rugs! already a connoisseur I swear!) and he just has his own little personality and tastes and SO much has changed in all of that time. The room feels that change and needs to be brought up to speed. One change that has to be noted that little M was born 2.5 years ago (side note: notice we are M + D and our kids are M + D also? It is a little bit of a family tradition that felt really fun to us in choosing names for our littles). Little M has occupied our master bedroom since birth and is officially gearing up to be in his own little bed in little D's space, meaning this room needs to feel like not just one child and all of his personality but another also! It is a challenge to me, but I am really looking forward to facing it + enjoying the process.
In another post we selected a rug and talked about goals + what items we are keeping in the space but the walls are going to be in my mind the biggest transformation. Very excited to get started with this paper-based removable wallpaper I found on Etsy via Kate Zaremba Company!
The four samples I ordered and selected are 1. trapeze acrobats (loooove this one but little D said "this is weird" when he saw it ha!), 2. zebras, 3. intricate flower design in indigo, and 4. intricate flower design in black. I immediately fell in love with the indigo intricate flower but the problem is that little D has some sensory sensitivities and he doesn't like busy patterns. The clear winner was the zebras, and he had the sweetest things to say about it! He loved that his first toy ever was his wool stuffed zebra that I purchased before he was born that we named ZeeZee, and the zebra reminds him of Spiderman because of his favorite 1960s episode called "Rhino Man". I loved how he tried to connect zebras to Spiderman and in the end it was everyone's fave! I have begun hesitating a bit only because there is no set theme of the room and if you go zebra, it maybe can feel a little young? Also, it will only be on one wall, and surrounded by the pale yellow so I am wondering how it will look. I don't have all of the answers but for now am working on bringing in some more elements before I commit. What do you think? Should I reconsider the indigo flower? Would love to hear your thoughts!
xo,
Melissa
]]>Some of you may say, just buy it if you love it so much. And you’d be right. Because as all of us vintage/antique lovers have probably learned once or twice: you have to buy what you love when you want it because it may not be there the next day. For now I am going to keep it tucked away in a little ONH vault collection I have growing but likely will come to my senses soon in knowing I do not have a place for it and hence, offer it up for sale!
xo,
Melissa
]]>Beginning our kids room redesign with figuring out the rug size needed and then laying down the perfect rug for the room.
]]>A lot of people ask me for my input on rugs in kids rooms because as they are rooms for little people who are prone to mess and chaos, it can be a questionable decision to spend $$ on decorating it, and I get that completely! For our family dynamic, I know I spend a lot of time in this room and our son really does view it as his sanctuary. For this reason, it is a no brainer to have the rug simply be one that speaks to all of us collectively, but most importantly to our son. He has seconded my design decision which is to have the rug be light in color to bring more of a calm presence and coolness of color (as in opposite of yellowy warmth which the room has a lot of) which means it may be a riskier decision amidst children. I am telling myself that it will help me in setting rules, which admittedly I am not the best at -- rule #1 when the amazing gorgeous vintage or antique white-ish or light-ish rug goes down -- no food or drink in this room besides water. And (ahem) no guinea pigs on the thing! Yes, we have guinea pigs in the corner of this room. More on that later as decorating a room around a huge cage is well, not the easiest task I have ever been presented with.
For this room, I am also not making any other big design decisions yet other than the rug. I’ve known that the placement of the beds is staying the same so I have to work with that size wise. It presents a bit of an issue for the rug sizing because I could either go with one large rug or I could go with one long one in between the bed (which made the room feel smaller to me) or I could go with one small rug in between the beds which then breaks the room up into two parts and I would then need to figure out a rug for when you first walk in. I feel very torn still but definitely my two favorite options are super large to fill the room or super small and have two rugs. How does one figure out the exact size that would work? You could wing it of course but I have found this 90% of the time just does not work. What I always highly recommend is laying down white paper to create a contrast with the flooring to really see how it looks aesthetically — some folks use newspapers for this but for my eye this visual becomes too cluttered. Melissa and Doug set of two paper rolls is $13.99 on Amazon doubling as my white paper for rug sizing and art time for kids, and of course if you have scrap paper lying around this would work as well. You simply lay the paper down where you are thinking the rug would go and play around with it until it looks just right. For me and this project (see below the paper out and an area rug folded up to represent my measurement), I came up with 3’x3’. If I went large route the rug would need to be at least a foot under each furniture piece so based on my measurements of the room, 5-6’x9.5’-10.5’ would be ideal. Essentially in this situation I am presented with two options -- float a small rug between the furniture or have the rug occupy much of the room.
Saturday ONH Katonah shop finds highlighting two eco-conscious and Westchester NY based brands General Knot & Co and Freckles and Fabric.
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On Saturdays I spend a lot of time in our Katonah NY flagship store and I am constantly reminded that there are so many amazing home decor and accessory items that we carry that some website followers may not know about, mainly sourced from Etsy, so Saturday nights I'm gonna tell you about some of them! (Photos are linked to the listings if you want more info on the items, though note that General Knot & Co is only available in store or through e-mail).
Two of the brands that we carry are based locally to us in NY, are all about reclaimed or remnant materials, and have such fantastic owners working hard in the thick of it: they are the actual crafters behind some if not all of the products. General Knot & Co (based in Bedford, NY) specialize in reclaiming vintage textiles to make ties, bow-ties, pocket squares, and women's tote bags and Freckles and Fabric (based in Northern Westchester County, NY) specializes in taking high-end remnant fabric (we are talking $200 a yard kind of fabric) that is being tossed because it is too small and not usable and making one or two of a kind pillows with it that are both well-made and eco-friendly.
Since we first began in 2011, we have always been committed to having as small as a carbon footprint as possible (which is why we love vintage and antique rugs so much because they are already in circulation). These brands are just a couple of the ones we carry with a "green" concept at the core of their business but they are definitely a couple of my all time faves!
xo,
Melissa
]]>Kicking off 2018 home decorating projects with a more refined shared kid's room.
]]>So, we know we want to change up the walls and/or windows in some kind of a way and in the coming posts I will play around with what options I have that will be reversible or leave the existing elements as they are -- think removable wallpaper, adding curtains in front of the blinds, and adding in art and rugs that will change up the aesthetic as well.
Here is the breakdown of the items I have that are going to have to be incorporated no matter the direction I go:
1. Oeuf 3 drawer dresser
2. Oeuf Sparrow crib (will convert to toddler bed for little M)
3. Land of Nod Larkin twin bed in white
4. Nice quality wooden block storage cubes (not sure on brand but I got these pre-baby and remember paying quite a bit for them) -- thinking I will turn them into more of night stands and excited to get started on this project idea as they have had no function the past year or so.
5. Vintage 1970s comic book poster that we picked up at a flea market and our son ADORES -- see all of the characters it has in it? We all love it and I intend to play off the core colors in it - the light yellow (hello some wall being left), red, navy, and black.
At this stage, I have a TON of ideas swirling around in my brain and this tends to happen for me as I love many different aesthetics but more than anything I intend to brighten up the space and make it more inviting. It is sweet as it is, but I want to bring more life and lightness to it. Below is my mood board with a couple of the 'staples' somewhat represented, but the direction this will go is far from clear! Please tell me I am not the only one with projects beginning like this?!
Join us here on the blog and on our Instagram stories over the next two weeks as we try out different rug candidates AND look at wallpaper options. Can't wait!
xo,
Melissa
]]>When we started our Instagram account a couple of years back, we had maybe 8 followers. "We have to start somewhere", I remember everyone telling me, and as it grew, very slowly, I was constantly saying this to myself to keep the motivation going. It is exactly the same story with starting our business in general (which was in 2011 on Etsy) -- the interest in what we were doing and what rugs we were sourcing was there but it had such a slow launch there were days where you could just FEEL the crickets as well as hear them. There were those other days when we would get one or maybe even two orders after days of nothing, and Dave and I would spring up and out to go package it/them up (this was and is always so exciting), and it made the radio silence, amidst all of our efforts, worth it. It brought such joy to source, photograph, describe, and ultimately provide someone (a stranger who would become a friend) with the exact piece they had coveted and been searching for for months. This is still the process 7 years later but on a bigger scale.
Now, we find ourselves starting somewhere new yet again, with a few different projects and objectives. It is hard to say at this point which one will be the one with the real legs, the one that we stick with even as the crickets chirp in the background. But one of them is sharing them all with you as they are happening, and that feels very exciting! We have blogged before but we are now committing to blogging more regularly so that we can really share more of ourselves and our ONH world with you!
One of the elements of this new content will be sharing our own personal home projects as they evolve week by week. If you've followed us closely, you have likely deduced that we do once and a while share these kinds of projects, but not consistently. Also, though we consider ourselves to have a strong interior design sense, we have not been able to carve out time for projects that really allow for that sense to be fully activated. So here we are ready to go at last! Time management has not always been my personal strong suit but I am getting such joy from putting on my creative design cap on over here, that it feels like a necessity to roll with it and do my best at fitting it in.
So where do we start? Well, in our own mid century home there is a TON of work to do. We have poured so much of ourselves into our business over the past seven years, that we have let our own personal sanctuary slip to the waist side. I would go as far as to say that every single room in our home is in need of some decor TLC, even when it comes to the rugs if you can believe it. So, we could start big or we could start small, and I am really into the "let's get our feet wet" type of approach at the moment so the first project up is going to be our children's shared bedroom as I have taken some efforts to source for this space but have not successfully tied together all of the elements yet. I will begin posting about getting started with this project on Thursday evening so stay tuned!
In the meantime, here is a glance at what I will be posting somewhat regularly and if you have suggestions for posts or subjects you would love to hear about, please e-mail us at md@oldnewhouse.com!
-Behind the scenes during Photo Shoots and ONH work weeks
-First Pick Faves (as new rugs get posted, I will be delving more into my absolute favorites + why I am so smitten)
-Mood Boards/Design Tips/Collaborative Posts about my own home projects
-Shop Findings (our Katonah flagship store is chalk full of handmade items from Etsy Sellers, and I would love to share more about these)
-Furniture Building -- this has always been something Dave has wanted to do more of and I am personally very excited to see these projects come to light
-Projects we are working on as they are happening
-Local Interior Design Projects and Collaborations (we are so lucky to work with a ton of designers who are doing amazing things and cannot wait to share more of these!)
And because I am a visual person, here is a little look at my blogging calendar so you can get a sense of when you might like to check in on us:
xo,
Melissa
]]>Antique rugs are estimated to have a weaving date of 100 years or more. With antique rugs and textiles the late 19th and early 20th century is a pivotal time since this is the cusp of larger, world interest. In the eyes of a purist, the carpets made before this time are of great appeal since antique rugs are 1. Generally a bit more scarce 2. Made in a time with potential importance in regards to history or authenticity to purists. With scarcity and collector interest/demand come higher prices. Although the harmony and aesthetic of an antique rug with true age and patina may resonate well with many people, often cost may be prohibitive to the average buyer. If not cost, the importance of the rug may be too great for day-to-day use. With the latter, you may opt for placing the rug in a low traffic area, perhaps hanging or mounting it on a wall, or even consider storing for your private collection. Antique rugs and carpets of true age are not entirely common, and realized prices of excellent to exceptional carpets with unique character and excellent artistic merit continue to be well established every day.
New rug production has similar downsides to antique rugs relating to cost: Materials and labor making new rugs are quite high over years past. Replacement of new rug weaving at the consumer level is perhaps 35 – 50% more costly in the last decade alone.
Most importantly on in a trade-off consideration: If one were to qualitatively compare a very good condition 1940’s Persian Sarouk to a replica in new rug production, it is conceivable the authentic vintage Sarouk may only cost 50-70% the sale price of the new carpet that is made to look like the old.
While there may be some further considerations when purchasing a pre-owned rug, it certainly is appealing to consider a $4,000 9x12 authentic Persian Sarouk in very good condition over the cost of a $6,500 new 9x12 rug made to look like the $4,000 carpet.
It is also, however, worthwhile to note machine made rugs in similar comparison: For a well known manufacturers power loomed (machine made) carpet made of wool with similar density and aesthetic to a true American Sarouk, you may easily pay $3,000. Why not opt for the real, authentic, genuine original, hand knotted Persian rug for just a fraction more?
There is great validity and real cost-benefit of purchasing a vintage rug over an antique or new rug (or even a machine made rug for that matter). The manner in which hand knotted rugs are made today is little changed over the course of many centuries. However, the main difference now is vintage rugs are an extremely affordable option, and regardless, will continue to last for many, many years.
Finding the proper balance in utility and value: vintage rugs are a real contender in finding the optimal choice!
Looking for related reading? Take a look at our new article on what makes a rug collectible and other popular rugs.
]]>Me and Dave are very much into being a part of our local Westchester NY community and especially love visiting the farms of our county as it feels like such a privilege to have them so close just at our fingertips. One of our favorites to visit is Stone Barns Farm right around the corner of Pleasantville, New York and in the spirit of giving back, I decided that one thing I could donate to them was my time and photography. They invited me to capture their Harvest Fest on October 5th and it was such a pleasure. Even in college when I first started honing in on my photography interests, I knew that people would always be my primary focus. I love freezing in time the moments of human interaction that sweep past the periphery faster than you can blink the eye. Childhood, family, the Fall season, the joy of taking a day off from work, being with animals -- these were all my primary focus at Harvest Fest and it felt so good to truly connect with what I first loved about photography as well as to connect the dots to what I am enjoying now with Old New House. Everything we sell is handmade, from a long time ago or today by me + Dave, and my initial connection is with the idea of who made it and how they intended it to be enjoyed, with the second connection being who will have it in their home and how they will enjoy it. It is a beautiful process to me and Harvest Fest has gotten me especially excited to photograph our new line of tables and to share them with the world!!
xoxo,
Melissa
]]>However, a walk just a few steps closer to one end and the story may change. Go around from that end to one of the nearest corners, perhaps the hint of an intricately woven pattern may be slowly exposed.
Continue circling a corner to one full side, the design and tones may pop a bit more. Go all the way around another corner 180 degress from where you were, standing at the other end of the carpet, you see the full contrast and maximum depth of colors. Light is now being absorbed into the tips of the cut wool pile, and you are seeing full saturation.
If you are able to distinguish the subtle differences in faded earthen colors and pastel tones at the first corner rounded, you've probably already connected with the piece. To some, there is nothing to be seen. In a true tone-on-tone rug, these soft, subtle differences will be detected by keen color awareness within the first few seconds. If the subtleties can be perceived that quickly, you are identifying well with the rug!
It never ceases to amaze us how shimmering gold or predominantly ivory carpet has almost completely changed based on the unique character of hand knotted rugs. A soft lemon-beige may transition into a saffron-gold. A silver grey may transition into a dark charcoal black. A few delicate faded and blanched pastels such as a pale seafoam green or soft baby blue are clearly delineated as a livelier oxidized copper, or shade of near aqua. The carpet looks like it was kissed by the sun on either side, and it is gorgeous!
Decorative carpets evoke a feeling or emotion. We select all rugs in our shop because each has a place in our decorative dreams.
For us, a faded or blanched carpet brings us to a calming place. Rugs softened in tone have a relaxed way about them. Sometimes you just need a hint of something to get the full sense of it: Like water with a hint of lemon instead of a full-on lemonade. With a tone-on-tone carpet, you get the true sense of a color: How might a shade stretch when diluted in saturation? To what extent may pigment be drawn down before you lose the essence of the shade.
Identifying and embracing with the sensation of connecting to a shade or even adjacent shades (such as just one area of a rug) is part of the process of finding the right rug. The appreciation may just start with the love for how two colors seem to co-mingle as they buffer each other around an intricate design as outlines thin and thicken. Perhaps that identification is just in small hand-size area. It almost does not matter if the rug has a medallion or is an allover design, you may just find many areas where some field and outlines just have a harmony about them.
We look forward to introducing a few room size rugs in the upcoming weeks. These carpets draw upon the character of tone-on-tone with soft bursts of wooded browns and pastels in "sun kissed" fade.
David + Melissa
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Here are my picks for awesome pairings of traditional rugs with hip and/or non super traditional decor.
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Now off to decorating my own house!
xoxo,
Melissa
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1. Photo from noctomic.com 2. Photo from RugRag.com 3. Photo from lonny.com 4. Photo from noctomic.com 5. Photo from lonny.com
I especially love how red can fit in with so many different home styles. It is versatile yet bold. Here's to a colorful week with lots of cozy time in your homes!
xoxo,
Melissa
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2. Area rug size in the middle of the kitchen. I am in love with the Elle photograph below of Ginnifer Goodwin in her kitchen with a lovely antique rug underneath her feet. Her kitchen looks modern and subdued, but most importantly a mixture of stylish and cozy. I usually gravitate towards a bright, white type of kitchen but I love how sleek this one is and I feel like the rug is rather unexpected but adds the homey feel. Immediately reminded me of a couple pieces we have that I love and I had to share them!
That's it for this week -- hope everyone is enjoying the weekend in their rug-more or rug-less kitchens! xoxo, Melissa]]>
Antique Persian Tabriz Rug: This older Tabriz features a stunning ivory center medallion, rust field and beige/sand corner spandrels. My eye is always particularly drawn to the beautiful, yet sparse, shades of deep jewel teal and blue. The border is also quite admirable - a very softly seasoned tone-on-tone medallion and field is confidently wrapped with a palmetto + serrated leaf motif woven with handsome and harnessed strength in design and contrast. Harmonious and powerful!
Antique Persian Farahan Sarouk Rug : Exceptionally detailed carpet with excellent weave and wool. Such a fantastic design in this little antique Sarouk Farahan. The allover vertical meandering leaf field design is so simple in so many ways, yet the dynamic really lends to the feeling of movement in this rug. True to its way, this certainly does feel like the running channels of water design as it is known!
Antique Persian Bijar : A rare and early wool weft antique Persian Halvaie Bijar. Fantastic execution of design with phenomenal range of colors with deep saturation in all shades!
Thanks for checking in, stay tuned for new arrivals & enjoy your next rug from our great selection of antique and vintage rugs
Melissa + Dave
Old New House
]]>Where did these chests and trunks come from - who owned them? How old are they? What is the story? What did they hold? In some cases there is evidence - on many of the antique trunks we have there are signs of previous owners - a beautifully scripted name and date for example flanks the inside of this super old antique wooden trunk:
Others like this classic antique wooden chest with iron have little to no information to trace anything:
Even a wardrobe trunk can have information so pertinent and detailed it almost brings you to that date, like the short-but-sweet hand written content check-list on the inside of this Indestructo Trunk.
Some trunks have a clear purpose - or at least modifications for an intended purpose. This old chest has a converted inside lined with Cedar - great for antique linens and wool.
While others just leave you wondering - Rascal must have been one serious Rascal... I of IV!
Whether you love the graphics, relate to the travel and journey, adore the patina and hefty qualities, the idea of feeling safe and secure, we look forward to seeing what amazing antique trunks and chests you select from our shop!
Enjoy!
M+D
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2. An old trunk with character. Dave and I are huge fans of trunks and chests, especially the more unusual or unique ones. I could so see our early 20th century Indestructo trunk as a coffee table or an accent type of table in a nook any day -- perfect for stacking books / magazines / a plant + treats on top of and storing warm blankets inside of.
3. Accent pieces like the many featured in this home. Globes, knick knacks, art on the wall, a little table, you name it - we probably have it + below are some of my picks.
4. Mid century style rattan chair. I have recently gotten really into rattan and wicker and while the sheepskin rug concept is not totally for me, I definitely love the look + have been sourcing creamy knits and quilts instead to use as accent pieces on chairs like this one.
Having fun with the inspiration but now I need to go get to work on my own nook -- the ideal area I have in mind is at the moment has been taken over by our animals so it might be awhile!
xoxo,
Melissa
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1. Vintage or Antique Oriental Rug. Okay, so I can't completely tell from the super small portion of it in the frame if it is indeed my favorite type of Persian rug -- Kerman -- but it certainly reminds me of the type and we happen to have two very close matches in our shop. And my love affair with Kerman rugs will certainly live on -- now to hoping that one day we have a spacious enough bathroom to put one in because if it were up to me we would have one in every room!
2. Beveled Glass Mirror. Whether new or old, mirrors are pretty much the norm in a bathroom but having a round mirror that is beveled glass adds a little something special to the look if you ask me -- an old world charm. A lot of mirrors made today are not beveled and so that extra dimension that pretty much all old mirrors have is just lost. This mirror we have in the shop is one I have always thought would look fantastic hanging up instead of being used as a stand and check out that bevel....ooh la la!
3. A lovely plant in a vase. It seems a bit unlikely to find a plant in the bathroom but I love the concept. Nature is soothing and it is such a lovely way to spruce up any kind of room. And of course when you are sitting in your bubble bath, you can look over to see something else thriving. It has positive energy! While we don't carry plants in our shop, we do carry some vases. I always find milk glass to be incredibly timeless and think the ultra white vase would look just beautiful in a bathroom.
That's it for this sourcing series but stay tuned for our next one which will focus on home offices! I hope everyone has a peaceful and wonderful weekend! xoxo, Melissa
]]>1. Large vintage rug with unique and neutral color tones. This rug in the photo, while it may not be vintage itself, immediately reminded of me of the vintage Josan Sarouk in our shop because the colors are so serene and lovely and rather unique. I feel like you wouldn't expect to see a rug of this color or size in a bedroom but wow, how inviting and spacious it makes the room feel. I just love it!
2. Unique lamp! Even if you have recessed lighting like we do, a unique lamp is a must in any kind of space if you ask me. It is like an art piece that has function. My pick is more feminine than what they have but to each their own!
3. Subdued, minimalistic, and small wall art. My pick is this amazing 1930s etching by the acclaimed artist Morris Henry Hobbs -- I just adore how tiny the work of art is and could so see it at the edge of a room leading into another space like in this room.
4. Seating in corner for getting ready, decorating on, or putting clothes on top of. My ONH pick is of course our out of this world amazing antique leather pouf. I have never seen one quite like this and it would be a perfect piece next to the dresser or side table.
5. Hanging botanical chart. Theirs is small which I quite like but if you have the space for a larger one like ours, I say go for it! Nothing like a large wall art piece that is minimalistic but bold at the same time.
6. Color pop on a white bedspread. Whether you go with a lightweight blanket or a quilt like I've picked out, a little pop of color slung over the white bedspread can really stand out as a lovely visual piece of bedroom styling.
1. Light colored botanical art. Okay, okay, you got me -- botanical art is a big favorite around here these days and I keep referencing it but I can't help myself! It can be such a natural and lovely piece of wall decor that blends serenity and curiosity and it is just so nice to bring the outside in.
2. Wall art with birds. In the pictured home, the print or drawing is very small and I love that but no matter the size, wall art with birds compliments botanical wonderfully and can once again, nicely bring the outdoors inside.
3. Colorful floral wall art. Flowers, more flowers please! Flowers are so vastly featured in art (rugs, wall, etc.) because they are beautiful in shape and color. Want to bring red, blue, and yellow into a subtly-colored room? Find an art-work with flowers in it!
4. Unique landscape wall art. The one featured immediately reminded me of our industrial man + machine drawing with the lower third being land and the upper third being sky. The light minimal use of colors is also very similar and I feel like a one-of-a-kind wall art piece blended with the more commonly seen botanical is a really nice combination in a gallery wall like this one.
5. Visual vintage dress hanging on wall. This is something you would not quickly think to do but boy, does it look neat. The gold dress shown hear becomes a part of the gallery wall and adds a streak of color to the blue backdrop without having to be permanent. You can switch out the dress every week, month or year and the idea is well, genius. As I have really become obsessed with vintage clothing and we have added a bunch to the shop, this seemed very fitting! I could totally see our 60s crochet dress hanging well next to all of the botanical art because it has a floral look to its design as well.
That's all for today!
xoxo,
Melissa
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