Office updates, vintage and otherwise: Free printable included

We finished the office makeover about a month ago and still love it.

It’s hard to pick a favorite part actually. The blue walls? The orange geometric curtains? The trimmed-out ceiling shade? It’s like trying to pick a favorite book.

That said, it was still looking a bit unfinished due to a lack of accessories (and, well, the rug, but I haven’t gotten any further with that). So I’d been on the lookout for a few little fun touches to sparkle it up a bit. Here’s what I’ve got so far.

The print showed up in Monday’s post about inexpensive framing options, but I hadn’t really showed it in situ yet. First of all, it’s another Bjorn Wiinblad print. I bought this one off eBay many years ago when I first started collecting. It had been sitting in a manila envelope ever since. There were several in the lot. I seem to remember paying about $20 for about a dozen little prints. These are just ink on cardstock–nothing fancy like a serigraph. The frame I found at Treasure Trove (an INOVA thrift shop) in Springfield and then had professionally matted and closed at Total Framing in Fairfax.

Just in front of the elephant I mentioned in the final office makeover post: I had been eyeing a little cricket cage on Etsy for several weeks. Normally this sort of thing wouldn’t necessarily catch my attention, but it has a little origami cricket inside. Isn’t it irresistible? I finally bought it after lamenting to Doug that I really wanted it, but totally couldn’t explain why. He told me to buy it anyway. Good call, sweetie.

What’s really funny is that the day I ordered the cricket cage, I headed out to an estate sale and promptly found four more cricket cages in various sizes. They don’t have an origami cricket in them, but for Hollywood Regency lovers with a fondness for Chinoiserie (which spell checker thinks ought to be trichinosis?!? yikes?!?), these might be even better. I’ll have them up in the Etsy shop soon so drop me a line via one of the contact methods above if you want first crack at them.

The rest of that vignette is comprised of West German pottery that I’ve found in the last few weeks. There’s actually another one I found recently that’s currently in the living room, which I’ll get to another time, but it’s just funny that after the perfect pot that I found broke, more keep popping up. The little urn is definitely West German. It’s marked and I was able to determine beyond a doubt that it’s Scheurich. The tall textured one is not as clear. It’s definitely vintage, but it’s unmarked and I haven’t been able to find anything else like it online. That needs more research.

These are a great example of what often happens while out at the thrifts. I saw these and liked them. They don’t perfectly fit the color scheme for the room or its style, but until I find something better, they’ll stay. It’s a fun way to constantly refresh my decor and the whole reason I started my Etsy business in the first place.

The last little thing I found was a bank in the shape of a house. I picked it up at Treasure Hound in Chantilly. It was made in Chicago by a company called Banthrico that seems to have made die cast items in the 1970s, mostly piggy banks for real banks’ promotions. I found two others at the same time, both mid century modern style bank buildings. Here they are already up in my shop: this one and this one. They’re very charming, but it’s not like a lot of folks go searching for mid century modern miniature banks so they haven’t gotten a ton of attention. Aren’t they cute though?

Oh, and behind that is a Hyalyn vase. That’s also up on Etsy, but stands a very real chance of being pulled at some point. I love Hyalyn and have gravitated towards their matte glazed Georges Briard and Michael Lax designs, but even though this one has a gloss glaze, I’m developing a fondness for it. When I break down and put flowers in it is probably when I’ll discover I can’t give it up. So if you like it, better act fast!

Finally, a non-vintage addition was the last piece of art that needed to go up, a Tolkien quote that I was practicing my graphic design skills on. The background is a Photoshop pattern that I downloaded from Creative Market that I then recolored. Photoshop experts will be like, “uh, so?” But I felt very accomplished. It’s hard to tell in the photo, but it’s just inside the door above the light switch we had rewired back when we did the office makeover. Anyway, if you’d like one for your very own, here it is as a free printable. It’s 8×10 so you can print onto standard copy paper and frame in a ready-made frame.

So what have you found in the thrifts lately? Or have you seen something online that you just couldn’t resist?

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