Thrift stores are wonderful places to shop because, besides being cheap, most of them benefit charitable institutions. For instance, here in the Tulsa area, the HOW Foundation thrift store benefits those recovering from drug and alcohol addiction, and the Animal Aid thrift store works to help abused and injured animals. So you are actually doing a good thing when you spend at these shops!
Read MoreEveryone has too much stuff. And if you don't, then I am in love with you and you've accomplished an amazing thing. Let's meet for drinks soon? Most of us have too many things in our spaces, and when Ashley and I meet with our home styling clients, one of the first steps is to clear out extra.
Read MoreYou may have noticed, we love house plants. We love them for the energy, color and life they bring into our spaces. Whether styling rooms in our own homes or a scene at the shop, there's always a house plant involved. Although we have great love for house plants, we understand that sometimes keeping them alive can be stressful. We've all got busy lives, right? Who wants to be stressed out by a house plant? That's why we've put together our top three favorite house plants that keep you company, but don't take your time.
Read MoreFirst up in our series on our favorite places to shop vintage in Tulsa–antique malls!
While a great friend may love hitting up the thrift stores and estate sales with you, an antique mall may appeal to a wider audience. For example, Palmer used to take friends and extended family to Generations Antique Mall after breakfast at Tally's on the weekends. Everyone seemed to find a trinket (like a plastic lemon tree or German Shepherd figurine) to take home or at least enjoyed looking.
Read MoreAt the beginning of every year, we set some time aside for planning our goals and discussing our hopes and dreams for Retro Den. In past years, we've met for a few hours at a local restaurant or coffee shop, but this year we decided to get away for our yearly planning session.
This year, we treated ourselves and stayed at the beautiful Sharpe House bed and breakfast in Checotah, OK, the steerwrestling capital of the world, located just an hour southeast of Tulsa. We had followed the restoration of the 110+ year old home via our wonderful, long-time customer Renza Sharpe. We loved hearing about the renovation of her grandparents' home and couldn't wait to experience it first hand.
Read MoreRead our blog for home tours, home styling tips, and plant care advice!
At the moment of writing this, our dear friends Sarah and Adam Heatherington's Lortondale home is up for sale! We've had it on our list to take photos for a home tour, so we ran over there as soon as we heard our time was dwindling. We are so happy to share this thoughtful home with you.
We always say our clients are stylish people, but this has never been more the case than when we worked with local blogger and house renovator Emily Netz. Emily and her husband Jeff recently renovated their 1920s Tulsa home (which you can see and read about here) and Emily designed and furnished nearly every space except for her boys' room. When it came to this room, Emily felt stuck on how to create the space she had imagined in her head and wanted an extra pair (or two) of eyes to help bring it to life. We were more than happy to help!
Well, I can't believe it. Our kitchen is actually done. Done, I say! It's been so long, I'm ashamed for you to look back to see the date of the "before" kitchen post.
Okay. It was April 30th.
So that means the kitchen's been about six months in the making. Now to be completely fair, our kitchen has been functional since mid July, but the "finishing touches" took nearly as long as the bulk of the demo/installation. But whatever. It was our first renovation and we went at it without a general contractor and it's done now, so who cares if it took six months? Who's even counting, right? (I can say that now that it's over, because I did care. I was the crazy woman counting!).
The difference between minimal and unfinished decorating
I've been lying in bed thinking about this quite a lot over the past year. My life ritual is to swing from one extreme to another, then gently wander my way into middle ground. I did this with boyfriends. I did this with work. I'm doing this with my bedroom decorating, duh. So my once packed bedroom became quite a blank canvas this past year. And it's from this place, I have been contemplating the difference between minimal design and something not quite finished.