Secondhand Score: Mid-Century Console

My home décor budget has been next to nothing lately because of unexpected house and car maintenance expenses stemming from as far back as last year. Because of that, I only buy things for the house these days that serve multiple purposes. It can’t just be pretty, or just be a great deal, or have just the right amount of storage. It has to be something that checks all of those boxes and more before I’m willing to make the investment. Happily, this most recent new-to-me piece of furniture that I bought back in July for our dining room fit the bill, and then some.

I spotted it on Instagram at Patina, which is one of my favorite locally owned home goods shops in nearby Charlottesville, Virginia. The price was right at (if I remember correctly) $250, the shape and size were perfect, and I loved the mid-century lines. There was a bit of water damage on the piece, which is why it was priced so well, but that didn’t bother me. Our furniture collection is covered with water rings, cat claw marks, and chips. That’s what makes our home feel lived in and inviting, I think! Nothing is particularly precious—at least nothing’s too precious to actually use. And that goes for our “new” dining room console.

My vision was to arrange it in our dining room to replace a newer piece that we had eventually started using as overflow pantry storage and as a microwave cart. You may already know that our 1960s kitchen is on the tight side of things in terms of square footage. We couldn’t fit our microwave in that room and we were also hoping to gain extra storage space for food (think: backup spices, condiments, dry rice, etc.). Like I said, we were using the piece you see here in a past blog post, but I ultimately hoped to find something vintage that had a little more character to it, plus even more storage space.

Get the look: similar console (investment piece), similar console (budget buy), similar lamp, ceramic vase options, pot, similar plant, baskets, “The New Design Rules”, “Own Your Space”, microwave, wallpaper, trim, green paint color, art

This upgraded console fits juuuuuuuuust right against the small wall in our dining room, and I love that it has multiple levels for storage. On the bottom, I placed four seagrass baskets from Target, which hold all of that backup food I had mentioned. Then, I tucked away some of our favorite ceramics and glassware on the top shelf. The sliding glass doors make it entirely pet proof, yet still allow us to see our treasures. The slim depth of the console is great, too, since it provides good flow past it into the kitchen, and it’s just barely big enough for our retro-inspired microwave to sit on top. Point being, the piece is absolutely perfect for our home and lifestyle needs. I’m so glad that I happened upon it at Patina! Tell me about your own secondhand scores in the comments.

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