1 Credenza 4 Ways: Bold Mid-Century Contemporary

It’s another 1 credenza 4 ways, over here (see #1 and #2). To catch you up, I took one credenza and styled it four completely different ways without changing the background or flooring. I thought it would be fun to show how by styling things differently you can totally change the context of the piece.

This version was supposed to be more minimalist, but I am clearly someone who is unable to just put one thing on a credenza. I tried, I did, and it just looked so sad – especially with the lady above just staring at you with her, ‘Why didn’t you give me any friends?’ look. So instead we are calling this ‘Bold Mid-century Contemporary ‘.

That photograph pretty much sets the tone for the wall – it’s a Stephanie Vovas (the photographer, not the model) and it’s pretty hot. Here is why this whole credenza styling works:

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1. Since it is just one big bold piece I wanted to style it with pieces that were more sculptural and yet still clean – giving this look more of a polished simplicity.

2. The white lamp is balanced by the branches (it would look ok without branches it the vase, but not as good … but p.s. most people have branches outside their door, simply clip and drop in the vase).

3. The blue in the vase picks up on the blue in the books and her eye-liner and one should always have their pottery match their makeup.

4. The black in the bowl, candle sticks and the art all tie together, and right now while I’m looking at this I think that the last white vase could have been darker to help it feel more balanced.

The objects/vessels are all different shapes, but have the same vibe – clean simple lines that just compliment each other.

I love that photo that so much. She takes women and stylizes them all 70’s glam (or any way you want, just REALLY stylized and art directed). I think I’m going to do it. I almost did last year but it was when I was pregnant and we were buying the house and had no extra money to spend on self-portraits but I still really want to do it.

Seeing things pop onto a screen is my newest obsession. I feel like I’m like a cat slowly pushing something to the edge of the table and still being excited that it falls off and makes a big sound. I know what is going to happen every single time in this gif and yet I get so excited to see it all come together.

Credenza | Table Lamp | Wood and Pottery Candlesticks: vintage | Pottery: vintage | Chair | Portrait Photograph

See the other 3 Credenzas here: Mid-Century Costal | California Eclectic | Upper East Side Mid-Century.

*All photos by Tessa Neustadt