There are a number of design blogs that comprise my go-to morning reading. Young House Love, Manhattan Nest and more and more these days, Little Green Notebook. I love the authors’ make do creativity, and I salivate over incorporating and tweaking their ingenious design solutions for my own use.
Of course, design inspiration (or anything inspiration) is everywhere.
So when I spied these supposed-to-be-ugly barstools on Breaking Bad, my mind started to whirl.
“Wow, those barstools look a lot like that makeover chair from Little Green Notebook’s Jenny Komenda. They are so ripe for a makeover! Plus, I bet they’re crazy comfortable. I should start keeping an eye out for something similar while out on my thrifting adventures!”
Yes, this is how my brain works.
I remember how Jenny’s before chair was so ugly I would have thrown it out of bed for eating crackers wouldn’t have given it a second glance:
And the after chair was stop-you-in-your-tracks, kick-you-in-the-groin amazing! So bold, so graphic, let’s face it . . . drool worthy. Like it deserved its own fan club, or at least a Facebook page so I could “like” it. Good idea, Katy. Make a Facebook page for The Chair this afternoon.
Again, this is how my brain works.
What was I saying? Oh yes, that you don’t have to actually partake of Breaking Bad’s illicit substances to have a mind altering experience. You just have to keep an eye out for design inspiration.
It will blow your mind!
Katy Wolk-Stanley
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
I found brown chairs almost exactly like the green ones in breaking bad. LOVE THOSE, want some for my similar kitchen-bar-ledge thing. Everyone called my brown chairs uglier than sin, too 😀 They sold, though.
I love me some resale!
Katy
I owned a very similar pair of those Breaking Bad supposed-to-be-ugly barstools. They originally came from our neighbors basement bar; they gave them to me while they were in the process of downsizing from a house to a condo.
I took them to college with me and they spent a few years in my fraternity house (and let’s be glad those barstools can’t talk), before I sold them in a yard sale. But wow, if I had seen Jenny’s chair makeover I might have kept them!
I had a chair like those for years at mt kitchen bar. Mine was brown and very comfy. I finally replaced it because the footrest fell apart AGAIN after I had reattached it for the umteenth time.
So when you see one at GW check to make sure the ring/footrest is sturdy.
How is it that some people have such a knack to turn daggy old stuff into AWESOME! Nice work on bringing this to my attention, now I want one!
I think we all want that chair. Maybe I should buy a dozen or so, and then have an ole fashioned paintin’ party.
Katy
I love this stuff, too. When my daughter went to college, sharing an apartment with two other girls, I wasn’t about to spend a fortune on furniture. We found in a consignment red-tag sale room a dresser, wood-framed mirror off another dresser and a dark wood cabinet thingy that would work for a nightstand. They were 1960 ugly — fake driftwood dresser, dark pine cabinet, blonde wood framed mirror, rusty handles, you name it. They were so ugly, my husband tried to convince our daughter not to take them home, when he went with her to pick them up. She and I sanded, painted, and changed out the handles (maybe $20.00 worth of supplies), painted an old bedframe we already had, and ta-da! Her roommates thought the furniture was so cute after we were done, and now, years later, they grace my granddaughter’s room! No one realizes just how awful they used to look . Except us, of course. How I wish I’d taken pictures.
I love it!
Katy
I love the way your mind works… it makes me laugh!
The chairs are amazing but what this post has made me consider is getting Netflix so we can watch breaking bad (we don’t have cable etc..). We’ve finished all the True Blood box sets we could get our hands on for our Saturday night in at Chez Wright (once kids are in bed – of course!). Breaking bad has been recommended. It’s that or Sons of Anarchy.
I bought the exact same “breaking bad” stools at an auction a month ago. They are made by Costco. (not that big box store) and mine are white. I paid $15 for all three of them. I was to tickled I could hardly contain myself. I took some clorax spray bleach cleaner and they are like brand new. I figure for $5 a piece I will use them until they die. Although they are so sturdy I think they will last a long time.
Glad to know someone else thinks they’re cool.
Very cool!
Katy
The chair’s all right, but I LOVE “kick-you-in-the-groin” as the next level up from “stop-you-in-your-tracks.” Awesome. 🙂