Answers about Baxton Studio Furniture

Three years ago I wrote about Baxton Studio and their inexpensive mid-century modern furniture. Sure they're knock offs, but I still believe that not everyone needs to own an original. That said, it does feel a little wrong to buy a knock off (to me), but from what I know about industrial design rights Baxton Studio is totally within their rights.

With knock offs always comes the question of quality. Three years ago, there's wasn't really any reviews of Baxton Studio furniture. Since a few years have passed, there's more info on the internet (mainly on Reddit and Amazon. And the culmination of info seems to be "not bad for the price." You're not getting the quality of designer furniture, but you're getting the look for a lot less and the furniture isn't going to break underneath you.

So, if you're looking for some cheap mid-century modern furniture, Baxton Studio might be worth looking into.

Mid-Century on Reddit

Reddit is a pretty solid time waster in my life, and I just found the mid-century subreddit so all my free time is now accounted for. If you don't know what Reddit is, it's a social network and news site where people share interesting things they find on the internet. And subreddit's limit those things to a specific topic, in this case mid-century stuff.

The mid-century subreddit is filled with people sharing photos of their mid-century homes, trying to identify unknown pieces and bragging about great garage sale finds. I'll be hanging out there a lot, especially if people keep posting truths like this:

Late Night with Seth Meyers Desk and Chair

I like to think that mid-century furniture works anywhere. The clean lines, the rich wood tones, the beautiful legs. But the evolution of the Late Night with Seth Meyers set proves that's not the case.

The first Late Night with Seth Meyers desk was a classic example of a mid-century desk, but it was weird to see Seth roll around in his chair under the desk. And speaking of chairs, they had a gorgeous mid-century modern guest chair, but I think they ordered the children's size. 

Take 2: Seth got a solid desk so you couldn't see his feet dangling and his chair got an upgrade. They also upgraded to the adult size guest chair. But guests still looked a little uncomfortable.

So it was time to roll in the big plush chairs. And now it looks like a classic TV talk show set. And it looks a lot better. I guess late night shows are just a place that mid-century furniture doesn't work, which is weird because a lot of late night shows have a mid-century undertone and feel to them.

Cheap Midcentury Modern Planters

They're back, again. Target's Room Essentials planters have made a return. And again, I bought a few gray ones. They're still the best, inexpensive modern planters for my money.

This time red and teal blue accompany the ever present gray. I think either would add a nice pop of color in most midcentury modern homes, they just don't work with our mid-century color palette.

Done: New Front Porch Light

The last item on our front porch to-do list was to change the light. The old light was a cheapest porch light you can buy at Home Depot and it was starting to look out of place.

So we decided to replace it with the Forecast Lighting Hollywood Hills light in Vista Silver.

That first meant taking down the old light and putting some new paint up.

After that, it was a pretty easy install.

I love the modern look of the light and how it looks next to the blue front door.

And I love how it looks with the rest of the items on the front porch

From every angle.

Here's what it's like at night.

It's super bright because it has two bulbs instead of the typical one. It's really nice for people leaving after sunset because they can see all the way to the street now.

Mid-Century Modern Furniture at Marché aux puces de Saint-Ouen

There are plenty reasons to visit Marché aux puces de Saint-Ouen if you're ever in Paris: mid-century travel brochures, a Futuro house, mid-century furniture, more mid-century furniture and mid-century modern furniture. If you do go, plan of spending a least a few hours there. We spent about four hours looking and shopping and didn't even scratch the surface. My guess is if you wanted to do the whole thing, it would take days.

Here are the last of my photo collection from Marché aux puces de Saint-Ouen:

Mid-Century Modern Furniture in Paris

Marché aux puces de Saint-Ouen is a huge flea market made up of a collection of smaller flea markets. We spent most of our time in Marché Paul Bert, Marché Serpette and Marché Dauphine. If you're looking for mid-century furniture, Marché Paul Bert is the place to go. Marché Dauphine is where we bought souvenirs that we could fit in our suitcase; it has a lot of smaller vintage items I don't think you could find anywhere else in Paris.

Most of these photos come from Marché Paul Bert:

More Mid-Century Furniture from Marché aux puces de Saint-Ouen

The Marché aux puces de Saint-Ouen is both and indoor and outdoor flea market. The nicer stuff seems to be inside, although the stuff outside is still amazing. Here are some more of the finds at Marché aux puces de Saint-Ouen.

Mid-Century Furniture in Paris, France

I've mentioned Marché aux puces de Saint-Ouen a few times because of the Futuro House there and the mid-century travel brochures that can be found there, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. We spent a whole morning walking the market and enjoying all the beautiful mid-century furniture. That is, until we became so angry about not being able to bring any of it home. At one point I had to say, "I can't look at this amazing furniture anymore; there's no way we can ship it home and no way I can find anything like it back in the States."

This is just the first few minutes at Marché aux puces de Saint-Ouen. There are more photos to come. Also, some of the photos were taken quickly/on the sly because at one point my wife whispered into my ear, "People are starting to notice the photos and you're not getting the friendliest of looks."