Home Tour - Brittany and Justin's Springfield Bungalow

Today I’m excited to share the home tour of Brittany and Justin’s perfect little Springfield, Missouri bungalow. I met Brittany on Instgram where I fell in love with her gorgeous thrift and mid century finds. She also happens to be the brains behind the blog White Dog Vintage where she shares here timeless, affordable, collected style. When I reached out to her to share her amazing home she was more than willing to share and even answer a few questions.

Have a look at how much Brittany has accomplished in the nine months since she moved into her 1921 bungalow. Though she is still in the process of fixing it up, I’d say it’s already looking pretty good.

Here’s what Brittany has to say about her home and her style:

Why did you choose the house you’re in?
My husband and I (and our 3 chihuahuas) moved into our house, a 1921 bungalow, about 8 months ago. We had been living in another bungalow in an adjacent neighborhood to our dream neighborhood and weren’t actively looking to move but more keeping an eye out for the right thing. There were definitely a lot of criteria for what would make a house the “right thing”–but there were a few things that really sold us about this place. Those were the tall ceilings, relatively open floor plan (not always easy to find in old homes!), sun room, and a landscaped back yard. We also wanted something we could improve, and we saw the potential to add back some of the charm that had been diminished by later renovations.

What would you call your style?
Good question! I like the tidiness of categories but I’m not sure my style fits into any of them. I thrift a LOT and really try to focus on buying things that I love. I have lots of mid-century furniture mixed in with Ikea pieces, colorful rugs, and plenty of doodads and tchotchkes–so I can at least rule out minimalism. 🙂 I live in a bungalow, too, so the craftsman architecture adds to they dynamic. I’d call my style “Classic Mid-century Eclectic.” That seems to cover all the bases.

What is your favorite spot in the house (even of it’s not finished yet.)
This is a toughy, but I’d probably say my dining room. I get to work from home part-time, and when I work from my dining room table, I can see out a window on every side of the house. We also have a lot of our favorite items on display in there, and my husband plays a lot of vinyl, so it’s nice to enjoy some music when we have family over for dinner or games.

What is you favorite vintage piece?
Hands down this has to be our Broyhill Brasilia two-door chest. My husband found it on Craigslist a couple of hours away in my hometown for an unbelievable price. The guy who sold it to us knew what it was worth, but he said he had bought it from the Salvation Army and just wanted to get back what he paid for it. One of the greatest things about buying vintage is the experience of connecting with people and with things. You all become part of the same story. I hope the guy who sold us the chest knows he couldn’t have found anyone more appreciative to have it. It’s just a magnificent piece.

What has been your biggest project?
We painted the exterior of our last house, and that was quite a lot of work. In this house, we’ve taken on a couple of labor-intensive jobs, including refinishing the wood floors in our downstairs and making over our entire kitchen with paint and tile. I think we may be about to take on our biggest project yet in our master bedroom, though. I’m going to be overhauling it for the One Room Challenge starting October 8 and doing everything from scraping the ceiling to tearing out the carpet and refinishing the floors. It’s going to be really messy! In a good way. 🙂

What is your best advice about vintage style or owning an older home?
The thing I’d most emphasize about owning and loving old stuff is that you really have to embrace the imperfections. New stuff can seem so attractively perfect, and looking around the internet, perfection can seem like the end goal. When you buy an old house, you will probably have floors that sag in places and walls that aren’t square. You may discover that some unknown past owner did some weird thing that you may want to undo. You have to look beyond that and know that your house or other item has a person and a history behind it. I recently bought my first handmade rug, and the sides of the rug are visibly not straight. If you were to buy this in Target, when you got home and rolled it out, you’d say “Something is wrong with this.” There’s nothing wrong with my rug, but here’s what’s amazing about it–a human made it!! Humans aren’t perfect, as you know. But they are capable of incredible things. Personally, I think it’s fun (and a little humbling) to surround yourself with those things.