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About Me
Lauren Allen
Hi! I'm Lauren. I am a full-time working, solo single mom of two sports boys with a lifelong love for the fine arts, a sometimes stubborn DIY gene and an intense appreciation for quality wood furniture. Take those last three, add in a pinch of fondness for the uncommon and unique, another little pinch of perfectionism, and you have the recipe for what has become Vintage Made Modern Furniture.
I truly enjoy the entire process of refinishing a quality piece of furniture, but that joy turns into something else altogether when the piece is vintage or antique. It's the backstory that gets me everytime. Furniture that has been around for 50-100+ years has seen a lot of life lived around it and has had a lot of emotion attached to it. To have the opportunity to take that, be privy to just a little bit of what it was and who it lived with before, bring it back to life in a new and beautiful way, and then finally see it go to a new home where it will live for another lifetime is one of the coolest things in the world.
There is thoughfulness and love behind each of the pieces that I work on. I won't work on a piece if that part isn't there for me. I think that this is so important and shines through in my work, making me a little different than most "flippers". It's not always all about the Benjamins, baby!
Thank you for checking out my work!! I hope you enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed creating it. Cheers!! <3
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How I got started
Let's face it...I started refinishing furniture because I had to! Back in 2014, I had moved back to NJ from Boston, was trying to furnish an apartment with a young child and had very, very little money. I couldn't afford new furniture, so I took to buying (or scoring for free!!) used pieces on Craigslist.
Living in a space that LOOKED like it was filled with old furniture wasn't exactly my cup of tea, so I broke out my paintbrushes and made sure I never did.
I really had no idea what I was doing in the beginning and made a WHOOOLLLEEE lot of cringe-worthy mistakes along the way...but with each piece, I learned more and more about what I was doing and with each piece it became more and more clear that old furniture is simply just made better than new furniture. Plain and simple. Hands down. No contest.
This LOVELY Tiffany blue hutch was my first ever attempt at painting furniture. There were no YouTube "how-to" videos involved...this baby wasn't sanded or primed, was painted with semi-gloss wall paint and a $2 chip brush. I didn't even know that sealing furniture was a thing, let alone that I should be doing it! She's riddled with brush strokes and I'm sure paintbrush bristles dried right into the surface, but the paint stuck and I truly loved her. She was used as cookbook and crockpot storage for years after in my home :-)
My style
Necessity turned into a choice which turned into a hobby and has evolved into a passion. 95% of my home is furnished with pieces that I have upcycled or revived. (The remaining 5% would be store-bought mattresses...I do have a used furniture line that I won't cross!!) I have always had a unique, artistic style that sort of takes two ends of the spectrum, merges them together and somehow winds up working:
Industrial, but feminine; Busy, but clean; Styled, but comfortable; Vibrant, but classic; Artsy, but homey; Celebrates paint, but showcases wood; New, but old; Vintage, but Modern.