Archive for February, 2011

Fare thee well, Shelf

Wednesday, February 16th, 2011

A moment of overly dramatic silence please.

————-

Thank you.

BAM! We took the shelf down.

Well, not just down, but booted it out of the house for good. Which means this bad boy is gone FOREVER. It’s off to a better place, a place full of wonder and magic that will appreciate and love it for all its shelfy glory.

Iggy, lurker Gary and The Boy took it apart in about twenty minutes after I struggled to undo it by myself for about a day. Having many hands is a good tip to know if you happen to build one of these and eventually need to take it apart or sell it on Craigslist (which seems to be happening pretty frequently). Go team Coors Light.

Like a disheveled prom queen after a bender, this thing looks busted up.

In reality it’s just in pieces piled in with the rest of Emily Henderson’s giant array of swag from the Rose Bowl. Don’t worry, I gave them a picture to sort out how it all goes back together.

Hey! It’s Team Emily – Chris, Orlando and Emily as well as a super sweet fan who wanted her picture taken with the dream team. Sorry for horning in on your moment with my iPhone.

Nicer folks you do not know. Emily is adorable and has the shopping endurance of a seasoned pro, Chris and Orlando are fantastic and ever so helpful.

So, the shelf will be installed in Emily’s new ‘studio’ set on her soon to premiere show Secrets From a Stylist (February 26th home slice!). How excited are you guys for this show? Me? I’m very excited. Trust me, it is going to blow your mind into little design chunks.

In other words, it’s good. Real good.

Now I just need to figure out what’s next for that open wall space in the living room…

FILED UNDER: flea market

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Rose Bowl Flea

Tuesday, February 15th, 2011

On Sunday I headed out to Los Angeles to hit up the Rose Bowl Flea Market. It was a mash up of a day consisting of getting into girl reporter mode for a freelance gig, enjoying the company of super person and super deal hunter Sharon Montrose, as well as dropping off a very special piece of furniture (more on that later).

It was packed.

And hot.

And PACKED.

These might be my two favorite signs of the day. The latter possessing that special mix of condescending misogyny and humor that makes me giggle and then depressed.

I hate that I am currently searching (pretty hardcore) for a pair of mounted moose antlers to hang above the fireplace. I’ve been obsessing about them since seeing a great pair a the Long Beach Flea. I know, I sicken myself. These were the only pair I saw and they were far from ideal.

Super obsessing over these Mies Van Der Rohe for Stendig dining chairs. Obsessed to the max. I tongue kiss them them. Also, obsessed with vintage camera lenses. This is like a table full of heaven.

OK, maybe these were my favorite signs of the day. This ugly table is from “Hollywood!”

Wow. I’m not really sure who is impressed with that proclamation seeing that we are in Pasadena and most of Hollywood proper is a dump. It’s so vague, yet so enthusiastic, yet in such bad taste.

Speaking of, I was very enthusiastic about this painting since it pretty much resembles The Boy with his shirt off. The price (on a sticky note – $150) discretely hid his junk. Considering how wacky and out of proportion the rest of his anatomy was, it probably is best that there was a tidbit of mystery left to the imagination.

At the time I was not so into this giant lucite bench/sofa…but now…I kind of can’t get it out of my head. I have the perfect spot for it in the living room.

Loved this little table base and imagined it with a giant slab of round marble perched on top. The  best part was the gentle curve of the legs, it has that sort of slightly Danish mixed with a drop of Moroccan vibe I can slide right into. Tasty.

Also, there was something about these weirdo chairs that I dug. They were so strange and awkward, but I feel like the house they would fit into would be full of cocktails and caftans and key parties. I could dig it.

The Rose Bowl was a bit of a bust on the buying front. I showed tons of restraint and bought nothing. Shocker, right? I think I was so consumed with working and thoughts of the giant vintage explosion + lack of space at home that I couldn’t imagine adding one more thing to the pile. There is only so much hoarding I can do and keep my dignity – until I lost it all and immediately came home and bought stuff off Craigslist. Maybe the Rose Bowl just wasn’t that great this weekend.

Did you guys go? What did you think about the selection?

FILED UNDER: flea market, furniture, travel

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Alma Allen

Monday, February 14th, 2011

Alma Allen is a sculptor living and working in Joshua Tree, CA in an amazing home and studio he and his wife Nancy built over the past few years while living in a small trailer on their property. I’m amazed at the foresight and dedication a project like this requires seeing as Joshua Tree is like the wild west of construction with few skilled laborers, strangely divided parcels, bizarre coding and extreme weather.

I’ve long been a fan of his work, but hadn’t realized the couple kept a small blog of their adventures in custom home building + making incredible objects. Many thanks to Lily for mentioning it.

Their adorable sculptor in training Frieda and the desert pups Fritz and Poncho.

Alma, Roman from Commune and TK Smith (in the back) at The Ace Hotel. Three guys who are constantly inspiring most everything we do around here – you can even check out more of TK and Jill’s home HERE.

TK was the one who was kind enough to teach us how to weld (which I still haven’t paid him back for since he is a busy dude and super in demand). We are putting those skills to good use in our upcoming landscape projects and can’t thank him enough for being so generous.

A few things Alma’s made –

It’s no wonder why Alma’s work is in crazy demand. That coffee table makes my heart go all aflutter.

I love these DIY copper kitchen counter tops. All these possibilities of metal wrapped wood are getting the old brain wheels turning.

I’d love to see more of what this couple has accomplished in such a remotely difficult but beautiful slab of land in the high desert. The little snippets into their projects and home are incredibly intriguing and have refreshed my recently waning design gusto.

FILED UNDER: inspiration

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