Archive for the ‘bedroom’ Category

DUVET

Monday, November 14th, 2011

Long I have pined for the perfect gray duvet and by some strange bi-coastal internet twitter miracle, this enduring quest seems to have come to an end.

It’s really all thanks to Daniel, wonderful (and similarly duvet obsessed) splendid man about town Daniel, who twittered with Anna from Door Sixteen and I about our initial hopes in finding the perfect gray duvet and then our ultimate disappointment when the CB2 Coast Bed Linens ended up being a bust.

But…because they are in New York, where shops besides JC Penny exist, Anna and Daniel just popped into Muji and stumbled on this great warm gray linen duvet…that is unfortunately nowhere to be found on Muji’s website.

I got a flurry of texts and pictures of what looked like a fantastic (and affordable!) duvet and proceeded to beg for them to purchase and ship one of these lovelies to the west coast to live in my house.

By the way, we don’t have Muji in Hemet. Shocker.

Then Daniel, even though he’s in college and working like crazy on projects and busier than a rabid squirrel, was kind enough to grab me one of the last duvets and mail it out to me like a goddamn sweetheart. Like a completely perfect and lovely human being.

That gray duvet longing runs painfully deep. Daniel gets it. Oh yeah, he gets it real good.

Apparently though, I took my sweet time posting about this, since it all went down in what? August? What happened? Is this not summer still?

Anyhow.

Besides the greatest duvet ever, there are a few new things around the guest bedroom that I’ve been meaning to post about.

Like these sort of brutalist studio pottery things. Someone got all crazy with that ceramic knife. So angsty.

Feel that powerfully emotional thrift store ceramic turmoil.

You knew that some kilim pillow style action would leak into the rest of the house. Say what? There are some actual colors in here besides black, brown, gray or white. Crazy.

I don’t believe I’ve mentioned this fine Craigslist procured vintage safari chair.

Awwww yeah. Awwww boy.

Sling that thing all up in here.

Hold on, I got distracted by that devilish safari minx. I cannot forget to mention that after months of use, I really dig the new duvet. It gets better with every wash and sort of shifts color in different light; sometimes the color feels warm and sort of taupe and then shifts to cool and silvery gray. It’s like a magical creature that transforms day to day.

I love it and can’t thank Daniel enough.

Possibly worth noting, this thing above? This is about as ornate, flowery and “fem” as I can get.

That’s just a detail shot of the vintage brass Moroccan lamp that I can never photograph properly in the guest bedroom, which – surprise surprise – I still really love and don’t want to get rid of. Unlike everything else I own. I’m possibly going through some weird, “WHY NOT START FROM SCRATCH” phase that is really unproductive. Stupid dark wintertime.

And these bright things down below…

…these are luxurious flowery yellow billy balls. The only flowers I’ll own.

Wait, are these flowery? I don’t know and apparently am too lazy to google, but these last forever and thrive on neglect.

Just like my grudges.

Come on, I just can’t resist you. Work it you hot thang. I’m liking what I see and the way you move? Regal. Confident. Sexy. Frugal. I love safari and I don’t care who knows!

Oh, wait. Oh, craphole.

Now that I’m thinking about it, I probably should have bought two Muji duvets. Since…I never want to give you up. I never want to let you go.

FILED UNDER: bedroom, ceramic, craigslist, decorating, furniture, guest bedroom, hemet, links, thrifting, thrifty, vintage

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THRIFTY!

Tuesday, September 6th, 2011

I still thrift. All the time. I swear.

It’s been about three months since any thrifty action has seen this blog.

BUT, the master bedroom has been begging me for a tall dresser for months now. Finding the right piece has been wickedly difficult considering it had to be both the right scale and cost. Guideline-wise, it had to be vintage (DUH) with a basic no-fuss design that slanted Danish. The curse of thrift shopping  is: if you’re needing something specific, you’re never going to find it.

I gave up hope, getting by with the wrong credenza in the meantime. Recently, during some local thrifting rounds, I spotted a complete bedroom set that included this simple but incredibly dry looking highboy. In it’s entirety, the set appeared abused and neglected for the last sixty year and cried out for the old vintage wood regimen. Luckily, the set was being sold piecemeal, making it easy to grab the highboy and nightstands and jet off.

Not to digress, but when I’m thrifting with folks or get emails from folks with thrifting dilemmas, their biggest challenge is usually just looking past the ugly florescent lights, piles of garbage and disorderliness of the place to spot potential. This dresser looked so depressing, so cheap and soooo gross in the store, but wood – good wood? Wood loves to be prettied up and treated right.

Spending the time and putting in the effort of sanding everything with fine steel wool, slopping on a couple coats of Danish oil and hand rubbing a final finish of Howards Feed N’ Wax, returns the luster and richness to wood that appeared derelict and shabby at best.

Of course this dresser is still vintage.

Over the last sixty years it’s been used and misused. Vintage wear and tear goes with the thrifty territory, but I prefer to live with furniture that’s been well used and developed an understandable patina. This way, instead of fearfully living with a perfect museum piece, you can knock stuff around and use pieces day in and day out without getting heartbroken if something gets dinged or nicked.

Case in point, the left side of the dresser has a large gouge from a careless handler dragging against something pointy. Sometimes, you can’t sand down very far when attempting to remove a big gouge. Most vintage furniture is finished with veneer, and that veneer is usually too thin to handle aggressive sanding.

In this situation, instead of freaking out and throwing every fill and repair trick at the damage (to just have the scratch continue to show up), a basic oiling helps minimize most of the damage. Vintage actually looking vintage is fine by me.

For most of the restoration, I didn’t spot markings that could help determine the dresser’s provenance. Not till after futzing with the base did this little blue MADE IN SWEDEN stamp pop up. At this point, I had pretty much assumed the set must have been American made and designed by some company in the states.

Those sneaky Swedes. Being all coy about marking stuff.

BEFORE & AFTER

Hey now.

Sexy time.

Of course this looks stunning framed by the weed infested backyard.

BUT…

Perfect-o for the bedroom.

FILED UNDER: after, bedroom, before, furniture, thrifting, thrifty, vintage

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POTENCE STYLE DIY LAMP

Thursday, June 2nd, 2011

The Potence lamp by Jean Prouvé is one of those elegantly minimalist lighting solutions that appears easier to construct than it actually is. Well, for me at least. I tried and failed, MISERABLY, to build an affordable DIY version for our bedroom and eventually gave up hope. Then? This email popped up brimming with pictures of a homemade version of the Potence that blew me away. Logan of ONEFORTYTHREE had written a comment long, long ago when I first posted about trying to build one of these thangs –

“Logan on February 1, 2011: I like the lamps but you’ve inspired me to try and make that wall lamp. It looks cool but too expensive to consider buying. If I can, YOU can! cause I’m a self-taught DIY’er too.”

Then? He totally f*cking did it. Like a DIY champion. Also, nope – turns out I can’t.

BOOM.

Did I mention that I kind of slobbered all over his emailed pictures and was like ohhh, ahhhh, woooow, you are a master fabricator, you are amazing, it turned out so great, mine failed so miserably…wink wink, nudge nudge.

So, Logan had been building a few of these tester lamps for friends and family while figuring out kinks and streamlining the fabrication process. I somehow ended up being lucky enough to get my hands on not one but TWO of the prototype versions. By unashamed groveling, perhaps?

One white version for the bedroom – which can swivel and swing to illuminate whichever area your heart desires.

And one black version for the den. Both areas we tend to relax, enjoy a good book or perhaps a long game of Words With Friends.

See? It swivels! You use the little wooden handle to move the lamp into position.

I love the detail of the braided cloth cord and handy little on/off switch positioned a little ways down the wiring. Logan worked it out on the little details to keep the lamp sleekly minimal but with areas of warm texture.

Chihuahua for scale.

My lamps are about six feet long and are perfect and I love them. Loved them so much and was so impressed by their handmade completely from scratch construction that I may have been a little forceful about Logan making a few available for sale. Maybe because I want to put them in all the homes I’m working on? Maybe out of complete selflessness? Weld! Weld till your fingers bleed!

Be sure to check out ONEFORTYTHREE for the DIY how to as well as even more of Logan’s great DIY projects and home renovation. A limited run of these lamps will be available in his newly minted ETSY STORE. Check them out and be on the lookout for additional handmade items to be added in the near future (wink wink, nudge nudge Logan).

*Also, homeboy just got engaged to his lovely, talented and hilarious lady. Congrats! Roxy was rocking some Vegas style bling at the big sale for realz.

FILED UNDER: bedroom, den, DIY, lighting, links

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