Archive for the ‘inspiration’ Category

THE SMITHY

Monday, June 13th, 2011

I’m not in the habit of posting about things that get emailed in or aren’t connected to the direct going’s on around here, but a few days ago Jesse James sent a brief email with a link to “some images of interest” and I clicked on through.

Oh yeah.

A former blacksmith’s shop turned painstakingly renovated home, The Smithy is Jesse’s second place in rural upstate New York currently being offered for sale at what I’m considering a pretty affordable price.

While my taste may run all modern and mid century and what not, I do have a strong propensity towards some rustic / industrial / antique-y business. Unfortunately, in our fairly new (by 1800’s blacksmith shop standards) and detail-less west coast MCM home, this style tends to look a tad contrived. But in my fantasy east coast home, I imagine these are the vintage rustic touches and neutral palette I’d be way hip to mixing with a few modern pieces throughout.

Love the rough painted floors and wood clad walls.

We just don’t have great worn-in vintage architectural details like these – we have broken fleshy pink bathroom tile instead.

I dream of vintage farmhouse sinks and classic white subway tile.

I wish you knew how often I look at antique spindle beds and dream of buying them. I have no idea why, I just like them, even though they seem a bit fussy and hard to sexy up, I still love the worn wood and graphic shapes.

Weird portraits are awesome. No matter what anyone says.

That rug. That one. Yes.

This? This crap doesn’t happen in the desert.

If somehow we could afford a second home and somehow upstate New York made location sense, I’d love to see more of this carefully curated and beautifully sparse home.

Check out The Smithy to view more of Jesse’s gorgeous renovation and for more details on the home’s history.

FILED UNDER: inspiration, links, vintage

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SALE, The Aftermath

Wednesday, May 18th, 2011

After a few months of talking and working and cleaning and stressing the ‘eff out, we finally had the big BrickHouse + Modernhaus + Terri Planty pop-up sale this past Sunday (with extra special help and management pizazz from the super talented Laure Joliet).

Lots and lots of folks showed up, lined up and then heckled us when we were a few minutes late opening (not that they knew it had rained all morning and the seven of us spent FOUR hours as well as all of Saturday prepping to open for the sale – so you know – give us an extra ten minutes to wipe the sweat off and slap on some deodorant).

If you’ve ever sold at a flea market or pulled together a pop-up shop, you know that this kind of event can be a bit of a nightmare. Weeks of prep and labor and refinishing and stress and rentals add up into a singular moment where the crowd bum rushes in an orgy of shopping frenzied madness. It was like Thunderdome, but with less leather.

See the guy in the white shirt on the right full on running? He wasn’t the only one. I almost got trampled by a lady trying to get to a lamp.

People grabbed their wears and we tried our best to invoice and process payments quickly. Thank the lordy for the boys (Erick, Ruben and Jeremy) who functioned as our cashiers, brute strength and water suppliers. I have to say, the first hour was completely overwhelming and a bit chaotic. People be hard core about their vintage buys.

Laure and I tried to grab some quick photos of the setup before it was all torn to shreds. Gotta love that bright noon time light to make everything look extra harsh and sexy in the parking lot (Thankfully Laure got around and took a bunch of pictures that I am now reusing with reckless abandon).

This little girl was my best salesman. She got her folks to buy this little Lane storage table by sheer adorableness – she kept climbing inside like it was a little house!

Check out Erick & Ruben working it at the cashier table and charming the ladies. It seems like we never got a shot of Jeremy during all the chaos, not even one of him bending over.

But Laure, me, Bianca and Summer all got wicked ass sunburns. Sexy right?

I hope you hecklers feel bad. We forgot to put suntan lotion on because we were rushing to open up. SHAME. SHAAAAAMMMMEEE on you.

In the end it went really, really, EXTRAORDINARILY well – sunburns, rainstorms, hecklers and those two crabby hipsters (we could hear you, also, put on some real pants – your camel toe is terrifying) and all. We were burnt, exhausted, dehydrated and hungry but still had a completely killer time meeting readers, new visitors and letting our stuff go to great new homes. Jeremy and I brought a huge load including a full 6×12′ trailer, full truck and fully stuffed Scion and left with just a tiny fraction of the original mass. The garage is finally walkable and the house needs some rearranging, but slowly everything is getting put back into place.

Maybe you missed out? Maybe you feel so sad? Maybe we can help? I’m not sure if we could do another one of these pop-up sale things anytime soon, we are officially pooped and busy napping. Well, be sure to check out the online shops all year ’round.

TERRI PLANTY (Custom and gorgeous handmade terrariums)

MODERNHAUS (Tasty vintage awesomeness)

BRICKHOUSE (Not temporary and still full of magic)

*Thank you all you amazing peeps who helped pull this together. I was a stressed out basket case of a mess and you guys were incredible and brought the best stuff and helped with all the heavy lifting. I’d listen to weird techno mixed with mariachi while eating hamburgers in a parking lot and cleaning furniture all day, any day. Most fun I’ve had in a long, long, long time.

FILED UNDER: brickhouse modern, furniture, inspiration, readers, sale, travel, vintage

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WALL HANGING

Monday, May 9th, 2011

Since I love to stay hip and timely with the larger culture, I just finished watching the entirety of Twin Peaks. (Admittedly about twenty years late on that phenom, but hey, Netflix was really insistent that I’d enjoy it – and I did! But no Netflix, I don’t want to watch Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail or 151 episodes of Wings no matter how many times you insist.)

While watching Twin Peaks I totally became enamored of the unfussy small town interiors with that smidgen of surreal doom David Lynch pulls off so well. It’s all in the details, like the diner wallpaper and the log lady’s log and the crazy hotel and this wacky 1970’s chunky wall hanging pictured above.

Don’t be scared Bobby – just look at that cool fiber art thing. It’s great!

Inspired by this little fiber piece of Twin Peaks, I’ve been hunting around for images of 1960’s and 70’s abstract woven wall hangings in residential settings. Instead, I keep bumping into more extreme hotel and art installation versions. In particular, The Parker in Palm Springs has a plethora of giant tapestries and weird wall hangings throughout the hotel. Looking through their collection makes me sort of desperate to find one for above the fireplace or in the den or maybe for the living room wall where the pipe shelves used to be.

Officially, I’ve been obsessed with these things for some time but haven’t found that “perfect” one. I’ve scoured thrift stores, estate sales, ebay, flea markets, Craigslist and have come up blank. Possibly it’s that whole “if you’re looking for it, its not around” conundrum which equals frustrating bizzness.

Eva Hesse brings it all arty style while The Wearstler does it up super fancy with some Shelia Hicks.

Trust. This particular stuff ain’t cheap or skulking around the local Salvation Army.

Speaking of Shelia. Taking it to the next level.

Oh yeah. This type of piece is more my speed. Oh wait – Studio 111 sold it to The Ace Hotel. Poopers. If you visit The Ace be sure to check it out in all it’s glory near the entrance to Kings Highway. This sucker is massive and amazing and deserves a second look over.

Also. Rock wall. Yup. Thinking ’bout it.

LOVE AND LOVE.

Sold and sold. Boo.

This baby was just on ebay and this Patricia Smith wall hanging can be yours at Object USA. Both are very cool, but I’m really looking for something way more chunky and way more horizontal.

Yummers. This is the kind of perfect piece that I’ve been jonesing after. I like the color palette and the chunky texture – my only complaint is that I wish it was a little wider.

Also, totally not for sale. Crap.

Maybe I need to stop really aggressively looking and then one of these things will magically surface. I know they tend to be a whole lot of look, but there is something kind of charming and unusual about these weirdo wall hangings that I super enjoy. Kind of like Twin Peaks.

FILED UNDER: art, inspiration, vintage

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