Archive for the ‘lighting’ Category

COMMITTED

Tuesday, June 5th, 2012

Sighs of relief everyone. The dining room light situation is resolved.

Bubble it is.

Those terrible weeks of baited breath and restless nights are a thing of the past, so feel free to revel in relief as that desperate anxiousness in your heart melts away. Because yes. OH YES. The single most important lighting decision of our time concerning a dining room in a nondescript vintage home in a crappy neighborhood in the armpit of the Inland Empire has been made.

Look at how this lamp can now turn on and illuminate stuff. Stuff like dinner.

Spectacular.

It’s like we finally connected those funny wires that stick out of the ceiling to the funny wires that stick out of the cord in order to fully commit to that good ‘ol ubiquitous Nelson bubble lamp in a dining room thing. And you know what? I love it. Unashamedly.

Goodbye pretensions. Hello thirty six inches of iconic mid century design.

Something feels different here…

Less fibery? More green? Somehow ruggy?

Pointless meandering aside, there’s obviously been a couple of additions and changes in the past few weeks that made the big bubble finally feel like the right choice. Firstly, yes, the amazingly huge fiber art wall hanging has moved (and not very far). Then the crazy grandma plant (or philodendron if you want to get all correct or something) was moved from the bedroom into here for some ‘effing greenery. Finally.

Plants make a room. This truth I live by, but somehow can’t enforce around the house.

Oh, then lastly, I slammed the old living room cowhide rug under the dining table. Rug action in the dining room finally seemed to make sense when paired with the Moroccan rug situation happening in the living room.

This incredible 70’s hand cut paper wall sculpture was a recent thrifty find at a local consignment/antique type shop. I believe I actually gasped out loud when I saw it leaning against the wall and then gasped again when I saw the affordable price.

Huge, handmade, strangely heavy, unsigned and beautiful. I could not love it more.

Reminds me of Greg Copeland for sure, but feels more like a study or experimental piece someone was playing around with.

My once lush and rampantly growing philodendron seems to have gotten a little stressed out after the move. I was hoping to break old patterns of neglect and serial plant killing by being a better and more attentive plant owner, but just ended up over-watering the thing.

Ironically, this baby prefers abuse.

Stupid plants. Make up your minds.

Also, the butterfly’s are back.

I probably should focus on being a better and more attentive blogger. Or on finishing some projects (like painting and fixing up that busted pocket door). Or clearing out some of the piles of vintage stuff laying just outside the cameras frame.

Yeah, this is all an illusion of organized cleanliness. Reality is much more cluttered.

FILED UNDER: after, art, Consignment, decorating, dining, lighting, living, thrifting, thrifty, vintage

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LIGHTING

Monday, May 14th, 2012

Besides fiber art, I’ve also been quietly hoarding a bunch of lighting ever since the dining room chandelier moved onward to a better home. None of the lighting I’ve stumbled on has been perfect and I haven’t been able to find my dream brutalist chandelier – really the closest thing I have found was this Tom Greene for Monteverdi-Young beast of a brass thing that popped up on Craigslist for a very unbrutal price.

On the other side of chandelier spectrum is that shiny 70’s bit of vintage Lightolier chrome which came into my life late one night when I stumbled upon a very neglected and oddly described eBay auction. So? Score.

Oh, these old things?

Yeah. We’ll get to those in a bit.

Anyway, while out and about in Orange County I stumbled on a little vintage shop and left with my very own Auro Glowbal. Yes sir THAT Auro Glowbal. Don’t worry I’ve never heard of it either, but it looks to be a handmade cotton version of those cheap paper lanterns and turned out to be a nice stand-in for the Akari light sculptures that haunt my daydreams.

Bumling to the Sciolari to the Greene.

Name dropping is what I do best and annoys my friends and loved ones much more than you’d expect. Or maybe as much as you’d expect. I can be pretty unbearable.

The Bumling I’ve had for awhile, but the Sciolari is a new acquisition from a little trade I did with Ellen over at Amsterdam Modern. I imagine it will end up in one of the bedrooms? Maybe? I don’t know.

No, I haven’t forgotten the Nelsons.

I swear.

Anyways, we installed the Auro ball thing in the den, but Mr. Lightolier, Mr. Sciolari and Mr. Bumling are all still floating around totally homeless. It feels impossible to decide where they should go.

I have a raging case of decision fatigue.

But at least the glowbal was installed after sitting on the floor for months…and it looks like there’s only this image as proof since someone forgot to take after pictures. That someone being me.

I failed. I’m a failure.

Good thing I overuse instagram.

OK. So, lamps. Once. Twice. Three, no, four times a Nelson.

I was out in LA working with Laure on some photo shoots during the day and then cruising Craigslist at night, per the norm, when I stumbled on a listing for a crap ton of huge bubble lamps. I emailed them, they emailed back, I was so happy and then realized I couldn’t pick them up while doing awesome photo shoot stuff, so I begged Summer to grab them and promised to split the lamp haul between us. The end.

OK, these things are HUGE and I have four and perhaps I dove into this adventure without much of a plan. With nothing to lose I tried out something that initially felt nuts; I tried the saucer.

The Nelson bubble lamp over the dining table thing feels like it might be the biggest cliche around. Classic design icon? For sure. Ubiquitous lighting choice for mid century interiors? Sure.

Despite this obvious snobbery, these lights beefy scale made me curious about how one might look hung up in the dining room. I loosely strung one up (without fully installing) and stepped back to find that, well, I…sort of…liked it.

Now everything I believe in is in shambles.

I can’t decide if this super size saucer works or if a more unusual lighting choice is a better fit. Does large scale forgive ubiquity? Is this becoming a classic design convention? I’m not sure, but it feels kind of nice?

Hold on. There’s one last factor to consider – no big deal – just forgot to mention the amazing custom built dining table coming soon. Boom.

Everything. Shambles.

So this sucker is going to get a little test run until the new table comes and then we’ll see if it should be installed for real. Who knows! The only certainty is that I change my mind constantly.

FILED UNDER: before, craigslist, decorating, den, dining, ebay, lighting, vintage

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MORRISON HAIR

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012

Awhile back I posted a bit of a preview of a design project that Laure and I have been working on and after finalizing a few finishing details we headed down to Morrison Hair in Laguna Beach to do a big photo shoot of the finished space and stylish staff.

James and Rachel Morrison couldn’t be better or more talented folks to work with and we loved that their big dream was to create a salon that felt more like a warm comfortable home than a standard commercial space. In terms of the overall design, we wanted to combine a bit of modern lux, California boho, industrial and rustic details, unique vintage pieces with a nod to James Scottish roots and the buildings architectural past. The salon is located in a renovated 1920’s Spanish bungalow with fantastic original architectural details and killer ocean views. I mean really, the process of helping Rachel and James pull together a comfy and stylish interior wasn’t that much of a stretch.

Admittedly, one of the biggest perks of helping out at the salon was getting fancy haircuts. Although, now I’m ruined for all other salons seeing as I only want  James to cut my hair forever. He’s that good.

Some folks were curious about where my Adelman chandelier ended up and I’ve had a number of email offers come in to snatch it up, but the lamp now resides in the salons main waiting room. I love seeing it lit up while driving by since it looks AMAZING from the street.

There’s a selection of drinks and treats at the beverage bar for customers to indulge in that includes some seriously good coffee – loads of which we heartily partook of on those long installation nights.

We asked our friend Bianca to make us a very special succulent planting for the main waiting area and if you look closely…

…it reveals a miniature scene of two flamingos styling up some hair-dos.

These gorgeous leather strapped mirrors were sourced from Casamidy‘s AltaVista line.

They are perfect and I want them to be all over my house.

An industrial clothes rack with simple metal clothes hangers hold the salon’s robes for customers to change into. I love this solution, so simple but still sleek.

Besides the Adelman chandelier in the main waiting area we used a number of exposed bulb fixtures throughout the salon, including these simple and super budget friendly painted porcelain light sockets with extra large clear bulbs at the work stations and a Satellite pendant from Schoolhouse Electric with some half chrome beauties in the restroom.

One other custom detail that turned out better than we ever could have hoped, was the brass sheet inserts that line the top of each stylists work station. The brass adds an unexpected bit of shine which reflects a flattering warm light and ties in with the brass hardware used throughout the salon.

I grabbed a quick candid snapshot of the Morrison staff getting their portrait shot by Laure.

They all have perfect hair all the time. It is incredible.

This Tom Dixon light is the business.

Casamidy leather magazine holder is also the business.

For the dry bar we asked the incredible woodsmith Dusty Wheeler to fabricate and install a floating eleven foot raw live edge slab of Alligator Juniper, which turned out to be smoother than glass and possibly the most beautiful slab of wood ever seen anywhere. Dusty also fabricated and installed the brass inserts for the work stations and built an amazing wood top for the shampoo room storage cabinet, which also turned out to be better made than anything I’ve ever owned.

Dude has skills and is easily the nicest fabricator to work with. I want to keep him a secret so that he remains available to work on every project I ever do, but also know he’s too talented to hoard to myself and do truly want him to stay busy and help out as many folks as possible. I can’t recommend Dusty highly enough.

*Um. I do need him for other projects, soooooo, calling first dibs.

This leather bit of heaven is from HD Buttercup.

James & Rachel are goddamn adorable.

Everyone who comes in can’t help but stroke the dry bar.

It’s that gorgeous.

The interiors of Morrison Hair turned out to be everything Laure and I hoped it would be and much more. This was such a creative and fun project to be a part of and we loved working with Rachel and James and the entire staff at Morrison to create a space they enjoy and feel at home in.

I couldn’t be more proud of how it all came together or more excited about upcoming projects with Laure and the lovely Morrison family.

 

FILED UNDER: after, brick house design, camp, consulting, inspiration, lighting, links, photography, style, travel, vintage

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