Archive for the ‘vintage’ Category

SUMMER STOCK

Saturday, September 3rd, 2011

I know I posted all those detail pics, but here’s the run down on some of the new stuff that wandered into the house over the summer. I’m kind of lacking any whiz-bang stories about this stuff except…I went shopping and these are some of the things I bought?

Case in point, this vintage black ball lamp.

Um, thanks Salvation Army. I bought this lamp. I waited in line for an absurdly long time to pay. It was dull.

Arkana safari chair.

Been looking years and years for a safari chair and splurged a bit on this one. A belated birthday present to myself, scoured from an older couple in Los Angeles.

Danish copper cone lamp.

Still need to decide where to install this thang and rewire this lovely light. Picked up in LA as well.

West Elm organic chevron duvet.

Thank you, ministry of healing. You know who you are. I LOVE THIS THING.

Danish rosewood side table.

Thanks…where did I get this? Somewhere obviously. Was it the same trip as that horrible estate guy fiasco? Or am I switching trips around in my brain. Oh, this is embarrassing.

Giant vintage hammered brass Moroccan lamp.

Thanks again Salvation Army – a different one this time around. Don’t get all greedy Hemet branch.

Assorted ceramic bits. From everywhere and all the time.

There’s probably a bunch more stuff around here that’s languishing away someplace. It’s been a long summer.

Speaking of summer, enjoy that long holiday weekend american folks. This weekend tends to feel like the death knell for summertime and my coping requires lounging around and soaking in the pool as memoriam to all things sun-soaked and amazing. Coping also requires diet coke and perhaps an artichoke. Maybe mochi?

Yes. Tons of mochi.

 

FILED UNDER: furniture, thrifting, thrifty, vintage

28 Comments »

AUCTION

Wednesday, August 31st, 2011

I recently attended a local auction I’ve outright avoided for years because their offerings are usually very heavily gilt and super antique. The auction house took a chance and for the first time offered up a huge modernist estate that appealed to, what I’m completely assuming, was a younger and more aggressive crowd than is normally in attendance.

The local mcm dealers came out to represent and apparently all the dealers are dudes. Which seems weird? Male heavy auctions force me to represent with my lady-ness.

And lady bits.

Along with a thousand other things, I’ve been hoping to run across a smallish simple cabinet to replace the danish secretary (barely seen HERE) that had replaced the tension shelf in the den. Yeah. Fickle. I know.

Anyway, I spotted this simple teak cabinet during the auction preview and it appeared to be a good fit for the den.

The simple design, small scale, masculine tone plus lockable storage was sort of just what I needed. I’ve got stuff to lock up. Like ceramics.

Anywho, auctions are terrifying.

Everything happens very quickly, which is confusing to begin with and then compounded by adrenaline fueled terror. But, when things got rolling, there seemed to be just a few serious bidders that included myself and about five guys – like this dude who won a few things I eyeballed very seriously, i.e. THIS and THIS. Not that I’m jealous.

[I am]

Jealousy aside, I did come home with a few nice pieces and for now, I’ll be holding onto this little chest and probably updating the art and rug and other bits of the den in an ouroboros style of fickle decorating that never ends.

So, in summation…

Auctions are fun and terrifying.
I got this cabinet.

Otherwise, billy balls are my favorite ball style plant.

BEST POST ENDING EVER.

 

FILED UNDER: auction, decorating, den, furniture, vintage

23 Comments »

AROUND THE HOUSE

Monday, August 29th, 2011

Been toying with the nutty notion of taking my interior documentation slightly more seriously by curbing the usual “phoning it in” style of camera work and post production editing that my blog laziness prefers. In a tiny step towards that end, I picked up a basic vintage Minolta 50mm f1.7 lens for under a hundred bucks and then went all nerdtown around the house, shooting updated vignettes and detail images in an experimental fit of fixed focal lengths, big ‘ol apertures and shallow depth of field.

It’s an unending roller coaster of crazy excitement around here.

After shooting a ridiculous amount of images and putting the f/stops through their paces, I ended up attempting to explain bokeh to my exhausted dogs, who clearly couldn’t give two craps.

Come on. It’s not like those two could really grasp the concept with their teeny brains and total lack of interest.

After years spent in art school shooting film with vintage SLR’s and medium format cameras, I have a fondness for those 1970’s Japanese lenses that got shelved with digital. The allure of going Sony for a camera body was the lens mount compatibility with vintage Minoltas – meaning – I can stick old film lenses on my digital camera.

This vintage 50mm turned out to be both fantastic and stupid affordable. Of course, to feed my weird lens obsession, I keep an eye out for old camera gear bags at estate sales or while thrifting, because have you seen the prices on new lenses? It’s madness.

FILED UNDER: decorating, photography, vignette, vintage

49 Comments »