Archive for the ‘vintage’ Category

FIBERS

Monday, February 27th, 2012

BOOM.

Suck on that.

Dreams do come true.

So much fiber-y art has entered my life recently that it’s like a Cinderella story made of dusty yarn from the 70’s. Beautifully lush stringy old yarn.

With the loss of its chandelier, the dining room has been going through a slow transformation that includes – obviously – new lighting and just maybe a new dining table? Possibly thinking about going for some custom style action? ‘Cause I’m fancy? Or super picky? Or whatever.

Yuppers. Big dining room redo. Eventually.

Till then, this gigantically glorious wall hanging will have to hold down the fort.

Whoa whoa whoa. Slow your roll.

Tell me you didn’t think this was the only fiber art wall hanging thing happening around here?

No. Way.

Because when I get obsessed, I get obsessed. Perhaps you noticed that little ‘s’ in the post title?

DOUBLE BOOM.

In your face.

It’s like this thing is so crazy good that the frame can’t handle it! Not at all! Stupid frame!

All that beauty is overflowing with goodness. Jute-y ropey goodness.

Try to ignore the messy bed and that seemingly new ‘rug’ like rug on the floor. I’m apparently such a busy lady that I can’t be bothered to make my bed for photos or discuss this ‘rug’ situation. But don’t you fret lover, that ‘rug’ will be covered in a forthcoming post.

For now?

NO distractions from the fibers.

With these two transcendent works of aesthetic textile-ish glory installed in the dining room and the guest bedroom alike, I believe we’ve finally reached the limit of fiber art the house can safely hold. No, wait, I’m wrong. There’s still that Don Freedman piece, which now lives in the kitchen and that other simple weaving in the hall. But who’s counting? Not you.

Don’t count them.

Just. Don’t.

So. Provenance? AKA, where did these come from?

The dining room behemoth was once owned by all around super nice person Kathleen Ryan, who emailed me a few photos after reading about the great fiber search. Of course I fell instantly in love and we then worked out a mutually beneficial trade. By the way, trading vintage stuff is probably my favorite thing in the world to do. I can happily deaccession something I no longer have space for while someone else gets to do the same. Win win!

The guest bedroom’s sassy ropey weaving was found some time back during a trip to Palm Springs. We went out for a little shopping fun and stumbled on this baby at a consignment shop in Cathedral City. I grabbed that sucker off the wall and never looked back.

 

FIBERS!

 

FILED UNDER: art, decorating, dining, guest bedroom, 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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RUGGY

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

Been feeling this weird need to own more rugs (that are not cowhides) and have stalked a few via Craigslist and eBay without much success for the last few months.

Apparently, rugs are hard?

Well, they can be incredibly costly when considering larger sizes like 9’x12′, so you better be pretty into investing some cash into rugs. Sadly, most the rugs I find tend to be either totally trashed or oddly sized or just u – to the – gly on all levels. When I saw this rug listed about three months ago on Craigslist (fairly close to my house) I immediately liked the worn-in threadbare quality and semi-persian / semi-kelim / semi-whatever vibe it had going for it. Plus, it was super HUGE.

Per usual. Emailed. Spoke a bit to the seller. Seller then vanished.

These things happen a lot.

About a month later I saw this thing pop up again at three times the original price and was surprised, but not shocked – since these things also happen a lot. Of course, it languished on the ‘list and over the following months would occasionally pop up and I would stalk it and send a random email here and there and offer the original price we had originally agreed on. Of course I continued to be shot down.

But I am tenacious animal.

After like the seventh relist or something crazy like that, the rug was listed again at a reasonable price and I tenaciously sent my little email again – and finally – arranged to pick it up.

Viewing it in person? Not as awesomely handwoven and perfectly vintage as I hoped or believed it was going to be from those tiny Craigslist thumbnail pics.

These things? They also happen a lot.

We did the negotiating dance and got the price down and I gave into rug ownership.

Now that I’ve gotten this puppy home and fulfilled my whole ‘maybe I should get a rug’ impulse, I’m finding myself totally on the fence about this whole getting a rug thing. I love seeing and using awesome rugs in other peoples homes and enjoy the layered texture and great bit of pattern they bring, but perhaps somewhere in this minimalist heart there’s no room for a solid patch of antiquity. Then again, I kind of love the way it changes the space and plan to pair it with my marble knoll coffee table and a freshly white fireplace. With those additions considered into the grand scheme, I can fully imagine it would be moderened up while still adding the right amount of texture to the space. For now though, I won’t commit to lugging that 1000 pound beast of a marble table in here until I feel good and sure about things.

I’m waffling. I’m a rug waffler.

The rug remains an undecided living room visitor or possible option for the den. Everyday I sleep on it in hopes of finalizing a decision and everyday my mind swings back and forth from rug! to NO rug!

These are the hardest most soul searching questions one must face at some point. Duh.

FILED UNDER: craigslist, decorating, floors, vintage

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