Archive for the ‘vintage’ Category

SLING

Friday, January 13th, 2012

One of the big design type projects Laure and I have been working on so diligently is a very stylish (come on, obviously) salon in Laguna Beach that’s just recently opened up called Morrison Hair. Located in an older Spanish style bungalow, Rachel and James wanted the space to remain cozy, comfy and inviting like a great house, but still be stylish and modern for getting your hair did.

A particularly important and big need furniture-wise for the waiting area was a pair of chairs that were unusual, comfortable and made you desperately want to sit in them. So of course my first thought was these slingy bad bays that I have always wanted to reupholster.

Yup.

THOSE slingy cantilever bad boys. Pictured above in the BEFORE situation of upholstery hell.

For sure these were living in Ugly Town, USA and must have seemed like a complete stretch, so trust that it took a lot of convincing and begging to get anyone to believe they could be comfortable and stylish and awesome and not just a hot mess of browntown disgusting.

BOOM.

Reupholstered and reimagined.

I always knew they had a kind of Max Gottschalk or Paulistano type vibe buried deep inside their tubular chrome frames.

For the new slings, I decided to go with a bit of an unusual material. Any guesses? Hmmmm?

Screw that nonsense since I can’t shut up about it and am way too impatient. So, these slings are actually made with vintage wildfire tarp! I know. What?!

These tarps are used by my local Park Rangers and Firefighters in the San Jacinto mountains – located just a few miles from this Brick House. When the forest catches on fire, these giant heavy duty waxed canvas tarps are used to move burning brush and burnt up timbers or whatever else is on fire and needing moving. Eventually they get beat up and decommissioned and end up in retirement with this local canvas fabricator type guy I found.

I loved that the material already had this amazing patina and color and was this super heavy duty weight that I couldn’t find with newer fabrics. Plus, who has wildfire tarp chairs? Who?! No one.

Well wait, I guess Morrison Hair does now, BUT come on, don’t you just want to sit in them?! They turned out super sexy and are shockingly comfy to boot. Like a big hug from a firefighter.

Oh man, I can’t wait to show off the rest of the salon. Sorry about these few quick snaps I tried to grab.

We have a few finishing touches and a photo shoot to do, but I’m desperate to post the rest of the space. It turned out pretty much spectacular with a few custom features that are killer and was an overall great project to work on with some truly outstanding folks.

MMMmmmmmmm. Slingy time. Sneaky sling peek. Sleaking.

Now I totally want some slings for my house again. That is not how this works, right? I can’t be jealous.

Dang.

More soon.

 

FILED UNDER: after, before, brick house design, consulting, decorating, furniture, links, travel, vintage

40 Comments »

BASKET

Tuesday, December 13th, 2011

A few weeks ago I grabbed this handwoven vintage basket from a junky consignment shop that seemed more lunatic swap meet than viable retail store. Even though the basket was mostly hidden by a pile of fast food toys, the little visible bits of lumpy weaving and sweet triangle pattern had me sold as well as making plans to shove a large cactus inside it.

Well, eventually shove.

Neglect and certain death are about the only things a house plant can expect around here.

Despite that, I’m fairly committed to using a few chunky handwoven baskets as planters around the house and accept that many plants will be murdered in the process.

Otherwise, I’m very enthusiastic about Bowie and his bedroom eyes

Rawrrr. Gratuitous.

FILED UNDER: bedroom, decorating, vintage

19 Comments »

AUCTION

Tuesday, November 29th, 2011

White dudes love auctions. LOVE.

Well, I love auctions too, even if I have to spend the whole day psyching myself up for the sizing up stares, crazy quick bidding and dollars about to be spent. This particular auction was heavily MCM, which meant the local dealers were out in force and ready to throw down cash. I almost didn’t go after spending the day obsessing about how nutty and competitive these auctions make me and the inevitable painful losing that happens.

BTW, want people to look at you with anger and suspicion? Whip out a big camera at an auction preview. It’s not awkward at all.

Their eyes. Their judgmental eyes.

Maybe somewhere in the background you can spot my big spendy purchase of the evening?

Yes?

Yes you can.

Great dining set I didn’t buy but desperately wanted to.

I forget how much they ended up selling for…a lot…

There were loads of good chairs, but the perfect pair of well worn Falcon chairs (a personal favorite – but also designed by Sigurd Resell in the 1970’s for Vatne Möbler) initially beckoned me to the auction.

FALCON ENHANCE.

Sweet, sweet Falcon action.

Only got this one terrible picture of a single chair on account of my camera shame, but trust me, they were amazing and ended up selling to some dealers for something like $1600. Not to me. NOT TO ME, dammit.

This set of Plycraft armchairs (designed by Norman Cherner and also a personal fav) got a good deal of looking over from folks pacing around them in desperate circles of desire. Clearly, they were going to be the big battle of the evening.

The auctioneer mentioned the set came from an estate in Banning – which can’t be true, right? Have you ever been to Banning? Only shame and shattered lives come from there.

Along with the mid century stuff, there was a large estate of oil cans and gas station type signs being sold that would have made those American Picker guys get wicked half chubs.

It was mind numbing sitting through the oil can auctions.

A moment of memoriam please. Let’s reflect once more on those Cherners.

As expected, they ended up being the big battle of the night – to the shock and amusement of most the crowd. The guys sitting behind me had an insightful running dialogue about how crappy all this stupid crappy crap was. Anyways.

They sold for $2400.

Goodbye you gorgeous beasts.

Well, what did I get? A few things. Above is a little preview.

DUH. It’s a rug.

Also, I might have outbid someone who reads the blog on this puppy. A fact which became clear when she told me as much as we waited to pay. It’s hard to explain the wave of guilt and anxiety that then exploded in my brain…so I apologize. I’m sorry. I looked terrible. Oh man. Auctions turn me into a monster.

More crap to come.

FILED UNDER: auction, furniture, vintage

35 Comments »