Tuesday, October 20, 2009

The perils of Soviet posters


The Soviet Union may have lost the Cold War, but their posters won the Aesthetic war. However, there are definitely places where a poster like this does not belong: for example, Alabama. Over the bed is another place. It's hard to create an intimate space with Fearless Leader watching over you.
Also, what is that coming from the bathroom? A melted Dalmatian?
[Via]

Sunday, October 18, 2009

what time is it?


I like this clock from Fitzsubut am I right in thinking it looks a bit Flava Flav-ish?
[via]

Thursday, October 15, 2009

shelves I think are cool


Shame you can't get these in America, but this bookshelf from the Japanese furniture companyNissen is pretty amazing. It saves space, and keeps things looking clean. I'm a fan of open bookshelves because they say 'look at me, I'm cultured' but with these, you don't have to alphabetize or color-code your books. This is more functional for small spaces, has a clean, almost Ikea-esque aesthetic but doesn't really work for oversized books.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Marimekko. Why?

Sometimes, you may have to ask yourself, 'is this too much?'

This is too much. From a distance, it's clumps of hair, possibly bunches of spiders. Up close, it's mis-shapen wagon wheels: like if a 5 year old with a crayon was asked to draw it. I'm all for organic lines, but this sends me into conniption fits.
Image lovingly stolen from Design Sponge

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Danish modern style, without Danish modern prices

For the Record, the Melrose Trading post is a lot of fun, even when you've been up since 4AM, the morning after a colossal migraine.

Anyways, urban outfitters has its own hipster cache and that can be a minefield, but they do have a few solid pieces of furniture. I'm most impressed with this daybed. Great color, great lines and it has that iconic look: when you think 'mid-century daybed' you think of this piece. The price is nice too, which is rare for Urban Outfitters. I tend to think that much of their accessories have that sort of 'fifty cents at a garage sale' look to them, without that all-important fifty cent price.

Friday, July 3, 2009

What a difference paint makes.

I've been busy, and the blog has not been very active because of that, but here's one of the things that I was working on in the interim: a repaint of the front porch. This was one of those tasks which wasn't immediately necessary, but because I offered to do much of the work, I was allowed to do it.

My mom sometimes uses the porch to do work, and it's not exactly the most inviting place to do that. Mostly, it had become a place for furniture that didn't really belong in other rooms. Something had to be done to make this into a space that someone would actually want to spend time in.

After ripping up the carpet, we discovered another layer of carpet. Though this layer was in decent shape, the carpet pad below had disintegrated. The plan was to paint the floors anyways, so this discovery wasn't a huge setback.


The first part of the project was to paint over the beadboard ceilings. The white immediately made the space feel more airy.


The trim was re-painted, and the walls were painted this light green color. At this stage, I remember wishing that the paint was a little bit darker, because I'd felt like the room looked a bit washed-out.


Lastly, the floor was repainted in a light grey. Again, the paint was a bit light, but we're going to get a rug to give the room a little more texture and dimension.

There are a couple other to-dos: Curtains for the east-facing wall, a new light fixture for the ceiling and adding another chair (more on that project later) For right now, the space is much better, more inviting and something I'm glad I worked on. One job that you can't really see in any of the photos, but was necessary, was replacing the broken sash cords in the south-facing windows. But now, the porch is not only fully-functional, but also looks better!

Saturday, June 27, 2009

things I love: movie edition

Hello readers,
One thing that's lightly off topic, but still worth a gander: I love mid-century modern design, and I love comedies. So when I finally got around to seeing the French spy farce OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies, it was worth the wait. The film parodies the James Bond Eurospy movies of the 60s. Think of it as the movie Get Smart was supposed to be.
The title cards alone (done by Laurent Brett, who is clearly a master) are spot-on midcentury wonders, suitable for framing.