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archives |
Wednesday 02.03.10
unexpected guests: bugheart.
today on unexpected guests we’re traveling to our nation’s capital, to the lovely home of gwen bugheart from washington d.c. gwen is an entomologist – which means she really does have a ‘bugheart‘, or at the very least a fondness for the small creatures of our world. i love gwen’s visually beautiful photographic blog, bugheart, as well as her etsy shop, where entomology meets art & craft, and gwen sells her handsewn and adorable bags and accessories, and her other etsy shop jenny penny vintage. now, let’s check out her amazing home in washington d.c.’s u street/cardozo neighborhood.
What is your idea of a perfect day in d.c.?
the day would begin with a leisurely morning latte and bagel at big bear coffee with my partner, john, after we would peruse the thrift/vintage stores on u street, next we would head downtown and visit the new exhibit at the national gallery of art, have lunch at oyamel, and a movie at e street cinema, and finally we would return to the U street corridor for an evening cocktail at the gibson.
What are a few of your favorite local shops?
i enjoy shopping for unusual vintage items. ruff n ready is a great vintage store in an old dilapidated building on 14th Street NW. it’s packed to the gills and you really have to dig to find anything and then haggle to get a reasonable price. i also love to go to good wood and millennium on U street for interesting home decor pieces.
What’s on your wish list?
we have one ib kofod-larsen chair and i’d like to get a matching one. i’d also love a large painting by deborah bell or kristen cochran.
What’s your favorite bargain find or product?
a few years back i bought a swedish DUX sofa locally through ebay. the only reason i was able to buy it for a song was it was “pick up only.” they even delivered it from Towson, MD for $25! recently i found a 3.1 phillip lim (barneys) sweater for $4 at value village!
What is your biggest interior design nightmare?
wall to wall carpet.
Who are your favorite artists? And why?
i am biased- my favorite visual artists are my brothers – joe shlichta and john shlichta. i also love the work of lisa solomon, saul becker and camilla engman. i am currently smitten with the occupied homes and landscapes of todd hido and the music of blind pilot and alexi murdoch.
Where do you find inspiration?
i am most inspired by found objects, dilapidated buildings, old science books, and laboratory ware. i often wander down to hirshhorn or the national gallery of art for inspiration.
Do you collect anything?
i collect too much! i have collections of insects (or course), train cases, vintage cameras, music show posters, rocks with lines, scientific models, belt buckles, and more — currently i am collecting vintage wind-up clocks, beat-up teddy bears (for an art project), old rubber office stamps, and bell jars.
What’s your favorite feature in your home?
our patio. it’s the first time i have had an outdoor space. i have always wanted a space to grow my own herbs and vegetables and enjoy my morning tea or an evening glass of wine. i hope to have a beehive on my patio this upcoming summer.
If you could photograph anyone in the world, who might that be?
i don’t think that there would be any one person i would love to photograph. i have always wished that i was invisible so i could take those perfect shots of people who i was too shy to photograph — the old woman sitting in the afternoon sun at the bus stop, a child checking out his reflection in a subway window, or a woman in a red dress leaning against a crumbling blue wall in mexico.
Who would you like to sit down to drinks with?
i live far from my family — so i’d have to be boring and say that i would love to have drinks with my siblings in seattle.
Do you have a guilty pleasure?
staying home all day and knitting.
What is your most treasured belonging?
letters and photographs, especially old ones from my grandparents and parents.
what is your greatest indulgence?
cheese from cowgirl creamery. real champagne. sleeping in until noon.
What’s souvenir did you bring back from your last trip?
i went to quintana roo, mexico with my partner for a butterfly/moth meeting. i brought back pieces of broken coral that had washed up on the beaches.
What is your idea of living hell?
going to a mall. being stuck on the LA freeway.
What are some of your favorites websites/blogs to visit?
habit, pitchfork, the jealous curator, nerd boyfriend, poppytalk, 3191, 100 abandoned houses, and the herman miller blog.
Wednesday 01.27.10
unexpected guests: Kootut murut.
today on unexpected guests we’re popping over to Oulu, in beautiful nothern Finland. we’re visiting Jutta of the blog Kootut murut. Jutta is a freelance graphic designer and illustrator, but her blog, Kootut murut follows her home renovation project. jutta and her husband (and two very lovely dogs) are renovating and decorating a 1950’s wooden house they purchased just over a year ago, with traditional methods and thrifty finds. their home is warm and colorful (i shared jutta’s home in my turquoise round-up a few weeks ago), eclectic, and very creatively styled. so, let’s get to it, shall we?
What are some of your favorite local shops?
My favorites are mostly thrift stores. I’ve made a lot of great finds at SPR Kontti which is a charity shop for Finnish Red Cross and Real Kirppis. They both have some wonderful pieces of vintage furniture. And one of my favorite shops is Pioni Living. It’s packed with all kinds of beautiful things, flowers and home decor, plus the owner is so friendly it’s always nice to visit.
What’s on your wish list?
Eames Hang it All has been on my wish list for a looong long time, but my husband doesn’t get it. He says we don’t have a place for it (he might be right on that one). And a pink Tapiovaara Mademoiselle chair would be lovely.
What’s your favorite bargain find or product?
One of my favorite finds is the phone table in the entryway. I found it at a thrift store and was going to paint it white. But when we got the turquoise bird wallpapers up it went so perfectly with them that I left it as it was. Other than that my favorite pieces are hand-me-downs from relatives. I love my grandma’s old desk and furniture made by my husband’s great grand uncle. Maybe it’s the sentimental value, and of course they are beautiful :)
What is your biggest interior design nightmare?
If everything in our home was made of MDF and chipboard. I love wood because it’s so natural and ages so beautifully.
Who is your favorite artist? And why?
At the moment I’d say Catalina Estrada. I love how colorful and detailed her work is.
Where do you find inspiration?
Internet, blogs (I read a LOT of them), magazines, books. My dogs, I seem to always draw characters that bear a resemblance to our dogs, even when I’m not drawing dogs. Our house is a great source of inspiration for decorating and renovating ideas. It’s built in 1956 and we are the second owners so everything is pretty well preserved. We’ve peeled off layers of wallpapers and flooring and peeked what’s underneath. It’s so interesting seeing 50 years of history in our own home.
Do you collect anything?
I don’t try to collect anything specifically, but find myself having these little collections like vintage alarm clocks, vintage trays, old educational charts, tins and jars.
What’s your favorite feature in your home?
This is a hard one. Right now maybe the kitchen, even though we’re not finished renovating it. I was so unhappy with it before, because it was all white and beige in a very 1990’s style. We can’t make a proper kitchen remodel just yet, so my husband removed some of the upper cabinet doors to make open shelves and I painted the shelves pink and the cabinet doors pink and turquoise with a little cloud theme. It’s a much happier place now.
Do you have a guilty pleasure?
Chocolate. I eat chocolate every day. And blogs. I spend way too much time surfing the internet and especially blogs.
What is your idea of living hell?
Life without my husband and family, working in a non-creative 9 to 5 job without any creative outlet… Sounds awful!
What are some of your favorites websites/blogs to visit?
There are too many. I think I follow almost a hundred blogs. sfgirlbybay (of course!), Bliss , decor8, Fine Little Day and DosFamily . Just to name a few. There are so many wonderful blogs I read.
Some of my favorite Finnish blogs are Nestled In and Varpunen. Parolan asema has great DIY ideas and they also use traditional methods in their home renovation. Vihreä talo is written only in Finnish, but has the most beautiful photographs so it’s worth checking whether or not you understand a word of it.
Wednesday 01.20.10
unexpected guests: libby alexander.
i first discovered Libby Alexander on twitter. i think it was her adorable profile pic. but then, i saw her fabulous flickr shots, and got totally sucked in. and then, i saw her incredible blogbloglog etsy shop, and i was a gonner. libby calls it “Granny Chic, Rustic, and Creepy Vintage”. i call it cool. libby has an extraordinary sense of style and very eclectic taste, so i was so excited when she agreed to allow us to visit on unexpected guests. you’re in for an imaginary, and creatively wild ride. for more from libby, follow her blogs, the vintage bazaar, a pop-up vintage flea market, tumblr and alexander salvage.
What city/neighborhood do you live in?
I live in Chicago, Illinois in the West Andersonville neighborhood.
What is your idea of a perfect day in chicago?
A to-go mug of strong coffee, a good mix tape, and a solo salvage adventure (I work alone) in the early morning. Home midday with fabulous spoils and then it’s time for lunch with my manfriend. We’d dine al fresco at the Publican – oysters, housemade pickles, cheese, charcuterie, and beer. Follow lunch with a visit to the dog beach with our rescue dog, Midge. Again, since this is perfection, she’d frolic and be free of her doggy agoraphobia; then a brisk walk home just chatting and enjoying each other without our regular everyday wonders and worries. End the day with a yard party with our great pals that we host, but don’t have to clean-up. A simple mix of salvage, love, LOLs, and snacks.
What don’t you leave home without?
Lip gloss.
What are some of your favorite local shops?
Brownstone Antiques, Scout, Stop! Look!, Agent Gallery Chicago, Brimfield, and the Brown Elephant thrift stores.
What’s on your wish list?
Quitting one of my jobs (I have 4 counting my Etsy shop.) to have more time to do whatever it is that I do when I don’t have to work.
What’s your favorite bargain find or product?
Toss up between the Thonet chair I found in the alley and the funny upholstered chair that I found in another alley. My favorite kind of bargain is the free kind.
What is your biggest interior design nightmare?
Walls! I daydream about knocking out the walls in my apartment. City living can make you feel so cramped.
Who is your favorite artist(s)? And why?
Ted Harris, a local artist and lighting designer, is currently on my list because I just learned how to wire lamps and I respect his focus on functionality, salvage, and science. Gerhard Richter is on the list, too. I like his diverse range of styles: abstract, photo realistism, etc. And third is Ray Eames for her prolific work in graphic design, furniture, painting, film, architecture, so on and so forth. It seems that I like people that do and try many things; I identify with that.
Where do you find inspiration?
Great music, fizzy cocktails, and good conversation always fill me with superhero levels of enthusiasm for trying. Also, blogs and twitter pals always point me in inspiring directions.
Do you collect anything?
I don’t know anymore. I used to be drawn to things with owls and then I started amassing chairs and lamps at a rapid pace. Lately, I am editing more than collecting.
What’s your favorite feature in your home?
Visitors have commented that it feels good to be in our home. A “put your feet up because nothing’s precious” kind of feeling. That’s my favorite.
If you could photograph anyone in the world, who might that be?
It has to be human? Because I’d really like to go back in time and photograph this herd of cattle that lived on the land near my grandparents’ house in Eldon, Missouri. When I was young, the cows were about the most fascinating thing on Earth. When visiting my grandparents, I used to go check on the cattle with my sister in the early morning. We’d try to get them to trust us and be near us. I got close enough to touch one of their snouts one time and it was like I had won a millions dollars…So, that’s what I’d want to photograph.
Who would you like to sit down to drinks with?
During our courtship, my manfriend and I used to plan dinner parties with dead people: favorite authors, artists, and so on that we’d love to meet. So, choosing one person is hard, but I have to say I’d love to have drinks with Julia Child. I read “My Life in France” in 2006, during a particularly difficult time in my life, and the book/Julia taught me to get over myself and get it done – whatever “it” happens to be.
Do you have a guilty pleasure?
YouTube-ing video clips from very sentimental times and singing along — like queuing up a bunch of Dusty Springfield or Ani DiFranco tunes and having a good cry/practicing for Karaoke.
What is your most treasured belonging?
Right now, it’s my camera because it’s helping me remember to document my life and it happens to be a vehicle that helped me change my life in the last year.
What souvenir did you bring back from your last trip?
A Pronghorn skull from Eureka Springs, Arkansas.
What’s your greatest indulgence?
Really good food.
What is your idea of living hell?
Working in a cubicle and commuting for hours a day to get to said cubicle.
What are some of your favorites websites & blogs to visit?
theselby.com, smittenkitchen.com, trickmybrick.blogspot.com, jezebel.com, and desiretoinspire.net.
Wednesday 01.13.10
unexpected guests: liz fabry.
today, we’re dropping in on the stylish mid-century modern home of advertising art director liz fabry in oklahoma city. i loved the images liz submitted to the sfgirlbybay flickr pool, and just had to delve a bit deeper into the designer behind the home. liz is a 25-year old, first-time home buyer (wow!), working in a creative ad agency, and having fun experimenting with decorating her very own place. liz hates anything too ‘matchy-matchy’ and has done an amazing job collecting some thrifty, yet great vintage modern furniture finds for her new home! let’s take a look at what liz has been up to thus far.
What neighborhood do you live in?
I just bought my first home in Oklahoma City’s Central Park neighborhood. I love it- it’s just a few miles north of downtown (where I work and play), and right inbetween a really upscale neighborhood and the ghetto — so I’m also hoping it’s up-and-coming (now that I’m aware of this strange new concept of “real estate value”).
What is your idea of a perfect day in Oklahoma City?
One where I don’t have to work. I’d eat out for each meal at a different place, and then go shopping and find the perfect purse to replace my current matt & nat one (it’s been 4 years). Then I’d cap it off with the perfect red-wine-drunk and bitch session with friends. And there’s cupcakes and coffee somewhere in there, too.
What don’t you leave home without?
Burt’s Bees chapstick. A flashdrive. My iPod nano. Hopefully pants.
What are some of your favorite local shops?
Blue Seven has a great selection of quirky gifts. And there’s this furniture/fixture liquidation store in the ghetto for hotels and motels that have closed that is HUGE and features entire rooms full of old chairs and lamps and stoves and desks and I can’t even really talk about it without hyperventilating. We also have an awesome Asian supermarket that’s just a lot of fun to walk around in and browse — I always find something new and interesting there. For like $0.75.
What’s on your wish list?
a Butcherblock countertop for the kitchen. The perfect backpack to carry all my crap across Europe this spring. A tufted velvet headboard. The ability to calculate sales tax in my head.
What’s your favorite bargain find or product?
I instantly value anything I’ve found on a curb more than the things I’ve paid for. And I’ve found some amazing mid-century modern furniture on Craigslist that was clearly being sold by someone who had no idea of it’s real worth.
Who are your favorite artists? And why?
Visual artist? I love all of Matte Stephens’ work — it’s graphic, mid-century-inspired, the color palettes are always perfectly vintage, and seriously, the guy’s name is Matte. What’s not to love? Musical artist? I adore Yo La Tengo. I can’t believe that Georgia Hubley and Ira Kaplan have been married and making consistently excellent music for over 25 years. Utterly inspirational.
Where do you find inspiration?
The millions of design/travel/interior websites and blogs I cruise everyday. The weather. Movies, and the soundtracks that make them come alive (I’m looking at you, Wes Anderson). Flickr. My talented friends.
Do you collect anything?
No. In fact, I am a notorious stuff-purger. Oh, wait…. oh lord. Chairs. Mid-century chairs! I have so many I can’t even see them as a collection, because they are a straight-up lifestyle. My house is under 1,000 sq. ft, but it can seat about 30. I’m probably just a stuff-purger to make room for all my chair-children.
What’s your favorite feature in your home?
I love the slightly creaky wood floors, though the (relatively) massive front porch and the fireplace tie for second.
If you could photograph anyone in the world, who might that be?
Gary Oldman. Dennis Leary. Wes Anderson. Henry Rollins. Marc English. David Bowie. Jamie Hince. Brendon Small. Alec Baldwin. Brad Neely. Yessss, I would photograph them. And then they would fall in love with me. It’s a foolproof plan.
Who would you like to sit down to drinks with?
At the moment, my childhood girlfriends from northern Michigan. I usually only get to see them in the summer, so I always miss them the most in the dead of winter. And if those drinks could be enjoyed around a bonfire on the beach, I’d probably die of happiness. Or hypothermia. Because it’s very cold in Michigan right now.
Do you have a guilty pleasure?
Oh honey- I don’t feel guilty about any of my pleasures. I watch horrible television, eat out too often, pay too much for wine, and read my fair share of trashy novels. And I love it.
What’s souvenir did you bring back from your last trip?
I went to the annual HOW Design conference in Austin with two designer friends and we all came back with typography tattoos. God bless 6th Street and Patron Silver!
What is your idea of living hell?
Being in a dead-end relationship and working a job I hate in a world without cheese. Or- having to wear mismatched socks. I’m fickle like that.
What are some of your favorites websites/blogs to visit?
ffffound (constant inspiration), jeremy and kathleen (and not just because my home renovation projects are regularly cataloged there), the sartorialist (hello, boys), photoshop disasters (keeps me sharp), the apache house (my favorite Oklahoma website), and craigslist (I’m a Missed Connections junkie).
Wednesday 01.06.10
unexpected guests: ingrid jansen.
we’re back in 2010 with a brand new unexpected guest, all the way from the netherlands! i fell in love with dutch designer ingrid jansen’s wood & wool stools, and then discovered her lovely home via flickr. Ingrid lives in dordecht, a city that is actually an island between three rivers, with a beautiful historical center with many marinas, near Rotterdam. you can find ingrid’s uniquely handmade stools, made from all re-purposed and recycled wood, and her other crocheted lovelies here in her wood & wool shop, as well as etsy, and to see more photos from her visit her flickr photostream. thank you for sharing your lovely home with us, ingrid! i loved every minute of putting this post together — and i hope you all will like it, too!
What is your idea of a perfect day in dordecht?
I love to bike to the market on fridays or saturdays and buy bread, fruit, vegetables and flowers and have a cup of coffee at Villa Augustus. It’s a very nice hotel and restaurant with beautiful gardens, where I happen to work 3 days a week. When the weather is fine I would like to spend the day in my garden being lazy, perhaps a little reading and in the evening have a lovely meal outside. At night I like to see a Spanish movie in the little cinema Cinode and drive there with my old gray 2cv.
What don’t you leave home without?
My bag, keys, agenda, purse and lip balm.
What are some of your favorite local shops?
My favorite shop is Sissy Boy Homeland. It’s a real dutch shop. They don’t have a clear website but they sell the most beautiful interior products and have a great basic clothing collection. The first shop abroad has opened in Antwerp (Belgium) lately and that’s an hour drive. There is no Sissy Boy shop in Dordrecht, but in several other cities near Dordrecht. The Netherlands is just a small country.
Another favorite shop is OXO woonwinkel, they sell my favorite garden Fermob furniture. My favorite local shop is surely the market cafe at Villa Augustus. It’s a market at the entrance of the restaurant and you can buy sourdough bread, the loveliest cakes and biological products. There is also a little shop, where you can buy books, interior products and nice stuff.
What’s on your wish list?
a Classic Hardoy Butterfly Chair and a Tsé Tsé Vase d’Avril designed by Tsé Tsé.
What’s your favorite bargain find or product?
My Geoffrey Harcourt designer chair (above). Some years ago I traded it for a handmade wood & wool stool with a friend who had four of them. Although the leather is a bit torn and cracked it really is a pretty chair and very comfortable!
What is your biggest interior design nightmare?
A gas fireplace with remote. And a completely aligned interior without any personal input.
Who is your favorite artist? And why?
The Spanish singer Bebe Belotta. In the summer of 2005 I was snooping around with the cd’s in a FNAC store in Barcelona and was attracted by the cd cover of Bebe’s cd Pafuera telarañas. When I heard the first song “men señara” I got goose pimples all over my body and knew this was My Favorite Singer! During that holiday I played the cd repeatedly and my 8 year old daughter Pippa sang the Spanish lyrics error-free after some weeks. I wanted to know where these songs were about and I even took Spanish lessons for that reason. She recently launched her second cd Y.
Where do you find inspiration?
At my workplace at Villa Augustus, from interior magazines, traveling and creative people I meet on the Internet.
Do you collect anything?
I collect vases, interior magazines, shoes, oh, and I have a chair addiction.
What’s your favorite feature in your home?
My old gray cabinet where I keep my wool storage (and lots of other things).
If you could photograph anyone in the world, who might that be?
Lenny Kravitz. He’s a great artist and I have all his cd´s and visit some concerts. His voice and music are so great. (And he is so sexy!) His home is also very tasteful. I once saw an issue in a dutch magazine LINDA.
Who would you like to sit down to drinks with?
Can it be the same person (Lenny Kravitz)? :D
Do you have a guilty pleasure?
In the winter, when I have a day off and every member the family left to school or work, i go back to my bed with a cup of coffee and a newspaper or magazine and no hurry. I have to admit that I hardly ever do it, because I usually have too much energy once I’m awake.
What is your most treasured belonging?
A cupboard full of photo books, especially the ones when my children Minne (17) and Pippa (12) were little.
What’s souvenir did you bring back from your last trip?
Two months ago I brought back a tea cup of the STORY Hotel in Stockholm designed by Agneta Livijn. It’s a very nice, bohemian chic hotel in the best neighborhood of Stockholm.
What’s your greatest indulgence?
On thursdays, I have my ‘flower day’ at Villa Augustus. they ave a colorful variety of flowers available to make bouquets for the hotel lobby and the market cafe.
What is your idea of living hell?
Living without a camera.
What are some of your favorites websites/blogs to visit?
Urban Outfitters; Flickr is awesome! I love photography! Dottie Angel’s blog is my favorite, so inspiring and Tif has HUMOR; Nina’s blog ; Yvestown’s blog and actually the blogs that are listed on the right side on my blog wood & wool stool.
