Thursday, July 29, 2010

Old and new

A crisp white Scandinavian interior is balanced with some vintage pieces with rich patina. Plus a really gorgeous rug.

from Sköna Hem, via Emmas Designblogg

Serge Mouille

While I'm being grouchy about things sold by DWR that I could never afford... I've noticed that they now offer Serge Mouille lighting. It seems DWR is recommitting itself to serious design. Although the price is even higher than the last time I lamented their unattainability. (More archive shots here, here and here.)

P.S. Sexy chairs in this photo.

image via From the Right Bank

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Original features, and not

Given that I live in a pretty bland, 13-year-old building, I'm always envious of people who live in older homes that have some quirk. Case in point, this big wall of raggedy windows, which make a highly unusual back wall for a bed. I'm not entirely sold on the regency headboard, but the colorful chinoiserie bedspread is a great contrast to the rawness of the space.

In the same home, an appealingly ramshackle kitchen with ancient tin walls.

Oh wait. The walls are actually covered with embossed wallpaper that's been painted. I like it.

from Design*Sponge

Finn Juhl

Design Within Reach is now selling Finn Juhl furniture. That doesn't increase the likelihood of me ever owning any, but it did give me a pretty picture in my inbox this morning.

Monday, July 26, 2010

As seen at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce...

Saarinen table, Nesso lamp. Who needs a second floor?

Moroccan cement tiles.

While I'm talking tile, I'm loving the patterns created by these cement ones from Popham Design.

Sort of a flame stitch for the floor.

I also kind of like their squiggle pattern, even though it's not my usual style.

via Ana Romero

Tile floors, FTW

Still loving old, geometric-patterned tile floors. These are in a hotel in Portugal.

from Yatzer

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Apartment update

It's remarkable how easy it is to fall out of the blogging habit. Sigh. I'm going to try to get back into the swing of things, because really — obsessing over interior design is no worse than a lot of the other ways I can waste time on the internet.

So... here's my new bookcase! Picked up on the street! Regular readers know that I'm a little obsessed with the idea of finding great things on the curb (which explains why I have a thing in my apartment). The sad truth is that I've always been very snobby about this type of bookcase — "books aren't meant to the stored on their sides!" — and yet here we are. The fact is that my existing bookcase was already completely double-layered and I hated that half my books were hiding. (Now I know I could get rid of some books — but I have bit of a hoarding problem, I think.) The opportunity of bringing my books back into the light, while not taking up much room in my little apartment, FOR FREE, was too much to pass up. Plus red lacquer!

The bookshelf was so heavy I had to carry it home in two trips (one for the base, one for the shelves). Aside from a big scratch on the foot, it's in pretty good condition. Still, I was nervous about it holding too much and so I just put my travel books (which are mostly paperbacks) in it. Art books would be prettier, I know.

Does anyone know who makes it? Is it from IKEA? I was completely stumped by these holes in each shelf, since they don't seem to correspond with any support mechanism inside. I just have to take comfort in the fact that I've had it for nearly a month now, and it hasn't collapsed.

Now that I've got my long-sought floor lamp, I've realized that the next big thing my apartment needs is a paint job, which is very hard to get excited about. People tend to talk about painting like it's the easiest thing in the world, but in a studio apartment that's packed to the gills, it's an intimidating proposition. If I ever paint (or get it painted) then maybe I'll finally rearrange my art wall.

Epic post over.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Happy 125th Birthday Josef Frank!

Google honors the most random things.