finally gave in

and bought these silk blend patterned feral childe leggings. i'd been looking at them for weeks down at curator. they were on sale and i am over my cold. that's all.

lamplighter

we found a new lamp for the cabin and it was just hand delivered in all it's teal and green beauty. mcmf has a few things listed on craigslist, which is where al found this. they'll deliver for free unless the item is real heavy, then they charge $40. carlos was super nice and we're excited to see this lamp in action tonight when we get to the cabin.

cut it out

i'm always on the lookout for art at estate sales, but given that art is such a personal preference we rarely find any we like (or can agree on). al found this piece over the weekend as we were walking out of one sale. it was in a crappy plastic box frame that has yellowed with time and was scratched and cracked. i took it out of it's frame today and was shocked at how vibrant and gorgeous this piece is. i was also surprised to find out it's actually a black paper cut-out placed on top of a background painted in teal, aqua, orange and a gorgeous salmon color. there's even a little rub down "o" for the light on front of the cable car. it measures just 5 1/4" x 7 1/4" and will be lovely framed.

wp fluorescent

fluorescent orange seems to be grabbing my attention everywhere these days, i guess that's what that color is all about. we stumbled upon a great estate sale up in forestville this weekend on our second cabin trip. the woman who owned the house was a bit of a shop-aholic, but the goods weren't what really got me, it was her choice of wallpaper. we walked into the laundry room to find the most perfect paper ever.


the living room and dining room had some pretty good metallics, but my phone didn't capture them very well.


nothing prepared me for the kitchen paper, i was in awe. the estate sale guardian couldn't believe how excited i was and that i wanted a photo of these chickens and roosters. they are now wallpapered on my phone.



i did end up with a $6 food processor (a sunbeam oskar!) , some old sunset magazine cookbooks, and a gorgeous vera scarf which kept my greasy locks covered for the duration. to get the goods for $5 along a viewing of this papered home was heaven. i wanted to go back on sunday but we had too much to do.

pacific

we did a lot of shopping for the cabin this weekend. saturday we hit ikea for the second time in three weeks, which is pretty scary. no melt downs either. we got some bedding for the day bed so tricia has a cozy comforter to sleep under this weekend when she comes up. al got the black wardrobe he wanted, but we did not get the yellow sideboard. today we met tony up at heath ceramics and found this gorgeous pacific blue tile. we got a box of 3 x 9 and a box of 2 3/4 x 3 to tile behind the wood burning stove. this is the color we both really wanted, and we got the only two boxes in stock. tricia and i have a date planned for sunday and tony might come up to help al set the tile that day, so i'll miss it, but the space won't really allow for more than two people working anyway. i guess it's ok, tony knows what he's doing. now i'll to create a mock up so we can figure out the pattern.

pre b

last night al and i wandered into cary lane for the first time. we were just wasting time, enjoying some window shopping before dinner at broken record. it's probably a good thing we hadn't gone in before because i was loving too much right away. i found a sweet little blue jacket that i'm quite tempted to go back for, but it's pretty pricey. i did end up walking out with this pair of Jean-Michel Cazabat Luxury Rebel boots. i love the creamy color and they are the softest leather. the best part is the dusty rose leather lining inside. well one of the best parts, the other best part is the snap closure in the back. they are an early birthday present to myself. i'm off to a spa now, another early birthday present courtesy of sarah. i'll ponder the jacket while i have a massage. i feel like i'm some rich housewife, but i'm neither rich nor married.

feeling blue

with the cabin supposedly closing today, i decided to make a little treat for albert using some puff pastry & berries that need to be eaten. i chose a small egg from the farmer's market for glossing, it just seemed too small for breakfast. this little baby is blue! and i mean little, just over an inch and a half in length.

flourescent

this cover really knocked me out. fluorescent orange title? i love you gourmet. and that raspberry buttermilk cakes kicks ass.

naps

i've found some great vintage napkins at estate sales, these birds are my favorite. i thought i might try to use cloth napkins at my upcoming party, but i don't have enough. i tried cutting some vintage fabric with pinking shears, but the fabric still came apart. then i remembered i had these bird and shell napkins. i didn't think those two packages would be quite enough so i found a few more on etsy. i tried to coordinate the colors, but it was hard, and i couldn't pass up these cable car napkins.
in other news, the upgrade to leopard went terribly wrong and resulted in me freaking out for about 7 hours, lots of tears and major stress. thanks to aimee it's all fixed. the cabin isn't closing today like we thought so we have to spend the night in this dumb ole house. so today i decided to treat myself to arizmendi and we might go play bingo at st. paul's tonight, it just depends on the roast's schedule, al is cooking.

lucky

we went to a couple of estate sales this weekend and i ended up with a few new small items, all of them black. without me seeing al purchased some japanese opera glasses. i've been wanting some for a few years and these were in good condition and cheap. i found a cute old stationery set, and this gorgeous johannes itten book called the elements of color. it's really clean and looks like it was rarely opened. it reminds me of the color theory we did back in college, huge color charts painstakingly painted 1 square inch at a time. everyone sweated those, usually for several all niters. i'll read this one up at the cabin.
i'm procrastinating but now i guess i'll upgrade to leopard. i'm trying to thwart unexpected disasters which i'm expecting.

want

this house has so many great things in it, i wish our cabin could look like this. we'll definitely be replacing a lot of the furniture the current owners are leaving behind for us, so we have plenty of time to find the perfect pieces. i'd love an old bed like this, but i bet we can't find a queen size from the 50s. i also really think we should have some fish on the walls. maybe one fish is enough, but i'm going to find it out there somewhere. i'm excited to bring out my chenille yellow bedspread, it doesn't quite fit the bed or decor in this house, but it will be great up there. it's really similar to this one, but sunny yellow. hmm...more yellow.

tiles

today al said he wanted to put heath tiles behind the wood burning stove at the cabin. he hadn't seen my post about this very idea from earlier this month. our stove is black and the wall behind is stark white, we can't remember what it is. i'm thinking we should create the opposite of the image in my post, black stove, teal tiles? we're placing a large orange rug in that room so i don't think orange would work. yellow or pale green would just blend in with the pine walls. but this yellow is pretty sweet. am i developing a thing for yellow?

furnished

al and i spent a good part of the weekend talking about cabin furniture, what we could take up now (like an air mattress) and what we need to buy first (a sofa bed). i've been wanting this yellow sideboard from ikea for a while, but i don't know if i can talk al into it. i could deal with the black version of the cabinet if it was my only choice. we did find some things at jen and cristal's garage sale, and a few things at an estate sale, but nothing large as we don't really have room to store it here at this house. al called me this morning to let me know the sellers would like to leave all their furniture in the cabin, except a few frying pans!! everything is extremely "beige" but we can't believe the windfall, we don't have to buy a thing until we're ready and we won't have to take up an air mattress. now i really think that yellow sideboard could spice things up.

bamboo

back from the frame shop and the price was just under what i had predicted. $357.89 later and the low poster never made it out of it's tube. ooof, art is expensive. anyway, much to the dismay of one cheap pete's framer, i chose this black bamboo. i couldn't help myself. it should be ready before the lowry's arrive next week.

preference

i find art to be so personal, i guess most people do, and i was thrown a few years back when a friend gave me this print. at the time i wasn't that taken with it, now i absolutely love it. it reminds me of the cross hatch projects we had to do in school, and i love the simplicity of it.


a couple of months while ago strolling at the alemany flea market with leigh, i came across an old seagrams poster "the game fish cyclopedia." i didn't have much money on me, but the price was right and i snapped it up for al. the colors are still so bright, it was printed in 1947 but had been kept away from light.


it occurred to me this morning that i bought art for someone else, something i thought i would never do. i just couldn't stop myself. some of the fish are gone now, but it's such a cool reference to see where things used to be and al knows almost all of the species listed.


i need to get this thing framed before the family arrives, but this thing is quite large. luckily it was only $40, it will probably be about $400 to frame (i really have no idea, that number is random). i'll take along my small stakes low poster to see if i can get that done as well. al got that for me. it's an endless cycle of art giving....

wrought

we got the $17 estate sale chandelier up this weekend. it's not working of course, not plugged in, but i still wanted it hanging in the hall. i love the shape of it, but might paint the fake candles black (or whatever color i paint the chandelier if i paint it one day). it adds a little something fun to the hallway, and it needed to get off the floor before the family arrives next week.

clean

on our saturday trip for russian river cabin shopping, we stopped at macy's up in santa rosa to use the facilities. they were having a huge sale and al has been wanting some non stick pans. i came across this martha stewart eco friendly non stick that uses a ceramic coating instead of the scary teflon stuff. i was really happy when he said we should get it. i used it for this morning's breakfast and it was quite nice. he also let me get some new sheets, i'm working on my pink bed but he doesn't know this.

where to start

leigh tagged me to post about what my "style" is. i'm not sure where to start. i guess for me it's all about color and old stuff. too bad we live in a very white house now, although sometimes that can be nice. we just miss having some color on the walls. i want to have a turquoise room one day. i don't know if al can stomach this, but he's pretty open to trying things, and i think once we painted a color that intense, it would have to stay put for a while.


i fantasize about having a large installation of heath tiles in my future home. this fireplace looks particularly awesome because it's so bright against it's black health tiled background. i find any bright color combined with black stunning.


i love complicated bedding patterns if it's done well. i hate too many large puffy pillows, but this one is just right. you see a few different pinks all working as a team. the pop of the gold and green pillows is perfect. i really like this entire house, posted on sfgirlbybay yesterday. you can see some other bed photos with different combinations and i would love to do this, i just don't have room to store all those blankets.


one of my most beloved items here at home is the avocado green sofa i grew up with. i've always loved it and it sat in our living room in north carolina where it was hardly used. when my parents decided to replace it, my dad shipped this baby from north carolina to me in sf! it came with all my grandmother's china and i bawled while i opened all the boxes. i have some other family pieces, including a china cabinet originally owned by the lowry's (grandparents), which had been passed down to my parents, then to my sister, now it's with me. my grandmother's dishes (which she purchased for her own mother) fill it now.


one of my favorite corners of this house is filled with random treasures. some estate sale finds. there are a few things that leigh got for me from lisa's now closed store, the pickled hutch (back in the church street days). al's skateboard sits here, ready for quick trips to the store or a ride around the block (last year's birthday gift from me!). a snake plant sits in the old planter that was left in the basement at the ellsworth house. i only wish the wall behind it was a nice pea green.


my current dream house is for sale in portland right now. i'd like to get decorating in there...

beginning

we started charley last night. i gave up with a back ache around 10:30, but looks like al made some progress by having the entire space to himself. the colors are so beautiful, we're thinking about what we can paint that nice, rich, blue color.