Handmade Fridays

I am a sucker for sweet little necklaces. I love to layer them and to wear them alone. 

Catherine at CatherineMarissa sure makes some cute ones.

Did you guys know that you can look at any of your friend's favorite etsy items as long as they have an account, pretty great for gift giving (hint, hint).

Catherine has been so generous as to offer any readers a 10% discount until the end of the weekend, use the code "Lola 5/09"

Have a great weekend!

Eames House Turns 60

I received this letter I wanted to share:

As part of the Eames Office's strong commitment to the special beauty of the Eames House, today's Eames Office newsletter is focussed today on the Eames House and upcoming events there.

I'll start with the basics:
First, I hope you'll join us on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Eames-House/84777477820
And please follow us on Twitter: eameshouse

I know it may not sound too dramatic, but if we can grow our online community and talk about some of the cool events that are coming up in the next couple of years, we can reach people who should be supporting us but don't know about us yet. And that would be a breakthrough. For example, in the run up to the Eames Fundraiser in Petaluma, we will be keeping you up to date on new developments--like the fact we are auctioning a sleepover at the Eames House in the studio.

Of course, don't worry, there will be plenty of what you might call poetic news--the butterflies when they pause in their migration at the house, special visitors, things like that. Apropos quotes from Charles and Ray. Nuances of the restoration. We hope you will stay tuned.

And then, we'd like your help in supporting the Foundation in other ways that may be a bit more of a stretch.

We are having a fundraiser in Petaluma, California to reach our community in a new way and location. Our mother, Lucia Eames, Charles' daughter and founder of the Charles and Ray Eames Foundation, is opening her private residence in the San Francisco Bay Area for a picnic fundraiser on June 21st. We hope that you will consider buying a ticket. Lucia has an amazing collection of rarely seen Eames artifacts. There will also be kite flying, scale lines, my sister Lucia Atwood, who is leading the restoration projects, will be there to explain how they are going (if you have been to the house recently, you can see the results already!) and a lot more!

There will also be a silent auction that will include a pretty amazing auction item: that sleepover at the house that I mentioned. You can find out about bidding remotely by emailing auction@eamesfoundation.org

Please consider coming yourself--we'd love to have you. And, no matter what, spread the word and tell anyone who you think would be interested in attending. It is 500 dollars a ticket and the proceeds do not go for operating expenses, but are focussed on the capital improvements we are doing.

http://www.eamesfoundation.org/fundraiser.php
Last, don't forget Member Appreciation Day: June 20, 2009 in Los Angeles!

Are you a member of the Foundation yet? Once a year, members at any level are taken on a tour through the Eames House on Member Appreciation Day. It's our way of lowering the wear and tear on the house and still sharing the interior with people who care. Please consider joining at any level, but the friend level is 100$ and you'll have a very special experience on that day. You'll need to join the Foundation by mid-June. I hope we'll see you there.

http://www.eamesfoundation.org/members.php
In closing, let me say that in these difficult times every dollar counts for all of us as individuals, but also for the Eames House and the Eames Foundation. Our generous sponsors such as Herman Miller, Vitra, IBM, Eames Office and Ameriprise have helped us maintain and operate the Eames House. Many of you have benefited from that generosity by visiting the Eames House yourself, but there are critical improvements we are working on with the landscaping and interiors that need to be supported through fundraisers so that the Eames House will be around to celebrate its 250th anniversary.

And even if this is not the right time for you, we hope you'll join the Eames House community in the other ways I mentioned--by joining us on Facebook and following us on Twitter. That way you'll be up to speed on not just the Foundation but the Eames House itself--visitors, butterflies, photos, materials and the like!
Thanks so much. Hope to see you in person or in cyberspace soon

Best
Eames Demetrios

Chairman of the Board, Eames Foundation

_____________
It's a bit pricey for my blood but it would be a great day, and plenty to gawk at and drool over.

New Le Creuset

Have you seen these gorgeous new colors?

Dijon, White and Onyx...I love them, I think they'd be really great if you wanted to mix and match your collection.

I never understood the hubbub about them until I owned a pot, they really are superior cooking pans.

You can find these new colors at Sur La Table , Bloomingdales and Cooking.com.

photos courtesy of Bloomingdales

A horse is a horse...

About a month ago I purchased this little guy from etsy :

I was expecting him to be all white, but as per usual I didn't read the description, I'm an excitable shopper and it's usually my husband who slows me down to show me something I may not have noticed. So instead of all white he was pearlescent, meh.

I decided to paint it but instead of white I wanted something bold like black or magenta.
The craft store I went too didn't offer much, the pinks I was looking at were too pink and there was a great yellow but I saw another color, my favorite color and it was over.

Mr. Horse Head meet High Gloss Orange.

Then I thought "what goes best with high gloss orange?"

The answer?

Peacock feathers.

The result is probably the best photo I've ever taken in my life. This might end up being my avatar for everything!

House Tour Recap May

Tif Fussell 5/4/09

Elise and Darren 5/11/09

Viviana Agostinho 5/18/09

all pictures courtesy of homeowners

Handmade Friday Giveaway!

You may recognize this from my 5 Things pile a couple of weeks back or from Last week's Handmade Friday post. Recently I've upgraded my ipod to an ipod touch and sadly  this sweet little case doesn't fit it any more, but that's great news for those of you with an 30g or a 60g ipod!

Starting now until Tuesday at midnight you can have a chance to win it. Enter the giveaway by answering the following question:

What would you like to see more of on this blog?


The winner will be announced Wednesday 5/27. Good Luck!

5 Things

We have an overabundance of coffee mugs and we don't even drink coffee!

Don't forget to join the 5 Things Flickr Group.

My very own video!

Since I documented my other craft project the other day I had a great idea for another documentation.

I'm pretty proud of it!

This was my first time filming myself making something, it was a lot of fun and easy to edit (thanks to my Mac). I plan on making more of these videos and really exploring what my computer is capable of, I've had it almost 4 years and barely scratched the surface of what it can do.

If you want to own the star of this video, check it out here.

House Tour-Viviana

Name: Viviana Agostinho
Location: Mountain View, California
Square Footage: 1100
Years Lived in: 7 months
Rent or own: own
Describe your style: I change styles everytime i move to a new place; what is always the same is my passion for colors, so I'd say my style is colorful!

What's your favorite free/found item?
I haven't had any luck on finding awesome pieces on the sidewalk, but one thing that was free (at least for me) is a liquor bottle my gradma had since the 50s and sent to me.

What's your favorite purchased item?
My 60s hutch, I found it on craigslist for an incredible price.

What has been your biggest obstacle in decorating/design?
Money, as always. Mid-century modern is really in right now and it's hard to find good, inexpensive pieces.

Is your design style organic or planned?
I would say organic; My condo is from the 60s and I had this idea of making it mid-century modern, but I decorate as I go.

What is your favorite spot in the house?
The living room. It's bright and colorful.

How has your style changed in the past 5 years?
Not the essence. I've always liked colors and vintage pieces. But my previous apartments were very different from this one.

What is your favorite resource or store?
I love Etsy, eBay and craigslist. I also enjoy Ikea.

What is your biggest decorating/design pet peeve?
I hate measuring things and I don't have a good sense of space. I hate when I buy something that does not fit the area I had planned.

What has been your favorite design trend?
I love the embroidery loops with fabric that started to appear on Flickr groups. It's so inexpensive and the results are beautiful.

What is the biggest influence on your design/decorating style?
I enjoy looking through Flickr groups to find some inspiration, and I also enjoy old movies. I guess my dream apartment is something like "Breakfast at Tiffany's".

What in your home dictates how you design/decorate?
I think the apartment does. I'd never do an Edwardian living room on a 70s building, and I'd never do the design I have now on my previous home, that were very traditional, from the 20s.

What is the simplest thing you have done that has made the biggest impact?
The embroidery loops with fabric I commented previously. Super easy and cheap, and I love them.

Handmade Fridays

Tawny of Quiet Doing has a great shop on her hands. My favorite pieces are the ones like the one pictured above. Ipod cases with turntables: A piece of retro that holds a modern marvel.

Her items are unique and, and this is a word I never use, whimsical.

Have a great weekend!

5 Things

Where does all the extra tupperware come from? I think it breeds when we're not looking.

Don't forget to join the 5 Things Flickr Group.

Project start to finish.

I don't think I've ever fully documented a craft project before, I've done before and after but never stopped during the process to photograph it.

Until now...

Over the weekend I was in the Container Store . It's like heaven, I'm a very compartmentalized person and I could go wild in a store like that.

I found this great wrapping paper from Wooster & Prince , normally I just use kraft paper  and dress it up, but the paper I found was so pretty.

I love this color scheme so much I think I'll store it in my memory banks and do a bathroom in it one day.

I used some of the paper to wrap a gift I was sending out and then cut a small square out.

I then put it in a Ribba frame from Ikea.

It's beautiful! I love the birch and the white mat. I put it in my kitchen above the sink.

This was fun and gave me a great idea to document something else I'll be working on!

Taste vs. Maturity

I was out shopping over the weekend and stopped into a Pottery Barn, two actually, and came to the realization that I was no longer attracted to what was inside like I used to be.

I think enchanted might be the word I'm looking for. I used to love going in there and over time that love has faded. I don't know if it's age or maturity or maybe it's not me at all maybe it's Pottery Barn maybe they've changed.

It's not that the quality has decreased. Pottery Barn has always had the nicest bedding and insanely comfortable beds (they used to sell a Serta mattress that was so unbelievably comfortable). Maybe it's the demographic, maybe it's just not what I aspire for in design anymore. I haven't jumped to another store in fact I've become more diverse and awakened to the realization that there is much more out there design wise.

So perhaps it is maturity? Are there any stores out there that you've fallen out of love with?

House Tour-Elise & Darren

Name: Elise & Darren
Location: San Diego, CA
Square Footage: 1580 sq. ft.
Years Lived in: 4
Rent or own: own
Describe your style: mid-century modern. But it's more a life-style than a style.

What's your favorite free/found item? 
Southern California isn't exactly the best place to live when looking for free or found mid-century treasures - everyone here seems to know what things are worth, or believes they're worth more than they are. But Elise and I do have a few possessions from our childhoods that are dear to us. Elise has an original Kay Bojeson teak monkey from Denmark. And I have a large collection of wood (monkey pod tree) dishes and platters from my childhood in Hawaii. I also have my original vintage school desk, which is in our daughter's room.


What's your favorite purchased item?
Elise would probably say the Papa Bear Chair. For me, it's the Egg Chair.

What has been your biggest obstacle in decorating/design? 
Money, and finding competent contractors to do what we ask of them.


Is your design style organic or planned?
Not sure what this question means. We have a pretty clear vision and common understanding of what we like, but we tend to move furniture and artwork around the house a lot to see what works best in a given space - like independent sculptural elements, rather than pieces of a deliberate ensemble. And we always have our eye open for new acquisitions, so there's a fair amount of turnover - depending on what we find and what seems to work best with the other pieces.


But in any case, we don't "decorate" our house in the sense that we don't have lots of collections of knicknacks, or color schemes, or wallpaper and matching tea towels, etc. We're much more interested in design aesthetic, and we want to keep the focus on the architecture of the house, rather than hiding it as a lot of interior design seems to do.

What is your favorite spot in the house?
Sitting in the papa bear chair, where I have a panoramic view of the entire living area and kitchen, but can also see the pool and view (and the TV).


How has your style changed in the past 5 years?
More mid-century and less contemporary modern. We also tend to look for pieces that are rarer, less well-known.

What is your favorite resource or store?
David Skelley's store, Boomerang for Modern, on Kettner in San Diego's Little Italy


What is your biggest decorating/design pet peeve?
There are so many, so it's hard to pick just one. Crown moulding, perhaps? Essentially any sort of unnecessary or "faux" treatment or feature.

What has been your favorite design trend?
The resurgence of mid-century modernism, I suppose, although I'm anxious for the trend-setters to move on to the next thing so that prices on MCM pieces start to get affordable again.


What is the biggest influence on your design/decorating style? 
Probably the beautiful photographs of Julius Shulman

What in your home dictates how you design/decorate?
No one thing - it's really the house itself, which is a 1959 modernist home by Bill Krisel of Palmer & Krisel (the same guy who designed most of the homes Palm Springs is famous for). We find that given its architectural style and small size, the scale and style of our furniture really works best.


What is the simplest thing you have done that has made the biggest impact?
Removing a wall between the kitchen and dining/living area. It really opened up the space dramatically, and let in a lot more light.

photos courtesy of Elise and Darren .

5 Things

This is pretty late today! Sorry about that, I've been caught off guard b Friday, I wasn't expecting it. There's a lot I've got to take care of today.

I'm thinking of doing something special with that ipod holder on the left, stay tuned!

Don't forget to join the 5 Things Flickr Group.

Ugh...

Not once in the year and a half since I moved have I longed to go back to New York.

Until now...

Domino magazine, or what's left of it anyway is having a garage sale of sorts this weekend, All their props from photo shoots past.

This New York Times article mentions some items and in that picture alone I see four things I want. I went to one of Domino's bazaars and it was such a let down, the best think I got out of it was a free tote bag, I'd love to trade in that tote bag for a visit to this.

By the way doesn't the woman on the right look SO happy to be doing this? 

photo courtesy the New York Times

Handmade Fridays

Byrd and Belle is a fantastic shop on Etsy. Angie takes iconic pieces and turns them into needlepoint. Over christmas she had these fantastic ornaments with Eames chairs on them, she's parlayed that into framed art (see above). Her work is done in such great color combinations and a great attention to detail. Needlepoint and embroidery is something I can sort of do and when I see it done as well as this it makes me want to practice harder.

photo courtesy Byrd and Belle.

Getting crafty with it.

Last week I scored on ebay and I mean scored. I got an new Jonathan Adler wool tote, that retails for $125.00 for $34...Thirty Four!!!

 

I'm not sure how to use it though. I've always wanted one of Jonathan's fruit pillows, the banana to be exact. So I could take this tote and make it a pillow...but it's so well made I would feel guilty cutting into it.

Also if it's a pillow I run the risk of Lola getting her paws on it. She loves pillows, loves to lay on them, so I'd hate it to get all nubby and covered in cat hair.

Decisions, decisions...what do you think?

Blogging Your Way

Over the past four weeks I've been a student in Holly Becker's (Decor8) blogging ecourse.

The class is over now but maybe you've noticed the new badge on the bottom of the blog...

It's there to show that I participated and proud of it! I learned a lot over the past four weeks and plan to apply it to my blog. It's why I'm changing around the colors and layout. I'm trying to improve this place as much as I can.

I want to make it a warm and inviting place, I like coming here and I hope you do to.

There were a lot of really wonderful people involved in this class and our last bit of 'homework' was to share some other blogs with our readers. So I'd like to share with you some great blogs I found via this class.

Saidos da Concha  

This one is cheating a little bit, Constanca has been featured here before when she was featured on a House Tour , but her blog is worth mentioning again. It's so lovely and well put together. Constanca herself is lovely and very talented.

Craft Laboratory 

I am a crafter at heart and this blog makes my little crafting heart sing! It's so well laid out and easy to read and ripe with great ideas.

Chocolate and Steel 

Another previous feature,  Christine's jewelry is so...I don't want to say lovely because I'm afraid I'm overusing the word...but it is! Her blog is just as sweet and lovely as her jewelry.

31 Experiment  

Another crafter, with a pretty amazing blog. There is so much to look at and read here I'm still going through the archives.

Likely Design 

A great design blog with DIY pluck and great pictures. It's sometimes hard to find a honest design blog that doesn't feature $500 sheets, so when one comes along I cherish it!

Mufn inc. 

This is such a charming blog with such great ideas. It's so relaxing to read it's easy to spend an hour on it.

I want to thank Holly for the class and everyone who participated in it, It was a wonderful learning experience. I recommend anyone with a blog check it out, you will definitely learn a thing or two!