Rearranged Design

Chairs.

noreply@blogger.com (Ana Herda) — Thu, 24 May 2012 18:47:00 +0000

Oh I know, more chairs...Even I'm questioning my need for more chairs. It seems I won't be happy until I have ALL the chairs.

This weekend I went on a chair bender and grabbed two off of Craigslist. Sorry about the instagram photos but I'm a lazy blogger, you're just going to have to deal.

It was time to replace the yellow chair in the living room.

Bruce the Maine Coon, Professional Napper.

The cats had their way with it. I loved the yellow nubby fabric but so did they and while they have a scratching post and they don't do this to any other piece of furniture, they both tore this poor chair to shreds. I ran into it the other day, because I'm a giant klutz, and my shin hit wood and starting bleeding. I knew then it was time. The chair was fighting back.

My first stop was to pick up the Ikea Lunna chair. Ikea discontinued this chair a few years back. My assumption is they created the world's most comfortable chair and in realizing what they had done stopped making them in order to keep selling their other, less comfortable chairs.

We used to go to Ikea and just sit in this chair and bask in it's crazy comfortableness but it was too expensive for us so we never did buy it but now the tables have turned HAHA! It's mine! HAHA! (In my head that sounded like a super villain so I'm rolling with it). The cats have shown no interest in sharpening their claws in it, so far they are taking turns kicking the other one out of it so they can nap in it.

My next stop was for this guy...

Yup, suckered into an Eames shell again. This one is the "Raw Umber" color. Which I guess is rare? It seems everyone says the color they're selling is rare. It also has a duller finish, not glossy at all which I've heard is more desirable? Shows it's age? I have no idea. I just know it ain't go no legs Lieutenant Dan.

My life has turned into the chair scene from Knocked up.

Kitchen

noreply@blogger.com (Ana Herda) — Mon, 21 May 2012 08:25:00 +0000

It's been awhile since I shared some Kitchen photos. So, um...here they are...

Riveting right? I know.

Taste Setter Spotting

noreply@blogger.com (Ana Herda) — Mon, 14 May 2012 19:56:00 +0000

A friend of the Thrift Collective blog tweeted me a photo from a Kitchen Design book.

Here it is larger:

A quick trip over to Amazon tells me this book, The Kitchen: 100 Solutions to Design Problems, tells me this book came out in 1977. It also tells me that people had way less design problems in the 70's.

So I now have a date! My mystery pattern came out pre-1977. I still have no idea what the pattern name is, Anyone care to take a stab at it? I call it 'Yellow Wink Face' but people have told me it looks like a cat, a sun...Let me know what you think, it'll give me more searches to try.

Check out all that Finel. Don't you want to raid this kitchen? They've got the Finel Sunflower bowl which I adore and already own but whenever I see one I want to buy it and hoard them.

Thanks to @mistertrueB for your keen eyes!

YAY!

noreply@blogger.com (Ana Herda) — Tue, 08 May 2012 21:10:00 +0000

I managed to find another Taste Setter piece. It popped up last weekend on Etsy and I have been waiting not so patiently by the mailbox ever since. I knew this pitcher existed because I lost an auction to it on ebay last year and was living with that ebay regret, you know, not bidding a dollar or two higher and kicking yourself for it.

But now it's MINE and I love it and plan to cuddle it and haul it around like a blanky. Soon the euphoria of this find will wear off and I'll go back to searching in the dark for other pieces...sigh.

PCC Flea

noreply@blogger.com (Ana Herda) — Mon, 07 May 2012 22:40:00 +0000

Here are my finds from this Sunday's flea market. The record was the mister's find. He'd been on the hunt for it for a few years so he was a happy boy. I grabbed the Stig Lindberg plate for a steal and the Kobenstyle for another steal. I already have an identical one but this one has the older four ducks logo so I'm undecided on which one to keep.

adam yauch

noreply@blogger.com (Ana Herda) — Fri, 04 May 2012 23:00:00 +0000

Today we lost a great talent and I'm really feeling it, My favorite Beastie is gone. Adam Yauch or MCA as most of the world knew him has died. His gruff voice and slower cadence was a perfect compliment to Mike D and Adrock. As a child who grew up in the 80's and 90's the Beastie Boys were a huge part of the soundtrack of my life. They started out as bratty boys who just wanted to party and they grew into men who made a difference for the better in the world around them. Their music just kept getting better and better and I feel like we've all been robbed of seeing what they would do next. Adam Yauch was an activist, a director, a producer, an artist and a musician. He was full of compassion and talent and he will be sorely missed. I urge you to pick any Beastie Boys song and play it LOUD.

My thoughts are with the family he left behind, the two Beastie Brothers and us fans. Rest In Peace MCA.

LAMP

noreply@blogger.com (Ana Herda) — Wed, 02 May 2012 22:32:00 +0000

So I've been futzing around with my new (to me) lamp and I think it belongs on the mantel. Tell me what you think...

Mantel/No Lamp

Mantel/Lamp/Vase

Mantel/Lamp

Fun Fact: Peggy Olson and I have the same tastes in lamps.

LACMA

noreply@blogger.com (Ana Herda) — Tue, 01 May 2012 22:07:00 +0000

I had a friend in town yesterday and we spent the afternoon at LACMA. I was pleasantly surprised by the collections they had. Their Picasso collection alone was more impressive by the traveling one that came to the major cities a year or two back.

The California Design Exhibition was my favorite, natch. There was also a outdoor sculpture (Penetrabile) that was very much like being inside a bowl of noodles, a must see. For the full scoop check out my flickr set.

Check out this video of the exhibit:

5th Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (Ana Herda) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:03:00 +0000

This Sunday was the bonus flea market in Long Beach, Whenever there's an extra Sunday in a month Long Beach holds a special flea market. It's usually a few less vendors but still full of great finds.

Say Whaaaaatt? A Cathrineholm Lasagna pan? Yup and it was a STEAL at $10. I also grabbed that awesome articulated lamp and fan for twenty each. I've been on the hunt for an vintage aqua fan forever and they're usually much more expensive. The little vintage turquoise safety pin might be my favorite (and only $5).

Long Beach remains my favorite flea market, and who can argue with my finds? No one, that's who.

DIY

noreply@blogger.com (Ana Herda) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 22:41:00 +0000

I did a little DIY on the $5 clock I bought at the last Long Beach Flea Market. I bought the clock knowing it probably wouldn't work and I was right. When I got home from the flea and popped a giant C-Cell battery in the clock nothing happened. I of course did what I've been doing since I was a kid, I took that sucker apart. Maybe a gear wasn't hitting, maybe something needed to be cleaned...you don't know until you deconstruct.

I found no obvious flaws and since getting the clocked fixed would be far more expensive than a $6 clock kit on ebay, I went with the latter. If you've never made a clock out of something it's terrible easy. I didn't bother taking photos of it because it's so simple. Just take out the old clock kit and pop in the new one.

The next step was to fix/hide the chips in the clock. Looks to me like it fell from somewhere. The two biggest chips were on the bottom and there's a crack on the side and back. I have a feeling someone just hung it up by the rope and not the actual hole on the back of the clock. Dummies.

I found out that there is such a thing as ceramic putty that you can repair chips and cracks in ceramic with. Well people, I'm lazy and impatient. The thought of painstakingly applying putting and waiting for it to dry and then painting it...ugh I'm tired just thinking about it. So I did the next best thing. I went to Target and bought $5 worth of nail polish.

Observe:

I just mixed and layered until the chips weren't so obvious. If you're going to come to my home and get all up in my clock and judge me on how I "restored" it, I don't think I want you over anyway.

In case you are that judgey and need to inspect it, here you go:

See? Not bad at all. Here's how normal people will see it.

Here's some more shots of the living room:

Let's talk about that last shot for a second. Bruce says wassup and that thing on the coffee table?

Yeah it's totally an alligator head. A present from my Dad, he gets me. He also sent me a Megalodon shark tooth fossil and if you know anything about me, know this; I LOVE sharks.

I'm a tad scared of the head, as a kid growing up in the Florida Keys it was a legitimate fear that there might be a gator under the bed. It's like hey there's a dead animal on the coffee table but also it's really awesome.

Orange

noreply@blogger.com (Ana Herda) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 18:14:00 +0000

I hit up the Long Beach Flea Market yesterday and scored some awesome things. Most of which were orange.

A Vohann clock and two pieces of Pyrex. Not pictured is a shirt the Mr. got. He's already washed it and is wearing it today. Just know it's an awesome Wrangler plaid shirt and he looks handsome in it. The Pyrex bowl is the largest in a set I'm trying to piece together and has been hard to find in the wild. The clock was a great deal. They guy said he'd give me a "screaming" deal on it. He wasn't kidding, $5. Of course it doesn't work and is chipped on the bottom but I'm going to try my luck at some pottery epoxy/putty and a new clock mechanism and see if I can't get it running again. It was too awesome to say no to.

This was not a flea market find but it was orange and I had to share it. A good deal on ebay and it checks off a box on my Kobenstyle want list. I love it and will only serve fancy people fancy drinks out of it.

AnaHerda.com

noreply@blogger.com (Ana Herda) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 19:32:00 +0000

We live in a world where everything is becoming a brand and everyone talks about branding. If your name is in public view in anyway you become a product, a brand.

I am fascinated by this, the way in which people sell themselves and products. My husband and I watch commercials and talk about what they did right and wrong. We'll have fantastic ideas for commercials that would sell a bazillion bottles of beer but sadly I missed my calling in the marketing industry.

Remember in the early 90's when you'd hear stories of some enterprising individual who bought the rights to CocaCola.com or Madonna.com and then sold them for gobs of money? I think that if your name is out there in some way you should have a dot com. Think of what you could do with it, you could put your resume on it, your portfolio, links to your shop, links to you blog, your twitter feed...anything.

Anyway I say all that to say this. Since I have several blogs and shops out there on the interwebs and since you're reading this right now it means that my name is out there. Albeit in some small way. So I bought AnaHerda.com. All it is right now is a hub for my blogs and shops. Even though it's nothing impressive it's still a place to point people to see what I do or get ahold of me.

Synergy! Unison! Amazing right? Not really BUT here's my favorite part about it. Instead of handing out three or four different moo cards (which I still love) I had this made:

I saw it on Design Fetish. It's a minimal business card by Cranky Pressman. I instantly knew I needed this in my life. I still use cards for packing up orders but this is perfect for me because;
A) I am a constant forgetter of cards in my purse
B) It's super rad! Just like me!

So what you should take away from this is to own your own dot com and that I'm super rad.

Swap Meet Goodness

noreply@blogger.com (Ana Herda) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 15:12:00 +0000

I know I've been talking an awful lot about chairs lately. I can't promise this will be the last time for awhile but I can promise that it will be a fun filled adventure with free candy at the end of the post*.

My Blu Dot Real Good Chairs arrived.

I, of course, chose the aqua blue color (get yours here). When they arrived I was still contemplating the rug situation. I loaded the new chairs in and it just didn't look right. So said to myself; "self...who says you need a rug in the dining room? Wouldn't having bare floors make it infinetly easier to clean the food spills and cat barf?" So i tried it and you know what? I liked it.

Here's the view from the kitchen:

I love the dining room but hate the chandy. Do you think I'd need a professional to swap it out or could I DIY it?

Thoughts, suggestions or a number to the nearest burn unit?

*There will be no free candy.

PCC

noreply@blogger.com (Ana Herda) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 22:00:00 +0000

After a month and a half off from flea markets and several Sundays spent sleeping in I spent yesterday at the PCC Flea.

There was plenty to look at but I only came home with two treasures. Not for lack of trying though. There were two women who I think, confused the flea market with ebay or an antique mall. One woman had a small aqua Kobenstyle pan, a 2 qt I think. She's had these for at least four months because every time I see it I ask if $40 is her best price and she says yes and never budges. Sigh...my hope is one day she'll come to her sense and loosen up.

The other lady was out of her mind. This woman had a orange Pyrex #402 bowl that's been on my want list and when I asked the price she said...get this...$30! Then said I could have it for $20. Uh gee, thanks. That scratched up bowl was worth no more than $8. Tops.

Anyways here's what I did come home with-

An awesome orange ice crusher and an all white Pyrex fridgie. Happy to have gotten deals on both.

Rugs (Not Chairs)

noreply@blogger.com (Ana Herda) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 21:13:00 +0000

Hard to believe this post is NOT about chairs...ok well maybe a little.

I sold my recovered Eames-ish Lounger. I know some loved it and some loathed it. While I am proud of the work I put into it I didn't have an emotional connection to it. We never sat in it and it was kind of uncomfortable. You could tell from just sitting in it it wasn't the real deal.

The cash in my pocket from that sale lasted no more than an hour. I turned around and bought another controversial item; a cowhide rug. I know some find it gross, tacky or whatever. I personally find it dead sexy (perhaps a poor choice of words) and it makes my house smell like a leather jacket which is one of my favorite smells.

It was intended for the dining room but it didn't really work.

(can you spot the cat?)

The chairs are just placeholders until my Blu Dot ones arrive. These guys are too matchy-matchy for my taste. The rug was a bit too big in there. I had to fold it under itself to fit. Then when I loaded the rest of the stuff in the room it really felt too crowded.

So I played a little musical rugs. I put the cowhide in the living room.

and the living room rug in the other side of the living room. I really have no idea what to call this area...Office area? Entry way? Awesometown?

The other rug that was in here was on it's last leg. It was one of the cat's favorite hairball depository and vomit emporium (the joys of living with animals).

Here's some before and afters:

I might try the cowhide in the bedroom but every time I try to rearrange the bedroom I end up sweaty, gross and putting it back the way it started.

Real Eames/Fake Eames

noreply@blogger.com (Ana Herda) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 21:39:00 +0000

I'm thinking of renaming the blog. Maybe "Rearranged Chairs" would be more appropriate. It seems that's what the majority of my posts are about lately. It's like a never-ending game of musical chairs up in here.

So with my two Blu Dot chairs on the way I present you with a game of Real Eames/Fake Eames.

Here's the real Eames. I grabbed it today for a steal. It originally had vinyl upholstery on it. The gentleman I bought it from had done the dirty work and stripped and sanded all the glue and foam off.

You can see some minor discoloration and the screw heads go directly into the chair. Nothing that a sheepskin won't fix. Amirite?

And now the fake Eames. I rearranged the corner where my other fake Eames (lounger) went. I finally put a new base on my aqua Burke chair. Three years of stubbing my toes on the spinning base finally got to me.

The thing about this base is that it had the screws built into the bottom of the chair. Nothing that some epoxy and mounts can't fix. I paired it with a Modernica low base I found on Craigslist and BOOM: Sexy chair for sexy butts.

The bottom isn't as sexy as the rest of the chair but unless you're a jerk who comes to my house and and flips over my chairs you would never know.

In case you're interested I'm selling the recovered Eames Lounger email me and we'll talk turkey.

and then there were two

noreply@blogger.com (Ana Herda) — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 04:15:00 +0000

Huh? What's that? I won TWO Blu Dot chairs? Word

After spending the last few years fighting uphill battles my husband and I have had a streak of really great luck (knock on wood, cross your fingers, bite your tongue). So the next time I'm letting the world get the better of me, I'll have a sit in my super awesome chairs and remember it's' not always like that.

Thanks to all who voted!

Greedy.

noreply@blogger.com (Ana Herda) — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 19:07:00 +0000

That's right I'm greedy. With one day to go until the Swap Meet is over and one chair under my belt I decided to try for another. Blu Dot said I could so here I go:

I mean you need two chairs to make a set right?

Give some love and give me a thumbs up.

Winning!

noreply@blogger.com (Ana Herda) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 20:06:00 +0000

I can count on one hand the times in my life where I've won something; The first time I was 16 and I won $150 on the radio for being the first caller to identify that KISW had only played ONE Smashing Pumpkins song instead of the two they were supposed to on "Doubleshot Thursday". That money went right into a new muffler for my car to replace the one that was being held on by twine.

The next time was after seeing The Saint. My friends and I were in a record store (remember those kids?) and all four of us entered a contest for Saint merchandise. All of us won t-shirts and soundtracks...I'm willing to bet we were the only people to enter that contest.

The last time I remember winning something was during Soundgarden's 'Superunknown' tour. The Radio station KISW was having a poster contest to welcome the band home and a friend and I won colored vinyl, shirts and keychains (Yes, I lived in Seattle in the 90's, it was awesome).

and now I bring you win number four. While technically it isn't a win but a swap, I still 'won' a Blu Dot Real Good Chair.

Another chair! It's an addiction, I know. I'm so excited to get this into my house and under my butt.

If you're interested in having some of the winningest fudge and treats check out my etsy shop motherfudger.

Winning!

Chairs

noreply@blogger.com (Ana Herda) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 19:34:00 +0000

That's right another chair. I grabbed another Burke chair yesterday and spent the afternoon cleaning it (apparently my favorite pastime).

It was a relatively easy clean. Bon Ami and a Magic Eraser. I think I want to combine them with a wood farm table, I love that look.

Chairs, Chairs, Chairs!

Vacation Thrift

noreply@blogger.com (Ana Herda) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 00:43:00 +0000

It's been a few months since I've been in a thrift store. The ones here in SoCal really leave a lot to be desired. I was in Seattle last week and I made sure to hit all my favorite thrifts.

There's something about vintage blankets I love and I can't resist a chevron pattern, I grabbed two nice ones, a Bob Van Allen for Mikasa bowl, a piece of hand thrown aqua glazed pottery and a Three Dog Night 8-Track.

While I was in Seattle I went to a shooting range with my best friend. After getting pedicures we went and shot 9mm guns. I have to hand it to my friend though, she did it in heels. I'm thinking of taping these to the front door as super cheap, thoroughly affective home security.

That's right, don't mess with me.

More Chairs

noreply@blogger.com (Ana Herda) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 09:38:00 +0000

That's right more chairs. Well, at least one more.

I've put a bid on a 'Real Good' chair over at Blu Dot's 2012 Swap Meet. Be a pal and like my bid won't you?

Go here to like it!

noreply@blogger.com (Ana Herda) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 18:17:00 +0000

After resisting the Pinterest trend for a while I decided to finally check it out the other day. I was kind of shocked to see so many of my own images on the site. At first I was flattered, hey it's always nice when someone likes something you've photographed or blogged about. So I signed up to be part of it thinking I could use it to promote my Etsy shops.

Then I read this article and I urge you to read it too. Basically any content loaded on to Pinterest becomes theirs to exploit. They are forever allowed to sell, transfer, alter, exploit, license and otherwise use YOUR photos. Oh, and if you've never uploaded a photo there and someone else who saw it on your blog or site did well tough luck. The fine print at Pinterest states if you uploaded it, you take ownership and therefore agree to let them use it how they see fit. Whenever you pin someone else's images you are agreeing for them.

This is unacceptable. I have installed a code on this blog that prohibits content from being pinned (Find it here). I urge you to do the same on your own blogs and sites.

I would also like to ask that if you are a member you think twice about these policies and read the fine print. Also if you have any images from this blog I ask that you delete them immediately.

Chairs.

noreply@blogger.com (Ana Herda) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:10:00 +0000

So, um...I have a chair problem. It's well documented. It's not really getting any better...Let me tell you a story.

Saturday the mister and I were watching the first season of 'Community' for the billionth time (a hilarious and genius show. If you aren't watching you're missing out big time) and drifting in and out of naps. After one nap I lazily grabbed my iPod and lazily started trolling my saved searches on Craigslist and there it was a twenty dollar mirage.

Was it the real deal? Was it a knock off? Huh? Who? What? It was mislabeled and the listing said nothing about Saarinen or Tulip as a chair like this normally would. I sent off an email and it was available and they were leaving the next morning for a week, could I come over now? Um, hells yes I could. I woke up the mister, forced shoes on him and picked up my new (to me) chair.

It's not a Saarinen or even a Burke. It's from a company called "Fiberform" and while the chair has no cracks and is structurally sound it has been painted (whhhyyyyy?) and was dirty as hell. So I spent my Saturday night the happiest way I know how; cleaning a dirty-ass chair.

Eventually I will have to wet sand it to get the paint off but today isn't that day. The base has a few rust spots and it's got some blotches where the matte paint (couldn't of been semi-gloss huh?) has come off but that's nothing a sheepskin can't fix. Behold:

In exchange for waking him up from a nap and dragging him along I forfeited the Long Beach Flea Market on Sunday. A fair trade.

This new (to me) chair is now my sewing chair, it prompted me to rearranged the sewing room and maybe one day it will be clean enough to actually show you what it looks like. For right now just pictures this chair surrounded by an explosion of fabric.

Frustration.

noreply@blogger.com (Ana Herda) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 01:08:00 +0000

Image via meritandworth

See that? That is a thorn in my side. If you recall I've shown you things in this collection before. (See here, here and here if your memory needs jogging). This is from the "Taste Setter Collection". A company who apparently did not care much about branding because some of these items have their name on them and some are completely devoid of any information at all.

Prepare yourself, from this point on this post is going to be a rant/whining.

If you were to show this tray to ten different people they would describe it ten different ways. Which is where my problem begins. How do you search for an item that has no name on it, no maker's mark and you have no idea what the collection encompasses? Try searching for that on ebay or etsy. It could be "winking face tray" to one person and "graphic tray" to another or "sun plate" to someone else.

There could be bowls, creamers, salad plates, ash trays...I have no idea. It's so unbelievably frustrating and to top it off I am completely obsessed with it. I've considered it as a tattoo. I've scoured the internet for items into the wee hours only to find my own blog posts on it. Earlier this week I checked a well known website that specializes in replacement china and they were using MY pictures for it. More than a little frustrating.

It is the Kirk to my Khan; It tasks me, It tasks me, and I shall have it! I'll chase it round the Moons of Nibia, and round the Antares Maelstrom, and round perdition's flames before I give it up!

So I ask again, if you ever see it, buy it. I'll reimburse you and give you a finder's fee. You'd be making this cranky lady very, very happy.