One of the big design type projects Laure and I have been working on so diligently is a very stylish (come on, obviously) salon in Laguna Beach that’s just recently opened up called Morrison Hair. Located in an older Spanish style bungalow, Rachel and James wanted the space to remain cozy, comfy and inviting like a great house, but still be stylish and modern for getting your hair did.

A particularly important and big need furniture-wise for the waiting area was a pair of chairs that were unusual, comfortable and made you desperately want to sit in them. So of course my first thought was these slingy bad bays that I have always wanted to reupholster.

Yup.

THOSE slingy cantilever bad boys. Pictured above in the BEFORE situation of upholstery hell.

For sure these were living in Ugly Town, USA and must have seemed like a complete stretch, so trust that it took a lot of convincing and begging to get anyone to believe they could be comfortable and stylish and awesome and not just a hot mess of browntown disgusting.

BOOM.

Reupholstered and reimagined.

I always knew they had a kind of Max Gottschalk or Paulistano type vibe buried deep inside their tubular chrome frames.

For the new slings, I decided to go with a bit of an unusual material. Any guesses? Hmmmm?

Screw that nonsense since I can’t shut up about it and am way too impatient. So, these slings are actually made with vintage wildfire tarp! I know. What?!

These tarps are used by my local Park Rangers and Firefighters in the San Jacinto mountains – located just a few miles from this Brick House. When the forest catches on fire, these giant heavy duty waxed canvas tarps are used to move burning brush and burnt up timbers or whatever else is on fire and needing moving. Eventually they get beat up and decommissioned and end up in retirement with this local canvas fabricator type guy I found.

I loved that the material already had this amazing patina and color and was this super heavy duty weight that I couldn’t find with newer fabrics. Plus, who has wildfire tarp chairs? Who?! No one.

Well wait, I guess Morrison Hair does now, BUT come on, don’t you just want to sit in them?! They turned out super sexy and are shockingly comfy to boot. Like a big hug from a firefighter.

Oh man, I can’t wait to show off the rest of the salon. Sorry about these few quick snaps I tried to grab.

We have a few finishing touches and a photo shoot to do, but I’m desperate to post the rest of the space. It turned out pretty much spectacular with a few custom features that are killer and was an overall great project to work on with some truly outstanding folks.

MMMmmmmmmm. Slingy time. Sneaky sling peek. Sleaking.

Now I totally want some slings for my house again. That is not how this works, right? I can’t be jealous.

Dang.

More soon.

Apparently this is Hazel’s house? Or maybe Hazel is a bit of a camera hog? Is it possible that this kitty likes to work it for the camera? Hmmm.

I have no excuse and will not apologize. I cannot resist photographing pets.

Anyway.

I had been crashing on Laure’s couch while we worked on the home makeover portions of Extreme Clutter this past summer. Production hours can be nuts and after a full day of creating pure magic and transforming cluttered homesteads into places that were both organized and stylish, we would stumble into Laure’s pad and pretty much pass out. So, when the second season wrapped up, it definitely felt like time to tackle Laure’s 450 sq.ft apartment – which might have suffered it’s own touch of the neglect style clutter. You know, seeing as Laure was working all day, every day for months on end and I was making myself at home in her living room.

Check out some of this BEFORE action for reference.

Now scroll back up to those afters. I’ll wait.

See? That was amazingly fun.

Over the course of a day or so I helped tackle (what my terrible with names brain is calling) a No-Cost Makeover of Laure’s living room and bedroom. We reused the furniture and things she already had in the apartment, pulled a couple things out of her storage and then fairly quickly the whole apartment functioned better and felt way more cohesive with just that basic rethinking of the floor-plan and restyling of her accessories. So, in total, we spent about $40 at Home Depot for a smattering of plants and a couple light bulbs. Cheap, quick and good-looking to boot. In the end everything came together so well that I’ve been testing out this makeover idea and love how quickly a space can transform with a couple layout tweaks and careful editing. Sometimes it takes someone with a fresh pair of eyes, ruthless ability to edit down all your crap (with fantastic taste, obviously) and style it all up to pull that space together.

The No-Cost Makeover : One room. One day. Solving those big design problems with the things you already own.

Sound like fun? Maybe something you might need at your house? I think this could be kind of amazing, but need to figure out the having time issues. I’ve been super slammed and now my house is suffering the neglect clutter. To the EXTREME.

Maybe if I can get past the shame of it all, I might share my dirty secret. The clutter. All that clutter!

Long I have pined for the perfect gray duvet and by some strange bi-coastal internet twitter miracle, this enduring quest seems to have come to an end.

It’s really all thanks to Daniel, wonderful (and similarly duvet obsessed) splendid man about town Daniel, who twittered with Anna from Door Sixteen and I about our initial hopes in finding the perfect gray duvet and then our ultimate disappointment when the CB2 Coast Bed Linens ended up being a bust.

But…because they are in New York, where shops besides JC Penny exist, Anna and Daniel just popped into Muji and stumbled on this great warm gray linen duvet…that is unfortunately nowhere to be found on Muji’s website.

I got a flurry of texts and pictures of what looked like a fantastic (and affordable!) duvet and proceeded to beg for them to purchase and ship one of these lovelies to the west coast to live in my house.

By the way, we don’t have Muji in Hemet. Shocker.

Then Daniel, even though he’s in college and working like crazy on projects and busier than a rabid squirrel, was kind enough to grab me one of the last duvets and mail it out to me like a goddamn sweetheart. Like a completely perfect and lovely human being.

That gray duvet longing runs painfully deep. Daniel gets it. Oh yeah, he gets it real good.

Apparently though, I took my sweet time posting about this, since it all went down in what? August? What happened? Is this not summer still?

Anyhow.

Besides the greatest duvet ever, there are a few new things around the guest bedroom that I’ve been meaning to post about.

Like these sort of brutalist studio pottery things. Someone got all crazy with that ceramic knife. So angsty.

Feel that powerfully emotional thrift store ceramic turmoil.

You knew that some kilim pillow style action would leak into the rest of the house. Say what? There are some actual colors in here besides black, brown, gray or white. Crazy.

I don’t believe I’ve mentioned this fine Craigslist procured vintage safari chair.

Awwww yeah. Awwww boy.

Sling that thing all up in here.

Hold on, I got distracted by that devilish safari minx. I cannot forget to mention that after months of use, I really dig the new duvet. It gets better with every wash and sort of shifts color in different light; sometimes the color feels warm and sort of taupe and then shifts to cool and silvery gray. It’s like a magical creature that transforms day to day.

I love it and can’t thank Daniel enough.

Possibly worth noting, this thing above? This is about as ornate, flowery and “fem” as I can get.

That’s just a detail shot of the vintage brass Moroccan lamp that I can never photograph properly in the guest bedroom, which – surprise surprise – I still really love and don’t want to get rid of. Unlike everything else I own. I’m possibly going through some weird, “WHY NOT START FROM SCRATCH” phase that is really unproductive. Stupid dark wintertime.

And these bright things down below…

…these are luxurious flowery yellow billy balls. The only flowers I’ll own.

Wait, are these flowery? I don’t know and apparently am too lazy to google, but these last forever and thrive on neglect.

Just like my grudges.

Come on, I just can’t resist you. Work it you hot thang. I’m liking what I see and the way you move? Regal. Confident. Sexy. Frugal. I love safari and I don’t care who knows!

Oh, wait. Oh, craphole.

Now that I’m thinking about it, I probably should have bought two Muji duvets. Since…I never want to give you up. I never want to let you go.

The kitchen needs a bit of help.

After sixty odd years of use, some parts of the kitchen (*cough* countertops *cough*) aren’t faring so well. Worn out, busted up, whatever you want to call it, this not looking clean thing isn’t cool anymore.

Seen from afar? Not so bad.

In person? Kind of gross.

Here’s my idea mash-up board. Now get in my kitchen all you things.

Of course any updates need to be affordable and the plan is to reuse some stuff that’s already laying around the house.

NEED

Counters :  IKEA Numerar. Cheap easy lovely wood. Not the dream top, but sometimes budget wins.
Hardware : Brass pulls you said? Possibly.
Paint : BM Kendall Charcoal. Actually just for use inside the cabinets.
Faucet : Still working on that. Something simple. Something affordable.
Backsplash : Kismet Tile – C4BW S17

HAVE

Floors : Black VCT
Lighting : Danish copper cone
Chairs : Eames wire chairs
Sink : Our sink

Laure shot an incredible floor installation of Kismet tiles at Jon and Tyke’s new place. I’m in love with Tracey’s patterns and colorways and just the finish in general with these Moroccan-made cement tiles.

Hey now. This is the Kismet tile patten I’m currently digging.

Our black-splash area and the space behind the stove is pretty petite; we really only need about 60-ish sqft of tile to do the whole kitchen. I’m hoping that a nice dose of graphic black and white might just be thing to bring the wowser factor into what would be pretty basic overhaul and tweaking of the current kitchen…since the gut and rebuild strategy isn’t ever going to be an option.

Are you sensing a theme?

A Barcelona style theme?

Keen insight. Gold stars all around.

Ever since Maya texted me a pic of her fancy craigslist Barcelona find, I’ve been a tad bit covetous. It’s a fine piece of furniture for getting your lazy on. Oh and maybe, I didn’t actually ask to post this pic, so “someones” anonymity is being protected very poorly. Someone whose name starts with a W and ends with a S (SORRY).

Look how cute Mika pup is hanging out under that Barcelona. Design doggy.

Well, while most of the Mies van der Rohe Barcelona line sort of makes me think of American Psycho, I’ve always had a soft spot and deep need to posses the couch in a sassy caramel leather. You know, just to casually go in front of the fireplace or casually sit by a window. No big deal, just complete casual Barcelona style.

Apparently though, according to all those images above, it appears that only the sexiest folks effortlessly work daybed style living into their homes.

Modern. Sexy. Time.

This is going to happen. In Hemet. Sexy time.

Remember when we bought our sofa in a pinch from Alex at Modern Furniture Rental? I know, it was so long ago. But, then we got that awesome womb chair?

Well, good ‘ol Alex emailed me about his quickly approaching 10th custom order that is going down on Oct. 14th and wanted to extend a special offer for fancy Brick House folks.

Here’s one of Alex’s recent custom orders residing at a happy owners home.

I’m dreaming of something more like this…yes…ocher verging on poop.

This is just right.

Here are some of the other fabric options.

Along with the Barcelona daybed/couch, most of the lounge chairs and sofas come in a pretty wide assortment of custom leather and fabric options. I know Maya wants a hot pink womb chair. ADMIT IT.

That bottom right leather sample is calling out to me. Brown town all the way.

Here be the deets (as I’ve overheard the hip kids say)

Alex is taking custom orders for Oct. 14th.
Lead time is 7-8 weeks.
Pick up at no charge or have things delivered to your house for $75.00.
Alex is also able to ship out of state – so non-SoCal peeps make sure to ask for a quote.

BTW

ALL BRICK HOUSE FOLKS GET A FREE HANG-IT-ALL!

**Well, when you order a lounge chair, loveseat or sofa. I kind of wanted to pull a bit of an Oprah there. Not really the same with just capitals and the internet.

 
Alex Chisholm
(714) 595-2445
chisholma27@gmail.com

————————————

My cacti are all screwed up.

I hate plants.

How is it possible to constantly kill every living thing that comes into this house? Finally got a fiddle leaf fig tree – immediately dead. My terrariums? Mostly dead. My sansevieria? Dead. You see – everything living is dead.

Well, except for these two.

They’re OK.

But seriously, screw you cacti. Please stop suddenly drooping and turning brown and being all temperamental.

What’s wrong with you? Depressed? Thirsty? Bored? You got fungus? I neglected you like the instructions said to. We live in the damn desert – this is your home! YOU COME FROM HERE. You should be loving this.

I give up on cacti and plants and greenery in general (even though I’ve always dreamt that the house would be filled up with sculptural plants). They just keep committing suicide…or I’m murdering them. It’s a 50/50 chance.

DAMMIT.

In my plant fantasy, I imagine my cacti reaching the sort of grand heights and mythic health that Maurizio Zucchi’s have. This is ‘effing plant pornography. These pictures are mocking me and my stupid plant failure. Also, that entire interior? You know, pretty much PERFECTION on every single level. Dammit.

(you’ve probably seen these images from Ideat Magazine-June 2011 via iiiinspired).

Mocking me.

Bastards.

A little while back Laure and I went through her storage and pulled out a few portfolios filled with large scale photos she had taken during art school. We framed one great landscape for her bedroom and it looked so crazy amazing that she graciously let me borrow this softly colored desk shot so I could have a big ‘ol framed photo as well.

I hung it and looked at it and then texted her a picture of everything installed.

While it’s a great piece, we both agreed that it was being completely overpowered by the fireplace. Off to another spot with you!

The area above the fireplace has been an ongoing struggle, with many unsatisfactory incarnations including these – HERE – HERE - HERE.

The problem is scale.

Our ceilings are a standard 8′ tall, but the fireplace rides pretty high on the wall allowing for a mere 37″ of white space above the mantel. Two thin windows flank the fireplace on either side and their top moldings create a weird invisible horizontal line across the wall. When anything hangs near or above this strange visual trickery the ceiling begins to feel really low, while conversely, the art appears to be hung way too high.

Then there’s that mantel.

Blech.

Overly fussy and completely under-scaled, this has been one of those “I’ll get to it projects” that never seemed to be gotten to. All I’ve ever imagined doing was installing a simple but chunkier wood mantel over the top of this thing. Something boxy, something easy to build, something budget friendly.

Excuse my terrible photoshopping, but a solution as simple as this uncomplicated wood box would be better scaled and suited for the fireplace mantle, easily constructed and pretty cheap materials-wise.

Screw it. Why not go all change crazy and paint the brick a lighter color like a soft gray/almost white. Or go slightly less nuttier and paint the thing a true black.

(I’m leaning lighter – if for no other reason than to shake things up)

Over the mantle art-wise is still an issue. I’ve hunted for the perfect long and lean piece to snuggle up into that strangely proportioned spot and have come up with ZERO things after almost four years of searching. Time to DIY.

Surprise surprise. I can’t afford a Stella or a Judd or any blue chippy art. I mean, I wish I could – that would be INCREDIBLE – but I can’t even find an affordable no-name modernist abstract painting or mid century fiber art wall hanging, let alone ANYTHING that’s both famous and super long and lean.

Making some fauxart has long been a noodle in my brain (and something I have done before). Why not. Faking it is fun.

I’ve been mocking up a few different (easily made) options – but SHOCKER – this long/thin composition isn’t widely popular with artists whose work I dig. Or really any artists. ‘Cause it’s weird.

Firstly, a fake Ed Ruscha, well actually it’s from his art book THEN & NOW. I don’t know, it’s not a favorite – I just always liked that project and this typography. Plus this would be so easy to make.

Next idea was a fake Matthew Brannon. I always liked his larger scale installations – like the Whitney limply coiled eel, a reoccurring motif in his work. It’s the right scale and I love an eel.

Otherwise, most of the artist’s work that I love looks awkward as hell squished into a format like this or is too labor intensive for my quick and dirty faker style. I though I could pretty easily pull-off something text based like a Weiner or a Holzer or a Shrigley or a Nauman or even a Baldessari – but nothing felt quite right (even though I love me some Weiner).

I’ll always remember this story a teacher once told me about going to another rather famous artists studio. He was admiring all the Jasper Johns and Warhols (or things equally blue chippy) and asked about the pieces. “Oh those? They’re all fakes – I just made them. Come on, I can’t afford that shit.”

Mantel first, forgery later, methinks.

I’m not in the habit of posting about things that get emailed in or aren’t connected to the direct going’s on around here, but a few days ago Jesse James sent a brief email with a link to “some images of interest” and I clicked on through.

Oh yeah.

A former blacksmith’s shop turned painstakingly renovated home, The Smithy is Jesse’s second place in rural upstate New York currently being offered for sale at what I’m considering a pretty affordable price.

While my taste may run all modern and mid century and what not, I do have a strong propensity towards some rustic / industrial / antique-y business. Unfortunately, in our fairly new (by 1800′s blacksmith shop standards) and detail-less west coast MCM home, this style tends to look a tad contrived. But in my fantasy east coast home, I imagine these are the vintage rustic touches and neutral palette I’d be way hip to mixing with a few modern pieces throughout.

Love the rough painted floors and wood clad walls.

We just don’t have great worn-in vintage architectural details like these – we have broken fleshy pink bathroom tile instead.

I dream of vintage farmhouse sinks and classic white subway tile.

I wish you knew how often I look at antique spindle beds and dream of buying them. I have no idea why, I just like them, even though they seem a bit fussy and hard to sexy up, I still love the worn wood and graphic shapes.

Weird portraits are awesome. No matter what anyone says.

That rug. That one. Yes.

This? This crap doesn’t happen in the desert.

If somehow we could afford a second home and somehow upstate New York made location sense, I’d love to see more of this carefully curated and beautifully sparse home.

Check out The Smithy to view more of Jesse’s gorgeous renovation and for more details on the home’s history.

I got my guest curator on and threw together (just a few) of my favorite things over on the Etsy blog.

Check it up – there is some good stuff. (like that Shriner painting? COME ON)

If you’ve clicked over from Etsy, well, hey there. Come on in and get comfy. Maybe check out some of my favorite things at BRICKHOUSE MODERN or tootle around some of my DIY tutorials. Whatever floats your boat – you control the internet!

The Potence lamp by Jean Prouvé is one of those elegantly minimalist lighting solutions that appears easier to construct than it actually is. Well, for me at least. I tried and failed, MISERABLY, to build an affordable DIY version for our bedroom and eventually gave up hope. Then? This email popped up brimming with pictures of a homemade version of the Potence that blew me away. Logan of ONEFORTYTHREE had written a comment long, long ago when I first posted about trying to build one of these thangs -

“Logan on February 1, 2011: I like the lamps but you’ve inspired me to try and make that wall lamp. It looks cool but too expensive to consider buying. If I can, YOU can! cause I’m a self-taught DIY’er too.”

Then? He totally f*cking did it. Like a DIY champion. Also, nope – turns out I can’t.

BOOM.

Did I mention that I kind of slobbered all over his emailed pictures and was like ohhh, ahhhh, woooow, you are a master fabricator, you are amazing, it turned out so great, mine failed so miserably…wink wink, nudge nudge.

So, Logan had been building a few of these tester lamps for friends and family while figuring out kinks and streamlining the fabrication process. I somehow ended up being lucky enough to get my hands on not one but TWO of the prototype versions. By unashamed groveling, perhaps?

One white version for the bedroom – which can swivel and swing to illuminate whichever area your heart desires.

And one black version for the den. Both areas we tend to relax, enjoy a good book or perhaps a long game of Words With Friends.

See? It swivels! You use the little wooden handle to move the lamp into position.

I love the detail of the braided cloth cord and handy little on/off switch positioned a little ways down the wiring. Logan worked it out on the little details to keep the lamp sleekly minimal but with areas of warm texture.

Chihuahua for scale.

My lamps are about six feet long and are perfect and I love them. Loved them so much and was so impressed by their handmade completely from scratch construction that I may have been a little forceful about Logan making a few available for sale. Maybe because I want to put them in all the homes I’m working on? Maybe out of complete selflessness? Weld! Weld till your fingers bleed!

Be sure to check out ONEFORTYTHREE for the DIY how to as well as even more of Logan’s great DIY projects and home renovation. A limited run of these lamps will be available in his newly minted ETSY STORE. Check them out and be on the lookout for additional handmade items to be added in the near future (wink wink, nudge nudge Logan).

*Also, homeboy just got engaged to his lovely, talented and hilarious lady. Congrats! Roxy was rocking some Vegas style bling at the big sale for realz.