COFFEE TABLE

May 24th, 2011

Even though we just had a ginormous sale to move out all the crazy furniture accumulation (which happened “somehow” through no fault of my own – how dare you think that) I might have picked up a few new pieces recently.

Maybe. Probably. Assuredly.

It’s a sickness? Or an incredible talent? Let’s not put labels on it.

So, in a round about way of getting to the point – I found another coffee table for the den. This one makes number three million of the den coffee table options or something. It’s round, it’s from Craigslist, it’s Italian, it’s travertine and it adds just a touch more brown and taupe to my colorless den. Glass coffee table tops? They just don’t seem to last in this high traffic, high mess area.

Chihuahua for scale.

Beautiful flawless travertine top, which weighs eight thousand pounds give or take.

I spent all Sunday caressing, sanding, oiling, buffing and restoring the walnut base to it’s original glory. Cleaned up pretty nice, if I do say so. Very nice.

The cowhide still won’t relax  (it needs a steam). No painting, no reupholstering, no replacement for the shelving unit, no lighting and no art installation has happened. Obviously. Chesterfield? Looks like it’s staying for the long haul. Haven’t had a single urge to replace it – which is unbelievable – but that thing is a good comfy beast.

Everything is of course all brown and dreary and waiting patiently for the rest of the room to be addressed. One day brown town will be conquered. But, like everyone else in the entire world, we’ve been super busy with less than blogworthy boring stuff eating up our time and meager resources. Trying to slowly get motivated to work on the house and restore it back to it’s presale condition, even though everything has turned to anarchy and weeds and madness. Better to live in a little bit of denial and take a small breather, methinks.

SALE, The Aftermath

May 18th, 2011

After a few months of talking and working and cleaning and stressing the ‘eff out, we finally had the big BrickHouse + Modernhaus + Terri Planty pop-up sale this past Sunday (with extra special help and management pizazz from the super talented Laure Joliet).

Lots and lots of folks showed up, lined up and then heckled us when we were a few minutes late opening (not that they knew it had rained all morning and the seven of us spent FOUR hours as well as all of Saturday prepping to open for the sale – so you know – give us an extra ten minutes to wipe the sweat off and slap on some deodorant).

If you’ve ever sold at a flea market or pulled together a pop-up shop, you know that this kind of event can be a bit of a nightmare. Weeks of prep and labor and refinishing and stress and rentals add up into a singular moment where the crowd bum rushes in an orgy of shopping frenzied madness. It was like Thunderdome, but with less leather.

See the guy in the white shirt on the right full on running? He wasn’t the only one. I almost got trampled by a lady trying to get to a lamp.

People grabbed their wears and we tried our best to invoice and process payments quickly. Thank the lordy for the boys (Erick, Ruben and Jeremy) who functioned as our cashiers, brute strength and water suppliers. I have to say, the first hour was completely overwhelming and a bit chaotic. People be hard core about their vintage buys.

Laure and I tried to grab some quick photos of the setup before it was all torn to shreds. Gotta love that bright noon time light to make everything look extra harsh and sexy in the parking lot (Thankfully Laure got around and took a bunch of pictures that I am now reusing with reckless abandon).

This little girl was my best salesman. She got her folks to buy this little Lane storage table by sheer adorableness – she kept climbing inside like it was a little house!

Check out Erick & Ruben working it at the cashier table and charming the ladies. It seems like we never got a shot of Jeremy during all the chaos, not even one of him bending over.

But Laure, me, Bianca and Summer all got wicked ass sunburns. Sexy right?

I hope you hecklers feel bad. We forgot to put suntan lotion on because we were rushing to open up. SHAME. SHAAAAAMMMMEEE on you.

In the end it went really, really, EXTRAORDINARILY well – sunburns, rainstorms, hecklers and those two crabby hipsters (we could hear you, also, put on some real pants – your camel toe is terrifying) and all. We were burnt, exhausted, dehydrated and hungry but still had a completely killer time meeting readers, new visitors and letting our stuff go to great new homes. Jeremy and I brought a huge load including a full 6×12′ trailer, full truck and fully stuffed Scion and left with just a tiny fraction of the original mass. The garage is finally walkable and the house needs some rearranging, but slowly everything is getting put back into place.

Maybe you missed out? Maybe you feel so sad? Maybe we can help? I’m not sure if we could do another one of these pop-up sale things anytime soon, we are officially pooped and busy napping. Well, be sure to check out the online shops all year ’round.

TERRI PLANTY (Custom and gorgeous handmade terrariums)

MODERNHAUS (Tasty vintage awesomeness)

BRICKHOUSE (Not temporary and still full of magic)

*Thank you all you amazing peeps who helped pull this together. I was a stressed out basket case of a mess and you guys were incredible and brought the best stuff and helped with all the heavy lifting. I’d listen to weird techno mixed with mariachi while eating hamburgers in a parking lot and cleaning furniture all day, any day. Most fun I’ve had in a long, long, long time.

SHOPPICAL

May 13th, 2011

I know. I KNOW.

Total furniture overload around here lately. Them’s the breaks though when all I’ve been doing, for what feels like the last month, is sorting and repairing and moving loads of furniture all around the house and garage in an endless circle of oil and tools and bruises. The blog suffers.

Anywhoser. For those who live far far away from Los Angeles* and can’t make the BIG SALE this Sunday I’ve just added some new pieces to the ONLINE SHOP. *Sorry to the international folks – your shipping is way hard. Also, can I get fancy and say Shoppe? Or would I then be required to ship internationally?

What?!

Look away. LOOK at this awesome danish Gangso Mobler A/S dining table. It’s huge. It’s teak. It’s got giant handmade ceramic inlaid tiles – signed and everything.

Yum yum. Modernist texture. So earth toned. So beefy. So 70’s.

And it folds down? Transforming into a smaller table? What can’t this dining table do?*

*Probably most everything…but you can eat on it. Or maybe do some work. I don’t know your life!

Yum Yum. Shiny bits.

Incised Greek key pattern? Super regency pagoda shape? All brass, all up in your face? What can’t this lamp do?

It can light your dark shit up. That’s what.

Yum yum. Burly beef slab steak.

Chunky to the extreme. Raw edge. Redwood. Radical. Raging. (Rrrrr)Coffee table.

So these be some of the vintage things hanging out right now in the ol’ ONLINE SHOP (SHOPPE).

Also, I will see you guys in LA on Sunday. I currently have nervous acne and sweaty palms…which must mean I’m slowly reverting back to my not at all awkward or awful adolescence. Hooray for feelings. Thanks again brain.