Estate!

November 10th, 2010

Maybe you caught me on twitter (twittering? uggggh) talking in 140 characters or less about a local Hemet estate sale I visited. Oh yeah, and if you want to hear about lame stuff like what I find in thrift stores or the puppy or other crap no one could be interested in you can follow along via @The_Brick_House. I warned you. It’s drivel.

While at the estate sale on Friday I saw a few interesting things, but the pricing was a little wacky. The coffee table above was $85 (plus a bunch of free spiderwebs for your trouble) while this sofa below was $50 (and unfortunately already sold).

Needless to say I left on Friday empty handed. But…

Saturday was 1/2 off day. Since the sale was only about a mile from my house I went back about a half hour before they closed up to check out what was left.

Well, obviously the coffee table was left and marked down 50%, but I wanted it cheaper. CHEAPER! Want to know my big secretly lazy trick for thrifty estate deals? I already said it. GO AT THE END. At that point they really are just giving that crap away. You risk missing out, but you gotta know when to hold ’em, know when to fold them, know when to walk away and know when to run.

Yeah, that just happened.

So, I offered $20. SOLD.

I know you get the idea of what the table looks like, but this is the only picture I could get of the two dogs even remotely together. Poor Iggy is still TERRIFIED of the new puppy and will run away when approached.

I also grabbed a gigantor white ceramic lamp while I was there.

The hulk sized lamp is living in the living room for now. I’m not sure what to do with it, that thing is MASSIVE.

BTW, I know the coffee table switching thing is out of control. I have four in the garage right now and this is a problem I need to address. Obviously, I am addicted to deals! At least its not crack.

FILED UNDER: den, estate, furniture, hemet, Iggy, living, puppy, thrifting, thrifty, vintage

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Thrifty!

November 8th, 2010

I’ve been out and about thrifting it up and not finding too much that I can bring home. Big stuff is questionable due to spare room being an issue, but I might just start stockpiling furniture and begin offering things for sale yet again. I’m finding it more and more difficult to pass up on good deals and pieces I know would look killer in someones stylish home. It may have to be some kind of online thing – that’s what the kids are all doing, right? I’m kind of done with Etsy and Ebay as a seller and have been considering Big Cartel or some simple format that would be a little less stress. I don’t know really. This is all ramblings of a furniture hoarder trying to justify their madness.

But back to what I did find.

So, on the rounds I picked up this poor butterfly with its ass hot-glued to a stick as well as a sea urchin type shell thing. It’s like Animal Planet around here, totally nature themed.

I also grabbed this illustrated brass serving tray. The eyes sum up how I’ve been feeling lately.

FILED UNDER: thrifting, thrifty, vignette, vintage

19 Comments »

Pro Burl

November 5th, 2010

Ever since I bought the ol’ giant vintage burl root coffee table (and his two side table friends) there has been what I’m deeming a “mixed” response. Needless to say it’s almost been overwhelmingly negative. People just hate this type of table vehemently. Hate it enough to send me emails about how ugly it is, which I must say, takes a HUGE amount of hate since a lot of energy is spent just to comment, let alone locate my email address and then compose a few paragraphs of hate.

I know. It’s not for everyone. It is for some folks. It’s not the most elegant table in the world, but I just continue to LOVE it no matter what the world thinks. I’m not sure exactly why…maybe it’s the beefy weight, the gnarly sculptural mass of it compared to the more lofty and open mid century lines of the rest of the home. My particular coffee table still needs a new rectangular glass top. Like this:

I think a larger rectangular glass would modern it up a bit. I hate the curves happening right now. Also, how sad is it that Viva Terra no longer carries that chunky woven stool. I want a pair so effing bad right now.

I know there are folks out there that have these kind of tables, but I’m having a hell of a time finding images of burly beasts in actual living spaces. Oh my, I hate that green chair and pretty much everything happening in the photo with the zebra rug…except for the lamps.

Check out this amazing round burly version at A-Z West…and that killer Raugh Sofa, so dreamy.

When I was in Los Angeles I hit up HD Buttercup for a little work related research and saw a bajillion teak root, burl, and driftwood tables. All priced around $1,500 – $5,000 depending on size. Someone must be loving this stuff and paying a crap load for it…

This Metropolitan Home feature may be a little much for my particular palette, but how happy is that Boston fur monster? He loves Burl.

My crazy love of rough-hewn natural slab furniture may have it’s more sophisticated roots in a down right obsession with the work of George Nakashima (even though what I can afford to buy tends to be more along the lines of the free love wood working of the late 60’s hippy culture). Show me someone who hates Nakashima’s work. You can’t because he’s awesome. It’s a fact.

Pretty much I would put as much rough-hewn, raw edge, giant gnarly slabs of wood everywhere and anywhere I can. And I’m probably going to. Eventually.

Yeah. I’d even throw some giant teak root benches and chairs around if I had the cash. I’ve been on the lookout for years, but that stuff is expensive and hard to find – a lethal combo.

I might as well keep an eye out for this $55K Meteor Table made by Christa. It’s rooty and made of shiny bronze? My two favorite things combined into one ultra expensive mess.

FILED UNDER: furniture, vintage

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