Reclaiming Miss Havisham

WTF: Mini-chairs

so I'm still mad at the people I work with for insisting on being alive on the same planet as me so instead of work, I have been browsing blogs.  Over at Poppy Talk I always enjoy reading about collectors (packrats) like myself.  (see the great bingo ball relationship disaster of 2008)

So I'm skimming a post about a collector Benita Larsson and I see the following display of cute tiny chairs:

I'm particularly greedy for the West Elm boxy chair in it's little tiny town form.  I squeal with delight "where can I find these cute little mini-chairs!" and set about googling it.  I see that the store I have such a love/hate relationship with (www.velocityartanddesign.com) sells them.  Upon perusing, I open up the link to one of the chairs and notice the price, $570. 

"Oh well that's okay," I think to myself, "this mini-chair in particular must be made out of solid gold, pure uncut Bogota quality cocaine, and diamond encrusted dinosaur tears personally blessed by Jesus Christ...they probably forgot to put that in the listing...I'll e-mail them and remind them later."

So I continue browsing.  To my absolute HORROR, all chairs are priced in a similar way.  Here is a picture of me looking at mini-chairs:

I know what you are thinking, "Leslie, you foolish girl, these prices are for the chairs themselves.  No one would pay that much for a minature!" 

Let me make it absolutely clear that these chairs are NOT real chairs.  They are tiny dwarfed versions of the chair you may really want.  If you attempted to sit on any one of them you will need to consult your yellow pages for a medium to good quality colorectal surgeon. 

Somewhere out there is the fatcat at the head of the mini-chair corporation stroking his greasy moustache and rubbing gold coins all over his fat naked form.  "I have fooled the masses once again!  People will do anything with their disposable income!" 

I for one think we should put a stop to this outrage.  Let me pose this question to you:

For $570 dollars would you rather have this:

Dimensions : 5.5" H x 4" W x 3.8" D 

OR this:

 

 

Ikea Expedit Bookcase $149; Tracy Porter Vase $24; Set of 4 Thomas Paul plates $36; Chair from Flutter $190; Mad Hat Menagerie from Pressure $30; Suede Shoes from Urban Outfitters$35 ; Cut out Mini Skirt  $58 from Urban Outfitters; $48 dollars in cash for beer

 The choice is yours

Some therapeutic mod podging

I had the WORST day at the hospital today so I just calmed myself down with a little session of gluing shit down.

This one I call RAT RACE and it's how I feel about grown up jobs right now:

This one Sam says is just lewd:

Pia Jane Bijkerk: My Heart Wanders

Pia Jane Bijkerk, a scary talented artist/photographer/designer/australian, writes one of my favorite blogs.  She hosts this ongoing community art project called My Heart Wanders.  Basically the idea is that the heart shape/image/archetype shows up everywhere.  Readers send in their photographs of naturally occuring heart shapes and write a little narrative.  It's meant to be a "where's waldo" type deal where the heart shouldn't be glaringly obvious.

When I first read about this project, I immediately thought of the scratch on my front door.  I took a picture and considered sending it in.  I decided against it since there is no way to photograph my front door with the scratch being subtle.

I don't know if this happened when the former tenants were moving out or if I just didn't notice it when I looked at the apartment.  I just remember seeing it the day we moved in and after the most difficult move I've ever done to date (3rd floor apartment...small car/several trips across the city...narrow hallway/stairwell) I was finally optimistic about my new home.  Sam and I hated our SOMA apartment so much.  We hated the neighborhood and the generic cookie cutter property managed apartment that cost so much money for what it was.  We never bothered decorating or organizing because we just didn't ever want to be there.  The whole place just sucked the energy out of us and made my first year adjusting to San Francisco difficult.  I was homesick for Chicago.

We didn't have luck right away  finding a new place.  When I saw this apartment pop up on craigslist, I begged the guy to show it to me before the open house.  We signed the papers on the spot.  It is perfect for us.  Bright, colorful, and completely one of a kind original in a neat victorian house with quirky lovely neighbors.

I know you can't credit everything to your location but the move into our apartment did wonders for me.  I had more energy to get out and explore San Francisco.  I found myself forgetting about Chicago and falling in love with my wonderful new city.  Now I'm one of SF's bigger fans.  I feel better than ever about my relationship with Sam.  After almost three years I am more in love with him and excited about every day together than ever.  More than anything this apartment has given me a feeling of relief.  In the past five years I've lived in New Orleans, Nashville, North Carolina, Chicago and San Francisco.  I'm exhausted and ready to be still for a moment.  The heart on the front door more than anything reminds me that I'm finally home and can relax a little.  When I found the apartment I knew I would probably live here for the rest of my renting life.  I see no reason why Sam and I would move until we have children and need to have a bigger place.

Finally, this is the first place that I've felt is MY home that I have made myself independent of my parents.  I'm 24 and since I moved out for college, every living situation has been transient.  This apartment is a symbol of a full transition into my adult life.

Every day when I come home and see my heart shaped scratched door I have to smile and be happy that I'm home.

Greed "Satis"fied: Creative Reuse

Last weekend I treked out to Oakland (murdertown) and hit up East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse.  This place is so brilliant.  I mean I generally hate nature.  I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation.  But even I can get behind this green store.

Basically they rescue things almost certainly headed for the dump that some psychotic person would want to buy for crazy cheap.  Sound like someone you know?  There is a bin full of cardboard toilet paper tubes, used crayons, fabric scraps, basically everything.  The shoppers are generally teachers looking for cheap art supplies and artists.  And a third category for people like me who like to make things that are awful and shouldn't be called art but stimulates enough creativity to make her happy and pleased with herself.

Let's look at my booty:

Showing off

If that brilliant bitch over at Fresh Vintage can show off her delicious finds, I can too. While I had the camera out to take a picture of my new mirror, I gathered some of my favorite things from around the apartment to give them their deserved 15 minutes of cyber-fame.While at the Other Shop today, I picked up this bitchin' bingo ball that was 50% off.

Since I've been doing this fruity Apartment Therapy home cure thing I'm supposed to be decluttering. The BF says that the bingo ball officially means I can no longer ask him to throw anything away. Apparently the bingo ball is "causing a minor hiccup in our relationship" He may be crazier than I am. How could you NOT buy a vintage bingo ball? It would be irresponsible and un-american and I will NOT allow him to bad mouth it.

Project Bathroom: I'm a woman of action

so after posting my whiney rants about wanting to redo my horrible bathroom, I decided to cut the foreplay and start making some purchases.  The fact that I could probably throw something out my window and hit The Other Shop makes it harder to be so lazy.  While usually the 50s-70s modern hideous at this place in combination with the markup makes me sob uncontrollably, there is one vendor that sells great mirrors and pretty ornate vanity type items.While I liked the style of the pink and blue ones the most, I settled on the one below.  I considered buying a pink one and painting it white, but if this is going to happen I need to make it easier on myself.  At first I was concerned about the cob web effect on the glass but I think at the end of the day, it gets the Miss Havisham seal of approval.   And I've officially ordered 8 yards of this from Purl Soho It's Moda Daydreams "Black Trellis" for my custom "special needs" shower curtainNow I have to decide what I want my accent color to be.  I'm thinking either a wine color or like electric blue  

Who bought Party Bear!?

Someone viewed my post that featured Party Bear and the print was bought today around the same time.  Is this a coincidence?  Did someone who reads this blog buy one of my favorite things on Etsy?If so, good work!  I am just trying to solve this mystery.  If you are out there, Party Bear, have your new owner take a picture of you and send it to me to post!from Art and Ghosts  Let me know, bitches

Project Bathroom: A Game Plan

So I've come up with a game plan for my bathroom.  It feels better than to just be like "I hate the bathroom something must be done"

The first thing I've seen and really liked are these glossy Baroque style mirrors at The Other Shop down the street on Divisadero.  They are the only thing in the store that is pretty reasonably priced and I love them every time I go in there.  Last time I was in there I tried to be really inconspicuous and snapped a picture on my cell phone:

It's an awful picture but I think you get the idea.  You can see the mirror in pink and a rich blue but they also have white and a pale blue.  They also have all different sizes and shapes.  I may at the last minute decide to be funky and get a blue one (BF would die if I chose the hot pink) I really like a larger white one and would be great for my original notion of having a black and white bathroom since the rest of my apartment is so fucking colorful.  The bathroom walls are white but luckily, white goes with white.  With this in mind lets narrow down some shower curtain fabric to go with this glammy glossy baroque look.  (btw, thanks to a suggestion from the eternally wise Erika I have officially purchased metal grommets for the curtain)

anyways the most fun part of any project: Fabric!  (all of which are found at Purl Soho)

This is probaby what I'll end up going with:

Maybe this one?

Decisions are hard.

Now the wall in question is big enough that I will need something else like a shelf to go beside the mirror.  This will also help our serious ass bathroom storage problems.

I'm thinking towels in black and off white or black and a deep wine.  I still have a gift certificate to macy's I can use like whoa.

Will need a bathmat of course

and this shelf that is the only one I've found that is shallow enough for my needs

I'm considering painting the back wall of it white and the rest of it black.  I don't know.  I will have to think it all through.

Greed: Vintage Ebay dresses

Everyone has an ebay browsing ritual.  Me, I like to check my list of favorite sellers' new items, then browse through antique furniture, oddities, vintage scientific instruments and of course, look at the amazing vintage dresses up for grabs.  Ebay is great for those of us that don't always feel like digging through the crap at vintage/consignment/thrift stores.  Because we all know for every great find there are 20 undesirable tacky things.  Here are some dresses I'm lusting after:

Vintage 50s or 60s zebra cocktail dress 

Cyber Style Tray

Alright here are some rooms, items, and elements I love the style of.

Greta from Indiana via Domino Reader's Rooms

This photo is also good for me because I have a yellow living room.