Sssss-tool.

Stools are great. Really, the only flaw I can find in them is the name. So let's class things up and start calling them "occasional tables" shall we? They're not quite as tall as a side table, nor as wide. You can sit on them, you can stand on them, you can tuck them under other furniture to get them out of the way. They look great peeking out from underneath something else, like a really adorable fawn looking shy and delicate hiding under its mama. The fact that they're small also allows them to be really bold: a zany color or interesting silhouette.

I finally got around to hanging some pictures next to the new armoire. Even though it's a narrow space, something had to go there, to balance the armoire itself. I initially dragged the "occasional table" over to stand on (our guitar hero guitars live on top of the armoire), but I think I love how it looks there, as a bottom layer. It interrupts the transparency of the end table, grounding the columnar arrangement. Great for stashing laptops too, which tend to haunt the area. However, I'm not totally confident in the structural soundness of this particular model of stool. It's from IKEA, and cost about four bucks. It shakes like crazy when I stand on it (yeah, I'm probably not really supposed to do that, but come on). But is it worth spending money on a newer model? Maybe as an early birthday present to myself. My birthday isn't til October, but whatever. Anyway, I've been looking around and found a few "inspirational styles" I like, but could never afford. Check them here, here, here and here.

That really huge black circular thing attached to the wall is our roomba holder. I WAS going to post a video of roomba trapped under another stool in the kitchen, but he freed himself before I could get the camera going. Took a couple minutes though. It was hilarious.

always, carolyn

So hot right now

I'm pulling myself out of the POTC:AWE (That's short for "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End." Oh yeah, I'm taking it to that place. That place where movie nerds argue about the merits of sequels and prequels and casting decisions and plot holes.) fog that I've been in since 8:30 last night to blog about....turquoise. The color, not the semi-precious stone from whence it got its name.

John and I have been struggling to pick a paint color for our living room. It got really difficult when we bought an armoire off craigslist. It's green. Straight-up green. Not that there's anything wrong with green. I love green. But our sofa is tan, and our carpet is tan, and I don't know what to do with the walls now. Following the triad rule, we should paint some greenish/orangeish/purplish color, or some combination thereof (that includes tan, which is really a neutralized orange). I'm not super excited about any of those. Especially orange. AND our bedroom is already green--should have mentioned that before. So instead of picking a living room color, we mixed the leftover green from our bedroom with the leftover blue from our bathroom and painted the half wall near the front door. It came out a nice turquoise, as long as you're looking at it between the hours of 3 and 6 pm. Any other time it strays to Tiffany blue. Still better than the off-white it was before, eh? Eh?

always, carolyn

The stuff war

I love stuff. I spent about an hour last night just looking at sunburst mirrors online. The sunburst mirror itself deserves its own post. They manage to be vintage and modern at the same time. I think it's the radial symmetry. They make me think of Louis XIV and Versailles, but also Mid-century lounges and martinis. I would include a link to a good one from Westelm.com here, but as of this morning it is no longer available. But that's a good thing! As much as I love stuff, stuff is a burden. It takes up space, I trip over it, I have to dust it, I hate it! I want that sunburst mirror, but I want an uncluttered space more. Which is why I won't be buying this one on ebay either.

I am declaring war on stuff. As part of an extreme spring clean. I will rid my space of unnecessary objects, streamline my life, and unclutter my psyche. Promise.

always, carolyn

PS: I won't be buying this either, even though it would look awesome above our sofa

More stuff I heart

Remember elementary school? Seems to me we were always growing things on strange mediums. Grass on sponges, beans between paper towels in Ziploc bags, sunflowers in egg cartons, etc. My all-time favorite is the avocado pit in the mason jar, skewered with toothpicks and suspended just above the water. The pit totally KNOWS the water is there and starts sending out roots. Then, if you're lucky, it cracks open at the top and shoots out some leaves. On my way back from errand running on foot, I snapped a little baby shoot off an agave in somebody's yard. Inspired by avocado pit memories, I made a loop in the middle of a length of floral wire to hold the baby agave, then bent the ends up and over the edges of a jar. There it is on the right, barely dipping its bottom end into some agua. Hopefully it will send out some roots, and not die. That would make me feel guilty, since I brutally ripped it from its mama without a second thought. I may have also snapped those roses off a bush in front of a church. I think Jesus has already forgiven me. They smell fantastic, BTW. Anyway, agave is super cool. Did you know there are a couple HUNDRED different varieties? I may be prone to exaggeration, but not when it comes to agave varieties. Not the sacred source of tequila (fun in a bottle).

Here's something else I'm growing in a jar. Something I also "borrowed" from a neighbor's front yard. Some pieces of jade plant. Which is not as cool as agave but practically indestructible. I dig that quality in plants. It inspires me to be a little more resilient myself. Check out the burn mark on the fence right above it. Oops. Looks like I almost burned the apartment down. Again. With a JAR.

always, carolyn

Ahoy!

Things I love about this commercial:
Bruce Campbell
Duran Duran
Mid-century design

Things I hate about this commercial:
Old Spice
Gender Stereotyping
(but dosen't everyone hate those things?)

always, carolyn

A post about this lamp

John and I made this lamp a few weeks ago (yes, we are crafty in many ways). I must admit I was inspired just a little by all those super cool mid-century plastic ones that are way too expensive for me to even dream about. And while you can get perfectly good knock-offish ones from IKEA, why do that when you can Dr Frankenstein it with stuff you already have? So I did some number crunching and figured out how many pieces I could cut from one sheet of Canson paper at what size, chopped em out and strung them on two loops. The loops are bamboo, ripped out of some mangled paper lanterns I couldn't bring myself to throw away. Good thing I didn't, eh? Eh? John rigged some wire to hold the thing on the chord, and viola. I am super satisfied.

always, carolyn

I heart furniture

I found the coffee table of my dreams yesterday on ebay.

I love it because: It's red. It has fun little loops that remind me of spaghetti-o's. It has a shelf, which is great for hiding laptops and magazines and remote controls. It has a marble top. So chic, but really fun (it's red). I've started to appreciate more traditional furniture, instead of dismissing anything that isn't super modern. Especially when you can irreverently paint it a great, unexpected color. Imagine the hugest roll-top desk known to man. Now imaging it in a seamisty green. Now hang a group of abstract paintings above it, in silver frames with simple lines. Now put a white Panton chair in front of it. Drool. Not doing it for you? Then I give up. J/K, I'll get you later.

always, carolyn

Coffee, stat!

I slept until ten this morning. Having gone to be around midnight last night. That's ten hours of sleep. What is wrong with me? Maybe I have some kind of glandular problem. Or maybe I have some kind of lazy bitch problem...

Anyway, I've been dreaming the most bizarre dreams lately. Last night there was this vampire/houseboat motif that gave way to an even odder giant spider/Arctic shipwreck theme. Totally strange and disturbing. A couple weeks ago I dreamed that Kevin Bacon was going to kill me and my family if I didn't give up some information that I didn't know. But there was this weird sexual power I had over him, like every time he got angry I just flirted and he calmed down. EW. Kevin Bacon is one of the celebrities I would never even CONSIDER getting busy with. Oh, that reminds me, I rode the bus with a Ron Jeremy look-alike the other day.

always, carolyn

A post a day keeps the doctor away

Huzzah! Turns out I was NOT as off track as I thought I was in color theory. My neutrals were just peachy. Okay, bad choice of words. They were not peachy, they were an acceptable amount of neutral. My stress level instantly dropped. And the teacher was even a little bit jokey with me! I feel grrrrrrrr-ate. Just wish I didn't have to buy three more tubes of that six dollar paint. Yarg.

always, carolyn

Swatchez

Color theory makes me feel like a crazy person. Example: What do you see in the picture on the right? A whole bunch of white squares? Maybe the one in the bottom corner looks a little blue, in context. Well, if you think they all look the same, you're wrong. And my teacher would belittle you in front of the whole class. These are actually "high value, low chroma" colors. And no two are the same. They're all mostly white, with a little bit (like the teeniest tiniest point of a toothpick) of a composite neutral mixed in. To make it even more difficult, the paint dries looking a whole lot darker than it does when it's wet. While this is definitely the most difficult exercise we've done so far, the others aren't much different. I have to SEE things that I start to think are just not there. So I sit at my designated desk for four hours every Monday, feeling like I am slowly going insane. And broke, because each 0.47 oz tube of paint costs about six bucks. And each piece of paper another two. But thou shalt not whine about the costs of education (psychological or monetary).

John and I went to the farmer's market today. Twas very nice. We got lots of tasty stuff: Beets, corn, green beans, oranges, onions, radishes, and some tabbouleh and hummus that are blowing my mind right now. I am suddenly inspired to take on those two particular items in a more personal way. I want to conquer them, learn how to make them to my exact liking. I'm thinking It'll be a fun Friday project. I have to admit I'm largely inspired by 101cookbooks.com, the latest and greatest food site I've stumbled across. Food is such an important part of life. Not just because we die when we don't eat enough. It's linked to health and wellness, and it's such a social thing too. I think you can tell a lot about a person by their eating/cooking habits.

always, carolyn

Yay Friday

I should be drafting/painting swatches but instead I'll blog...

Last night I sold John's desk to a very nice British lady who called the trunk of her car "the boot." Oh colloquialisms. Soon globalization will eradicate all those regional eccentricities, homogenizing societies worldwide. And then we'll all die from inhaling toxic emissions, or drown in melted glaciers. I'm putting those around the same time on my TIME LINE OF THE FUTURE.

Today I got up and (as usual) immediately put on the radio while I turned this internet machine on to check my email. The Jackson Five were being played....kind of strange programing for Morning Becomes Eclectic PS: Nick Harcourt can suck it. So I immediately thought "Hmmm...maybe Michael Jackson died last night." But no, they were just plugging Motown's Remix anthology record thing that's coming out soon. But then I realized, someday Michael Jackson will die. Within my lifetime, assuming no horrendous accident/ terminal illness gets me before I'm ready to go. How will the world respond to the death of Michael Jackson? He's pretty much blown it for himself PR wise for, what, the last two decades? But he's also beloved by many. And kiddy fiddler or not, he made some sweet-ass music. That's right, sweet-ass. We have his greatest hits album permanently in the car, cause what else would you want to listen to when you're stuck on the 10? Or the 405. Or Santa Monica Blvd. Or Olympic. Or Sunset. Maybe the Shins, but MJ has way more sticking power. Kiddy fiddler or not.

In other news, Catalina Island is on fire. That makes me sad. That whole eco-system will be totally eradicated. It'll recover, but it won't be the same. And now there's going to be a shit load of reconstruction, and that's never good for the environment either. Especially since everything's going to be shipped in via boat--emissions, emissions, emissions. "Emissions" is the word of the day. Griffith park is also all burned up now. And on Wednesday I almost burned this apartment down. "Fire" is the theme of the week.

Today is my little sister's 19th birthday. She is getting old. But being grown-up together is pretty fun.

Okay, I'm not going to write any more because I'm getting really boring. Bye everybody! (Bye, Dr Nick!)

always, carolyn

Saturday

John is sleeping next to me on the couch. He's on his back with his legs and arms curled in, like a big pill bug. He's adorable. I'm suddenly feeling an urge to write "balls" on his face in sharpie.

So I'll focus on this post instead.

Summer is quickly approaching. It's the time of year I always associate with traveling. Every year, my parents would load the three of us kids into the camper and head for Canada. We'd spend a week getting from San Diego to the lake where my dad's family has a cottage, in Western Ontario, spend a few weeks there, then take another week to get back to California. I got to a see a lot of really beautiful places: Zion National Park, The Grand Canyon, Lake Powel, Devil's Tower, the Badlands in South Dakota...etc. We even went to New Mexico one year. I've seen some breathtaking vistas. While that tradition petered out as we got older, I still get the compulsion to GO somewhere every July.

Increasing the need, I got a postcard from my big brother today. He's in Spain with his new badass g/f. They're taking a few months to gallivant around Europe together--so far they've been to France, and they go on to Italy, Greece and Egpyt soon. I am jealous! Especially as I try to study for an exam on ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman environmental arts. I would much rather SEE all those awesome ruins than read about them/ be tested on them. Alas, I will have to be content to relive my journeys via old photos. Here's one taken in Barcelona, in 2005, at the most awesome Park Guell. Gaudi had such an ecclectic sense of beauty. Even today, when people are so primed to accept new things, his work is still striking. But enough gushing about Gaudi.

I made a quick piece of "art" with the stamp from chris' postcard and some gouache left over from my color theory class. And here we are.

Back to the books for me.

always, carolyn

Look at what I can do!

We are starting a new project in my drafting class. We are to design a 40'-0" square, two floor "loft" space. Pretty much the best assignment ever. Especially since my idea of a fun evening is chilling in front of the TV with some flimsy and an architect scale (seriously--I've been drawing floor plans for fun since I was like 12.) So here's what I've come up with thus far:

On the first floor there's a distinct entry way, with a concealed/ private hallway leading to a guest bed and bath. Open floor plans are all the rage, but I've always felt a little bit of buffer is needed when one is sneaking off to pee or retreating to a bedroom. "Loft" may imply "open," but a few walls never hurt anyone. Where else are you going to put your art? And your plasma screen? Cause that's in the program. My personal program, anyway.

Trying to be a good little design student, as soon as I was done with this I flipped the page and started one a second, completely different layout. But it just didn't work for me. I love this one. Is it okay to be completely smitten with your own work? Can't wait to see what my classmates have come up with. I'm always totally floored by the variety of solutions presented, while I'm in my corner thinking I've come up with "THE ONE."

But back to entry ways. Something that sold John and I on the apartment we're currently living in is the half wall that separates an entryish area from the rest of the space. Our apartment is tiny, and one would think that adding a partition would just shrink it more. But no! It helps divide this place up, and adds interest. And I hate just entering a space straight away, like *BAM!* you're in the living room. Last weekend we gussied up our entry way by adding a floating shelf. At first I was worried that it would project too far into the hall, making it feel narrower. But no, it's fabulous and I love it. Plus it provides an overflow storage for all the crap that accumulates on the half wall. Check it out.

On the very right is a tiny hint of the column that frames out the half wall, with our sad spider plant perched next to it. The manzanita branches are new too, courtesy of my father who ripped out almost an entire bush for me. He said it was hanging too far over the driveway and it had to go anyway, but I always feel a little sad about robbing plants of their appendages. Other elements were already there, the wine racks from Ingrid and the HUGE crayon encaustic from our buddy Daniel. Now they feel more deliberate, and I have something even prettier to look at from the sofa. So my redesign thus far has cost about seven dollars, for wall anchors (the shelf was hanging out in the attic of my parents' house, waiting to be reclaimed).

always, carolyn

After four days of almost feverish reading, I have finished Philippa Gregory's "The Other Boleyn Girl." (Yes, I am always behind fashion when it comes to books. I have to wait at least three years until something falls off the best-seller lists before I'll consider picking it up.) Inspired by the first two episodes of "The Tudors," courtesy of Showtime on demand, I found myself intrigued by the...well, the intrigue, rather, intrigues, maintained by courtiers in the 16th century. And Showtime manages to keep it quite sexy. Henry VIII is a strapping young man, with a voracious sexual appetite. That characterization is maintained in Gregory's novel. There's a whole lot of lusting going on behind all the courtly love. While Mary Boleyn (so far) just has a cameo in the television series, she is the main character/narrator of Gregory's novel. It's so fun to root for her, trying to maintain her sanity and find a little happiness despite her precarious footing in the royal court and the scheming of pretty much all her relatives. And there is a happy ending for Mary Boleyn, albeit a not so happy one for her siblings.

Enough about that. Point is: When did I fall in love with historical romance? After reading "Pride and Prejudice" late last summer (again, proof of my easy dismissal of anything popular in literature)? Or was it back in high school, reading the Brontes? Altogether, I'm left to admit I find something super romantic about England. And I'm talking sweep her off her feet and then have tea romance. Not the technical Romance. Which is more Bronte and less Stephanie Laurens. Whom I worship.

On a totally different note, the re-design I found myself suddenly inspired to implement in my apartment is coming along quite nicely. I'll work on photos at a later date...

always, carolyn