I confess: I don't go to museums as often as I should. I will, of course, make a point to visit big-city museums like London's Tate Modern, San Francisco's de Young, and New York's MoMA when I'm in town. (Did I ever tell you about the time my son, who was then a toddler, gleefully leaped into what he thought was a ball pit but that was actually a 3D installation at MoMA by a really famous Japanese artist whose name now escapes me, and how we were then quickly escorted out of the museum by horrified security guards? Ah, good times ... )
I tend to forget about the smaller, less glamorous museums in my own backyard, though -- like the Oakland Museum of California, which I believe I've only been to once, and that was while chaperoning a second-grade field trip. But there's a new exhibition arriving at the Oakland Museum on Saturday, May 17, that I'm pretty excited to see, and that will finally snap me out of my hometown-museum slacking.
Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design, and Culture at Midcentury "looks at the painting, architecture, furniture design, decorative and graphic arts, film, and music that launched midcentury modernism in the United States." The show includes a jazz lounge; film, animation, and television clips; Van Keppel Green furniture and architectural pottery; a period art gallery featuring hard-edged abstract paintings; art, architectural, and documentary photography; and an interactive timeline that highlights California, national, and international culture and history in the 1950s. Featured artists, photographers, musicians, filmmakers, architects, and designers include Lorser Feitelson, Julius Shulman, Miles Davis, Oskar Fischinger, Richard Neutra, and, of course, Charles and Ray Eames.
Though Los Angeles what the epicenter of the American Modernism movement, the Oakland Museum has added a dose of contemporary homegrown cool in the form of Cool Remixed. The exhibit examines modern-day "Made in Oaktown" youth culture in the form of graffiti, DJs, themed lounges, street fashion, scraper bikes, skateboarding videos, a quarter-bowl skate ramp, impromptu hip-hop performances, and T.U.R.F. dancing, as well as art rendered on car hoods, hubcaps, and sneakers. (Random Oakland claim to fame: Both "hella" -- hence my "I Hella Love Oakland" series -- and "hyphy" sprang from O-Town's dense primordial soup before entering the American lexicon.)
Birth of the Cool and Cool Remixed will be at the Oakland Museum, 1000 Oak St. at Tenth, through August 17. Museum admission is $8 for adults (although it's free on the second Sunday of each month). Catch them while you can!
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Mark Your Calendar: Birth of the Cool in Oakland
Design Dilemma: Help Me Find a Yellow Shower Curtain
More Ways to Waste Time reader Joanna writes, "My bathroom has turned out to be the greatest design challenge in my condo. The color -- a 1970s neon yellow -- is very strong. I've tried to compliment the yellow with aquas and apple greens, but it doesn't work. I'm looking for a lemon-yellow and white shower curtain that isn't vinyl with ducks on it, but I'm gun-shy after failing with the last six shower curtains I've tried (yes, six). Can you or your readers suggest anything?"
First of all, Joanna, can I just say that I'm actually a little jealous of your lemon yellow bathroom? Yellow's such a cheerful color, and though it's been a challenge to match, at least you're not stuck with an impossible pink-and-maroon bathroom like mine.
Anyway, my initial thought is to simply use a white shower curtain. It's fresh and clean and might help offset all that yellow a bit. I especially love the frilly, feminine White Devil Shower Curtain from India Rose, above, $96 at Burke Decor. Or you could just get a plain white shower curtain and jazz it up by sewing a band of yellow fabric across the bottom, or by simply glue-gunning on a length of yellow ribbon or rick-rack as contrasting trim.
But if you're set on a yellow-and-white patterned shower curtain, I scoured around a bit and found a few options for you:
Pottery Barn Tile Print Shower Curtain (center), $59
Anthropologie Languid Leaf Shower Curtain, left, and Sundew Shower Curtain, right, both $88. I like these because they have just a dash of sunny yellow on a mostly white field.
Marimekko Unikko Shower Curtain in Lime/Yellow (left), $49
Restoration Hardware Butter Collection Shower Curtains, $79 each
IKEA Saxan Shower Curtain, $4
When I started thinking about it, though, I realized that you shouldn't limit yourself to just shower curtains. Pretty much any kind of curtains could be pressed into service in a bathroom -- you'd simply need to use a waterproof liner so they don't get splashed and retrofit them with grommet holes or hang them on a pressure-mounted rod if your regular shower rod isn't detachable. (I like Anthropologie's Spiral Vine and Climbing Dahlia curtains, above, $98 and $88 for one 50-by-84-inch panel.)
You could also just pick out some fabric you like and have your local seamstress or drycleaner seam and hem it for you -- and voila, a totally custom shower curtain. Here, some yellow-and-white fabrics that caught my eye:
Marimekko Skulptur Yellow Fabric, $70 per 59-by-36-inch section, and Stilla Yellow Fabric, $30 per 54-by-36-inch section
IKEA Katrin Fabric, $6 per 59-by-36-inch section
And here, again, is that great OD Zig Zag Fabric, $14 per 54-by-36-inch section at Hancock Fabrics
Readers, any other yellow-shower-curtain suggestions for Joanna -- or ideas on other hues that might work with the neon yellow in her bathroom? (She mentioned that apple green and aqua didn't jibe with her particular shade of yellow, but perhaps a graphic black and white, a dark chocolate brown, or a soothing, sophisticated gray would pair nicely with the bright yellow.)
If you have more ideas for Joanna, please post a comment and share them!
P.S. Click here for lots more yellow decor.
P.P.S. Have a design dilemma of your own? Send it in, along with a photo or two, and I'll put it up here for a communal brainstorming session.
Deal of the Day: Free Bag With RianRae Purchase
Jeni Crawford, the proprietress at the gorgeous new RianRae web shop, just wrote in to tell me about a promotion she's running: Make any purchase of $200 or more from RianRae during the next week, and Jeni will throw in one of these beautiful India Rose Ruffle Bags in the color of your choice.
The large, machine-washable bags, which retail for $51 apiece, come in a choice of three colors. Any of them would be equally lovely looped over a doorknob to collect dirty laundry, or stuffed with towels and plastic shovels for a trip to the beach.
To take advantage of the offer, simply make a purchase of $200 or more at RianRae between Thursday, May 15, and Thursday, May 22. Once you've completed checkout, send Jeni an email and let her know which color bag you'd like.
Here are some of my favorite picks from RianRae that are right around the $200 mark:
Halo Chandelier, $270
Square Capiz Chandelier, $218
Minimal Pendants, $220
Small Moorish Table, $270
French Cafe Chair, $195
Set of Three Tall Botanical Jars, $199
See all the goods at RianRae right here.
eBay Find of the Day: Zoom Chandelier
OK, I'm back from the dead -- well, sort of. (Man, I haven't been sick like this in years. This nasty little flu bug is totally kicking my butt ... ) Thanks for your patience during my absence.
Anyway, remember that awesome Zoom Chandelier in Jim and Kari's Evanston home? It normally retails for $1,599 (yep, you read that right). But I did a quick search on trusty old eBay and found it for several hundred less.
It's still quite pricey, mind you. But it is pretty dang cool -- and I'm sure you could find lots of other fun ways to spend the $600 you'd save.
The German-made, stainless-steel-and-halogen fixture was designed by Floyd Paxton for Serien Lighting, and expands from less than 8 inches to more than 4 feet in diameter. The seller will rewire it to meet U.S. code.
Buy It Now for $999, plus $50 shipping from Germany.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Out Sick
Sorry guys, no new posts today. I'm battling some godawful virus and can barely sit up in bed to write this. I'm going to get some rest and hope to be back tomorrow. Hope you all have a great day!
Monday, May 12, 2008
House Voyeur: Family Friendly Modern in Illinois
Jim Harbison, the man behind the wonderful Modern Craft blog (which is quickly becoming a daily read of mine), wrote in recently to tell me about the home that he shares with his wife, Kari, and young children, Elsa and Henry, in Evanston, Illinois. When I opened the pictures Jim sent, my jaw hit the floor. (Above: Brass candlesticks by Martha Sturdy.)
Jim, who works for a book publisher, and Kari, an art history major who worked in construction before their youngest was born, have an absolutely stunning house. But they've also created a comfortable and welcoming family home that still manages to be clean and modern -- which, as any parents out there reading know all too well, is no easy feat.
I'm in awe of the way that each object in this compact, 1,400-square-foot home seems so thoughtfully chosen (there's no junk here, and they've managed to make even the inexpensive stuff look high-end). Most of all, I love how the Harbisons have invested in original art and filled their home with painted and photographic portraits of their children that are truly works of art as well. (Pencil portrait of Elsa, below, by Jennifer Teichman.)
Here, Jim gives us a virtual tour of his family's recently renovated home. (Note: I didn't realize until late in the process of putting this together than Jim and Kari's house was also featured on Apartment Therapy: Chicago last year. I normally wouldn't run something than some of you have already seen elsewhere, but decided to go forward with this because Jim provided photos and information that weren't included in the previous tour. Still, apologies to you AT:Chicago readers for anything that looks familiar here.)
"Evanston is home to Northwestern University, and has a wonderful small-town hippie vibe. It's right on Lake Michigan and is just minutes from Chicago, but has maintained a distinct flavor of its own. Evanston has several midcentury modern houses, and the architect who built ours also built most of the houses in our cul-de-sac.
Our home is a 1958 split-level -- not quite a ranch, not quite a bungalow. We searched for over a year for a house with some modern tendencies, and luckily our real estate team called us the day this house went on the market. When we remodeled, we tried to emphasize what's modern about it -- opening the space and painting almost everything Lowe's-brand white (the living room wall, however, is Ralph Lauren's Polaris).
The house needed so much work that we had to spend our money on things like new wiring, which left less for bathroom renovation (we still have a bathroom that we won’t let anyone see). We took our budget really seriously, but there are always little problems that crop up (all of which seem to cost $600) and before you know it, you’re over. Still, we knew that running electricity to the garage and refinishing the floors were improvements that had to be made.
If we had it to do over again, we’d put more money into the house and less into the furnishings. As much as we’d love to live in a Design Within Reach catalog, it’s really the improvements to the house itself that bring the most comfort -- a bigger bathroom, for instance.
We love modern Scandinavian design and we’ve tried to be true to the feel of the house, which really has a Scandinavian spirit. When Kari and I went to Sweden and Denmark a year or two ago, we saw many buildings with this construction -- wooden ceilings, pegged flooring, and wooden slat walls. In fact, the slanted wood ceilings are our favorite original feature of the home. They give the place a lot of style and a lot of scale.
I frequently travel overseas for work, and that’s given me an interest in Asian art and an appreciation for the simplicity of Asian design. As a result, our house (as well as my blog) tends to focus on artists and small crafts -- there' an attention to the individual creator. The bud vases, above, are from Heath Ceramics.
The dining room lighting fixture was a stretch, but in an open floor plan like this, it’s important to have some major interest for your eye. So we put money into this Zoom Chandelier from Floyd Paxton for Serien Lighting, which expands and contracts like an accordion. It’s cool. The table is from Crate & Barrel, and the chairs (which are no longer available) were from West Elm. We put a Chilewich rug under the table because it was cheaper than any wool rugs we found and also because you can hose it off. That's an important feature when you have a 4-year-old who loves crushing his blueberries between his fingers.
If I could be anything besides who I am, I'd love to be a famous artist. Sadly, this isn't the case, so we aspire to have a house full of art by friends and others we admire. We really love looking at things that inspire us and have tried to add what we love to our home. Of course, we have to be able to afford it. But there are wonderful affordable art sites out there now, like LUMAS and 20x200, and it’s made it easier to actually buy art that you want, not just what’s available. It's really opened things up for eager collectors like us. The art in our dining room is by Maira Kalman, Theodore Boggs, and Christine Jelson, among others.
We’ve had great luck recreating high-end looks on a small budget. The biggest improvement we made to the house was gutting the kitchen and installing high-gloss white cabinets, quartz counters, and a narrow island. The runner is from Crate & Barrel.
We started by visiting an exclusive kitchen remodeling store, then we searched for an alternative that would be half the price. Turns out, we ended up at Lowe’s, where we found KraftMaid Venicia cabinets that worked out perfectly. Add a Zodiaq quartz counter, some Jenn-Air and GE Profile appliances, and Bauhaus bar pulls, and we recreated the catalog look for a lot less. The blue tile leaning against the wall next to the toaster is by Xenia Taler.
The paint in the master bedroom is Sherwin Williams' Relaxed Khaki.
All of our beds are from IKEA, as are a surprising number of window treatments. You can’t beat IKEA! A lot of our furniture and accessories are either family heirlooms or things we found in vintage stores. The sconces over the bed are from Tolomeo. The bedding was from Design Within Reach. It’s terrific -- it looks like packing blankets from a U-Haul. Sadly, DWR discontinued this line. The red pillow is from Thomas Paul.
The tapestry in Henry's room is a picture of American Indians and cowboys made for Kari's great aunt, who was a school teacher, by her students. The green print next to it is Monsters by Brian Flynn for Hybrid Home, which we got from from Velocity Art and Design.
Henry's bedding is Trees by Boodalee.
My favorite DIY project was building a little stage area in the backyard for the kids. The stage curtains are from IKEA.
Having kids in a house that has such large open spaces is difficult. You can spend all your time tidying up, or you can just accept that you have children who like to imagine that the kitchen mop is a car wash for their Hot Wheels. Life really isn’t a gallery, so you have to let kids play, but teach them to clean up when they’re done. And there's nothing you can do when they cling to the pink-and-yellow stuffed unicorn and beg to bring it home. Their aesthetic is not your aesthetic -- but we all get to live in this house, so everyone should have some say.
I think you can really get caught up in the modern aesthetic or the snobbery of doing things a certain way (at least I can). But in the end, you’re trying to create a living space, complete with comfortable chairs and rugs that don’t stain."
Hear, hear! Thanks so much for sharing your amazing home with us, Jim and Kari.
(P.S. Want to see more? Click here for a peek inside other readers' homes.)
Shameless Request: Want to Show Off Your Home?
Calling all creative homeowners and renters: Show off your deft decorating, renovation, and garden design skills here!
Your house or apartment doesn't have to have grand architecture or be done to the nines to be considered. Small and modest is great. Budget decorating is great. The key components are creativity and freshness.
Hell, you don't even have to show off your whole place -- I'd love to see a single room, a completed renovation project, or even a small area that you've decorated and are particularly proud of.
If you're interested in offering up your abode for one of my "House Voyeur" tours, please let me know!
eBay Find of the Day: Vintage Tripod Lamp
Those midcentury designers were so darn clever. Not only did their wares look super-cool, many of them were multifunctional as well.
Take this 1950s Italian tripod lamp. It can be used as a task light, a spotlight, and even a wall sconce. Simply swivel the green metal diffuser around as needed, or stick the whole thing up on the wall with the integrated hanging loop. (And did I mention that it's pretty stylin', too?)
Current bid: $46
Friday, May 9, 2008
Etsy Find of the Day: Cathy Cullis Mixed-Media Textile Art
I don't know what it is about embroidery used in non-traditional ways (remember Diem Chau's amazing embroidered china?), but I just can't get enough of it right now. So when I saw the delicately beautiful mixed-media needlework pieces (like Midnight Stitches, $70, above) from London's Cathy Cullis, I fell hard and fast.
Cullis layers her creations using stitchery, vintage fabric scraps, book pages, and found papers. The loose threads give these a wistful quality that, quite literally, tugs at my heart. Take a look:
Tea and Cakes, $70
We May Be Trusted, $80
Give and Take My Love, $70
Each piece is mounted on 8-by-10-inch artist board and is ready to frame. See all of the textile art in Cullis' Etsy shop (she has another Etsy storefront called Novembermoon where she sells beautiful handmade fabric dolls and original paintings, too).
And check out more of Cullis' work right here.