mmmm ... woody ... again!

Not the most groundbreaking innovation, but people seem to be astounded and confounded ... lots of "Where did you get that???" comments.

The hard part was choosing what colour woodgrain we liked best, but after that it was just a quick session of snipping and the veneer was on ...

Hey presto - a woodgrain macbook.

Will take a pic of my dodgy 'faux-timber faux-mac' Toshiba at some stage - always good to see the evolution of concept.

ugly can still be beautiful

How to make an eyesore make people smile ...

rearrangement

Always nice to freshen things up with a big re-jig at the shop ... anybody walking past on Friday would have thought we were converting to a sidewalk market - everything out, chairs all over the place ...

But by sundown it was all back in and looking good again ... ahhhh.

Now it's time to part with a few pieces and make space ... for the next rearrange.

open fire!

After maybe 2 years of scouring ebay and generally keeping our eyes peeled, we finally got lucky on a fireplace for the farm. 
The house has a little potbelly stove, which does a pretty good job of warming things up, but only takes really small logs, and lacks the 'open' factor we've been longing for - can't see flames, so how can it be warm?

And besides, there are enough fallen trees around the back paddock to feed a serious blaze every night of the year ...
We've been bidding on various copper 'hood' thype things - very 70's, but definitely the right shape for our space.  They weren't coming up too often, and we got outbid on at least 3 or 5 we were serious about ... just never quite got lucky on a sub $300 one within driving distance.

Got kind of excited seeing one not too far from home, with a caramel coloured enamel finish.  This is how it looked on the listing -

 We did a 'what the hey' and put in a fairly serious bid, then left town (and internet access) for a couple of days.  Whadda you know - got home and there was the congratulatory message in our inbox ... ours for $60!
The seller was really lovely, AND had it all neatly dismantled and packed up for us at pickup time.  We wrapped everything up and filled the van with all those bits of flue and chimney that you kind of forget about, and took her up to await installation.

Promise, soon as the rain lets up I'll get up on the roof and cut that hole ... how hard could it be?

street art

Yes vs No.


Good fun.  And it used to just be a wall.

David Lynch, odd man.

Like that's a revelation.

Was over at Door Sixteen a couple of days ago (a reliably interesting blog, for sure, by a reformed Manhattanite - Anna), and was totally entralled by this commercial.  David Lynch selling his own brand of coffee ...that would be David Lynch Signature Cup Coffee, of course ... and what a compelling ad he has made.

David Lynch Signature Cup Coffee from David Lynch.

Just a glass of water for now, thanks.

woody clocks

Love fake woodgrain, love clocks ... some selections from our collection ...

 The classic nasty plastic cuckoo ...

 Traditional Smiths wood-face ... dad had one of these on his office wall in the '70's, and we've managed to pick up a couple over the years.

 Our Junghans, with what appears to be woodgrain con-tact for decoration ...

This is one we received from Sweden - originally it was electric, but a bit temperamental - new works, new hands, good as gold now.

Of course, no collection of woody clocks feels right without a few plastic woodgrain animals on the walls around them ... we have a few deer-head barometers, but our cow-head with cow-bells (souvenir of Salzburg, no less) is extra-special.

Her (his?) face is flock-coated for extra realism (despite the scale suggesting that the beast may have been the size of a chihuahua at time of mounting).  Good kitsch.

nice place ... i guess ...

Do you frequent apartment therapy?  It's a good regular stop if you're interested in interiors - not always gold, and with an American flavour (or is that flavor ... not sure, it's cheesy either way) more often than not - but a fun regular browse.

This place was a bit of a recent standout for us.  A rented warehouse loft in LA, inhabited by proper cool folk - we'd evict 'em and move in in a trice. 

If you like the look, make sure you click the 'enter tour' link for a gallery of 30+ photos of the place. 

On a serious note, though ... their lounge (photo below - LigneRoset "Togo") - if you have one of these sofas that you need removed from your loungeroom, please get in touch.  Cath's on a mission to find one ... sadly, they don't seem to grow on trees and nobody's left any on the nature-strip for us.

One would be fine, but if you have more, we'll make room in the van.  You won't even have to help carry it out!

Thanks.

collecto-mania

We haven't been up to Sydney for a while, but have oft admired the wares of 224 - Lucas Callaghan's store in Bondi - on the net.  By the looks, they have just had a major sellup via auction.

Amongst a clearly passionate collector's collection of classic 20th century collectibles were some amazing and quirky bits and pieces ... wish we'd been there with the means to bid.

Maybe it's for the best we missed it ... that would have to be the coolest phone ever, though.

sneak peek

On the subject of beautiful things from Scandinavia ... we have finished the 'collecting' part of getting together our next shipment.  As we speak, a warehouse in southern Sweden is bulging under the strain of some amazing and high-quality furniture.  The spring thaw up there means that the time has come to pack it all up and ship it down to sunny Melbourne!

Time to make some space in our (also bulging, and shamefully well-stocked) shed at the farm -

Eeeek ...