Vintage railway clocks
Make a bold and timely statement (sorry couldn’t resist the pun) with a vintage railway clock.
The over-sized graphics create a lot of impact. Painted white, this clock makes a bold statement.
The interplay of the black and white graphics are terrific. I love the lime green, too.
This is my favorite. The enormous clock is all you need. I love the French caf?© chairs with the wood tavern table. It works.
Resources. If you live in Europe, you’re in luck – you’ll have an easier time finding vintage clocks. Check salvage shops. Here are some places to try.
We really don’t see many clocks, do we? Do you think they’re making a comeback? Do you ever think of buying a clock for your mantle? How about a grandfather clock?
photos: Lucas AllenCool blue is hot
This summer I’m looking forward to ice blue cool.¬† Just this side of turquoise.
Visit Benjamin Moore and check out their line of Aura paints. They cover in one coat and have low VOCs. Shop online at Shine Home.
Jane Churchill fabrics are available through the trade. Contact me for your best price. To find Mitchell-Gold’s Mia nesting tables follow this link.¬† Mythology’s Milk Glass hurricanes start at $18.00.
Farrow and Ball paints, wallpapers and fabrics are now available online.¬† Jim Thompson fabrics are available through the trade. Call your favorite designer (or me) for a quote. Yogagoat’s shop is at Etsy. The porcelain plate is $275.
Vintage Medical Furnishings Hit The Hot Zone
I think we’re at the tail end of the “industrial, stripped down” trend. Curiously, medical cabinets, which I would have thought belonged in that category, have become a hot ticket.
Take this vintage beauty for example.
It’s from Urban Archaeology and weighs in at a whopping $19,500. Yikes. That price is a little pre-recessionista, dontcha think? But the piece sure is fantastic.
Anyway, after my blood pressure returned to normal, I thought I’d take a little tour around the online hospital furniture wards to see if this trend is going as viral and my need to write bad double entendres. Let’s see what the Internet coughed up.
I love this cabinet from Furniture Love. It’s made by a Belgian medical furniture company. You can see more photos of it on their site. As with most of the things I found, this has been sold. But you might Google the furniture company’s name to find more.
These cabinets come from the 1940′s via Past Present Future. This company will sell you the piece “as-is”, or refinished. The price for this cabinet is $1,025 restored.
Twenty Gauge, a vintage metal furniture company from California is holding their winter sale. with 30-50% off their entire stock. They will also operate on your vintage parts so they look shiny new. But sometimes a  little patina can be a good thing.
Here’s another 1940′s cabinet from Grant Hospital, in Chicago. It retails for only $675. I found it at Urban Remains, one of the best Medical Furniture Wards on the Internet (in my humble opinion). Here’s more.
Hey, this early 1900′s cabinet (left), from Urban Remains, would make a nice lower-priced substitute for the cabinet at the top of this post. Price? A healthy $1,085. The one the left is typical of many of their stock, which is enormous.
These vintage medical pieces would look lively in a bathroom, a contemporary living room, hallway, and home office. Truly, the imagination is your only limit. So there is none.
Recessionist Times
I read a splendid article in The New York Times about the possible effects the current economic crisis will have on the design world. And it ain’t all bad news. If you’re like me and cry while drooling over sofas that retail for $15,000, you must read Michael Cannell’s article, Design Loves A Depression.
Here’s a particularly heartening excerpt:
“Now, given that all those slick Miami condos are sitting empty in the sky, designers like the Campana Brothers, with their $8,910 Corallo chair, and Hella Jongerius, with her $10,615 Ponder sofa, might have a harder time selling their wares. Already designers are biting their knuckles over the damage reports. The American Institute of Architects reported that last month‚Äôs billings index, a gauge of nonresidential construction, reached its lowest level since it began collecting data in 1995.
The pain of layoffs notwithstanding, the design world could stand to come down a notch or two ‚Äî and might actually find a new sense of relevance in the process. That was the case during the Great Depression, when an early wave of modernism flourished in the United States, partly because it efficiently addressed the middle-class need for a pared-down life without servants and other Victorian trappings.”
In short, it seems there’s hope for those of us with B & B Italia taste and an IKEA wallet.
Read the entire article here.
Leave your comments below. :-)
Anna French’s Wild Flora Collection
They say that all things which go around come around. It’s certainly true in the worlds of fashion and interior design. We’ve been enjoying the rediscovery of mid-century modern for several years now. But is it time to leave the 70’s behind and move on to the 80’s? Anna French’s Wild Flora collection of wall coverings is making me thing that the answer is an absolute yes.
The 1980’s was the era of the English Country House. Interiors were decorated with over-stuffed, Chintz-covered sofas. They sat amidst ottoman-style coffee tables laden with piles of books, topped with a vase of peonies fresh from the stately gardens out back.
Often, movies precede the emergence of a particular style. Out of Africa greatly influences Ralph Lauren’s signature look – both in fashion and interiors. That movie, as well as A Room With A View, Howard’s End were influencers in the English Country Look that symbolized the 1980’s.
The Return of The English Country Cottage?
The great thing about rediscovery is the way an old style is reinterpreted to make it look fresh. Mad Men, for example, aims for historic accuracy. And the look isn’t quite as hip as we would have thought. It’s the reinterpretation that makes it fresh to our eyes.
I’m beginning to see this same reinterpretation applied to the ‘80’s Country Cottage. Why? Sometimes it only takes one movie to start things moving. In my humble opinion, Atonement is responsible for giving this look new life.
Atonement’s Living Room: A Feminine Country Setting
The movie’s set design was very popular and got a lot of press (not unlike Something’s Gotta Give). Cecilia’s bedroom, in particular, was gorgeous. Yet all interiors featured floral wall covering with matching window treatments. It’s a feminine look that works really well within the architectural framework of the rooms. Of course, the movie takes place in the 1930’s. But, as I said, we’re constantly taking a new look at old things.
Another influencer is the popularity of Jane Austen’s novels and the gentrified rural world in which her characters reside Рsort of faded fancy.
Anne French’s new Wild Flora collection of wall coverings and fabrics is spot on this trend. If you like a feminine style, it’s worth taking a look at.
