Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Pretty Little Things, Mid-Century-Modern Style

We’re at the point in our renovation where it looks like nothing’s happening, but there’s a lot of activity going on at our Rancho. As we speak, Ikea cabinets are being assembled and installed. Drywall and wood is being finished in preparation for the painter, who threw up a couple of big swatches this morning for us to admire and critique. (We think we’ve got our colors—inside and out—pinned down, but we want to be sure.) I guess what I’m trying to say is that we still have no beauty shots of the house to show you. So to quench your thirst for mid-century-modern gorgeousness in the meantime, I’m going to share some photos of goodies I’ve picked up—just for our new house—at various area haunts.
I’ve been long-obsessed with the mid-century-modern aesthetic and have collected furniture, art, ceramics and the like since the early 1980s, so we already had a houseful. All we really needed for our new house was bedroom furniture. But when I went looking for it at estate sales and specialty stores, other items ended up following me home. Here’s a taste:
One of the first things we picked up was this delicious pair of teak lamps with their original (super-cool shades). We got these at inretrospect on “Retro Row” in Long Beach, which is one of our favorite places to shop, because the people who work there are fabulous, the selection is huge and the prices are just where they should be.
Another inretrospect find is this Frederick Weinberg Etruscan horse—something I’d wanted to own since the first time I saw one decades ago. It’s pictured next to a Ben Seibel bookend that I picked up at an estate sale for a cool 10 bucks! These babies usually sell for at least $350 a pair, so at that price, I was only slightly sad that I didn’t get its mate.
My latest estate sale find—and one of my all-time favorites—is this ceramic centerpiece/bowl in the form of a golden ram, which I think is breathtakingly beautiful. This gorgeous piece was in a home filled with high-end Danish modern furniture, ceramics and art. Store owners from Retro Row were snapping everything up all around me, but they had no interest in this little guy. I have no idea why, but I’m glad they left him behind. I’ll treasure him forever.
A more utilitarian estate-sale pick is this Danish modern Salton bun warmer, which looks brand new. I love it. I’m gonna use the heck out of it, for sure.





And yes, we did get some bedroom furniture: these two, small matching dressers and a pair of delicious nightstands from Trebor Nevets, also on Long Beach’s Retro Row. Gorgeous, no? They’ll look great with the headboard I found at an estate sale last weekend. Now all we need is a “highboy” dresser!

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