Even the floor!

Posted on Mon, 23 Feb 2009 by midcenturyjo

Want to paper your space with all those posters you have hoarded over time? Don’t forget the floor! This amazing installation is by Alisa Grifo, a set and interior designer based in New York and Sweden.

Planting a little retro

Posted on Mon, 23 Feb 2009 by midcenturyjo

House plants are becoming an all consuming passion of mine. I find myself dragging home little pots from the supermarket and losing myself in green envy just outside the hardware store. Today’s retro deliciousness is fitting then Interior Decorating with Plants, by Carla Wallach, Macmillan Publishing, New York, 1976. And please no comments on the phallic symbolism of that cactus in the bedroom!

Love this photo of a Fritz Hansen egg chair by Christian Geisnæs. Not only a fabulous photographer he has a great sense of humour. Check out the rest of his portfolio at his rep’s site.

WINKS

Posted on Sat, 14 Feb 2009 by midcenturyjo

…my new Valentine’s Day love. Explanation below.

WINKS – weekend links. Here we list what has come in during the week, things we’ve found and things we think you’ll want to see. If you’d like to see your blog or website featured email us and if we think it fits with our readers we’ll link you. So what’s in this week?

    • Laureen and Yuliya of Paperwhite launched the project “i love you more than blank” at the beginning of January. It’s a simple website that asks what we use as a measuring stick for love and it’s a charming idea. Perfect for Valentines Day. “I love you more than….bacon.”
    • Time for afternoon tea? Then how about the Teabag Teaspoon Cup and Saucer set by Bailey Doesn’t Bark! The set is hand decorated with the cutest teaspoon outline on the saucer as well as a teabag illustration on the cup. Re Jin Lee does it again!
    • Design Addict was one of the first important websites dedicated to product design. After 10 years as the go to site for modern, post-modern and contemporary design of the 20th-21st centuries Design Addict has launched The Radar, a platform where vintage design stores and auction houses can easily show the items that they have for sale and buyers, private or professionals, have access to this extensive inventory in one place. Furniture, lamps, accessories. It’s a design smorgasbord!
    • Jeremy Bell emailed, “Having recently gone through an exhaustive search for inspiration during the design of my home (360 Winnett Ave), it became apparent that there wasn’t a decent place to bookmark and tag photos. In my case, I was more or less saving everything to a folder on my desktop or posting things to Flickr. This ended up becoming a regular topic at the office so we decided to do something about it and created a site we’ve called Image Spark. It’s pretty simple and allows you to upload and tag photos, plus you can also created moodboards to compile and visualize the images together. We even created a Firefox plugin and a Mac application to make uploading images as easy as possible.” It’s still a beta, but it’s free to use and anyone can register. Here’s Jeremy’s mood board for his home.
    • Blog alert for this week. Viv posts about her home renovations and decorating attempts as well as interiors that inspire her, fashion and food. I’ve been lurking on ish and chi and it’s fun and full of clever ideas. Click over and say hi!
    • Adrena is a baby and child photographer in Los Angeles. She has a small Etsy shop My Paper Doll and emailed to share. OMG aren’t these so cute. Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf.

  • And the photos above? We are looking for a house. Something old, inner city and lots of land. We want to restore the house and build a couple of townhouses as part of the plan. This place is ticking most of the boxes. A brick and stone duplex built in the 1870s on a large block of land. The “fun” part is that it is heritage listed (oh the nightmares of following the EPA rules), very run down and the price is just a little more than our figures tell us we should spend. Now the real work begins. Research, consultation and price negotiation. Help I’ve lost my heart but I hope not my brains!

Michael Habachy

Posted on Wed, 11 Feb 2009 by midcenturyjo

What does Southern design mean? Is it grand old mansions with classically inspired interiors, layers and layers of patterns and sumptuous fabrics, well loved and almost holy heirlooms and tradition tradition, tradition? Maybe not if Atlanta based interior designer Michael Habachy has a say. It’s crisp bright modern minimalist apartments. It’s broody lofts and funky nightclubs. It’s white vinyl rococo chairs and black walls, glamorous 40s salons and sassy salons. It’s whatever and wherever imagination takes you. It’s fabulous and it’s fun. You won’t find all these images on Michael’s website yet. He’s in the process of redesigning and has kindly sent over a few teasers of what to expect.