A slightly wonky but wonderful winks this week. (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.) Lots of reader input this time which we love.

• • Sol sent us this picture. “It’s the dining room in my aunt’s country house, in marble that looks like wood, and some ant chairs (though i think they’re knock offs). However I like it a lot and I hope you can use it the next time you blog about Dining In 🙂 We are a very large family, and I love how the zillion chairs look cramped around the table.” So do I Sol and it would be great for the upcoming holiday season!

• • Jennifer sent snaps of her holiday in Sri Lanka! “I love your Sri Lanka fetish! Lunuganga is insanely beautiful!I can vouch that Sri Lanka is amazingly glam. I was there 6 weeks ago.” So jealous Jennifer.

• • Katelyn sent us a link to these great photos on flickr. “hi! these aren’t my pictures, but i think one of you might like this house. a two piece band live there called lullatone. these are my favorite pictures.”

• • Pia emailed with this juicy tidbit. “I have a little something for you, thought your Aussie readers might like. It is the release of a new magazine from the ABC called “home basics” , by shannon lush and jane flemming- i took a quick trip back to sydney in august to work on it and it has just hit the shelves. it is so hard keeping these projects i do secret until they are published, so you can imagine i am excited when they finally come out. i haven’t received my copy yet but i have heard it looks great, so many great articles and dare i say, great shots! I don’t have any larger shots to offer you at this stage but when i do i will get some to you, but in the meantime i’d love to let your readers know about it.”

• • Jo-Anne sent us a link to this great flickr set by Linzie Hunter, Spam One-liners. These are so cool!! Update – Linzie’s work is available through Thumbtack Press

• • And this in from Blissliving Home. Its founder Mei Xu has just announced a Global Design Competition, in which the company will select an original design for a new, complete ensemble for Blissliving Home’s fall 2008 collection. Entrants will be asked to interpret an “Autumn Chic” aesthetic. More info and details here. Start designing!

• Ed Sexton & Doug Taylor form Swank Lighting emailed with this juicy offering. “Hi MidCenturyJo, I’m writing to let you know about our web site Swank Lighting. My partner and I recently acquired all the remaining inventory of the Edward P. Paul Company (BALBOA Lamps). We bought hundreds of pairs of these beautiful art p
  ieces and had them rebuilt with safe new UL Certified hardware and we are now selling them to the public for the first time since they were packed away in their original shipping crates for nearly 50 years. Please visit our web site, read our story about this wonderful 20th century archaeological find, browse our beauties and let me know if you have any questions. Hopefully you will feel that your blog readers will want to know about us. We do ship worldwide. We also recently opened a boutique showroom in Dallas.”
  OMG! What a treasure trove. My name should be changed from midcenturyjo to muranoglassjo. I’m in love!

When God was handing out taste most people say that the designers from the 80s were holding the door for the other decades to pass through first. I’m on a mission to rehabilitate this much maligned 10 years. Not everything was horrendous and as some of you have rightly pointed out good design will out. There are good ideas here, bright painted interiors of cupboards, painted floors, bold vibrant artwork and tasteful rooms that could be from the present. Try to ignore the ruffles and the dried flowers. I love the use of house plants from the 80s. Maybe if we start with that. Baby steps remember.

Images scanned from Better Homes and Gardens New Decorating Book, Editor Gerald M Knox, Meridith Corporation, Des Moines, Iowa, 1981.

Instead of working hard on my posts for this week I have been creating new things for my etsy shop. I would like to thank all those people who have purchased prints, faved me and all of you who have dropped by. I really appreciate it!

I was going to show you my finished office but unfortunately something happened that I promised my husband I would not rehash again. Needless to say the office is a couple of weeks off being finished. But my darling Kelvin made up for the incident that I will not discuss (nag about) anymore by presenting me with his latest triumph……. these fabulous chair seats he made in the upholstery class he is taking. What makes them even more special is that Kelvin is completely blind. He had help with the piping and pattern matching but they are all his work and I love him for it!

Thought I’d share my latest thrift finds for this patio area. The table I picked up a couple of weeks ago and of course the chairs you can read about here. The mirror I bought this morning as well as what was called a side table I thought just had to be an ottoman base and I think I’m right. (Just like I was right about the incident that I am not allowed to nag about anymore.) My secret thrift store is proving a treasure trove. Also scored a b&w screenprint thats need new matting and framing. Once again UFOs (unfinished objects) but just a lick of paint and we’ll be there.

Ah the 80s! Era of large hair, even larger shoulder pads, leg warmers with high heels and excess excess excess. There were some things that were good. New Romantic boy bands with smoky eyeliner and rat’s tails in their hair for one thing. OK OK I was a med student in the 80s not an interior designer so my taste may have been a little dubious. It was a mixed bag of an era just like these kitchens from the early 80s but good design would shine through occasionally. Images scanned from Beyond the Kitchen, A Dreamers Guide, Thomas Cowan, Blandford Press, Dorset, 1985.

While some of these kitchens are revolting some are not. This is part of my subversive campaign to bring back the 80s. Long live the decade that taste forgot!