I scored some brass hands; flea market finds

04.22.13

I mean … this existed in the world without me knowing about it?

brass lamp

Its SOLID brass.  Like the weight of an academy award or four. Scott spotted it and I immediately took it out of his hands, both of us knowing that it was way more me than him. I asked Santiago, the dealer, how much it was and he said $175, which was very bad news to me. He came down to $150 (saying, “I paid $100 for it!! I gotta make some money!!”) and I relented because it is a show stopper. Later whilst walking around the flea market and getting compliment after compliment (Scott getting more and more jealous) we ran into another dealer that I know (and is somehow related to Santiago) and he smirked and asked “How much you pay for that?” I said “$150,” he smiled. I said, “How much did you sell it to Santiago for?” He said “$60.”

IMG_2251

So annoying. Had I arrived at the flea market an hour earlier I would have saved $110. THAT IS A LOT. Also, when a dealer tells you what they bought it for, you can almost ALWAYS not believe them. I’m not calling them liars, it’s a smart tactic that tugs on your humanity. I mean, YES, I do want them to make a living so I certainly can’t pay them the same that they paid for it … but Santiago, who knows me and loves me, padded his purchase price by $40. I’m a sucker, but a solid brass hand lamp owning sucker.

vintage wicker

You know what I don’t need in my life? This wicker chair. But look how cute it is. $50, my friends. I especially like the scale — I feel like even a man could sit it in, it is so wide and low. Worth every penny, but totally unnecessary. I’m a wicker hoarder.

porcelain baby head

Oh, what’s so creepy about my porcelain baby head? I got it at the flea for $5 (I collect heads), and then found the dome with weird dried flowers in it for 75 cents. It fit perfectly. And now for my viewing pleasure I have a creepy baby in a glass dome to stare at.

mexican wrestler

This piece of art is crazy colorful and weird. I totally love it. I’m not sure if it’s a lithograph or pen drawing or what, but the colors are so saturated. It was $10 and Brian totally responded to it, saying “that thing’s cool,” so it was worth every penny.

nude art watercolor

Whereas this watercolor of a nude lady excited him MUCH less. Like about as much as me wearing princess sleeved shirts with long skirts a la Sister Wives — not at all. I framed it real quick in a readymade from Aaron Brothers that happened to fit. (I MUST spend less on framing, new goal). I love the colors so much and it’s totally weird (and was $10). (yes, i just edited that part of the post:))

balloon drawing

Last but not least is this drawing of a boy holding a balloon. It’s painfully sweet. I’m hoarding it for a baby’s room, for sure. I love the scale  (if you ever see strange proportioned art that you like grab it because it mixes in so well with traditional rectangular art), and imagine if I colored in the balloon in a bright color? Oh yes. $10.

So that’s what I hoarded from the flea market yesterday. Which is your favorite? Sub-question, do you think I paid too much for the brass hand lamp? Would you have?

Gone Thrifting …

04.15.13

What do you call a weekend where you spend eight hours thrifting in the valley on one day, and five hours at the flea market the next with one of your best friends that is equally obsessed with shopping? The best weekend of my life – although Scott says that I say that every time we go thrifting, which is every weekend. Without giving my secret spots away (threaten to rip out my fingernails, I won’t tell you), our tactic is to plug “thrift store” into my GPS and see where the dots come up. Every weekend we find new places, and this weekend we scored. No major pieces of furniture, but instead some good treats that I already styled in my house.

neon arrows

For instance, these vintage arrows with bright feather parts. I’m pretty sure that is their technical name: “feather parts.” Scott and I split them, but I have absolute intentions of stealing his because after putting them in my vessel I simply need more. Clearly.

vintage arrows

Then for a client (a dude and chick that are friends of mine) I thought this brass film reel (solid, not painted gold) could be a good accessory since they both work in show business. It’s slightly “proppy” but it’s also really graphic, simple, and topical for them.

gold movie reel

This little painting below. It’s an original and it’s in a kinda bad frame, but the colors are great and the price ($29) was not bad for such a colorful piece. It’s going to mix oh-so-perfectly with all the rest of my art that I’ve been collecting. (Stay tuned, I’m getting them all framed now with Dana at Hotel De Ville and I’ll be revealing soon-ish.)

abstract art

I have so many large pieces of art that I actually need smaller pieces more right now. And by “need,” I certainly don’t mean need.

80's abstract

But perhaps the art find of the day was after the flea market — today at goodwill, for $5:

pink boat photo

It’s an original photograph of a dude sailing with the most incredible pink striped sail. As I was discarding the disgusting frame, I found this in the back:

vintage boat photo

It was a real trip with real people, even though it previously seemed like it could be a stock photo because it was so good. Instead it was from Jerome to someone who clearly didn’t really have as much “le fun” because they donated it to Goodwill.

At the Rose Bowl, Scott and I found a box of studio art (practice art, basically by an artist that they don’t sell individually but normally the estate sells them when they pass). They ranged from $15 – $45. These two were large (18×24) and were $30. Once framed they are going to look so sophisticated and pretty.

abstract painting

Up next, this brass and glass tray that is kinda perfect. I needed a new tray and for $15, this was a massive score. It’s heavy, has the perfect patina, and that squared off brass takes the granny out of brass real fast.

vintage modern brass tray

Authentic Southwestern basket anyone? Yes, please. I think it was $12 and worth every penny.  The colors are just so happy and the shape just adorable.

navajo basket

Such a great weekend with so many new toys to play with. Brian is just ECSTATIC. I mean, when he saw that basket he hugged me and wept with happiness over the super on-trend, inexpensive find that is now unnecessarily “engaging” a corner, holding nothing. He said, “Thank you, THANK YOU, Emily, for your amazing thrift store finds that make our house consistently interesting if not totally over-styled.” It’s nice that he appreciates my thrifting talents (opposite). :)

Which vintage chair did I buy?

04.08.13

I’m working on this project where I need a lot of art deco meets ’80s meets big city “dude” pieces, and I’m starting to collect furniture for it. So yesterday at the flea market I found two chairs that kinda fit the bill, but I only bought one of them; you guess which.

Oh, you might think it’s hideous, and it’s certainly really low and wide, but once it has been recovered it’s going to be VERY interesting and a total conversation piece. It was $150.

vintage 80's chair

Or this red (but will be changed) weird modernist chair that is probably ’80s but references art deco a bit with the curves and the burl wood and the general wacky nature of it:

modernist contemporary chair

It was $550, but they said they would come down to $350. Picture it in a bright yellow or teal …

So which one did I buy? And moreover, do you approve?

UPDATE:  I bought the 2nd one. The red one.  I know.  Now of course i wish I had bought both, but i’m still super drawn to the architecture and shape of the red chair and you better believe i am reupholstering that in some amazing color.  Besides, maybe the white one will be there next week anyway ….

 

more One Kings Lane sale sneak peeks

02.27.13

More One Kings Lane sneak peeks for you because I’m a total tease like that. The sale is March 10th, which is VERY soon, and I’m scrambling to finish the spreadsheet for it. Sorry, no pricing yet, but just be warned, these pieces aren’t cheap. The amount of work that goes into the sale is out of control. But I won’t bore you with that, instead I’ll tell you a story about how I turned garbage into glory.

One day, six months ago, I found this set of sofa/chairs at a thrift store. They were desperate for a face-lift but had great lines and were a great scale. The sofa is actually a hide-abed which you can have completely redone. (The inside mechanism and mattress will run you around $700 = upholstery + labor, etc.)

thrift store chairs

Now, they are these hot pink wonders. I splurged on the fabric because I knew they needed to be in a really amazing color, so I think the fabric alone was $300, but they are just oh so good.

 

vintage hot pink club chair

You can’t tell in the picture but I de-skirted them, making them way more modern and less retro.

Then there is this vintage plycraft wonder in disgusting ripped black vinyl:

mid-century chair

But don’t worry, because now it is covered in this wonderful teal.

vintage teal mid century

This is the only chair that Brian is BEGGING for us to keep and I still might pull it from the sale at the last minute, but for now it’s going up.

Next are these little ’80s bedroom chairs:

Image 11

The lines are challenging and not for everyone. But I love their little shape and style.  They just need new fabric:

bedroom chairs

Now they are VERY cute indeed. That fabric in the photo looks busy, but it’s actually super soft high quality velvet.

Other goodies up for sale?

waterfall bench

Love that bench. I wish I had the before photo of it because it was in a really beautiful (not) marbled cotton.

lucite bench vintage

And this awesome Paul McCobb desk that I had white lacquered:

paul McCobb desk

My coffee table, I know … she’ll be VERY missed.

brass coffee table

Or these Ming chairs that I had matte lacquered and then dressed up with some vintage handmade wedding blanket fabric:  Please take note of all the brass accents …

ming chairs

To see more sneak peeks check out this post. The sale is March 10th and lasts for three days, so get your measurements ready and distract your spouse just long enough to hit “buy.”

So if these were free, which one would you want to own the most?

Sneak Peek — my next One Kings Lane sale

02.20.13

I do love a sneak peek. It’s like samples at Costco; even if I have no intention of buying the product I will still fight you for that cup of cran-apple juice or little smokie. Hell, I might even take two and over-explain (lie) how one is for my sister who can’t get her own because she’s in a wheelchair with gout and little smokies are really the only things that bring a smile to her face. That’s how much I love samples … and sneak peeks into sales.

So thus begins my sneak peek posts into my next One Kings Lane Sale that begins March 10th.

First up, late ’70s club chairs. I know a lot of you (or your parents) finally just got rid of your ’70s and ’80s furniture. AS WELL YOU SHOULD HAVE. Unless they were awesome, then shame on you and you best run back down to the Goodwill and fight Kelly Wearstler for them. Or Orlando and I, but I will warn you Orlando has a mean bitch slap.

Here they are before … I mean … disgusting … but the shape? Intriguing.

photo 1

The scale is large and pairs of large chairs are strangely hard to find and very in-demand for all you non-urban dwellers (aka people with larger living rooms).

But why did I buy them? What makes them good and why are they better than, say, the sofa that they sit next to. Well, they are big and low, but still have strong modern and masculine lines. Had they been that same scale but full of curves and flourishes, then they could have been disgusting and worth lighting fire on in the store, despite how many lives would have been lost. You know what the scale reminds me of? This safari chair from Anthropologie. (Where I have two originals, holla!)

anthropologie leather safari chair

See what I mean? Sure, it doesn’t have the rosewood, nor the beautiful caramel leather, but the general shape, scale, arms and strap details are all there.  It’s an iconic ’70s shape that is pretty desired right now. So I just felt they had potential.

80's blue club chairs

Man, that super rich velvet makes those details VERY hard to see. I’m assuming they’ll brighten them up for the actual photo for the sale, (MARCH 10th), but trust me when I tell you, they are incredible. If I didn’t have a navy sofa and rug, I would probably keep these. But alas, they are yours.

Up next: a pair of peach and brass ’80s side chairs.

peach-80's-chair

The chairs above were total splurges even before the upholstery. The peach was in “meh” condition, and while I know that that color is back and has a lot of potential growing in the future, it’s a hard sell for a lot of people, and fact is I have to move this furniture. I don’t have a store so I can’t just hope they sell; this forces me to take moderate risks without taking totally crazy risks. With only three days to sell these pieces, I have to make sure that they are actually sell-able. So I thought I’d take these crazy chairs and at least update them with a color that more people can handle, but still totally fun.

80's peacock blue chairs

Ah yes. I want you in my house, right now. I want to use words like “divine” and “exquisite,” but then I’d hate myself, so instead I’ll just say “amazing” and have that suffice. They really are. The shape of the base is incredible, the upholstered arms are so unique, and that brass is in very good condition. It’s the solid stuff, not the cheap stuff.

In case you are muttering, “She only reupholsters in blues,” I’d like to show you exhibit A:

photo 3

That piece above is now this amazing black and white navajo-inspired pattern:

black and white daybed

Somebody better buy that beauty before I decide to chuck my entire style and turn into my friend Morgan.

For the record, there are actually very few bright, saturated colored fabrics that are inexpensive. These fabrics, above, were all $20 – $25 a yard, which is kinda my max for resale.  I’d love to use a bright green, yellow, tangerine, or coral, but they are strangely hard to find from sources under $50 a yard, some even head up to $90/yard. I can find chartreuse, lime green, olive green and a kelly here and there, but none that I’m like “YES! That’s my green!.” Same with yellow. A lot of butters (barf) and some school bus, but none of that perfect lemon acidy yellow that we all love. So any suggestions would be great. Oh and I got all these fabrics from Home Fabrics in downtown LA, which I’ve concluded has the best selection for the price without a ton of digging.

For all your upholstery questions, comments, and concerns, please see my “All you need to know about upholstering furniture” post where I lie out everything from how to find your upholsterer, to how many yards per piece, pricing per piece, and what my go-to fabrics are. Good luck.

So, if these pieces were free, which one would you be most likely want to have in your living room?