Object Love: Teak and Resin Cubes

I saw these side tables/cubes on the Andrianna Shamaris Tastemaker Tag Sale on One Kings Lane this morning, and I had to re-post them.  So cool!  And so expensive!  ($6899 each on sale).  For anyone who loves agates and geodes these are dream pieces.  They are teak and cracked resin and measure 28 inch square and 16.5 inches high. They would look so good grouped as a  coffee table.  

Here and here.

Apartment File: In a perfect World

In a perfect world I'd be able to buy anything I wanted for my house.  (And I'd be living in the awesome 60s era house at the top of the hill with the exposed beam ceilings and fireplace, not the tiny guesthouse at the bottom).  But alas, not my lot in life.  Setting up a house essentially from scratch has caused me to spend a fair amount of money lately, and for the next two weeks I need to refrain from buying home goods in order to focus on the bill paying time of the month.  This is what I would have bought myself this morning were the money flowing a little more freely:

and maybe one of these:

All from the Tastemaker Tag Sales this morning on One Kings Lane.  Have you ever bought anything from One Kings Lane?

Late Night Inspiration: Stephan Hamel's House in Tuscany

Well okay, its not that late, only 11:15.  But I should be sleeping since I have to get up early and go to work tomorrow.  I just found these photos from Vogue Living Australia Nov/Dec 2010 issue online, and wanted to repost them.  I stopped at Barnes & Noble this afternoon when I was in the neighborhood running errands, and this issue was still on the shelves.  I LOVED this house, but didn't want to shell out the $10 cover price for an imported magazine.  I thought it would be easier to find the photos online, but it actually wasn't.  Thus I'm going to re-post them so others can enjoy them too.  I found them here.

Why do I love this home?  Its kind of cluttered and has a few too many objects that just scream 80s to me.  I think there is an object that I hate in almost every photo, but there is also something I love in every photo.  I really like the colorful nature of just about everything. The beamed ceilings, brick/tile floors, and bright light are all relatable to NM houses.  And I like that there are so many of those crazy contemporary furniture pieces that are really more theoretical than practical, actually in use in the house.  Ultimately it looks lived in, and lived in by interesting people.

I think what I really love about looking into other people's homes is seeing their personalities come through.  I don't believe in a perfect space.  Personalization is a vital part of human nature, and its why interiors that look too highly stylized or spartan just don't read as authentic to me.  Give me a crazy Italian retreat any day.

How about you?  Any crazy houses that you really love?

Inspiration: Los Angeles' Union Station

My trip to California in early December was a bit of an adventure thanks to the fact that I decided to take the train.  The trip from Albuquerque to Los Angeles mostly takes place overnight, and in the winter was primarily dark, so the potentially beautiful scenery was non-existent.   On the trip back I was also sick, which influenced the experience negatively.  Nonetheless, there was one really great reason to travel by train-- arriving at Los Angeles' Union Station.  Gorgeous.

 After being on the cramped train all night it was such a relief to step out into this central courtyard.

The station was completed in 1939, and it's sort of California Mission Style/Deco.  The stone and tile work is really cool.

This is the main entrance hall.  Behind me is the waiting room, to the left would be the central courtyard to to the right is the old ticket hall.  I tried to capture the scale of the place, but I don't find any of these photos to be very good at that.  This video might be better.

Los Angeles Union Station Ticket Hall from S@sha on Vimeo.

 This was one of the side courtyards.  It was so pretty and peaceful.

Los Angeles Union Station Courtyard from S@sha on Vimeo.

This window was off the ticket hall... I assumed that those bells might have wrung to announce imminent arrivals and departures?  Or maybe they were just a reference to the old mission bells.

Wave tiles surrounding the courtyard fountain.

The old ticket hall.  Currently closed off to the public.  The big chandeliers sort of mess with your perception of scale, but use those wooden doors at left for an idea of how big the space is.

The old restaurant, also closed to the public.  I had to take these through the glass doors, and as a result the copper details really didn't translate well.  I love the Native American floor pattern expressed in terrazzo.

This water fountain was right outside the restaurant.  A couple of guys looked askance at me when I photographed it, but I was amazed that it remains intact.  Stay away vandals!

This is a view from my seat in the waiting room.  The old chairs are huge.  The doors to the courtyards were open, and birds kept flying in and seemed to be making nests in the chandeliers.

The station services Amtrak and commuter rail in LA.  If I lived there I'd want to commute through here every day.

Interior Inspiration: Mazen El-Abdallah on Canadian House & Home TV

Just saw this episode on the Canadian House & Home site featuring the house of Mazen El-Abdallah of Mazen Studio and thought it was one of the best modern renovations of a Victorian that I've seen.  (Sorry, slightly blurry screen shots... but you should just go watch the segment anyway and forget this post). 

Interior Inspiration: Lori Goldstein

Part of my Great Office Clean-out last year was finally organizing and recycling old magazines that I had kept because something in them inspired me.  I paged through old magazines while I watched movies, and ripped out anything that still kept me interested.  Then I added them to my pile to scan.

These images from stylist Lori Goldstein's weekend house in Amagansett, NY still caught my eye eight years after they were published.  In fact, I know that I saved the magazine for this home.  All images were scanned from the October 2002 issue of Elle Decor.  I didn't note the photographer.  (Bad me, if you happen to know please tell me).

I like the Malm fireplace, the BIG basket of wood, the Moroccan rug, the low lying bed, the casually placed art, and most of all the wall of windows.

The green table, the swing arm lamp, the worn oriental rug, the natural looking bed linens.

Again love the walls of glass, the vertical wood siding, and the boulders-as-steps down into the garden.  Really nice.

I'm posting it today because I saw just realized today that Lori Goldstein is the same woman that Kelly from The Glamourai has featured on her site several times over the past few months.  She put up detail shots that she took in Ms. Goldstein's Chelsea loft up yesterday, and had posted more interiors back in June. (Part I and Part II).

I love to contrast the city and country homes of people.  Here the only thing I noticed in both was a Moroccan rug.  Any sharp eyes detect more?  I also noticed that the house reminded me of another favorite home I posted a few months ago, that of stylist and photographer Anita Calero.  Her home is also a modernist house with wood ceilings and walls of glass located on Long Island.  It has a similar color palette too-- sagey green, lots of brown, and pops of red.  Her city loft is in West Chelsea, and she has the exact same wooden deer head that is shown in the first picture above.  Must have been  a stylist thing ca. 2002?