Sneak Peek -- My New Kitchen

For some reason I get all self conscious and procrastinate when it comes to sharing pictures of my own house. (Other people's homes, sure, no problem. Mine -- yikes!) But I'm really pleased with how my kitchen is coming along, and wanted to share it with all of you.

I want the feel of a Parisian bistro-- it's not there yet, but I think once the lighting and hardware is in, we may get close.


This is very much "in progress" -- the view into the kitchen would show some gaping holes under the cooktop and where the oven goes, and there is an obvious cover panel missing at the end of the upper cabinets.

Formerly there was a row of cabinets blocking this view -- getting rid of them has done amazing things to open up my living room as well as the kitchen. The cabinets are all Ikea Liljestad. I repurposed some glass front upper cabinets to make the breakfront cabinet on the penisula -- I'm hoping it hides a lot of the potential mess on the countertop.

I've been angsting over what to do with the replaceable panel refrigerator for over a year. After getting the cabinets in, Ben says it needs to move up on our list. I agree.

This pretty half moon over the sink is the "complicated" part of the kitchen. It was cut from some broken tabletops my dad had bought over 30 years ago that had been sitting out in the weather since then. My countertop guy said it would never match the carrerra marble I used for the countertops. It did. Perfectly. :)

The sink is the Ikea Domsjo sink. The fixture is Kohler Fairfax, off of eBay. You can pull the whole faucet part out -- a requirement so Ben can get his homebrew pots filled up.


The horrible yellow is the glue left over from the linoleum backsplash. I'm covering it with a black and cream vinyl wallpaper. I'm shopping for a small art deco light fixture on eBay for over the sink, and I may try to cram a mirror in that area, too. We'll see.

I'll post more pictures when we're all done.

The New Antiquarians

Both Krista and the designer I'm working with on my addition sent me links to the New York Times article The New Antiquarians, including a fabulous slideshow.

Hollister and Porter Hovey's living room -- impressive use of black walls!

A cabinet of wonders in their home.

Matthew Ryan's apartment.

Taxidermy and sea fans.

The slide show has 9 more pictures and another entire home.

Photos: Michael Weschler for The New York Times

Pictorial Webster's

My friend Kara alerted me to the imminent publication of Pictorial Webster's


I hate to just shill the publisher's pitch, but...

Pictorial Webster's -- Featuring over 1,500 engravings that originally graced the pages of Webster's dictionaries in the 19th century, this chunky volume is an irresistible treasure trove for art lovers, designers, and anyone with an interest in visual history. Meticulously cleaned and restored by fine-press bookmaker Johnny Carrera, the engravings in Pictorial Webster's have been compiled into an alluring and unusual visual reference guide for the modern day. Images range from the entirely mysterious to the classically iconic. From Acorns to Zebras, Bell Jars to Velocipedes, these alphabetically arranged archetypes and curiosities create enigmatic juxtapositions and illustrate the items deemed important to the Victorian mind. Sure to inspire and delight, Pictorial Webster's is at once a fascinating historical record and a stunning jewel of a book.


They are giving away a very fancy leather hand-bound edition, too!


Buy Pictorial Webster's: A Visual Dictionary of Curiosities at Amazon (for 34% off -- only $23.10). There's also a Pictorial Webster's Stamp Set and Pictorial Webster's Wall Cards.

Via Junior Society.

Submarine Set in Cartoon Heroes Video

Ben sent me this music video with a fabulous steampunk set -- you have to wait a while, but then you get a hybrid spaceship/submarine straight out of Jules Verne.



I didn't expect to like it, but I loved it!

20th Century Props Auction

Cherie sent me this:

20th Century Props seems to be closing it's doors with a humongous webcast auction of it's warehouse July 28th - August 1st.

When 20th Century Props decided they had
enough, Great American Group was chosen to
sell everything down to the bare walls. With
over 40 years of collecting and buying, renting
and selling, Harvey Schwartz, the owner of 20th
Century Props is ready to retire. You’d be hard
press to find any movie or television show that
hasn’t had one of these props on the set. You’ll
find the futuristic shower Tom Cruise used
in “Minority Report” to an armchair that starred
with Marilyn Monroe in multiple films to the Art
Deco chandeliers from “The Aviator” &
“Titanic” with Leo DiCaprio. Whether you are a
movie buff, a collector, an interior decorator ar
just a person with a thing for leopard skin
furniture, you’d be crazy not to attend this
auction. Bid on site or bid online from the
convenience of your PC! Log onto our website
at www.greatamerican.com and view over
200,000 square feet of furniture, collectibles,
antiques, figurines and artwork from every
period in the history of the world.


There's a Windows Media video tour here and a pdf brochure here.

Some advice here? No 6 foot high statues of anything (unless you have 20 foot high ceilings, and then only maybe). Stay away from fiberglass. Focus on the furniture and housing accessories -- it looks like they have some great antiques. Your best deals are probably on the earliest and latest auctions each day -- when people haven't warmed up yet or have already spent their money. Remember, there's a 10% buyer's premium and if you don't live in LA you've got to figure out how to get it home -- and freight shipping is probably not cheap.

Heather Jean's Steamy Horrorpunk Home

Heather Jean is an artist who specializes in wierd, wonderful, horrible collages. She also has a fabulous home to share with us.

Although I would consider myself more horrorpunk than steampunk, I think you can see the influence on my decorating... The first 2 pics are in my living room, that's a radio tube stuck in an antique candle holder, a photo of my spouse and I at Dances of Vice last year, and a fetal skeleton replica which was altered by my friend Mike Locascio to look like one of the dancing fetal skeletons of Bologna. I'm an artist and I work at home, so I've really enjoyed creating an atmosphere to suit my eccentric and esoteric tastes.

What is it about the old kid's piano that makes it the spookiest thing here?

Martin's Watchmaker Loft

Here's Martin's loft; he says he's

...more oriented towards a Sherlock Holmes interior with strong watchmaking influences (my grandad was a watchmaker).




The apartment is a loft in a renovated toy factory from way back. Because of some of the interior features of the building such as the enclosed courtyard, we sometimes call it the Willy Wonka Building. Now if I could only get that fully surrounded double height shelved library going!

I love the personal history informed view of his steampunk style -- "the watchmaker." Did you notice the shelf full of timepieces?