Digesting And Spewing Pop Culture Into Your Face

I found this site, Vitamin, awhile ago and was drawn to the style of their wares. They definitely have a touch of inspiration from the collectible vinyl toy market a-la Kidrobot but are upscaled for a more natural home decor. The picture up top is a bone china “Urban Creature Gnome” which I guess is their take on the classic garden gnome. It’s face can be changed to a multitude of styles and they can even convert it into a lamp if you’d like.

I really like these though the price of admission is a bit too rich for my blood. They also have some modern looking coin banks, bottle openers, kitchen timers and even salt and pepper shakers that have a lot of character.

The good thing about these items is the prices are a little more within reach as they are functional as well as cool looking. What really struck me though were there really cool takes on pots for indoor plants.

Those are full size pots and the plants are watered by an I.V. drip bag. Pretty ingenious and modern and industrial looking too. Anyways, check ‘em out and pick something up if you are so inclined. You can grab me something too and it will be much appreciated.

Here is a beautiful picture of our new sofa we just ordered. It’s gorgeous isn’t it? Just kidding, that’s just the drawing of the layout and measurements. I’m pretty excited about this as it’s the first time I’ve ever ordered something so big and had it custom made. The first time I thought of custom made furniture I thought it just sounded expensive but after doing some research and shopping around at normal furniture stores and outlets I found a great local company called appropriately enough The Sofa Company.They had fantastic reviews on Yelp and there website has a great customization feature where you can pick a metric ton of different options. Once we got to the store my girlfriend and I knew this was the place to get our sofa. The problem we were having with stores like Macy’s, H.D. Buttercup, Room & Board, and IKEA was that prices were ridiculous, the sofas were for the most part uncomfortable and the styles never really matched what we wanted. At The Sofa Company we instantly knew that we could get exactly what we wanted and the prices were actually fair. That’s what amazed me the most. Here we had a place that we could buy the sofa we wanted and not feel as if we were getting ripped off. The best thing about this place is that the sofa’s are actually made locally too so on top of saving money to get exactly what we wanted we were also helping to stimulate the local economy. That in itself is a great feeling. So, we picked out the style the fabric and added a queen-size sleeper onto the sectional and ordered it today. We’re looking at a 3-4 week wait time for delivery but it seems worth it to me. Say goodbye to our shitty green and purple couches and hello to our new sectional. I’ll post pics when it’s delivered but for now you’ll just have to soak in that gorgeous drawing at the top.

That right there is a beautiful cushion I got custom made for our tulip chair. After some major internet searching I found a really affordable Knoll fabric on eBay. I contemplated attempting to make the cushion myself but 1.) I have no experience with something like this and 2.) I would have ruined the cushion and fabric I bought. I looked through Yelp for some custom upholsterers and came across a guy who would do the cushion for $50. After a few anxious days of waiting I got it and I have to say I’m really digging the finished look. I love the silver chair with the dark blue of teh cushion. Right now I’ve got a lead on another tulip chair for ultra cheap and I may have to make a companion chair for this one. Let me know what you think in the comments.

So, occasionally I’m going to post some Interior Design stuff. I’ll try to make it pop culture related but sometimes it will just be some of the stuff around the apartment I’m working on. Up right now is a chair that I got at an estate sale for $5.

This is a knock-off of a chair that was originally designed by Eero Saarinen and was called appropriately enough the “Tulip Chair”.

I have to say that I am pretty much in love with this style of furniture that is called Mid-Century Modern. It has it’s roots and influences in Danish furniture design from the 50′s and 60′s. I would guess that much of the popularity of this style has seen a resurgence due to the T.V. show Mad Men. I have to say that my influence probably comes from the great set of the Brady Bunch home.

Maybe it’s the idealism of the show but that furniture and stuff looks great.

So based on that I’ve started to acquire a nice mix of kitsch type stuff. Now getting this chair for $5 was a great steal in mind as a knock-off of the original can still sell for upwards of $150. I was excited at first as I thought I may have gotten a real one but upon getting home and doing some research I realized it was not. Oh well. I still loved it. So I got around to cleaning it and then fixing a crack in the fiberglass seat:

I wasn’t sure what to do with it at that point as the off white color just looked beat up and there was some rust on the metal swivel leg. I decided to strip the paint on the leg and then chose a metallic hammered spray paint. The paint was upposed to have a textured feel to it but for some rason it just turned out flat silver.

I like the way it turned out but I may change the color as I’m not totally sold on the color. The next step is to get some fabric to put over an Ikea cushion I got that fits the seat pretty well. Unfortunately I have no sewing skills so I may hit a friend up to make the case for the cushion.

To be continued….