Archives for the month of: September, 2013

random house v2.0

September 26, 2013 //
8

ALBERT_guinea pig portrair vertical

It’s Thursday, it’s also my Birthday tomorrow.  So I am recycling again, any excuse to take a shortcut…
Here’s my Throwback.

This was my 7th Birthday present from my mum and as I recall The Best Gift Ever! And a total surprise.
I remember coming home from school one day and finding Albert on the kitchen table and not thinking much of it. Obviously he had just had a sitting. He was my best friend and the reason I am not so fond of cats. [Tragically, devastatingly killed some years later by our neighbour’s semi-feral feline.]

I haven’t had this on display for years as I

a] grew up

and

b] became unhappy with the mock ornate frame but now I love the irony of it’s fancy-ness.
It’s kind of the Mona Lisa of pet portraits.

Sigh. To be seven again, with such simple expectations…

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Categories randomness

yellow pages

September 24, 2013 //
0

egg yellow Pyrex Rosti collection

Hello, Yellow!…
Yellow equals Happy Chic joie de vivre and sunny optimism.

Jonathan Adler, Happy Chic Colors

Also to be found in this gloriously colourful book, the following quote by Vincent Van Goph, master of golden goodness.

Yellow is capable of charming God.

Actually it’s been suggested that Van Goph’s yellow period, when he painted Sunflowers, Starry Night and Night Café among others, was due to the sideffects of excessive digitalis, which is not an over-saturation of electronic devices but too much of an extract from the plant Foxglove. Van Goph was prescribed this to suppress his epilepsy and manic behaviour.  Symptoms of this condition [Xanthopsia] are blurry, haloed lights  [check out Starry Night] and yellow tinted vision. *

The alternative theory is he liked yellow. Or it’s a combination of the two…

Egg yolk yellow Danish design melamine
Speaking of combinations…

mixing yellow

More Jonathan Adler reference. Why?

Totally modern, totally retro. Design Genius.

>> When in doubt: yellow + gray

Tone down yellow’s brash sunniness with sedate gray for a soothing ’40s feel. You can’t go wrong with this duo. Any shades will work.

yellow black white single serve tea cup setone kind design collection yellow storm


>>Chic and Classique: yellow + green.

This zesty pairing is a one-way ticket to Palm Beach

vintage pineapple shaped tooljonathan adler yellow and green

>>Tricky Treat: yellow + black

Keep it from reading ‘bubblebee’ by letting back and white predominate and spooning in just a soupçon of yellow.

Patrick Caulfield Coalport Tate Gallery VaseGreg Natale Jonathan Adler

let your fingers do the walking:

Pics 1 & 2:

Sunny side up
Rosti Mepal, Danish icons in egg yolk yellow.
Buy here : Pitcher & 1.5 L Margrethe bowl
other bowls  & various utensils for sale in store or  email me for more info

3.
single serve Bristol Cotton Grass tea cup set buy here

4.
Onekind Design hand screen printed bedlinen in Yellow and Storm, buy here or available in store at urban rustic 6b Robertson Rd Newport.

5.
Pineapple slicer. A cute Australian invention. I gifted it to Megan Morton, the most vibrant Pineapple Head I’ve come across. Check out the killer Pineapple heels she discovered, pinned here.

6.
Image: Jonathan Adler

7.
Patrick Caulfield fine china vase by Coalport 1997, designed to commemorate the opening of the Tate Gallery London. Sold.

8.
Image: another Jonathan Adler advocate, Greg Natale

Read the rest of this entry »

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Categories randomness

JavaScript upgrade

September 19, 2013 //
0

Should I kill myself, or have a cup of coffee?
Albert Camus

milk glass cafe orange pyrex mugs copy

I recommend another café Albert.

cafe orange milk glass retro canister

Or depending which way you look at it or what language, uno caffé…

caffe orange milk glass retro canister

Fixed the JavaScript file. It was bugging me.
This new version has it’s original milkglass lid.

set 6 retro orange red pyrex corning mugs copy

Also uploaded these gorgeous orange retro Pyrex & Crown mugs to the urban rustic.com site.

Remember these? Loving the memories from browsers in my shop.

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Categories caffiend

Zoolanders

September 13, 2013 //
2

Really really really, ridiculously good looking. Just can’t turn left.

Zoolander jugs can't go left

.

Like most models these guys have a flawed side. Not good as ambi-turners but no need to ditch ’em.

A cracked bottom here, a chipped lip there, maybe a hairline fracture and the odd scar it’s just a matter of showing the best side.
Still so hot right now.

Zoolander jugs cant turn left


Orange Mocha Frappuccino anyone?

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Categories randomness

spring greening

September 11, 2013 //
12

vintage avocado green retro flower pyrex

My entire collection of 1970s avocado green Pyrex in Crazy Daisy and Spring Blossom [the smaller flower print with leaves] for sale $125 plus postage. Out they go…

to make room for these: welcome Holmegaard…

Holmegaard green glass candlestick vases mid century Royal Copenhagen buy

Candle or vase? You flip. Double the functionality, three times the quality from the brilliant Danish legends in Royal Copenhagen Crystal.

Holmegaard Crystal vases candleholders

And more on the holm front: Cathrineholm that is.  Assume the Lotus position people, and hold onto it? Or let it go?

Cathrineholm Enamel Tea Kettle Lotus green white Norway

My first piece. Can you keep a secret? I managed to buy this on Ebay listed as vintage mid-century Danish [actually it’s Norwegian] kettle. Woot. I feel kind of bad. Should I have told her it was Cathrineholm? I didn’t get it for ridic cheap, there’s plenty of cluey ebayers out there, but I did get it for half the price, or a quarter depending where you look.

So do I keep it and start a collection I can’t afford to have [the quality and thickness of the enamel is outstanding, I do see why they are sought after] or send it off to a happy new home with a few bucks extra in my pocket?

More green, with envy this time, when a few days later a lovely lady visiting my shop told me she picked up an orange Lotus bowl for $4 at our local Red Cross. [RRP between  $140 – $200] Not quite the holy grail of collecting, like buying a box of $200 million Ansel Adams negatives at a garage sale for $45  but an awesome score all the same. She said she had heart palpitations. Me too, I couldn’t concentrate for about half an hour after hearing that story. Damn I wish it had been me…

So I think I might let the kettle go, I love being green, but its orange and blue and yellow that I’m digging the most.

What’s your best roadside/ garage sale, market score? I love these stories. Seems they are a bit thin on the ground now even the sweet old ladies at Salvos get on Ebay before pricing a piece of plastic.

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Categories green Is good

interiors addict high

September 6, 2013 //
9

So ecstatic to feature on the very cool Interiors Addict blog today.

Author Jen Bishop, also the founder of the super fun 7 Vignettes Instagram Challenge which I am totally hooked on, posted this story about my Newport shop.

Here’s a small taste…

interiors addict urban rustic story

Get the full hit here
http://theinteriorsaddict.com/urban-rustic-a-new-homewares-store-finding-joy-in-pre-loved-wares

It’s a great read, if I do say so myself. Which I do.  And an awesome blog with a good rep. Style without the snobbery is the mantra.
To misquote Liz Lemon you should go to there.

Such a buzz.
Happy Friday people, super smiley face

urban rustic exteriorurban rustic chair + shelvesurban rustic pineapple ice bucketurban rustic suitcases

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Categories randomness

anodise this

September 3, 2013 //
2

blue anodised wine goblet swizzle sticks

Hello.

So maybe I am crazy. Defiinitely nostalgic. I certainly don’t need to take on any further collections in this jumbled headspace but when I stumbled upon a few anodised pieces all at once, it seemed like the thrifting universe was talking to me.

Mixed up? Yes.  Delusional even.

It does remind me of my childhood. Those stacking tumblers. Remember them? In a cute little vinyl case with a zipper. I passed up a set not so long ago for $10 because the cups inside where in a terrible, corroded state, then I was filled with that annoying state of mind I always seem to experience. Regret. Not for the things I buy, but for the times I put the WRONG thing down.

Why? It’s just stuff… Isn’t it?

See? A fruit loop

retro anodised fruit loops

Not so much time later I found a reasonably priced decent condition set of cups, with no case.  Arrh!  The irony. [Aluminium actually]

retro anodised red ice bucket blue wine cooler copy

So anyway, moving on….

The red Prestige [UK] ice bucket is sold already.
The wine cooler reminds me of my father for some reason. Not that he was into wine at all,  [my parents were teetotallers, whatever that means] but there must have been something years ago anodised with this gorgeous shiny blue stripeyness.  It says Alf to me. That’s my Dad. Flaming Heck, can you get a funnier name than that? I think not.

There was, of course, in my mid-century decorated family bungalow a set of twin anodised bedside lights clamped onto the veneered parental bedhead. In bronze. There was also a chenille bedspread.  And as you may, or may not recall, a fat baby Elvis girl. But thats another story…

Mid-century retro anodised barware

So here it is. All out there for all to see. The extent of my psycho-anodising.
Am I cured? Who knows? I’m letting it go, so that’s a good sign, isn’t it?

Til the next session…cheerS

retro anodised red blue wine glasses goblets

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Categories randomness
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