I once picked up Joyce Carol Oates’ novel Blonde almost ten years ago in a Barnes & Noble and began reading one of the chapters.  I didn’t purchase it that day but I did get it for Christmas from my husband this year.  It’s just as captivating as I thought it would be, a fantastic read so far.

Sometimes when Oates describes the streets and neighborhoods of LA during Norma Jean’s childhood, my mind drifts to memories of our trips to visit Betsy in LA. Can’t wait to go and visit again.

What will you be daydreaming of or reading this weekend?

photo taken in Betsy’s old neighborhood, Culver City 2008

]]> http://www.theestateofthings.com/wp_teot/2010/02/05/norma-jean/feed/ http://www.theestateofthings.com/wp_teot/2010/02/04/downtown/ http://www.theestateofthings.com/wp_teot/2010/02/04/downtown/#comments Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:49:41 +0000 Betsy http://www.theestateofthings.com/wp_teot/?p=759 These people are beautiful and so is their store called Downtown. I want to tell you more about the hand selected vintage merchandise and I will soon. My friend Derek took me on Saturday and we met Mr. Robert Wilson and chatted for a bit with him about Downtown. Mr. Wilson is a warmly composed man and it was a thrill to stand around and rap about Interior Design, the travesty of mass shelter magazine collapse, as well as 20th century masterpieces and the next door gallery that sold Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup cans to a daring buyer for $100 each. We ventured over to that gallery and saw an informal presentation of Warhol’s contemporaries. (notably Ruscha, Lichtenstein and I think Rauschenburg - but I saw no labels).

Please visit the Downtown website, downtown20.net and prepare yourself for more than one post as a result of my visit there on Saturday. Mr. Wilson stated that most of their business is done locally, that over 75% is directly to the trade and that they also do rentals to LA’s movie and television industry. Please check out their inventory on 1stdibs. If you see anything you must have, well……. perhaps you can have it! I can’t.

Enjoy!!

I ordered this outdoor pillow for the little sofa on my porch, this little ditty was $9.95 on clearance and I couldn’t pass it up.  There were several other cute pillows on sale that were $10-$12 each.

And because I’d like to recover some vintage club chairs (in the next 10 years) in my living room, I ordered these samples for a buck a piece.

I am really taken by a classic ticking stripe.  The example given below is the very sophisticated and timeless loveseat at Lauren’s apartment from Good Bones, Great Pieces.  This apartment was featured in this month’s issue of Traditional Home.

Truthfully, I’m terrified of upholstering those chairs in something trendy, incurring all that expense and hating them a couple of years from now.  It’s so tempting to trick them out in some graphic print but I must resist.

The girl has got skillz. This is Sarah’s daughter DC, chatting with her parents after dinner.

So after seeing Remodelista’s post on the English Cottage entry, it was easy to draw a line from that to an image I found not too long ago at Canadian House & Home.

The color contrast is delicious and my love affair with watery blue seems unending. And as I said before, there are painted cedar shakes on the exterior of the Indiana house. 

And I found this rooting around in Flickr one day,

 This is an old Sears houseplan, it was called the Amsterdam. After doing some light research I’ve found that this house is a Dutch Colonial Revival and I think the Indiana house is too.  I originally thought the Indiana house was begging for a big covered front porch.  But after collecting all of these images, I’m beginning to think a generous covered entry is the way to go. Enter support brackets,

 Both of the images above are from Molly Frey Design

 Just a reminder, this is what the Indiana house looks like.

 Thanks for following along with my thought process. I love when things to start to come together.

A6 Notebook

One Day at a Time set

Calendar pad

And the cuteness doesn’t end with the alphabet, you can also get a custom name print for your little snuggle bunny.

You’ll want to get started with the Eldridge pendant at Ballard Designs, $199

Kate and I had a big moving day on Sunday and on the way back from picking up a dining table in Venice, we decided to stop in and see what it would kind of money it would take to get one of those fireplaces set up in the corner of our new huge balcony. I choose this orange guy! We met with the fantastically friendly shop owner (Francesca), and she was ready to let me take him home for $1000. (too bad I’m poor).

Not all was lost though. This was a really fun visit. There’s much to see at Live Style: Inspiring furniture and accessories mostly from Indonesia and all of it at a REALLY fair price. When I inquired with Francesca about this show stopping couch, she told me that it was her own personal design, including the textile - which was a yummy velour. It wouldn’t normally occur to me to want a floral couch, but this one was special.

If you’re in the area, I’d recommend popping in to see what’s going on here. I’ll definitely be going back.