picasso & green

another great find. this great 1950's picasso study moves from room to room. you never know where she will wind up. found in a pile of junkie drawings..she was definately the diamond in the rough.
i little bit of the ever-growing glass finds. most recent is the great glass plastic bottle replica. found it at moma store. i know, i know...its not new, but it still rocked my fix for finds.
and can't forget the splash of color...this little branch has been there 6 weeks and counting.

handmade with care

i found this lamp 20 years ago in a little antique shop in idaho. i stored it at my grandparents until about 3 years ago. i don't know why i waited so long to bring this one home. i do remember the lady at the antique shop saying it was hand made out of sagebrush years ago. for some reason it brings some modern sensibility to a room that has a lot of old primitive things.

shocking, but true

now,..... i enjoy arranging the apartment and spending time puttering and moving things around (weekly...usually a bad weekend habit), but even after all my efforts and ideas....you people always comment on this little, spot of a spot in the apartment, and it always sounds something like this "i love this little spot/nook/storage/spot sooooooo much", seriously. anyway, this is the one "spot of a spot" in this apartment that i do not spend time arranging, but it is rather, a monster waiting to take over. go figure!

japanese country style

i love the japanese minimal approach with a bit of rustic and country mixed in. i found this great magazine in japan town, it is very similar to a japanese home magazine called Olive. i only have 2 issues of Olive and always keep them towards the top of my mag pile for inspiration. unfortunately, this magazine has english name. sorry.....

rosemary warner photograph

i mentioned rosemary warner earlier and this is the photo i was refrencing. i met rosemary in 2003, about 6 months after i moved to nyc. she finally (hee) invited me over to her studio in dumbo (brooklyn, nyc) after a few months. she lives in that amazing loft space we all dream of, when our New York dream comes to life (fat chance anyone could get that now). well, she had lived there for over 20 years in this old shoe factory and the first several years she didn't even have heat. she has built a kitchen, bathroom, interior walls have gone up and she did it all alone. she lived on the 5th floor of a walk-up building and her space was 5000+ sq. feet....i about fell over dead when i walked in for the first time. she has the most amazing work live space and i was surrounded by this whole collection called jump.....i gravitated towards this piece and had to figure out a way to get it. it took over a year of payments until she made it home and believe you me, she is one of those girls you always have to keep close to home. i better stop as i am sounding so materialistic.

a sharp deal

flea market find in San Diego. i couldn't not.... and wish i would have bought the whole batch. this vendor had a whole box of these resin horn knives and i only bought a portion. lesson learned....again.

red

color just isn't my thing. i fear i will become known as the one who didn't take color risks. i look at a neutral pallet and think, "maybe i will throw in a little color and add a nice cactus or branch from any kind of tree that has green leaves" and think to myself " wow, that color makes a huge difference". well, the next day someone comes over for a visit and states the fact, "you should add some color to this room" and i say back "i just did, look at that tree branch with 2 leaves in the corner".
seriously though, i find so much color in this weathered, sun bleached pine table. that i bought from a great french importer near santa cruz. this table was such a deal that i can't even tell you how much.
the top of this table has most incredible combination of pale earth browns and all shades of grey. i find that enough color to sooth my spirit. once in a blue moon i will throw some color in a space and live with it for a few weeks, but then i have to change everything back to minimal color. the red pillow is like a bomb going off in this space. i found that fabric at the gypsy honeymoon in SF

Sunday Night Light

my favorite room: because this room faces west and the evening lights shifts effortlessly every season ,with a different warmth than of the past. September light carries with it a warm, emotion filled glow that only comes toward the end of September. i wish i could capture the light in this picture, but aside from the fact I'm not a photographer, i think it is a light hard to express through a lens.
this room also has a powerful group of women watching over it. most of my collection of images, paintings and photo's of women are in this room. They range from flea market finds, to french oil portraits, to an amazing large photograph i purchased from a friend who let me pay her $50 -$100 a month for over a year until the full $1000.00 was paid off. this was a splurge i was not in a position to make, but rosemary was so generous to let me have a payment plan. i'll write more about rosemary's art another day in its own posting, yeah!!
anyway, can you see how many women are in this photo??

The Entrance

well, here i am and it feels good to be a wealthy man. i recently vacationed in montauk with some good friends. my new friend rick (boyfriend of my dear friend, patti, who was also the host for the long weekend) was passionately encouraging me to create a blog to capture a history of things that inspired me. interiors and any form of casual elegance.

rick told me about a great blog called "the satorialist" to look at for inspiration. well, "inspire" it did....it was mind blowing. actually, the first day after getting home from montauk, i sat down at the computer and spent 2 hours looking at every entry in the satorialist blog ( starting back in sept 2005). i was embarassed that i had never heard of this blog.

let me get to the interesting part of the story....my wealth. well, on this trip to montauk, my other good friend pam, bet me one million dollars i would not and could not get a blog up and running in a month or a year for that matter. there just happened to be others present to hear this bet (rick, patti & lupe). well pammy, guess what, this blog is up and running and it has only been 2 weeks. (pam call when the check is in the mail because i'm spending money like crazy right now)

so in comes the reason for this first photo. it is the entry hall of my apartment in san francisco and this is my first blog entry-the hard part is done (that first entry) and this photo really rings true to the intention of this site. to share some inspiring photos and ideas with my friends that might just create that casual elegance without breaking your 401k. so, i thought i could tell you a little about the objects and how everyone has access to creating their own style. the entry sideboard cabinet from burgundy, france was purchased from a french antique dealer here in san francisco. she has become a friend and offers great prices. this cabinet was $300.00 (a great piece at a great price), horse etching $100.00 (solid good price), collected books- a few hundred dollars (affordable source of inspiration), mixed ceramic $120.00 (great little investment), diptyque candle (fig) 65.00 w/tax (a guilty pleasure i can't not have), 17ft runner (carpet) for $85.00 found on eBay, and a great little german etching i found at an antique mall for $10.00(shocking).

one down and many more to come.