aubergine and apathy

sometimes you feel like blogging and sometimes you don't. gosh. so i just actually typed that with my little sausage fingers.  embarassing (about the admission of both the blog apathy as well as the state of my bloated appendages). regardless.  It's kinda like cuddling. nope, i always like cuddling. maybe its like going out? nope. i'm the socialest beast in the animal kingdom. (hey spellcheck, get a real job, you are such a buzz kill) maybe its like cooking...yep, that's it.  not me, of course.  i no cook-y. brian cook-y. but  i would imagine that someone who likes to cook feels like cooking a lot (like me and the blogging), but now and again has super long days on set and catches up with friends and family at night, and cooking takes the back burner to everything else.  and where does that leave the blog?  a blog does not right itself, oh no, it doesn't.  nor would i want it to.  it would be like a naughty naughty dog walking itself, or itunes creating its own playlist for you.  i would be very very worried.....remember the sandra bullock movie 'the net?'  a blog can start taking over your life if you let it blog for itself.

so, is this a cop-out blog post?  fo shizzle.  will i do better tomorrow? you know it.
Do all these pictures have the color eggplant in them? yes.  is aubergine a pretentious word for eggplant? definitely.  is it lame to have the theme of your blog post be the color eggplant?  kind of.

but i love you reader(s).  i love all your comments.  they make me want to be the best blogger i can be. yes... like the army, but not exactly fighting for my country,  or fighting at all.  really just typing. but typing ferociously as if the keys were my enemy. and that is a fight i can believe in.
totally delirious, obviously.

Take me back, turquoise, I need you, baby. real bad.

Dear Turquoise,  (sigh.)
Sometimes, and just sometimes,  i believe the people that say you are not sophisticated; that you are 'reminiscent of teenagedom' (should be a word), or 'bad wannabe-ethnic starter furniture'.  But other times you make me so happy and excited, and I wonder why i have listened to all these pretentious color snobs that paint themselves beige and read architectural digest for so long. 

I want you back, turquoise.  So bad.  I know, I know! You are upset, and what color wouldn't be?  I courted you hard core  from 22-27, we got serious, then i thought i was too cool.  Sure, sure, there were the bouts with indigo and navy, and yes i do still see them a lot, but it is you who i have always waffled over.  You are emotional, you see?  You are sometimes hard to look at, or you make me want to have a cocktail with an umbrella in it.  You remind me of South America, Southeast Aia, the islands, anywhere really where the British empire could send their leftover  paint, colors they were too good for, too sophisticated for.   Well you know what? more like colors they were too lame for, too safe for.  Boom.  Not you, though.  You've always taken risks, always pushed the limits of what blue can be.  

I may not put you on my walls or reupholster my furniture in you just yet, but turquoise i want you back - in accessories, throw pillows, fabrics, art, vases, books.  You get the idea.  Baby steps.  We'll take it slow.  See how it goes.  make sure the chemistries right, that we deserve each other.

Let's make pretty interiors together again, Turq. ( and yes, of course i remember....who couldn't?.. it was the 80's in palm springs.....blush...)
(1st photo, Mikkel Vang, 2., Robyn Glaser, 2., Roland Bello) pretty much my favorite lineup right there.

Made In Oregon

That's me. Made in Oregon.  Coos Bay, to be exact, but we don't need to talk about that.  For someone who has only technically lived in Portland for 2 years (last two of high school), I sure do have a ton of Portland pride.  Why? because it's possibly the best city ever.  the bees knees. I love it sooooooooo much (and if someone could explain to me what 'bees knees' means, that would be helpful, hopefully its nothing dirty).  Every corner is pretty, quaint, and just screams 'hi, i'm portland.  i'm unpretentious, chill, artsy, full of good cheap food, beer and coffee, unassuming and dripping with small cute thriving businesses'.  Or perhaps i'm just hearing voices.

to be clear my family and many of my best friends are here and I do claim to be from here, proudly.  Sorry Coos Bay, you are pretty and beachy, but Portland has my heart.

gotta run, will do a proper post tonight.  and i love this sign.  it makes me happy.

Renter wall treatments

So i'm only a  fan of DIY when you really can do it yourself well. For instance I can sew pillows and drapes because those are straight simple seams, but i don't attempt clothes (anymore, although every project runway season I waste so much money on fabric, convinced that I too can wear my own designs, and I can't, I can't, I can't).  You have to know your limits.  The last question you want is, 'oh, did you make this?', because the whole point is to make  it look like it was professionally done, or it just came that way. But some simple stuff anyone can do. I've been shopping a lot for wallpaper lately and I get sad that being a renter, I can't have any myself on my own walls.  I want a pattern on my wall right now, so I found these wall stencils - sounds scary, I know, but I think with the right colors - this is crucial - and the right finish (matte, glossy) it could look super chic.

These all came from the dorkiest stencil website ever, Stencil Planet, you will have to wade through a lot of fish borders and rose decals to find these, but I think they are pretty cool.  Choosing the color is SUPER important because these could go really granny and dorky really fast.  If you get a lot of light on the wall, I might even to use matte paint for the wall, then the same color in glossy on top.  It would just add a texture and another layer of interest without being a crazy pattern.  

Off to Portland.

All I need...

I'm working on a shoot with the generally awesome (and super organized) art director, MaryAlice Eckart this week.  We start shooting in Portland next week and i'll be up there for two weeks at least (don't panic, i'm sure there is internet in Portland, nothing can ever keep me from blogging).  So psyched.  These photos are inspiration shots for the shoot that MaryAlice sent to me.  I'm actually designing/building large sets for a fashion catalogue but these give me the what direction in color/texture/mood that i should be going for, and I love it.  It's kinda like prop stylist foreplay.  I get all worked up; sooo excited to shop when I'm sent stuff like this.

She said they were styled by Sibella Court. not surprised.  they are awesome.
Warn the coffee shops, microbreweries and vintage stores.  Emily Henderson is on her way to P-town.

one more outfit to room, cause i is busy today.  Lil' sis in town, tour of the set of glee (eat your gay heart out), then some wallpaper shopping - an average friday for a stylist in hollywood.

Outfit to room, numero dos

Crazy, crazy, day = short blog post.  But my mom always told me growing up, 'a short blog post is better than no blog post at all'.  It's up there with the 'minding of the p's and q's' and 'no playing war in the house'.  It's always stuck with me, i guess.

Here's another outfit to rooms that I did for an client, with a fake bio of who this person is underneath.  

I kind of want to be this chick.  

( fashion: Vanessa bruno)

Room to fashion style, mine and yes, i'm embarassed.

What am I laughing at, you ask? Just the ceiling.  It's just hilarious. It was telling me the one about 'the window, the floor and the rabbi all walk into a bar'.  gets me every time.  I'm not accustomed to getting my portrait taken, so in order to smile naturally I make myself laugh, and while I think this is better than a fake smile I realize now that I look a like a loon.  I had to do an 'outfit to room' of myself for an outside project.  My friend Teri (who is awesome) took these pics.  In case you aren't aware of the outfit to room concept, it's basically that your home style is often inspired by your fashion style or vice versa.   Clearly mine is - the colors, patterns, mix of woods and leathers, random, vintage, etc. etc. etc,  although I had to help the concept along by adding the hot pink pillow, that isn't normally there.  The flower corsage that sadly i realize was placed to low in this pic, is Ban-do.  thanks, Jen.

and while the blog tries not be blatant self-promotion (that's why i don't post a lot of my own work which many of you have ask for, and by many, i mean my mom and my sister), it seems silly to have it be non-self-promotionery.  My spell-check is up in arms over that last word, but i'm going for it.

Where I bought stuff:  The rug was on craigslist for $75 (it's 8x10, chinese, and prob 80 years old), the sofa is ikea and not the best bt-dubs, the floral pillows are either vintage fabric or fabric from Mood, made by muah - oh except for the white pleated one, that's from CB2, and the blue polka-dot, that's from Ikea.  Everything else is vintage.  The biggest painting was done by Penine Hart, who has an art and antique store in Soho that is underpriced and fantastic

I had to do four other examples - not of me, i'll post them daily.  underneath I did a one-sentence style bio to help the client understand the concept better.

dress by Mayle (no longer exists, bastards), room not sure, sorry!

Monday morning dream house

Oh what I wouldn't do to live here.  I would never (well, now, now, I never say never) sell myself, but I might pimp out bearcat for cuddles.  No one, truly, no one loves to cuddle as much as bearcat, she could do it all day everyday and it really doesn't matter who she's with. A bit of a floosy, I know.

I feel like we could get $80/day for her, easy.  Of course i would prescreen, don't be ridiculous, a good pimp always wants to protect her property.  And with the extra dough, i shall buy this house and move to whatever  country this is in.  This house feels luxe and casual at the same time. The photography is so beautiful, but I will say that it looks a bit cold. or could that be because i'm cold right now (thank god it'll warm up to 73 in no time here).

I love to tile flooring first of all, and the ceilings that they kept original, and those linens, so old and soft, like they've been through the wash 500 times.  It's perfect, i'll take it.  Down payment, you ask? nope, i'll take it as is.  Mortgage? oh, no that won't be necessary, you go ahead and keep it.  Bank loan? no, i'm good. got me a money making kitty.  thanks, though.  (and you have no idea how hard it was to refrain from any less tasteful cat synonyms in that last sentence).

Whatever floats your boat, and this floats mine.

Dios mio,  it's a little warm in here, no?  My, my, my...  Valentines day is sunday, and it doesn't matter whether you are into it or not, pretty pictures are pretty pictures.   I think this photo essay, www.thevoracity.com, is super beautiful.  It's shot by the loveliest, Anna Williams, styled by Pamela Duncan Silver, Food styling by Susan Spungen and produced by Mason at Big Leo productions.  All these people are crazy talented.  and super busy.  I'm impressed that they make time to do their own projects.  It's as if they really love what they do so much they do it in their free time, sounds impossible, but it happens, people, it happens.  It's a photo essay on aphrodesiacs; an 'ongoing essay exploring hunger, consumption and beauty'.  Do yourself a favor this valentines weekend and check it out.  Maybe turn off the lights, crawl into bed, grab a glass of red wine or cranberry juice if that's your cup of tea.  I would not crawl into a bubble bath with it, it could ruin your computer or you could get electrocuted. 

Who needs porn when you have pictures like these?

have a good weekend.  stay out of trouble.  and check out the rest of the photos, this is only a few of them.  all prints for sale, too, I think.

Who, me? nope, no hoarding here.  i'm definitely not a hoarder.  not at all. not even a little bit. pshaw, that's crazy.  for sure not me.  don't even worry about that, could never happen....

I know i'm not the only one who watches hoarders. And I know i'm not the only one who while watching hoarders is secretly whispering to themselves (which is creepy already), 'that's not me, right? I don't do that, right?  my stuff is pretty?  but I bet they think their stuff is pretty? they had to start somewhere, right? am i starting? do i have the gene?' you get the idea.   As a prop stylist you have to have a ton of stuff. it's just par for the course.  If you don't buy that awesome vintage brass birdcage for $15 when you see it at the thrift store or flea market, then inevitably a client will ask you for one 3 weeks later, and it might take you days to track one down, and you'll have to rent it instead for $75.  This scenario plays through my head daily.

Having a lot of cool stuff actually makes my life easier and me a better stylist.  Whilst backpacking last year with brian in southeast asia I couldn't help but collect textiles, pottery and carved wooden sculptures and shove them in my full backpack, ditching necessities, because I knew that showing up to a shoot with these 200 year old vegetable dyed linens in colors you can only dream of will knock everybody socks off.  I need them, truly.  I can't just keep bringing the same things to the same client; and at flea markets, thrift stores, antique stores, or while traveling, everything is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and it's just really hard to turn it down.

now, you see my ability to rationalize?  is that how they rationalize.  dear lord.
that being said, I really really really really don't want to be a hoarder.   But that's like saying 'I really don't want to be a crack addict'.  Nobody does, but it still happens. ( But how??????? I truly don't understand...or do i????) So i'm going to go in the direction of these pictures, instead.  Putting all my pretty things together in a fairly organized way really does have a strong impact, is super pretty, feels really warm and you don't look like a freak, more like a collector. yes, that's it, i'm a collector of pretty, pretty things.

oh, and for the record, i don't keep anything that isn't, a. vintage, b. handmade, c. used often for work, or d. has sentimental value.  thems the rules.

images:  1. sibella court book, etc. 2 - 4 style files blog, which is awesome, bt-dubs.

Mas flowers, por favor.

Yep, we are doing this again.  Flowers. Having fresh flowers is more of a right than a privilege, like voting, or is voting a duty not a privilege..or a right?... whatever. the point is flowers are da best.  buy them, for yourself, or for others. all the time. it's a bit wasteful in money, but worth it's weight in gold in happiness.  that's why I don't write greeting cards, bt-dubs.  barely even makes sense.

So, to recap, one of my best friends is getting married and i'm on the 'not-fussy-perfect-for-farm-wedding' flower hunt.  This week is obviously about pink, which I liz-ove.  check out last weeks, or my first flower post.

Photo credits:  top left, Coco and Kelley. The rest from Once Wed

Decorating with warm/cool tones, oh, and introducing my Great Aunt flossy.

I've been thinking a lot about warm versus cool tones, lately. You might be thinking about Health Care, the Academy Awards noms, or last night's history making Bachelor - which was truly spectacular and quite psychologically overwhelming for some.  But, i've been pretty occupied with this questions:  If I like cool tones so much more than warm ones, then why do I love all of these rooms so much???  It's up there with 'purpose of life' stuff.   Here's what i've come up with:  I do in fact prefer cool tones EXCEPT, (can you even wait) when it comes to natural materials, a.k.a wood, leather, grasscloth, brass, sisal, etc, etc, etc, etc.

I particularly love the leather drum table top left, and the weird portrait of the old lady - it reminds me of my great aunt flossy, which for all of you who don't know me too well, she lived with my family from the age of 94-105.  She was completely senile, mostly blind, mostly deaf and had a beautiful beard.  She was overwhelmed by the concept of the remote control and once used the N word, in public, much to our horror and not in a racist way -  just wondering out loud where they all were  (small town Oregon wasn't exactly boasting of diversity). She was born in 1892 and lived through 5 wars, so she deserves a post-mortum blog post dedication at least, right?   This post's for you, flossy.

I digress.
All of these rooms feel warm to me without having any technically 'warm' colors (oranges, yellows, reds, browns), it's dominated by cooler colors  (blues, grays, whites, etc,) but accessorized with warm wood and beat-up brown leather,  and therein lies my perfect combination.

Here are a few warm/cool color charts, its funny how different they are, but you get the idea.

time warp

This post practically writes itself, doesn't it?  the 70's are back, people.  These photos are from a 1975 Better Homes and Gardens decorating book.  Ok, so peace and love are always in, no?  And the music and films from that time can do no wrong in my book.  The Who played at the super bowl yesterday, for god sakes. (and in case anyone else thought this, Elton John apparently did not write/sing the song 'pinball wizard', fooled me)  Oh sure, you say, they've been back for a while, boho chic fashion from the early 2000's, wide-leg pants, princess sleeved shirts, the entire 2005 wardrobe of Mary kate and the other one.  Really the 80's and, dare I say, early 90's are what is the hottest right now.  BUT, i'm kind of shocked at how modern these rooms look.  Sure, they are too 70's, but most of the furniture individually is kind of rad.  I love that metal parsons table, the wood cube side table and the wallpaper is totally fine if it was in a more tone on tone color palette (grey and white would be my choice).  And I love me a collection of plants, although maybe not this one so much.  The picture on the right is great too - the pendant lamp, both iconic side chairs and the sofa is not bad, although looks uncomfortable.  I could lose that enormous silver ashtray next to the sofa, though.   It seems incredibly oversized and unnecessary and smoking i've heard is quite unhealthy, although perhaps in the 70's it was better for you as most people seemed to smoke the decade away. 

Ok. So, I would never put all of these 70's elements together in the same room at the same time, but it is kind of shocking how a version of these could be in many shelter magazines (are there any left??).  

And p.s. I LOVE these woven chairs above.  If you owned these and invited me over for tea (read: a drink) then there is a chance that I would steal them, and probably blame your maid, or your small child.  And that's the risk you take by having a maid or making small children. These bad boys are spendy, but I will own one of them one day.  

Welcome back, 70's.  i like you.

rose bowl and albinos...

I will not go to the rose bowl. i will not go to the rose bowl. i will not go to the rose bowl. (huge once a month flea market).  Rose bowl sundays are always hard for me.  It's so close, only 8 miles away.  I can practically taste all the vintage amazingness from here, hear the crowds of weirdo vendors and excited hagglers, smell the old-things musk.  NO! I shant go.   I will spend money that I don't need to be spending on something I don't need. The shopping devil on my shoulder says, 'don't you always need more cool shit?', and 'yes! devil, yes! I do!'  I just want to go back to bed, wake up and have it be monday so the dilemma is solved for me.  By the way i've already talked myself into going.  the devil wins every time. screw you devil.  you're a dick. why don't you go sit on your horns or buy some more red clothes. loser.

These were some shots from a recent job, shot by Cheyenne Ellis.  I love them.  Minimal props, I know, but some clients actually need to see that you can do less.  They look at my book where I have a lot of sets and tabletop stuff, but it's hard to visualize if I can do lifestyle shoots with people, and there is a lot of that out here.  So i'm starting to put a lot more of these in my book.

And can we celebrate the fact that being pale is so in?  I mean, who is paler than me? Albinos, you say and yes that is true. and albinos are super hot right now.