Not Neutral on Neutrals

No matter how many colorful garments hang in my closet, I always find myself reaching for the black sweater, brown skirt, brass-studded belt, white loafers. I know what works for me.

The same is true of interiors.

Images: Apartment Therapy, Remodelista, Delight by Design, Head Over Heels, Covet Garden Issue 6

Products: English Campaign Chair from Kim Fiscus for One Kings Lane, Quail Feather Pillow from Burke Decor, Dark Nostalgia by Eva Hagberg

Dare to Dream: Modern Gothic

It's not often that idly clicking through Apartment Therapy brings me to a house that flawlessly combines raw brick and linear modernity with elegant mouldings and Victorian frill. And then there's the twisted, skeletal staircase. Courtney & Trevor, I await my invite. Also, let's be best friends.

The owner describes her style as "disturbed traditionalism," a phrase I wish I'd coined myself. I wasn't sure why AT had termed this practically colorless house "playful" until I locked eyes with the DIY coffee table. Oho, now I get it.

Images from Courtney & Trevor's Playfully Sophisticated House Tour by Apartment Therapy

This is a look that requires good bones- good architectural bones, that is. I'd do terrible things to have a space like this, with room to make an aesthetic statement (instead of just leaving little hints everywhere). I'll always be firmly against white paint for a shoebox apartment, but these crisp white walls with such height and natural lighting... this is an art gallery, and one that can elevate curious shapes like paper snowflakes and wire hangers to Dada-esque distinction.

If I hung a wire hanger on my wall, people would merely assume I'd run out of closet space. Which, incidentally, is true. Ah, dare to dream.

300th Post!

Indeed, this is the 300th post on Shock the Bourgeois! I have to type this rather sheepishly, as a blogger who has neglected her readers for two weeks...

From flitting between wedding appointments in rainy Seattle to flickering power in stormy Berkeley, March has blown the blog off course. It's been a productive month for the wedding and my design projects, but today's clear skies and clear schedule were a welcome relief! Finally, time to edit photos and wade through my inbox. To those of you who emailed such sentiments as, "I am having blog withdrawl!  FIX!!!" please allow this to serve as my response: I'm back, I promise!

Yes, the butterfly is real. I found him outside my apartment, unable to fly and looking bedraggled on a particularly wet and fiercely windy morning. I haven't seen any other swallowtail butterflies yet, so perhaps he too was blown off course by this wild Spring weather. I had a Stephen Maturin moment (nerd alert!) and brought him in, where he seemed content to sit on my hand and be photographed. The last picture, however, was all the bug's idea. As unnerving as it was to have a giant insect suddenly decide to climb up my hair and perch, I suppose I can't complain about how it turned out.

Tomorrow I'll be truly back to blogging with an honest-to-goodness decor post: my new naturalist themed art arrangement, as inspired by this butterfly!

The February Flea

Antiques, football, and an early crop of freckles- I couldn't have asked for a better weekend! Adam and I  spent our Sunday afternoon soaking up sun and inspiration at the Alameda flea market. We didn't spring for anything, but sometimes a long day of looking is all I need to update my vision for our apartment. 

Though the best deals are often found in piles of rubbish, I can't help but admire the more curated booths. This vendor offers silky tassels and ribbons that glitter with gold thread, and the table itself was elegantly trimmed. I could see this crafty-chic sign working just as well as a bulletin board, or to display table assignments at a wedding.

Sometimes going to the flea market feels like a trip to the pound, with so many sad little things needing new homes. It's hard to say no, especially to furry fellows like these! The green-eyed tiger puppet seemed to be begging for hugs, and the wiry fox terrier with the wonky ear... oh, I almost adopted him.

So, no new things, but a head full of new ideas. I'm feeling quite ambitious this year!

Our Cabinet of Curiosities

I blog so often about cabinets of curiosity, it seems only fair to share my own...

Our petite cabinet of curiosities resides in the living room. The cabinet itself was a Craig's List find, purchased for $50 in Seattle, from a very kind woman helping her elderly friend downsize. I was so in love with the uncommon greige finish and elegant shape, I made Adam take an afternoon off to help me load it into a borrowed car, back down a perilous driveway, and inch it up our steep and narrow staircase. When we finally got it inside, I found a booklet full of neatly penned notes comparing bottles of scotch tucked into a drawer. Imagining that this might have been a little old lady's liquor cabinet still makes me giggle!

We've filled it with treasures, valuable for otherwise. Beautiful art books and vintage ephemera mingle  with found objects and natural oddities. Adam's collection of laboratory glassware stands next to 20 years worth of my beach-combing souvenirs. My alligator head grins from the second shelf, with a mouthful of foreign coins. The cabinet is home to items inherently beautiful and sentimental, like my Great-Grandmother's china teacup (or a vial of kitten teeth!)

I papered the back of the cabinet with pages from a tattered old Japanese & English dictionary: yet another layer of meaning for the curious observer.

How do you display your most prized belongings and mementos?

What Do YOU Want for Christmas?

All I want for Christmas is $100 to spend at mydeco boutique... so I entered a moodboard in the mydeco + Rue Magazine "All I Want for Christmas" contest!

My moodboard entry, A Curious Christmas is a room full of dare-to-dream items (like a beaded chandelier and the rug that would look marvelous in my living room). Of course, if I were to win that $100, maybe one of these dreams could become a reality!

Have you entered yet?

Beautiful Bounty in Edmonds, WA

Here's a special Christmas shopping word to the wise for my Western Washington readers: try downtown Edmonds for nostalgia, twinkle-lights, and one of my new favorite shops.

Bountiful Home resides in a little old house just off of Main Street. If you pass through its arbor and down the garden path, you'll find yourself on a welcoming porch arrayed with potted plants and rusty finds. Once inside you'll understand how Bountiful Home gets its name. Special things sparkle all around.

The shop is an homage to all things old-fashioned and lovely, from vintage glass bottles and snail-mail stationery down to the creaking floorboards. Forget about just wanting to buy something- you'll want to move in.

Definitely the place to go for romantic holiday trimmings and memorable hand-picked gifts!

A Curious Memento

Our Phineas has grown so much since we introduced you to him in May. He's now quite a lapful, and strong enough to make Tildy think twice about tackling him. And he's losing his baby teeth!

I know, this probably elicits as many "ewwws" as "awwws," but I'll be keeping this tiny relic of Phinney's kittenhood in our cabinet of curiosities. I can't help being sentimental! I just adore every tooth, whisker, stripe and spot on this cat. He's something special- so here's to hoping that he doesn't grow up surly like Matilda!

Happy weekend, friends!

Dare to Dream: Parisian Perfection

Sometimes, I can let a picture do all the talking (with a musical French accent).

Photograph by Gilles de Chabaneix, Scanned by Shock the Bourgeois

Ikea Style

There's something about Ikea that makes me want to fill myself with Swedish meatballs and fill my trunk with flatpack furniture. I'm not really one for primary colors, so it thrills me that the Ikea aesthetic seems to have matured over the years, embracing subtlety and traditional shapes. Look at all the goodies in the new catalogue!

The Närhet glasses for dessert wines, champagne, whites, & reds are a toast to sophistication.

The Gislev rug is a lot of graphic bang for only 20 bucks.

I can envision either of the new greige-stained Hemnes glass-door cabinets in my bedroom. 

Maybe to showcase a shoe collection?

I wonder if a clever crafter could customize the Florö slipcovered bedframe- perhaps with upholstery studs or ribbon trim?

The new catalogue also boasts some beautiful styling. As if I wasn't tempted enough by the low prices, they have to make everything look so magazine-fantastic.

This is exactly how a nightstand should look!

This is my favorite spread of all. The styling is so of-the-moment, and I love the over-shelf gallery. 

And look: curiosities!

Anyone else crushing on the new catalogue?

Flea Market Finds

If the find is a primal urge, then the monthly Alameda Flea can only be compared to nature's most spectacular feeding frenzies.

Thrifters abandon their favored hunting grounds to converge upon this site of vintage bounty. Each month we take the long walk from some distant corner of the parking lot and pass satisfied hunters clutching their trophies, dragging heavy furnishings off to their cars. I usually spot something rare and delectable on another person's trolley and pick up the pace to join the fray. Once we're inside the gate we're on the prowl. There's enough for each gluttonous shopper with a few bills to fill their rolling cart, but there's still that predatory instinct: don't let that tea set get away, you may never see one like it again!

Adam and I like to work the rows together. He's on the lookout for French kitchen knives and copper pots, I scout for glass cake plates and tole chandeliers. I pounce, he goes in for the deal. We're always in pursuit of the find.

We did so well this Sunday I thought I'd showcase a few of our prizes!

$20 won me a lot of brass flatware. It's actually two different patterns. One I've yet to track down, but the knives, forks, and soup spoons with the tough studded handles are Dirilyte Empress Goldware. Now I've got something new to stalk on eBay!

Adam snapped up this Pyrex thingamajig for $5. We liked the quirky variation on the cloche shape, and it's just right for housing a tiny curiosity (or perhaps an air plant?).

Dare to Dream: 13 Crystal Heads

There've been a lot of posts about kitties and bunnies around here lately. I don't want you to think I'm losing my edge. I'm badass! I like skulls and hard liquor!!

Therefore, I give you Crystal Head Vodka. Definitely an age-appropriate gift for StB *hint hint*.

So, here's the thing. I first appraised Crystal Head Vodka on its looks alone. I thought, "here's a bottle that could make my liquor cabinet into a cabinet of curiosities." I had no idea I'd stumbled onto a "spiritual awakening." Thanks to Dan Aykroyd, my eyes are open to the world of the magical unknown.

For your enlightenment (and a much-needed Tuesday laugh):

Projects

Whenever it's quiet on the blog, you can figure that things are buzzing in real life. In a few days we're headed to Hoopfest, where Adam and his tall athletic family will be playing basketball and getting tan, and I will be short, pale, and harping about sunscreen. Reeeeeeally looking forward to it.

I've got to get back to packing, but I thought I'd tantalize you with things to come.

A cabinet of curiosities...

and my mercantile-style china cabinet.

Back soon,

Elizabeth

Summing Up My Style

Ally at From the Right Bank is holding another round of "What's Your Style in One Picture." I decided I was up for the challenge this time around. 

Image Courtesy of Domino Magazine

I spent an evening searching through my image archives (and doing a bit of soul searching as well), and I kept coming back to this library. Books will always be a focal point of my design aesthetic, and I dream of showcasing mine in a soaring bookcase like this one. Isn't this the perfect reading room? A tufted leather sofa to recline on, the crisp daylight to illuminate each new page, the expansive white palette to fill with imaginings. I love the classic bones of this salon, and the cheeky details- the stately bust, the diminutive topiary, the sly bar set-up, the rat in the glass case! My style precisely.

Too much fun- thanks Ally!