Fabulous Fabulosity

Great things have come my way this week, and it is my intention to share them with y'all. So...without further ado...may I present...BRUCE WAYNE'S DESK CHAIR!
I've had some pretty cool desk chairs in the past, but I think this one might just take the cake. "Sick in the pants", as some guy I used to know whose name I can't remember would say. Evidently this beauty was originally upholstered in turquoise leather. I mean, SHUT UP. Now it's dark red vinyl...which is OK, but TURQUOISE LEATHER?? Out of control cool. I wish I knew who designed it, but I honestly have no clue. I swear I've seen a Dunbar desk chair that bore some resemblance to this, but now I can't find any reference to it (of course). It also has some Jens Risom-ish qualities, but let's face it, this thing it just in a class of it's own.

Up next we have a wacky, wonderful collector's item - a bent rosewood coffee table by Saburo Inui for Tendo. Never heard of him? Well, to be honest, neither had I, until I saw this gem on Craigslist and did a little creative research, and found the attribution - and saw that one had sold at the Wright auction back in 2005 for a little over $3k. Needless to say I snapped it up. Here's a shot of the top - very nice rosewood grain, and the way the legs bend and splay out is just subtly delicious. I was showing it off today to John, my ace finisher and repair guy, and he thumped on it and said "hmm - it's hollow!" The table probably doesn't even weigh 20 lbs, so this observation made sense - then he added "you know, like an interior hollow-core door!" I had to laugh at that - "a very fancy interior hollow core door that's hopefully worth about $3000!"

I don't get down to the Stars Antique Mall all that much - mainly because I'm hardly ever in Sellwood, and also because I've never really found much there that was worth buying. There's a few dealers who have interesting stuff (one of whom, I found out to my chagrin, is moving out), but mostly it's just a bunch of Grandma antiques (no offense meant to any hip Grandmas out there). However, they were having a storewide sale to coincide with the pain-fest that is the Portland Expo (and I was on my way to Lake Oswego to buy some nightstands), so I stopped in and snooped. I'll save my favorite piece for last, but these tables have a funny story. I'd taken a very quick spin around the mall and, to my surprise, I actually found some goodies. I took my finds up to the cash register, paid for them, and was on my way out the door, when I realized I had a need to use the restroom. I turned around, put my stuff back down, and headed down the aisle toward the restroom - and ran smack dab into these babies. Oh, and a matching coffee table too! The price was VERY right, and they were even 25% off, so I basically had no choice but to add them to the pile. I like the end tables a little better than the coffee table, but really, who's counting, they're both super cool!

And now, for my favorite piece of the week: may I present. "Dude with Spear".One of my favorite dealers at Stars always has the most random assortment of stuff - art, found objects, weird furniture that may or may not be missing essential pieces, sculptures, you name it. He also has a penchant for very direct, to the point, no-nonsense tagging of his pieces - for instance, this fellow, who was aptly and simply dubbed "Dude with Spear". I mean, how can you not love that? Our dude is about 2.5' tall, and really has quite a presence.

Now...why is he my favorite? He certainly isn't the piece that I'm going to make the most money on, or has the most significance in any way - and I certainly can't take him home, for fear that my 2-year old would very quickly injure either himself or someone or something else with it (this is a boy who has a honing instinct to grab the most dangerous object in the whole house that happens to be accessable to him within 30 seconds of one of his parents turning their backs). So, why is he my favorite? I just like him, that's why! He's got soul. And when it comes down to it, I really believe that THAT is the most important piece of the decorating puzzle that often gets minimized in the interest of flashier talking points - do you LIKE the damn thing? Does it resonate with you? Does it make you smile? For me, "Dude with Spear" scores a 3/3 on that list, so he gets the nod. Plus, he's more than a little eccentric and offbeat, which is also something that I feel is sorely lacking in many modern interiors. Get over yourselves, people, and have some fun with this whole decorating thing!

If you couldn't tell by my rambling, it is now quite late and I must be off to bed. Until next time, thanks for reading, and please do leave your comments if anything strikes you!