ODW (objets de desir) wednesday on a saturday

today i decided to tackle home decor. i have scoured the internet for some cool items & objects that i covet. i hope you enjoy.

i've always loved home decor & have often thought how fun it would be to be an interior designer. it's so fun to play with houses, don't you think? my mother has always had a good eye for such things. she was furnishing her home with antiques when it was sooo uncool. i remember my friend's houses were furnished with suites of furniture, all bought at once & very match-y. i used to wish my mother would have the sense to furnish our home in such a manner. luckily, i grew out of this phase quickly. i came to love my mother's ability to put things together. here is a picture of her bedroom in their retirement apartment, which they moved into a year and a half ago. we hadn't put the pictures on the wall yet.

here is mom's bathroom. she loved my closet room so much that she wanted to use the same color in her bathroom in the new apartment. this is the robin egg blue from the tiffany & co box. i think it is rather striking. we had lowe's color match it for us.

now for the little pretties i found in my searches.

anyone who has been to my house knows i'm a sucker for a good chandelier. my chandelier lady & i believe your happiness can be measured by the number of chandeliers in your home. my obsession started when i decided i wanted a chandelier in my kitchen. i wasn't going to rest until i had one. now all my kitchen lights are chandeliers. as a matter of fact, i think it's time to change one or two of them & switch it up a bit. that's the problem with "collecting" chandeliers- it has distinct limits. i've always wanted one for my office. we have those acoustical tile ceilings, so that won't work. perhaps i could use this as a substitue- no hanging involved. this is one of those vinyl wall decals. i think it would look great on my dark barn red walls at my office, don't you?

i've seen this artist's work in various catalogues & really like it. she takes the pages of old books (often in german) & fancies them up with various sayings. this is one of my favorites. i don't know what it is about them that is so appealing- i just like them. the artist is kim smith, the company is smith & co & the website is www.vintagesmith.com.

i have wanted this table for a long time. it's right up there with the iconic ghost chair by phillipe stark.
in my mind, i've seen the ghost chair pulled up to my antique drop-leaf walnut dining room table. i like the contrast. i've wanted these chairs ever since i can remember. when we were little, my sister & i used to play with our matchbox series. my mom had this great florally designed rug that had a design that worked for streets & houses. we used to pick our houses & i would rip pages out of magazines to decorate them. the ghost chair was always a fave (i forget the year it came out) and the bruer chair another standby. i like to live in space that is fun & has a sense of humor. a house should smile. i think that is way the illusion table appeals to me. for some reason, i smile when i see it.

these are some upholstered pieces that i liked. nothing better than taking an antique item & upholstering it a contemporary fabric, like the red love seat above. it kind of pops. & the black & white is never a bad combo- always works, always will.

i love this old baby bath. it could be a great planter. with glass on top, a console table. a good item for a screened porch. a magazine holder? a catch-all? it has a sweetness to it i like. any other ideas?

first up is alessi's pito water kettle by frank gehry (1992). the wood is mahogany. quite elegant, don't you think? frank gehry has recently started designing for tiffany & co, doing the fish series. nice lines, clean & smooth. it makes me want to have a cup of tea just to pour the hot water. should you be considering this little pretty, be prepared to drop $400.

this falls into the sense of humor category. a fruit bowl, made of ...... fruit. kind of cool, huh? & it does pull forth a smile.

& my piece de resistance- ta-da. drum roll..... you supply the books- he makes the table. you can do a theme- travel books, favorite books, books about a topic that appeals to you. endless possibilities abound. i love this idea. this retails for about $1800. in the worst thing a blogger can do, i failed to make a note of the source of this way cool item & now i cannot locate it. i will keep searching. i need to start remembering to make note of the sources of things.

so that's the latest & greatest for this week in home decor. who knows what ODW/S may target next week- perhaps ODW/S may move to a bi-weekly or monthly format- it is rather time intensive & even our uber consumer culture has some limits on the types of stuff that are consumable. we'll have to see.

happy decorating!