After a crazy year of illnesses and being kicked out of our rental it seems there is finally some light at the end of the tunnel. I feel extremely lucky to announce that the hubs and I are buying our first house! Not only is it our first house, but it’s totally our dream house. The house is a 1960s Mid Century Eichler-style ranch house, one level and open floorplan with a pretty rockin office area where I can set up shop. It’s on a quiet street in the burbs right outside of Portland with some of the best neighbors I’ve ever met.

A big thanks to all of my Etsy customers for the support. I’m being serious when I say I actually couldn’t have done this without you. It’s because of all you guys that I was able to save up enough to buy a home in the first place.

Here’s a sneak peek at my new office setup. Right in front of a wall of windows looking out on some 100 year old trees. Talk about inspiration! And check out my mid century POST brand drafting table from the 1960s. Feels right at home already.

Snagged this super cool original Uten.Silo at opening day of the LA Flea Market! I’d never seen one in person and this one was still in it’s original box with original mounting hardware. It wasn’t a very interesting box otherwise I would have taken a picture. Even the silver “Design M, Ingo Maurer” label, was still attached in the lower right corner. I’d never heard Ingo Maurer’s name associated with this before, only Vitra but apparently they were the original manufacturers.

It’s one of the most fun things do decorate with. I loaded it up with Walter Bosse and Auböck brass along with some Ikea paintbrushes, leftovers from the wedding and my Andy and Conan dolls.

After going to PA and hanging out with our friends Eli and Amy we saw this super cool clock on their table. It is said, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery (hopefully) so we bought one too! Funnily enough I had an Ebay saved search going for one of these already.  It’s a United brand clock lamp from the 1950s with starburst parchment lining the sides, metal pierced front and gold ball feet. The sides have two bulbs that light up with the flick of a switch in the back. Not sure who came first but Snider makes something called the “Bowtie” clock lamp that looks very similar. It’s great mood lighting for a nice bedtime read.

Also in the pic are some new friends:

To further my owl habit, welcome this carved oak Owl with stained top by Matt Pugh. Love the mid century styling!

Stylized German painted teak Osterhase or Easter Bunny. It looks like a very early Erzgebirge model.

Another German teak, this time a giraffe. Reminds me of other Bojesen pieces or possibly even Zoo Line stuff. Has little black painted eyes and a hemp tail.

A few original Brastoff ceramics from his Alaska series. The painting is so ahead of its time, it totally fits in with Fleet Street Scandal, Shag, Adam Cruz from House Industries and Sanjay Patel from Pixar. Even looks a little pinstripey and spray-paintey with the beautiful gradients. If the cool painting wasn’t enough, most of his items also have gold gilding throughout.

Brastoff seemed to be quite a prolific and interesting character and fellow Los Angelino! He was an aspiring film star and quite the socialite in the 50s. He is still relatively undiscovered as of late so you can get items pretty cheaply. I definitely see sky high prices in the near future as more people discover him!

Tiki Mug

Tiki Planter

Igloo Bud Vase

I’ve always wanted one of these puzzles and was SUPER excited when I finally found one! It’s definitely the epitome of mid century design.

This is the 1972 expanded resin version for Danese Milano and is stamped on the elephant. It even came with the original lid to the box! I definitely prefer this to the wood one because of its more durable nature and the pieces have a nice weight to them. Plus the resin makes a cool swirly pattern that you don’t get with the woodgrain. Definitely LOVE the fox and the camel shapes.

Lately I’ve really been obsessed with terrariums and wanted to try my hand at creating my own, but I was worried my “brown thumb” would get in the way. I decided to push on anyway and found an awesome mid century teak tripod base (originally went with a giant salad bowl) and went on the hunt for glass orb to fit. ShopGrounded was the only one that seems to have big glass orbs so I grabbed their 12″ one and it worked perfectly! For the cacti and succulents I tried some IKEA ones but I think I over watered most of them and only one survived. So I used SucculentsGalore on Etsy for some small guys and soil mixture and headed to Home Depot for the rest.

I then topped off everything with a layer of small river rocks and made some tiny mushrooms and a little house out of clay. I liked the look of an angular white object juxtaposed with all the organic growth so I bought a Gigaminx puzzle cube for the empty corner. Then my Amanda Visell Tic Toc Apocalypse Griffin and Gnome decided to move in…  VOILA! It keeps really well inside by the window and I water it every once in a while with an eyedropper. Is my “brown thumb” sprouting some green leaves?