1 2 3 4 . . . I could hear this song some more

If you watch any TV at all, I'm sure this Feist video is nothing new to you, but on the iPod commercial you can barely see the video. I've been watching it obsessively lately, in part because I love the song, but also because I love this video! I love the way when the beat comes in and she cocks her arm the dancers behind her fall like domino's (and they really are behind her), I love that it's shot so well in one continuous shot, I love the choreography, I love that the dancers just look like regular people dancing in a regular people sort of way, I love that you don't see any midriffs or hoochie bootie shaking (not that that kind of stuff is in every video nowadays, but just about), and I love that the colors remind me of Mardi Gras and King Cakes. It makes me want to clap, twirl and skip! Feist's video for "My Moon, My Man," also directed by Patrick Daughters, is great too. It's a little hard to understand the lyrics to 1234, so click here to read along.

Home is in the Art 2

One of the most unique rings I've seen . . . the Neighborhood ring by J. Davis Studio. Check out her etsy shop to see more of her great work.

Image shown with permission.

Vivre Boheme

I'm not sure what that means, but I think maybe Bohemian life or living? Whatever it means I'm excited about it! I came across this book from a French blog that I like, Esprit Boheme. Lately I've been drawn to a number of French blogs. I think they appeal to my sensibility more than a lot of the American design blogs I read. Too bad I don't speak French, but the pictures alone hold my attention. The pictures below are from a mail order store in the UK , Cox and Cox, that I also came across while looking at Esprit Boheme.

I love these pendant lights. They're so unusual looking and so pretty at the same time.

How cool is this wood flare? If we had a path leading to our place, or a yard at all, I'd get a few of these.

Cute little place card holder, bud vase combo.

Mercury glass tea lights.

Curiosity Shoppe Goes Brick and Mortar

The Curiosity Shoppe is having their brick and mortar grand opening on Thursday, October 4th from 6-9PM at 855 Valencia Street (between 19th and 20th) in San Francisco. It should be fun, so you should come! I'm sure the stand up shoppe will continue to have a great selection of the handmade, kitschy and curious that you can find now in the online shoppe.

Home is in the Art 1

I'm always coming across great home-related art, so I decided that a few days a week I'll start posting some of what I find. Here's one house by Danny Mansmith that I found that I thought was really unique and beautiful. At first glance I thought it was a painting, then I realized the lines were stitches, not brush strokes. How cool. Check out his web site to read more about him and his work, and check out his etsy store to purchase his work.

Image shown with permission.

Pickled Hutch Picks of the Week - 9/26

Here are my Pickled Hutch picks this week. And here's a good decorating example of a federal style fisheye mirror on the cover of one of my favorite decorating books, Flea Market Style.


I love this beautiful shell-framed print of the Madonna. Look at that cute crab shell at the top. $125.


Carved alabaster lamp. $99 on sale, 60% off from $165.
Federal style fisheye mirror. $195.00
The Pickled Hutch is an antique store in San Francisco that I love. Every Wednesday I pick three items to post on my blog that I especially like. The Pickled Hutch is located at 1605 Church Street, San Francisco, CA. Open Wed. to Sun. 11 - 6. PH 415-641-8875. Ask for Lisa. To see more pictures of what you'll find at The Pickled Hutch, click here.

Ikea on Home

I went to Ikea's web site to look at a few things and was happy to see their new America at Home campaign. This cool picture graces the home page (once you click on US) and reads, "home is the most important place in the world." At the bottom of that page they say they "believe that homes are not just made of bricks and mortar with four walls. Home is an emotion - a feeling of security, safety, comfort, peace, about being yourself and being together with your loved ones. Home is the place where memories are made, relationships are built, where children and families grow together. . . . Regardless of where you live or who you are, home is the most important place in the world." I couldn't agree more! They also just completed a collaborative photo project where people submitted pictures of what they feel is the essence of their home. You can read about that project, which will soon be turned into a book, here.

Meet Columbia, Our New Lady

No, you're not seeing things . . . that is a space shuttle on our wall of ladies. It looks bizarre at first, I know, but consider this an example of Mars and Venus meeting in the middle. When we were at the flea market on Sunday I could see Andrew in the distance, heading toward me, wearing a grin from ear to ear like a little 6 year old, with what looked like framed picture of a space shuttle. I thought, oh lord, please tell me that's not a picture of a space shuttle he has in tow. To my dismay (initially), it was. I tried to act happy about it because I could tell how excited he was over his $5 dollar treasure, but it was hard for me. All I could think of was, where in the world are we going to hang that?

Andrew has great, interesting taste that I genuinely like a lot, but he has a knack for especially liking things that don't go with our--uh, I mean my--stuff. I feel so bad that our place reflects hardly anything of him or his style or his interests, and I've been trying to figure out what to do about our Mars and Venus sorts of decorating dilemmas. I had the idea of making the guest bedroom his room, like a guy's den, where he could hang and display all of his eclectic things, but then I thought about how selfish and rude that was of me to even think of that as an idea. I thought about how it would make me feel if he wanted all of my stuff to go in one room because he didn't think it went well with his stuff. Gees, I'd hate that! And I probably wouldn't like the person who made me feel that way either, so I don't want to be that person.

I decided to hang Ms. Columbia along with all the other ladies, in block, old school Better Homes and Gardens fashion like you see below, and I actually like it! It's grown on me today. As Andrew says, it shows a sense of humor and makes the ladies look a little less stiff. Not only that, but Andrew said that Columbia is a woman's name, and he was right. So that's the story of our newest lady on the wall of ladies. Who knows what's next! (Update to this post . . . the wall now looks like this.)

Better homes and Gardens, 1956.

DIY Old School Style

When we were in Atlanta we stopped at a sidewalk book sale and picked up a pile of great books for fifty cents each, this one included: The Illustrated Do It Yourself Encyclopedia, 1956. Some of the pictures are hilarious. How did women ever make their waist's look like you could fit a bracelet around them? A lot of the information in this book would still be useful today, but lot of it not so much, like the many wonderful uses of asbestos (not shown, oops, left that page out). Click the pictures to see them larger.

Bust, You're so Beautiful, Like a Tree

This may seem a little off topic compared to other posts, but it's too funny not to mention it. This morning Andrew excitedly pointed out the spine of the new Bust Magazine, which reads, "you're so beautiful, you could be a part-time model," and as soon as I read those words, I thought I was going to bust! If that doesn't ring a bell, it's a reference to a super hilarious song from one of The Flight of the Conchords shows. I've only seen a few episodes, but I re-watch this particular one on YouTube at least weekly. It reminds me of guys in high school who may have meant well but were just kind of dumb and and couldn't help but say dumb things. I'd like to buy Bust a kebab.

In Love with Laku

Whenever I go into Laku, I feel like I've been transported into a candy colored, carnival dream. I love Laku. It's one of my favorite San Francisco shops. When my mom and I go into the shop together, we oooo and ahhh over everything from the way it's decorated to what Yaeko, the owner, has made and is making right there at her sewing machine in the shop. If Andrew and I had a little one, she would be spoiled with Laku goodies. Yaeko makes the cutest party hats and stuffed animals. As you can see, this is a magical place.

Flea Market Outing

Today we went to the Alemany Flea Market. It's not the best flea market in San Francisco, but it's every weekend and you can sometimes find great things. This is the kind of flea market where you have to wade through the junky junk, but it can be really fun. Here are a few pictures from today. I really wanted the lady head vase you see and the black velvet dress, but the lady was $40 and the dress was a size 4 and I am not a size 4. My days of buying clothes that are too small are over, so I passed it up, sigh.

Buttons!

Here are a few buttons from my 11 pound ebay stash. I think this ebay seller could have made a lot more money if they had separated out a selection of the buttons then took pictures. I was a little skeptical when I placed my bid because the picture was just of the surface of the box of buttons, making the individual buttons hard to see. They just looked like confetti specks, but I scored for sure with this batch. There are so, so many good buttons in this box, and here are a few of them.

Flora Grubb

Today, after a delicious breakfast with Caroline at Liberty Cafe, we headed to Flora Grubb to get some plants. This is the most amazing plant place I've ever seen. I left with a beautiful olive green flower pot for my new maiden hair fern, and Caroline left with two bright, beautiful yellow pots that are so her and will look great in her place. If you live in San Francisco, you should go if you haven't already been, and if you don't live here but plan to visit sometime, it's definitely a place to put on your list. There's even a Ritual Coffee cafe in the covered section of the building so you can sit and sip while you flip through gardening books and browse the grounds and check out the amazing variety of plants.