Aug 6, 2014

10 Ideas for Living Windows


A million years ago (2009, actually), I did a post on How to Accent Windows - let's consider this post the 2014 version. Vintage paned windows are perfect for framing your plant collection for indoor and outdoor appreciation.

Make sure you pull the dead stuff off - that is, of course, if they're dried flowers. If you follow feng shui decorating practices, make sure you keep the energy fresh and the meaning special - don't let the dried plant simply become a dust collector/clutter.
Have a less-than-ideal view? Use the plants as a living wall. They're much better than keeping the blinds down or the curtains closed.


Lucky enough to have a window like this in your washroom? Block your sexy silhouette from the snoopy neighbours by hanging a plant in front of the window. 
Ferns love the humidity from the shower; if your window is facing east, even better!



  
Are indoor plants not your thing? Bring the outside in with a glass wall.


Strangely enough, plants love fluorescent light. Keep a little light above the plant in the evening to give it extra oomph in the dark winter months.


Jul 25, 2014

Architecture - and spectacles - Expo 67 Montreal



One of my UBC art history papers, way back when, was on Moshe Safdie's Habitat 67 (he was working on the Vancouver Public Library at the time). 


Safdie originally conceived the project as his Master's thesis in architecture at McGill. It became a thematic pavilion at Montreal's Expo 67 (in which the central theme was Man & His World - with housing as a subset).


Already having a fondness for the architecture of Expo 67 - based on my past research, as well as spending a few summers teaching Québécois university students English - I was pretty interested in The National Film Board of Canada e-newsletter that arrived in my Inbox this morning.


Impressions of Expo 67 is an eight-minute promotional video for what was considered the most successful World's Fair of the 20th Century.


As I mentioned, I am interested in Expo 67's architecture. Still, it takes time to find a thorough list of pavilion designers. 


If you know any more—in addition to the ones listed on Wikipedia—please leave them in the post's comments section.


A few:

Sandy van Ginkel - chief designer and planner of Expo 67

Arthur Erickson - consultant, Canada Pavilion, 

Buckminster Fuller - designer, USA's geodesic dome pavilion


Images of Expo 67 Pavilions can be viewed at the Library and Archives Canada page Expo 67 Man and His World - Pavilions and the Canadian Design Resource Site page Expo 67


So take a peek at the architecture in the short video, and while you're at it, check out the fabulous late 60s design of the visitors' sunglasses.
Images of Expo 67 Pavilions can be viewed at the Library and Archives Canada page Expo 67 Man and His World - Pavilions and the Canadian Design Resource Site page Expo 67

Jun 21, 2014

From the Archives - Momo the Cat and Kevan



  1. natural disaster
  2. suspense
  3. human compassion
  4. cute quirky Canadian
  5. Momo the cat

Three cheers for Kevan and Momo!

Calgary flood June 21 2013 - a full list of organizations looking for volunteers for the clean up can be found here.

all images © Jordan Verlage/Canadian Press
photo set at CBC

Originally published June 24, 2013

Jun 20, 2014

Quote of the Week - Kierkegaard


Boredom is the root of all evil - the despairing refusal to be oneself.




Jun 18, 2014

10 Best of Craigslist Vancouver June 18th

vintage macrame screen






bamboo table and chair set




 


images © their respective owners

Jun 11, 2014

Quote of the Week - Edgar Allan Poe

 from the collection of Stacy Reynaud

It is by no means an irrational fancy that, in a future existence, we shall look upon what we think our present existence as a dream.
Marginalia

Jun 9, 2014

9 Best of Craigslist Vancouver June 9th




Jun 4, 2014

One of The Most Important Chairs of The 20th Century


my chair


my chair

If you've been following my adventures on Instagram and Facebook, you're already aware of my dream kitchen dining area and my three chairs for $25. The chair above is one I sold last year. If you follow me on Twitter, you know we're moving again (ADHD or sane decision - you decide). I also decided to sell my mid-century dining table and chairs - which has left us - once again - without a table or chairs.

So, now is the perfect time to acquire my dream kitchen dining area! Out with the old, in with the new!

As I was perusing Craigslist for Best of Craigslist Vancouver content, I thought, 'There sure are many of those Marcel Breuer Cesca chairs around. How can I tell what's a fake?' Well, it turns out the Cesca chair was never patented (blame it on Mart Stam) and is, therefore, in the public domain. Le Corbusier is turning in his grave. 

There are actually two Cesca chairs—the B32, manufactured and mass-produced by Thonet from about 1930 to the end of WWII (stay tuned for my Thonet tubular steel rocker adventure), and the cheaper version manufactured by Knoll from the 1950s to the present.


1928 designed version:
  • warm beech patina
  • back and chair, each made of a single bent piece (bentwood)
  • back has a marked curve
  • caning was done by hand and sewn into the bentwood frame
  • slight incline to the front edge of the seat
  • curves of the tubular steel frame are even
  • large bolts
After the war, Breuer made some changes to the original design. The seat back and chair were altered, the bentwood frame thickened, and the size of the bolts decreased.

All that's left of the more expensive original 1928 design:
  • hand-caning
  • chrome plated steel caps on the tubing
  • rods inserted to maintain the curvature of the tubular steel shape 
For a fun read on comparing multiple copies of the Cesca - and a Cesca chair checklist - check out this article from the New York Times archive.

last image: B32 version via the V&A



May 28, 2014

From the Archives - 10 Random Things About Jean Michel Basquiat



Jean-Michel Basquiat 1982
© James Van Der Zee
  1. Initially, Basquiat wanted to be a fireman.
  2. In third grade he sent a drawing of a gun to J. Edgar Hoover (no reply).
  3. Basquiat played the synthesizer with Vincent Gallo in a band called Gray (named after the 1918 classic of human anatomy Gray's Anatomy).
  4. He was the only kid in his grade nine academic life drawing class to fail.
  5. His mother encouraged his interest in art and stressed the importance of education.
  6. In 1981 he made his first trip to Europe to exhibit a one artist show under the name SAMO.
  7. Basquiat described his subject matter as, 'royalty, heroism, and the street'.
  8. His heroes included Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Charlie Parker, Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson and Billie Holiday.
  9. The sidewalks of Greenwich Village were his temporary store front as he sold painted t-shirts and postcards under the name SAMO.
  10. Helped Andy Warhol rediscover his relationship to painting after 20 years of not picking up a brush.
Untitled (The Boxer), 1982 ~ sold November 2008 $13.5 million
© The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat




May 27, 2014

16 Best of Craigslist Vancouver May 27th 2014

 Collection of 1970s Hornsea Bronte pattern ceramic tableware (I had this too - it's fabulous sold mine for $300 about ten years ago).
 Mid-century king size teak bed and side tables (what appears to be teak in the photo anyway)



May 14, 2014

Where have all the Conversationalists gone?


Last Wednesday, I was feeling good. The sun was out, I was in my favourite part of downtown, and I felt inspired and alive - like my good old manic days that would last for weeks. The ones where I'd start four businesses, thrift shop for 12 hrs straight and forget to eat. Am I in denial to miss that? Anyway, feeling so inspired and alive, I automatically thought of my friend Ken and our hours-long vintage and fashion conversations, so I headed off to shoot the shit with him down at Deluxe - then I remembered Ken was dead. So I thought, well Rod will be there, I'll go shoot the shit with him, then I remembered Deluxe was gone - closed due to a $3000 a month rent hike. Okay, no need to get down, I'll go talk design with someone at Inform. Well, the only bodies at Inform were ones glued to computer screens behind cash desks. Five bucks, they're practicing the snobby sales technique identified in the UBC study, Should the Devil Sell Prada? Retail Rejection Increases Aspiring Consumers’ Desire for the Brand?

Well whatever, not yet feeling deflated I thought, 'Okay I'll go sit down and have a coffee somewhere.' Somewhere, conversation was already flowing, and I could at least be part of it. Uh, since when have coffee shops been so quiet? Not one person was engaged in vocal conversation with anyone. Not because they were glued to a book, writing, or staring off into space thinking, but because their heads were bent down, staring into their phones. Holy crap, people get with it. My public library has more conversations going on! I left without buying a coffee (or tipping someone for bending their arm beyond 85 degrees).

Highly irritated, I turned around and headed back home. On my way, a homeless man complimented me. (I was hoping to run into you, but I'd put a little extra effort in that day.) I turned around and said, 'Thanks.' He said, 'Anytime, sweetheart'. So, from now on, when I want to have a conversation, face to face with someone, I can feel confident the homeless guy at Water and Cambie will participate - and I guarantee he has a hell of a lot more stories and opinions to share than the dipsticks glued to their screens. What's that old saying, 'All text and no talk makes Jack a dull boy'?
God, I miss hanging out and just talking.

Stacy Reynaud
image: Simone Signoret, Marilyn Monroe, Arthur Miller, Yves Montand

May 9, 2014

Quote of the Week - Herman Hesse


 stacy reynaud
There is no reality except the one contained within us. That is why so many people live such an unreal life. They take the images outside of them for reality and never allow the world within to assert itself.



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Old Fashioned Granola Recipe