Get Plastered

No, this isn't a post about what I did on election night (though I am not denying anything) -- this is about ANOTHER kind of plaster, one that I may even prefer over the alcoholic variety....may.

Over the last year or so I have had the great pleasure of getting to know a wonderfully talented local artist/designer/generally fabulous person named Tamara Codor, who with partner Sterling Voss is the brains/beauty/brawn behind Codor Design. You may have read about her from one or more of my pals here in Seattle, so it almost seems fruitless for me to try and describe or depict her work better than they already have. But when did that stop me?

I was lucky enough to get a private tour of her Seattle showroom a few weeks ago, and now I am (more) obsessed with owning one of her plaster-covered mirrors. To the best of my recollection (correct me if I'm wrong, Tamara), she culls found objects like plastic frogs, toy boats, rope, dolls and other miscellaneous oddities that make my heart sing, applies them to wonderfully shaped mirrors, and coats the entire piece in plaster to an austere, haunting effect.

Here are some favorites:

That bird!

Can you spot the toy violin (or "fiddle," as we call it in the South)?

The frog kills me. 

This one is smaller scale, and I think my very favorite. It would look smashing against one of my client's Albert Hadley black-and-white "Fireworks"-papered bathroom walls. (My English teacher would cringe at that sentence.) 

The devil is in the details.

Here's a peek at her back room:

Ironically, my favorite thing in her entire showroom is a piece that was left behind by a previous tenant. Add a coat of white paint and VOILA! A white monkey holding up some stuff.

Speaking of her showroom...

A sampling of her custom furnishings:

 

A cast-glass Louis coffee table (!)

This chandelier is HUGE and amazing, with rotating arms.

And as if all this weren't enough reason to envy Tamara's talent, she's also a talented artist... I happened to spy this pile in a corner, only to find out she had created the whole lot.

Get thee to Codor Design. Buy a plaster mirror and tell her Leah sent you.

In the Bag

Sometimes in life (okay, a LOT of times) it's the little things that bring you the most delight.

Take, for instance, this bag. Trade fabric showrooms all use promotional bags to send their clients out the door with, and some of them are more creative than others in their designs. One of my favorite fabric lines, Schumacher, also produces some of the best bags around, using their fabric patterns as design features.

When I saw my friends at the Schumacher showroom displaying their latest issue around the floor, my heart skipped a beat. And then I looked inside the bag:

Ah, heaven. I absolutely love the pairing of the scenic Asian print with the crisp geometric. Pattern perfection. And to cap it off, they threw in a coordinating braid handle.

Am I total nerd or what? (Don't answer that.)

Fabrics shown are Schumacher's "Nanjing" in Porcelain (Asian scene) and "St. Tropez" in Navy (an indoor/outdoor fabric, I might add, that would be perfect dining room chair cushions or pillows on the patio).

Come see us for some fabric -- or a bag (we got a few) -- of your own.

Welcome to the Dollhouse

Normally I aim not to crib too heavily from others' blog posts, but sometimes it's justified. Today, my friends, is one of those days.

Great friend of the store (and recently engaged!) Kelley Moore recently posted about what I believe may be the most fabulous dollhouse of all time. Yes, I did say dollhouse. If you follow our comings and goings with any regularity, you've likely discerned I'm not one for things sweet, so you might expect that this is not your mother's dollhouse. It is, however, your most fabulous gay friend's dollhouse.

I wonder if they are too cool to hang with Polly Pockets.