This time two years ago I was in London for the first time. We had celebrated New Years in Amsterdam, Paris and rounded out the trip in London. So I’ve been lamenting over that fabulous trip. One that we will not be taking again anytime soon because of the financial meltdown of 2008. This week I’ve been cruising websites to fill my need for European design.

I found LOMBOK. How Oh How could I have missed this store?? I would just like to run my fingers over some of this teak furniture. It looks like chocolate! And I just love their approach to their displays. I could just move right in. In my opinion the English are always the best at conservatory furnishings and LOMBOK just proves that out.

LOMBOK is Eastern inspired décor with a truly English twist. While I’m not a huge fan of Asian furniture I do like the LOMBOK take on Oriental design. The big plus for me is the attention paid to using recycled and natural materials in their designs. I firmly believe this is the future of design on all levels. This is one area that our industry can change the perception of “used” into unique and it’s crucial that we all get on board to save the environment.

With the designs that LOMBOK creates you can have a high end piece of furniture and rest easy that you’re doing your part to support the environment.

So check out LOMBOK’s bookcases! Nice wide selection but I’m drawn to the Half Height Bromo Bookcase. This could fit into any room and would look good with an eclectic collection or books.

I’m particularly attracted to the Canton Desk. Rugged yet sophisticated, clean, dark, beautiful. Made of ash with a traditional black lacquer rubbed out. I’m always looking for a good sturdy desk.

I’m also a fan of the traditional wooden bookcases. While you can purchase these in the U.S. it’s the Indonesian Teak wood that is desirable and hard to find in furnishings here.

Right now is a good time too because SALES ARE GOING ON! There just isn’t a better time to make that overseas purchase.

Cheers!

Tab

Halstead Antiques at Round Top

The first show of the year just wrapped up at Round Top and Marburger Farms in Texas last weekend. I still haven't found the time to make the trip down to Texas to see this extraordinary antique flea market show. Every year Liz and I start dreaming about it in Feb then March rolls around and by the time that we'd have to make the decision to go, the hotels are booked plus we'd have to drive. We would of course be buying fabulous things and no airline would allow us to carry on the items I'd have to have.

So we live vicariously through our friend Carol Halstead. Carol owns Halstead Antiques and works with a partner, Betty Johnson who owns Applejack Antiques. Both in Texas, they are exclusive to the Round Top shows. Carol's passion is toward the architectural, garden with some country, sconces and some art and Betty goes more for the "dressy." "It makes for a nice mix and I think that's one of the draws to our booth plus we offer reasonable prices." Carol's interest in antiques started when she was a teenager and she's collected various things and visited antique shops since that time--accumulating way too much, she decided to start selling. Betty has been in the business for over 20 years.

"I truly love buying and hunting for our treasures and it is a lot of fun meeting our customers and visiting with them." "It feels really good when you find a treasure to pass on to someone who also loves it." Carol sent us photos of her booth at Round Top. They inspire us and I hope they do you too. Visit Carol and Betty at booths 323 & 324 at the next show this fall.

March 27th 2008

Where oh where is Spring?

Electronics Recycling

I don't know about you but, along side my regular paper and plastic recycling I have been collecting a myriad of other items that I don't think I should throw in the garbage. So over time I have accumulated quite a pile of items that are collecting dust and taking up space in various corners of my home. There is an old TV, well not the whole TV, it was big, once it went kaput it really took up a lot of space. It was too big and heavy for me to move so I took it apart and while it is still too heavy to move it can be concealed much better. But I digress, in addition to this TV tube, I still have my very first computer and monitor (a Tandy) a keyboard, a mouse, broken antenna, busted cd player, a really old cell phone and more but you get my point. Where do you get rid of this stuff?

Now to my point I found this website and it gives you information on electronics recycling by zip code. My Green Electronics.

Second Day Of Spring 2008

I think the picture says it all.

Update , Reusing, Reviving a Bathtub

Here is the finished bathroom. Thank you to our customer for remembering us and sending on these photos it really is one of the best things when we get to see the items that we salvaged given a new life.




Click here for the original post.

Planetreuse.com

Planet Reuse

Today is the greenest of all days during the year thanks to the Irish! It's also the launch day for a new green website, http://www.planetreuse.com Planet Reuse brings anyone interested in building green, together on their website.

It's like Ebay for builders, Designers, Architects, Salvage Companies, and DIYers. Yours truly has a listing along with several other salvage companies. Over time this may be the best place to start when looking for materials. Because we all have a specialty area (like I avoid flooring projects for instance) Planet Reuse will allow you to search for green materials for all aspects of the project rather than having to shop each piece at different locations. Check them out and bookmark them at Planet Reuse!

Why didn't I think of this? Good going Brad and team!

Tab

Reusing, Reviving, Reinventing Bathtubs

One of the nicest things about our business is that we often get to see what people do with the items they buy from us. We really do think of ourselves as responsible for finding good homes for the items we sell. Kind of like a matchmaker. This is a story about a perfect match.

Steve and his wife drove up from Urbana, Il. last summer in hopes of finding a vintage, left hand drain, art deco corner tub with a “wrap around” apron. A hard to find piece and it had to be in excellent condition. It was a serendipitous moment as we had just received word on such a tub. We moved quickly to rescue the tub and bring it back to the store for Steve to see. Here's a recent email from Steve:

Tabitha and Liz, I'm a customer from over a year ago, but we're finally going on our bathroom project and I wanted to forward you a picture that includes the centerpiece, an awesome corner tub that DIDN'T need refinishing, that you helped me cram into a little white toyota station wagon last year and drive down to Urbana. Our contractor was so skeptical when he sweated the dirty tub (in our garage for a year) up our narrow staircase, "what the heck are these guys thinking?" Since I cleaned it up, it's been the talk and pride of him and every subcontractor to come through. It's awesome! Thank you guys for finding it for us. I'll forward another picture when it's all done.

Before After

Playing with Color (again)

We have had these stars for a while now and decided to give them a fresh look with some new paints I have. The dark blue is from a company called Citron Paint and the coverage is great and no smell. The colors are deep and rich. This color is called Suffragette. The greenish star, I used one of the Benjamin Moore Aura paints called Lush. They are resting in this cool antique shopping cart that we just pickedup.

FliptStudio Update

I posted a couple of weeks ago about this new blog and how Shelly had given my step by step instructions for upholstering an old coffee table. Well she has since added that to her blog here is the link

How to Make an Upholstered Bench Out of An Old Coffee Table
A trip to one of my local Goodwill stores yielded this ugly, stained wooden table, probably homemade, but perfect for a conversion.

More Goodies

Too Cool

These are lights from a 1930's home.

Business Card

Just a little bitty post. I found this in a box of other things that we had gotten.

C'est Moi is Moving to Vintage Pine

Join us on Saturday, February 23rd to toast our time on Damen and celebrate our move to Vintage Pine 11 am - 6 pm C'est Moi 2129 N Damen Chicago, IL 60647 We'll have champagne and goodies galore!!!

We've got about 2 and half weeks left at 2129 North Damen so ...it's time for 40% off the entire store. All times are final sale and this does not apply to special orders. Call if you want something held! 2129 North Damen Avenue Chicago, IL, 60647 773-269-2116

Nohea Interiors

Nohea is a Hawaiian word that means beautiful, handsome and/or lovely. It's also the name of our new friend, Calie Anderson's design firm, Nohea Interiors.

I often go out on the net looking for inspiration for our store displays. Searching for new trends and colors, and home ideas, so it's no surprize that I came across Nohea Interiors. Calie exudes a style that was/is immediately appealing to me. Turns out this San Franciscan woman and I have a common thread, we both have family ties to the Hawaiian Islands.

Now here's the thing about Hawaii. It's one of the most diverse states in the U.S. Several different ethnic groups have found their way to the islands for jobs with the plantations. Then you have the military base on Oahu that continues to bring in mainland folks and their families. Having been a sociology major, I've always thought it is the one place on earth where you can really, truly study anthropology and gain a better understanding of human nature and mixed cultures. It's the only place I've been in the world where complete strangers ask you "what are you?" and not "what do you do?" and there's no wierdness about it. I'm German and Swedish with a Tutu (Hawaiian for grandma) that's Pilipino and proud of it!

That said, my point here is that someone from Hawaii has a deep understanding of multiple cultures and a strong awareness of what that means. Then of course there is so much beauty in the paradise of the islands. All of this makes for a great design perspective and that's what you get when working with Calie Anderson.

Check out http://www.noheainteriors.com/ and Calie's blog at http://nohealookbook.blogspot.com/

Calie is working on wallpaper designs that are fabulous! I'll be posting about them as they evolve.

Tab

Fliptstudio Blog

So here I am all ready to tell you all about a new blog. I actually was first introduced via Curbly.com. I was looking for information on ideas for this hideous coffee table that I found when to my rescue came Shelly with step by step instructions for upholstering the table and making it into a bench. Anyway I was checking out her new blog fliptstudio.blogspot.com and she's got a really great post about us. (Thanks Shelly).

Not to be outdone, here are some of my personal favorites of her pieces. :)

Newest Finds

Seems like I have been more off than on lately with my postings. Sorry about that. We have been quite busy rearranging things in the store and bringing in new inventory. Here is a little bit of what we have gotten in the last week or so. Enjoy.

Newest Items

We have gotten these three wonderful pediments from the East Coast.

Got Peanuts?

We're always trying to do our best to reduce materials in our landfils and curb consumption of non-biodegradable items.

Recently I was in Hawaii visiting family and doing some research on how they handle trash locally. It got me thinking about how we here at Island Girl Salvage can do a better job as well. One area of interest is packing materials. In Hawaii there are organizations that receive used packing materials from residents and then these materials such as boxes and peanuts are made available to businesses to use for shipping their products. It's a win, win for the environment because these items stay out of the landfils and the local businesses because packing materials are quite expensive. If everyone recycled their unwanted packing materials we could keep some of the handling costs down.

When I returned home to Chicago I started looking around here for the same kind of setup. Unfortunately, I can't find any. That's where all of you come in. We'd like to receive your unwanted packing boxes, peanuts and bubble wrap. In return we will eliminate packing and handling fees on any item that we are able to reuse the received packing materials.

You can rest easy knowing that we are all doing our part to save the environment.

Thanks,

Tab

Vintage Bark Cloth

Is that your grandmother’s pillow on the couch? Or is it a trendy new accessory featuring vintage fabric from the 1940s wartime period?

The thick textured fabric – a.k.a. bark cloth -- that seemed mod amidst the décor of homes in the 1940s – 1960s is now showing up in more than just garage sales. In fact, bark cloth fabric is making waves today with its tropical Hawaiian floral, Oriental prints and colorful patterns.

Although the origin of using the inner bark of trees, such as fig, breadfruit and paper mulberry, to make sturdy “tapa” cloth dates back to the 6th century B.C., it was around World War II that the fabric became more world renown. Many servicemen stationed in Hawaii saw first hand the brightly colored bark cloth curtains, home furnishings and even shirts and in turn brought them back to the mainland and abroad. In the late 1940s and through the 1960s, bark cloth became a staple fabric in the home interior textiles market. The most collectible of these are the atomic “Eames era” prints that made a name for themselves in the 1950s and 1960s.

Here are just some of the samplings that we have had here at Island Girl.