Home Decor

Trade Me Watch: Blackamoor Chalkware Genie Bookends

Posted by on Feb 3, 2013 | 0 comments

I would love to add these bookends to my small chalkware collection. How wonderful are these plaster genie bookends? It looks like they are in great condition for their age, although with some small touch ups – not surprising as chalkware scratches so easily. I searched to see if I could see prices for anything similar and I spied another couple (although not as great as they have dishes between their knees) on Etsy that are going for $US95 (and shipping is $80 on top of that!). So perhaps that is an indication of what these might go for.

The Blackamoor tradition was popular in the 1600-1700s enameled or carved from ivory, but also became popular mid- century decorations now chalkware (plaster). These bookends have a lot of the blackamoor signatures – they are a pair, are wearing turbans, wearing jewels and are black with bright colours. These would be great pieces to own!

Vintage Chalkware Genie Bookends: bidding at $2

Check out the full Trade Me listing here.

Retro Renovation: Seagrass Matting

Posted by on Dec 3, 2012 | 0 comments

While doing our big retro renovation, I decided I wanted to get a mat for our kitchen floor. As it’s a narrow space, I wanted something like a runner carpet, but being a food zone it needed to be practical. I love the squares of seagrass matting – seen recently in my post about the Marlborough Sounds bach here – they remind be of baches and growing up in the 70s, but they were surprisingly hard to find. I guess they are not in fashion any more.

Retro bach with seagrass matting squares on the floor

I did end up finding one mat store online that sell the seagrass matting tiles. The squares are 30.5cm squares and come off the roll in 9 square widths – at $40 each row. Then you just decide how many rows you want. You can see more here.

You can see a peek of the mat in front of our fridge

I got 3 rows wide and it fits our kitchen perfectly. It’s a practical choice as the bits of food and muck don’t stick to the matting, instead it falls through, so you can just vacuum it up every couple of days. It’s soft under foot, and helps to stop things breaking when you have a 2 year old rummaging in the cupboards. I wish I’d done it before!

Seagrass matting squares are perfect for grubby areas.

Photo: A Simple Life Afloat

Trade Me Watch: Mid-Century Gazelle Lamps

Posted by on Nov 1, 2012 | 0 comments

I haven’t had much time to post as we’re hectic at home renovating and doing the garden, I should have some good photos soon though!

I’ve still been coveting things on Trade Me and I found these great pair of Mid-Century lamps. Aren’t they amazing? They are gazelle lamps, all carved out of one piece of wood. They are not small – 56 cm high and have brown brushed velvet lampshades. The gazelle is a classic mid-century shape, you see quite a few carved gazelle ornaments and statues, but these lamps don’t come up often.

They started at $10 but are already at $96 so they are probably outside of my budget!

Mid-century gazelle lamps

Two gorgeous wooden gazelle lamps

Trade Me Watch: 1970s Space-Age Clock

Posted by on Oct 17, 2012 | 0 comments

I have trouble going past a great retro clock – my father collects clocks so maybe it’s in the genes. Not sure how many he has, but I love the way his eyes light up when he sees and vintage clock. He volunteers at a Hospice shop so he must have a hard time not bringing their inventory of clocks home with him. I digress…I found this funky space-age pedestal clock on Trade Me that would look amazing on my home-office nook, or in the kitchen.

It is made by ‘Rhythm’, a Japanese clock company established in 1950. In the 60 years they have been in business, they have sold over 20 million clocks – they are a typical Japanese company in the pride they take in their quality control.

This clock has a chrome finish with a silver face, and the best part: orange highlights on the numbers. It is wind up and lasts about 2 days on one wind. It does have an audible tick, so maybe not best for beside your bed. In fab condition.

Bidding is at $11 but I expect it will go for a bit more – I found some on eBay that sold for about $40 or another on a design site selling for $150! You can see the listing here.

Japanese ‘Rhythm’ pedestal clock

Retro Heartbeat Coat Rack

Posted by on Oct 16, 2012 | 0 comments

I love this retro-inspired coat rack by IkoIko. Just like the Eames Hang It All rack, it has multi-coloured balls as the hooks, but it isn’t on a straight line, instead the hooks are at all different heights. It is wide too, so there are lots of spaces between the hooks so your coats don’t get squashed. I’ve been thinking about creating a mudroom-type of space by my laundry and this would cover a lot of area. I am so sick of coats and bags being dropped all over the house! A big coat rack would really help to keep things tidy.

It measures 70cm x 43cm and you can read more about it here.

Iko Iko Heartbeat Coat Rack $44

Eames-Inspired Magnetic Fridge Clock

Posted by on Oct 10, 2012 | 0 comments

I love this idea, have the Eames look but with magnets on your fridge – perfect for people with boring white fridges like me. And the clock is big enough to be seen, which can be a problem with my crappy eyes! This would look great in a retro-inspired or eclectic kitchen.

It’s on sale for $59 at the Once It site, which is a membership site. You’d need to join up here to sign in to see this and the other Tinch Design Studio home decor pieces on sale.