>> out of print tees

Love these iconic book cover t-shirts by Out of Print Clothing ($28 each). Such a fun idea and might make a good Valentine's gift for your bookish boyfriend. Women's shirts will be available next month.

>> what's inside: ashley bruce + griff behncke

Just got back from another delicious weekend in SF. I had to share Griff and Ash's cute-as-sin apartment in The Mission.

Mid-century wicker chairs atop a Madeline Weinrib zig-zag rug.

The Salon.


Obsessed with the Ashley Gray paint on their walls.

Rad save-the-date! Designed by this guy.

Stainless kitchen counter-height table by Ikea. It's a separate base and top, I don't think they sell this as-is. But they should!

Black Tolix stools! Awesome!


Griff's stack of old Gourmet Magazines. The other day they made a flat bread pizza and topped it with creme fraîche, lemon and caviar. Hello, foodies!


Their dining room is still a work-in-progress. But, they've got a slate table (that you can draw on with chalk!) and some Danish Modern chairs going on so far.

Part of Ash's vintage clock collection.

An Ashley Bruce original.

Loved all of the vintage hardware in their place. Hated having to leave.

>> wknd

I'm off in a few to San Francisco! Peace, homies.

>> totally hooked

I saw these hooked throw pillows made of 100% New Zealand wool over at Zelen Home yesterday—where everything in the store is 25% through Saturday. In the right context they are really goood. If you're not in L.A. you can get them online from Chandler 4 Corners where there are tons of other kitschy designs to choose from. Gator Pillow ($40); Love is all you need ($39).

>> room + board @ culver city

I went to the new Room & Board in Culver City yesterday. It's conveniently located in the old Helms Bakery building (how freaking great is that sign!?) between two of my favorite places in Culver City: Surfas and Father's Office.

It's a huge store, they took over a bunch H.D. Buttercup's space I'm told. I finally got a chance test drive the new Herman Miller Setu chair.

Ok, it's not the best looking office chair in the world, but when I sat it in it my back felt like a cloud, so it sealed the deal. I also think it's cool that Room & Board is carrying the almost 100 year old Illinois pottery line, Teco.

>> vintage book covers

These vintage book covers ($18) for iPad or Kindle DXs caught my eye today. I would definetly like my seat mate on my next flight to think I was reading The Practical Handyman's Encyclopedia.

>> old school in black and white

I don't really know how this happened, but all of the sudden I had all these images on my desktop that seemed to go together. Above: photo of Bowdoin (Matt's alma mater) from the LIFE archives via Ivy Style.

Vintage Audi poster via Grain Edit.

via ffffound.

Black JPs ($65).

B+W gingham shirt ($60).

Bowdoin class of 1825 silhouette poster ($30).

via ffffound.

>> fuji instax instant camera

Good bye Polaroid. Hello Fuji. I'm only hearing great things about the next generation of instant cameras. It's lightweight, stylish, has auto-focus, auto-flash and prints on credit card-size film. Get one here ($130).

>> vintage belgian matchbooks

My cousin Quinn sent me a link to these beauties this morning. They're 1940s steamship matchbooks found via the Chicago general store P.O.S.H.—which imports vintage hotel china and flea market finds from Europe. A few years ago I learned the word posh is derived from the initials of ‘port outward, starboard home’, referring to the more expensive side for accommodation on ships formerly traveling between England and India that were shaded from the sun—seemed like a relevant factoid for this post.

>> rip jd salinger

"What really knocks me out is a book, when you're done reading it, you wished the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it." —Holden, Catcher in the Rye

>> goose neck office lamps

I like them. Above: vintage goose neck table lamp ($66) from The Etsy shop Blue Bell Bazaar. Below: Jansjö table lamp ($40) by Ikea, I just saw this in-person and it's a cool color pink.

>> antique color

Online antiquing can be addictive. I've been combing the internets lately looking for things and I've come up with a list of candy-colored items I wouldn't mind having in my home. Above: Late 18th/early 19th century painted Smith tin tinderbox ($595) from Richmond, NH.

Balthazar by Lawrence Durrell, 1st Ed. 1958 ($65) from PHB in San Francisco.

Vintage pieces blanket ($250)—I think I saw these at the LA Gift show—from Jayson's Flea.

Vintage Highballs ($35 for four) from the Etsy shop White Elephant Vintage.

David Hicks on Home Decoration, 1st ed. 1972 (sold, sorry)

Vintage Scandinavian books ($40 each).

Mid-century Palm Beach Chippendale ($1,395).

>> vivienne westwood wallpaper

Today was the second time someone emailed me about British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood's new home line which includes wallpaper available at Cole & Son. Obviously the Union Jack steals the show, but there are some other great patterns too.

>> things to learn!

things to learn from Matt Edgar on Vimeo.

This morning, one of the first things I did was watch this video made for Dutch school children. Hello, good way to start the day. Via Swiss Miss

>> setu it

Last night while I was lying on the floor because my back was throbbing, I asked myself, "why is this happening?". Oh yeah, because I sit in a freaking fiberglass shell chair with 0% back support all day long. Hopefully those days are soon behind me because I've got my eye on one of the most ergonomically correct chairs out there, The Setu by Herman Miller ($499). Its innovative kinematic spine bends and flexes to your every move. There's nothing to tilt, nothing to tweak. And it doesn't look like one of those cuckoo chairs where you're practically hanging upside down, it looks like a 21st century modern chair. It was designed only last year in fact, by Studio 7.5, and it comes in a variety of colors and specifications.

>> nate berkus @ hsn

Max Humphrey over at Burnham Design, the design firm that consulted on Larchmont Larder and sells these awesome Union Jack lamps turned me on to Nate Berkus at...gasp...The Home Shopping Network. Weird, I know, but there are some deals to be had there! I got this set of three ikat photo frames for $15! I don't really care for the green one, but who cares, it was three for $15 (!)—and the black and grey ones are my new faves.

*update: they're down to $9!

>> precious cargo

I know that it isn't exactly reasonable to spend $160 on a wood crate for your bike, but look at this beautiful box crafted from Danish ash! Kinda looks like it came from a winery, but it's really from the fancy bicycle maker Velorbis. It can go on any bike, not just Velorbis models—and I think you can order one from this Chicago retailer if you're in the U.S.

>> titan 1 pendant lamp

I think I'm in love with the Titan 1 pendant lamp ($375) which was originally designed in 1940 for factories, offices and stations. These lamps are made using the original mold, but have been given a minor update. The bottom line is: I want one, bad. It goes perfectly in my dream garage with the 48-star American flag and the ping pong table. Bonus: They're manufactured in a factory in the UK dedicated to green manufacturing practices.

>> the green gorilla!

I've recently made room for a new blog on my short list of daily blog reads: Introducing the new, the fantastic, the ever-so-cool, The Green Gorilla! The G.G., authored by my friend C.J., is part blog, part overall musical education I think. It's topical, it's old, it's weird, it's just good. So far C.J. had shared rare videos and recordings of Al Green, Rod Stewart, Steve Winwood, Queen and Herbie Hancock—to name some of just the better known artists. Let's just say, there's something indescribable that I want from a music blog, and The Green Gorilla's got it—so check it out now! Here's just a taste, and one of my favorite G.G. posts to date:

The Spencer Davis Group doing Georgia circa 1967.

>> frank lloyd wright legos!

As a kid I LOVED Legos, like, A LOT! I just saw these new Lego editions of Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater ($100) and The Guggenheim ($40) and think I might have to get back into Legos again.

>> matteo outlet

Last Friday I stopped by the Matteo outlet (912 East Third St., downtown Los Angeles) to browse the bedding and such. How freaking cool is the store design!? Made from salvaged pallets!


I'm also really feeling this Matteo plaid scarf ($60) on sale at ABC Carpet + Home.

>> the canary hotel santa barbara

Speaking of Suzani fabic...Matt and I took a weekend away to Santa Barbara and stayed at the newish (18 months old) Canary Hotel located right in town, just about two blocks away from The Hungry Cat! We LOVED this hotel, it's owned by the guys behind Shutters and Casa Del Mar, and we were totally digging the beachy/Spanish/Moroccan design vibe. The walls are papered in a cheery teal blue sea grass which we thought was great too. The roof top pool isn't a bad place to perch either.

>> LA gift ghow snaps

On Friday I went went to the LA Gift to do some good old-fashioned scouting. I came across some good stuff (most of which I'm saving for some magazine work), but check out a few of these snaps of things to come. Above is a nautical-inspired table tennis set by Alice Supply Co.

Yellow Owl Workshop badminton stamp set (cool!)

The Original Lil' Popper, a classic toy from the 1950s, is being brought back!

Cardboard Design's cardboard tee pee (!!!!)

Custom and vintage route signs from old trolleys and double-decker buses from the UK.

I drooled over this vintage Suzani fabric for a while, and should have grabbed it while I had the chance!

>> flag pillows

Viva la flag pillow ($129).

And God save the Union Jack pillow too, but I don't know where these are from! I took the snap a few weeks back at The Larchmont Larder—I'll ask next time I'm there.

>> supergas!

Matt got me a pair of black Superga 2750 Classics for my b-day (best present EVER!).

Oh, weird, Ashley Olsen has them too...what a...coincidence, it's not like I read three different blogs about the Olsen twins, so I wouldn't have known that otherwise. To read more about Supergas, check out this DW post on sneakers from last year.

>> solar powered radio

With the Haiti situation still very much at the forefront of many of our minds, and especially those of us living in earthquake zones, I can't help but think about my own self-preparedness for a natural disaster. Matt and I have a standard earthquake kit as all Californians should—and not that style should be the priority of a survival kit (obviously!), but I recently saw this Kikkerland solar powered radio ($32), which charges either by hand-cranking of by solar power, and it looks pretty cool and pretty handy! And of course you can also use it for picnics and other non-emergencies. Fully charged, the radio will play for seven hours.

>> band camp

This vintage Belgian hat ($195) made me look...and crave a waffle.

>> salt of the earth

Salt of the Earth by The Rolling Stones, 1968.

I'm sort of at a loss today after watching CNN all night long. Text HAITI to 90999 to give a quick and easy $10 donation to the Red Cross.

>> beachwood chateau then and now

circa 1940

circa 2010

I found a historic photo of our apartment building and then went out to try and take the same one. Not much has changed in 70 years! Lots of cool old L.A. snaps to check out at Hollywood Historic Photos—many available for purchase.

>> portland general store

Speaking of old manly things, has anyone tried anything from Portland General Store? It's an Etsy shop that sells old-fashioned and all-natural body care products for men—all of it hand made by Lisa Brodar in Maine. I'm intrigued by some of the scents like Tobacco, Whiskey and Wood.