Front Yard Update

This first picture is just the tease. Mr. Monkey worked hard on the flagstone patio out front. It's laid in concrete and is nice and solid and flat and level. I love it. Read and see below for more of a play by play of how the new and improved front yard evolved.

Well it's not completed but you can get a sense of the work that Mr. Monkey, my hubby, has done. Wowza! We are getting lots of positive comments from the neighbors and friends that have stopped by. Click to see what it looked like when we bought the place. Look below for even more pics of the evolution of our front yard. You can see that Mr. Monkey took out that not so modern fencing. When he did - we called it "The Great Liberation". Our yard looked so much better once that yuckerific fence was gone. 

And the 3 basalt columns are really a show stopper. One of the 3 is a fountain and quite nice for a little burbling but without the mosquito eggs that tend to gather in slow moving fountains. The water just drains through the rock bed to a container down below and filters back up. Amazing as far as I'm concerned.  We have few more more plant and flower additions that are in the ground sine this last picture was taken so stay tuned for more front yard goodness. 

When in Tucson: Copper Country

Believe it or not there is mid-century modern furniture in this building!

There wasn't quite enough sun here in Eugene so I thought I'd pop over to Tucson for some fun in the sun. Mostly I spent my time with dear dear friends who just had twins. You can imagine life with twins was pretty busy but not too busy for a quick visit to one of my friend's favorite antique shop. Even when life is so hectic and you're sleep deprived it's good to squeeze in a few minutes of diversion and inspiration.  For my friend and I this would include looking at great design and funky signs. This store - Copper Country has both! Check out this picture. It's hard to see but there is in fact a huge buffalo on the roof with wings AND the winged buffalo is on top of the boat. It's hard to date them but I'm thinking they're not from the 50's. You have to go inside for those goodies.This is a rosewood K. Kristiansen chair that they were charging $150.00. Below the silver tortoise shell is actually a lamp. It was labeled as "Arthur Court" and cost $1200.   I loved the tortoise shell lamp but of course it's too big for our wee house and way out of our price range for a lamp. Oh well.  If you happen to be in Tucson stop by this fun store. There are lots of other treasures that have nothing to do with being fabulously modern but are equally fun to sort through. Enjoy!

Oak St. Vintage, Eugene, Oregon

You couldn't find a nicer little vintage shop in a house in a medium sized town than Oak St. Vintage. The owners Cora and Carl are super nice and love to talk about all things mid century mod. If I'm having a grouchy day I just like to stop by and be around the B-U-tiful items they've added to the store.  Here's some pics from my most recent fly-by. 

I was thinking about this lamp (there's two in the picture) as a bed side reading lamp but it just had too big of a foot print. And I was thinking about this wee table (below) as a nightstand for my side of the bed but I found one on craigslist that was in a bit better condition. This one was super affordable at $40, it was on consignment, but it did have a water stain on the top shelf. The white portion slid back to reveal a secret compartment to store all of your bedside goodies. I had to pass on these items but I'll be back soon and I hope some of you local folks will stop by soon to visit Cora and Carl and all their super stylin' mid-century accoutrements.