Furniture Graveyard

Ever wonder where old hotel furniture goes to die?  If you have a taste for a bargain, and you can use your imagination, you have got to check out any Hotel/Furniture Liquidator -- every major city has one, or two or many.  

So it's not exactly high end shopping.  More like hold your nose, be prepared to sweat (this one has no AC), and try not to be too turned off by the dust and grime layering half the items. What you can expect are lots of $25 lamps, $50 chairs and sofas, $40 headboards, etc.  It is the Rodeo Drive of Cheap. (Again, only if you bring your imagination).

My eyes just light up at those price tags and all the nothings that I think I can turn into somethings. 

Here is a $40 chair from a Liquidator I reupholstered in Kelly Wearstler Sand Strie.  One of the most comfortable chairs I own.  

And bonus, when you buy something this cheap, you can afford to use expensive fabric.

$25 Artichoke lamps:
(I bought a pair now in my living room)

Thought about gold leafing them, but didn't need any more gold in the room, so I just gessoed, spray painted and added a new shade.

Excuse the mess on the couch. 

The moral of this story is some old furniture is like a cat -- 9 lives and all that.  Remember, it's not illegal to shop in this graveyard.*  Have fun!  *(I'm such a fool for a metaphor.)

Coffee/Cocktail Craze

Hollywood regency cocktail table via ebay.  Marbelized top and brass legs. 

While my love of coffee and cocktails is nothing new, I have a serious obsession with vintage coffee/cocktail tables lately (*see post below).  (What's the difference between coffee and cocktail table you ask?  Nothing, one just sounds fancier.) 

As always, thank you ebay for sustaining my habit, and for providing blog content.

More than anything, I just have an addiction to scouring ebay for great finds -- and lately its been tables for some reason (not that I need one).  So if you know of group therapy, or are looking to do an award winning Ph.D., just let me know. (I also have an oxymoronic, but slight infatuation with lamps-- just don't tell the doctors).

This is pretty glam/cool....(with glass top, oh la la):

Very cool cocktail table base for 245 that was on my ebay watch list, even though I didn't need it.   It's just so cool though.  If I had the space, I could be a hoarder of coffee/cocktail tables and lamps.
Cray, cray -- Kat?

Here's to a week of excellent coffee and cocktails (clink mugs and glasses)!
-me

Hurricane in the house!

wowsa!  incredible tessellated coffee table....wow!

Welll, every story has to have a beginning, middle and end.  The above table is the opening chapter in this mini-novella.  It really should be a soap opera, the way my week has gone, although I pray Marlena from Days of Our Lives does not make an appearance as the Devil. (That was from my college days when my roomates would tape that soap, and we'd watch it instead of studying for finals.  Did I just age myself?).  

Chapter 1:
I was vintage/antique/consignment shopping the other day with another talented eye (she's the best), and spotted this puppy!  It's an incredible Maitland-Smith tesselated coffee table (these things sell on 1stdibs for abt $3,000 -- and usually found in cream...this is a very unique emerald green (love)).  Needless to say, I got this for MUCHmuchmuchmuchmuch less (less than that even).  

It's an incredible piece and now I have to redsign the whole room around it.  So, of course, now the whole house is being redecorated, everything is for sale on craigslist, etc. and it looks like a hurricane hit the interior of the  homestead.  But this is progress, folks.  I love getting all crazy and changing up the chi/vibe of my own home every year.

Can't wait to post Chapters 2 and up...!  

Elvis Sighting!

This is what was ahead of me on St. Charles Avenue just a little while ago.  Obviously Elvis strapped his 'T-Bear' ice-chest to his scooter and decided to hit the town for Mardi Gras.  

I mean, why not?  Sidenote:please notice what's hanging from his ice chest.  

Yes, it's what you're thinking it is.

Just another typical day in NOLA.  I love this place.

Speaking of the legendary Stud...

What do you think of this studly console/media chest?  I've been looking at tons of media consoles for someone, and Elvis made me think of this one:

Studly Console in limed oak

It also comes in lacquered black, and lacquered white....

I still think I like the one on the scooter the best!

Are you a Tiger or Rolling the Tide?

Sorry Crimson Tide but as far as mascots go Mike the Tiger wins.   

Apologies in advance to all my wonderful friends who went to University of Alabama, but the fact that I went to graduate school at LSU and that I live in its proximity, I'm thinking purple, gold (yellow) and tigers at the moment.  


Listen Bama fans, don't give up on me yet.  I'm fickle, especially when it comes to team loyalty.  Knowing me and my fascination for underdogs I'll just root for whoever's losing tomorrow. In other words it's a bad sign if you see me cheering for your team by the second half. 


Until the big game, here's a little purple and gold inspiration from the style files (most images are from my Pinterest).  Have fun! xoxo, Kat

Tiger print pillows in bedroom done by Miles Redd

Very cool desk chair, via my pinterest

purple and gold painting by Hiroshi Matsumoto  

Yellow chesterfield by Anthropologie

Hickory Chair by Alexa Hampton

Aerin Lauder's dining room via Elle Decor 

Purple living via Elle Decor

Yellow and Gold (and zebra_!!!

Gold and purple pillows via Elle Decor 

Gorgeous yellow drapes via my Pinterest

Purple and gold by designer Massucco Warner Miller

Beautiful purple room via Elle Decor

Caption this Contest ---

Seriously creepy yellow dude on purple velvet via random photo from the interent...
All he needs is a tiger to come eat him to complete the look.
Will someone please caption this for me?  

Exotic in every way

A little exotic animal print in your home will not necessitate one of these warning signs.

Falling under the bizarre but true file is yesterday's little incident in Zanesville, Ohio.  Residents were warned to stay indoors due to an outbreak of exotic animals.  That's pretty exotic stuff for a Wednesday I'd say. 


Among the 56 animals corraled, and sadly, put down were 18 extremely rare Bengal tigers, 17 lions, six black bears and one baboon.  I can confirm from a first-hand and frightening encounter with a baboon (true, but long story), these monkeys are vicious.  The owner, and collecter, of this wild but good-looking brood apparently let them all loose.

True story:  I once was faced by jaws similar to these.  It wasn't pretty.

Just my two-cents here, but if you are so inclined to collect exotic animals, there are much safer ways to go about it.  For instance, why not consider a little exotic animal print on a chair, or a little faux-zebra rug?  *(many zebra rugs are in fact printed on cow hides). 

Leopard print on a chair.  It won't eat you if you sit on it, and it still looks gorgeous.
Image via La Dolce Vita blog.

A Tiger Print ottoman in Designer Melisa Rufty's New Orleans home via House Beautiful.
It won't bite.

A zebra cow-hide rug.  No zebras were hurt to make my living room look prettier.

A nice leopard print pillow on a beautiful emerald green couch.
(Don't know the source...have had this image saved forever)

An antelope inspired rug adds elegrance to this soft room via Elle Decor. 

Antique benches covered in leaopard in the home of San Francisco designer Steven Volpe via
San Francisco Style by Diane Dorrans Saeks

Zebra print chair via  Melissa Rufty 

A little understated exotic animal print goes a long way.  Plus,no one gets hurt, not even the animals (as long as you're not using real fur/hide.)

A Star is Born

Stage fright is not an option when you look this good.

She can't dance, she can't sing, and she definitely doesn't smoke.  In fact, she just sits there. But she's really good looking and full of personality.   

The chair reprises the role made famous by Ms. Garland.

It's the classic story as retold by me and a chair.  (Hold on, that's Hollywood calling on the other line.)  Unknown talent discovered and born again under the spotlight.  Alright, so maybe the chair's no Judy, but I'm still its Norman Maine -- with the exception that I'm not fatally jealous of its success.  You get the idea.   Remember this chair?

Grandma mint-green disaster in poly-blend floral rash 

It was a $40 Craigslist chair.  Apparently its only redeeming quality, besides its cute frenchy curves, is that it's really photogenic considering how ugly the finish and material were in person.  You can read more about me, the chair, and its transformation here.

Here is our star now:

So what if it just sits there?  It received a standing ovation from its most important fan -- its new owner, my niece.  A little paint, new material and it sparkles under the spotlight (a.k.a. the track lighting in its new attic bedroom).  The wise Judy Garland once said, "Be a first rate version of yourself, not a second rate version of someone else."  Mission accomplished, star. (Applause track...)

Are you Pinterested?

Instead of stapling Lionel’s illustrious message to a phone pole, I pinned it to one of my virtual pin boards (under Gets and Giggles).

How many times have you been surfing the great WWW and found an image, recipe, idea, or inspiration that you wish you had saved?  Well, now you can…if you’re on Pinterest!  Pinterest is a virtual pin board where you can save, share and organize anything you find on the web. 

The genius of Pinterest is that:

A. It's super easy ---  all you have to do is add the “pin it” button to your browser, click it when you see something you like, and Pinterest not only grabs the image, but also files it onto one of your pinboards. Pinterest automatically grabs the source link so you can credit the original creator.

see the "pin it" button on my browser -- it gets clicked a lot!

B. It lets you organize and name your own pinboards -- some people organize by colors, some people pin fashion, some people pin fonts, recipes, wedding ideas -- the list is endless.  My pinboards, so far, are: Inspiration Station: for the many interiors that inspire me; Dream Home: for my one day, happily ever after house; Home Girl: for all the things I want for my home now; Amazing Pieces: for incredible pieces of furniture I see; Art I Heart: for the art I heart; and Gets and Giggles: for all the wild and crazy stuff that merits a laugh, a "wow" or an "um, weird?!."  

C.  It's just genius.  Period, the end.

Here are some of my Pinterest images:

One of my favorite Slim Aarons photographs, filed under Art I Heart.

Madeline Weinrib rug filed under Home Girl.

Lovely colors and console styled with National Geographics, filed under Inspiration Station.

DIY PennyTiles....(can you imagine?), filed under Inspiration Station.

Gorgeous bathroom filed under Dream Home.

Ooohh la la Lamps, filed under Home Girl. 

One of my favorite bedrooms done by Miles Redd, filed under Inspiration Station.

Check out my Pinterest and sign up to start pinning your own virtual inpirations!