Lucky finds & Kitchen sneak peek

Magic 'shrooms...

Kaj Franck's amazing mushroom design on a Finel enamel bowl.

I have been lusting after one of these for the longest time. Next to impossible to find in these climes, I have been close on more than one occasion to ordering one on Etsy and have it shipped over from the US. But with a going rate of 75 usd and factoring in the shipping costs, it never quite seemed the right time to spend more than 100 usd on a bowl.

Lucky I resisted temptation this long (for once) ! Because I eventually came across this beautiful specimen on ebay Belgium, and NOBODY was interested. Unbelievable, right ?! Mine for 26 eur. And since the seller was local, I didn't even have to cough up any shipping costs. Yay !

A while back, I also found this Scheurich vase (with Inca decor) for a whooping 3 eur. I love the colour. And from what I've noticed, the green glazes are pretty rare in West German pottery. So this a pretty lucky find as well.

Together with the Strehla planter, I now got a little green collection going in the kitchen. Yay, one more collection!

Putting it all together, you get something like this.

And vignette with cat. Of course.

Hall closet before & after

Are you ready ?

Here we go...

Way back in January. No comment...

The hall decor consisted mostly of clutter. How embarrassing.

And the inside of the small walk-in closet was even worse.

The last of the dreaded yellow - and some paint samples.

Mr Messy would feel right at home...

And then February brought : ebay success (coat rack is now sold),

... some much needed decluttering,

... also some harassing paint work,

... and finally, some rewards, aka new furniture and accessories.

A Kewlox wall cabinet is now holding all of my shoes.

A Charley Harper poster from 1977 is cheering up the entry. And of course, a little West German pottery never hurts.

The whole closet is now a sparkling white.

In the future, I'll probably be buying some Ikea boxes to make better use of those built-in shelves, but for now I just randomly dumped most of the closet stuff back in there.

Even the inside of the door frame got a fresh coat of paint. Although you have to dangerously twist around to actually see it. But what can I say, perfection is my middle name.

So to sum up, I used the Little Greene "Shirting" (left over from painting the hall last year) for the walls and trim, and Farrow and Ball "Pavillion Gray" (left over from repainting the kitchen) for the accent wall.

I confess, the Kewlox cupboard at 210 eur blew a bit of a hole in my budget, but turned out to be the only option given that this space is exceedingly narrow. So anything with drawers and doors other than sliding ones was out of the question. I did consider the Ikea Aspvik wall unit for a while, but it would have been less partical for storing shoes, as it does not come with a middle shelf. And for once, I did not want to wait for anything vintage to turn up on ebay.

So Kewlox it is ! And I'm very happy with my choice. I very much like how the checkerboard doors add some extra punch to the space. And in any case, being greeted by anything other than a complete mess when you enter my place, is a very nice change :-)

Catching up

It's about time I start showing some of my latest thrift finds.

So Ladies and Gentlemen, in honour of spring timidly making a reappearance : a Strehla planter.

I love its funky lava circles, and the light green makes a perfect colour for early spring.

Another ebay success story, even though the shipping costs were higher than the actual price of the pot - 6 and 5 eur respectively. Still, in my book anything West German - or indeed East German - for under 20 eur surely is a score.