Go For the Gold!

I hate sports. I was never a soccer player, sucked at tennis, and got beaten up in PE. Can you say dodgeball? Nevertheless, I -- like so many people around the globe -- am completely obsessed with the Olympics, especially gymnastics, which is chock full of uber-buff men who wear leotards and do the splits. I am also VERY SURPRISED to find a not insignificant amount of nationalist competitive spirit lodged in my card-carrying communist (socialist? liberal? whatever the old folks call us these days), pinko heart.

That's right: GO AMERICA. KICK EVERYONE ELSE'S ASS. (But if you're not from the United States, feel free to insert your team in the following blank. It's ok. I'll try not to hold it against you.) So for you, ______, I present a day of golden awesomeness in celebration of all the ass we've already kicked, as well as all of the ass-kicking yet to come.

If you need some help getting into the gold grubbing spirit, try these $429 24-karat filled pills by Tobias Wong at Generate Design. Don't worry. I'm sure everything will come out fine.

Seriously, isn't gold the best color ever? Doesn't it make everything seem shiny and new and GOOD? Just ask Karly. She insisted on giving two football helmets we scored at the thrift store the Midas touch. Stephen Johnson needs no help in that department; he's already amassing a kitschy collection of gravity-defying gold-dipped goodies. And that bow covered snail butt just makes me laugh.

I've already blogged about China's King of Bling, Lam Sai-Wing, and his solid gold palace (replete with solid gold toilet!), but there's no need to be jealous of his glitzy digs. Check out these 24 karat covered tiles from Design Tale Studio and golden aluminum/laminate tiles spotted at trendir, and set the stage (ok, maybe only mentally!) for your own vision of victory.

Going for the gold is always about aiming high, right? While admiring the golden glow emanating from your environs, why not kick your feet up on Yves Klein's gold shavings-filled coffee table? (Look for more posts on Klein craziness next week...)

Feeling prepped for success? Ready to win? Sense the sweet taste of proper thrashing coming in the next week or so? Make sure you take it all in on your gold-plated plasma tv and sound system.

Excuse me. I've got to go uncharacteristically berserk (not that going berserk is actually uncharacteristic. It's just that this cheering thing is a little very new and different) and root for my team. Hunny Bunny is sure that I'm crazy, but, hell, I'm in it to win it! He really should know that by now. Not that I'm competitive or anything.

Everyone Do the Longo

Remember Wall Street in the shining chrome-plated 80's? Impeccably dressed stock brokers raked in millions through day trading while repeating the corporate mantra, "greed is good," with zombiesque vacancy. And for the privileged few, living in a pressure cooker meant a penchant for Oliver Peoples glasses, Valentino suits, Crane's calling cards, and glass walled apartments overlooking Central Park, much like Patrick Bateman, anithero of Bret Easton Ellis' brilliant satire of elegant 80's excess, American Psycho.

(Ok, I need to get this off my chest: this is the part of the film where Christian Bale/Patrick Bateman talks about how much he likes Phil Collins, which almost (but not quite) ruined Christian Bale's uber hotness for me because I REALLY HATE PHIL COLLINS. SUSSU SUCK ON THIS, PHIL.)

But I digress. Bateman's tastefully minimal apartment swathed in white, beige and white -- all the better to showcase the housekeeper's skills as well as his ultra luxurious accoutrements -- represents the apex of 80's wealthy urban living. That and his life-sized Robert Longo lithographs.

Images courtesy of the artist at Artnet.

Much has already been made about the dark side of 80's greed. There's Patrick Bateman himself, a self-imagined psychotic killer, Less Than Zero's protagonist who dies of cocaine overdose in a hyperfast society driven by glamor and wealth, and then there are Longo's prints of corporate archetypes writhing against the confines of their high pressure lifestyles.

So what does it say about the state of our current society and economy that prints from Longo's Men in the Cities series have recently made a comeback on the walls of today's well-heeled homes?

Tom Scheerer, master of all things beige and white, used two original Longo prints as focal points in this extremely tasteful dining room. Snark aside, I actually love it, possibly because I have been reprogrammed to URGENTLY NEED light light walls by the recent blitz of white washed everything, or possibly because the macabre side of me might enjoy the choking feeling that would come from looking at that print while eating. Perhaps it would help with portion control.

Moving on to more Longo sightings:

Left image from Domino, spotted on M.A. Belle's lovely blog, Right image from Interior Design.

That's Gretchen, and she's had a tough day. I think she is a popular choice because Gretchen's a little less edgy than some of the more obviously distressed people, and her black dress and heels are classic and therefore still au courant. In other words, she's pretty and I'd have her in my bedroom any day. Heh heh.

The latest sighting was over at Apartment Therapy, at least I think this is a Longo:

It sure looked better in its natural beige habitat, didn't it? Way too much contrast here. Maybe there is a point to having white walls, you know, other than to highlight my lack of obsessive cleaning and all of the imperfections in my 40 year old walls, not to mention the lower than 20 foot high ceilings and complete nonexistence of decorative woodwork. Sigh.

The good news is that Longo's prints are not completely unattainable. Well, the original 70" tall lithographs are (unless you have 5-7k earmarked for artwork, in which case, why don't you send some of that sweet sweet love my way, pretty please?), but the posters are quite affordable and while they're substantially smaller, they still have graphic impact. Lithographs and reproductions are available through Bird Fine Art, as well as through Ebay.

If you care to send me a pair of prints, I think I'd like Larry and Ellen here:

So tortured and ironic. What do you think? Could you find a place in your home to do the Longo?

pantone 380c

Ok, so I think I got all of the dutch nonsense out of my system yesterday and now I can get back to the task at hand:  waxing poetic about my newest most favoritest shade of yellow: clean, crisp, neon lemony-ish!  (NOT warm murky school bus macaroni).  

clockwise from top left: chair by jens fager;  Kevätjuhla mug by Miina Äkkijyrkkä for Marimekko;  Astor Ceramic Canister by Wandrlust;  Trollsta sideboard by Ikea

I just hung a fantastic vintage door on a barn-door track in my living room, I thought I wanted to paint it lime, yet every swatch I looked at just looked so, um, tired.  Then I realized, ah ha!!  I don't want lime, I want lemon.  How could I have been so silly?  I'm obsessed now.  I had a bit of a hard time finding the perfect shade for this post, I had to sift through LOTS of macaroni yellows.  yuck.  But here are more good ones:

The world's dreamiest fridge from Smeg;   Fishnet wallpaper available at Walnut;  Mod Square Porcelain Dish from Etsy seller Shoshonasnow

Actually, those Etsy kids were all over the lemon yellow:

Chair Yellow Watercolor by midcenturyjo; 6oz tea cup by circaceramics;  Lemon Rings Linen Coasters by Megan Burch;  Specimins table napkin by skinnylaminx

One of the reasons I want to paint my door yellow is because it's going to open to my black, white and lemon bedroom.  I REALLY REALLY want a bold, graphic lemon bedspread.  Here are some textiles I found with my color mixed in:

Mauste duvet by Pia Holm for Marimekko, Blossom Velvet Box pillow at Urban Outfitters; Warbler Green Pillow by Salvor Fauna available at wandrlust; Toile Lemon Rug by Madeline Weinrib Atelier

As a general rule, I can not afford Madeline Weinrib, here are some other possible textiles for my bedroom:

Flower Mess bedspread by Ferm Living;  Rainbow Jungle Tapestry available at Urban Outfitters;  Pine Dish Towel also by Ferm Living

I am almost in love with the flower mess bedspread, I'm a little worried that it might end up being the wrong shade of yellow in person.  The Rainbow Jungle Tapestry bedspread is cute but I almost can't order it by default... seriously, it has the 3 worst words ever in the title.  And, I know, I know, that is a dish towel, not a bed linen, perhaps I could use it to make a throw or something?

And to see the yellow in a room:

first 2 images courtesy of Desire to Inspire

bottom image courtesy of Lazzarini Pickering Architecture

So, after all this fuss I bet you're thinking that this door of mine better be pretty special.  Well, here it is:

I know, I know, the cream looks perfect in this picture, and, why would I want to paint it yellow?  I'm going to be moving things around and adding new stuff.  It's going to look great when it's done.  promise.  I'll share pictures.  On another note, how do you like my stencil wall?  I'll give you a how to on that as soon as I muster the strength to type it all out.

So, what does everyone say?  Are we loving the yellow?