Donkee House

Pillows from The Home Centric

This beautiful Lord of the Rings pillow is from Urvi of The Home Centric.  Made with silk dupioni and and metal rings, it’s quite mesmerizing.  Only thing is, I don’t want to rest my head on it – I just want to hold and stare at it for hours – it’s so intricate.

Check out a few more of her pillows…all of this handmade goodness for less than $30 each with her Cyber Monday sale (most are far less than $30)….

The Wheel of Pearls – silk dupioni with copper embroidery and mother of pearl.

Almost Real – pin tucked silk with crystals.

The Canvas Carnival – cotton canvas with sequins, beads and leather flowers.

Vintage Frills – crushed silk with frilly ruffles.  So soft, delicate and pretty, don’t you think?

Where is This Living Room?

This living room seems quite comfortable, warm and well lived in, doesn’t it?  But where can you find such a place?  Take a guess…

Continue reading…

What I Want for Christmas…

Image 1 via Breeder Retriever

Images 2 & 3 via Doberman Pinscher Puppies

Image 4 via Dog Breeds Spot

Image 5 via Upside Down Dogs

Image 6 via Dirjournal

Superior Donuts

We saw Superior Donuts by Tracy Letts directed by Tina Landau Tuesday night.  The husband pointed out after the show that I laughed out a few times.  I never laugh out loud.  That’s not true, I RARELY laugh out loud.  I’m talking plays, movies, comedy shows, books, etc., people.  (Although I must say – there have been a few books that did make me laugh out loud continuously, not just a few particular spots.  On the train in the morning half asleep and “ha! ha! ooooo…”.  Funny like I have to put the book down and just laugh and chuckle it off, then proceed reading again).  I DO laugh out loud with common day occurences, though, because I’m not as weird as you think.  Maybe spontaneous humor is more funny to me than PRESENTED humor?  Yes.  Not that I think a lot of stuff aren’t funny, just not funny enough for me to laugh out loud, maybe just an inward chuckle.

Anyway, based in Chicago, Superior Donuts made me laugh out loud and that was good.  (No, I can’t type LOL, I just can’t!)  Yasen Peyankov as Max Tarasov was awesomely real and awesomely russian and provided most of the laughs for me.  Jon Michael Hill (charisma oozes from this guy) as Franco Wicks was refreshing – his energy and ambition played so well with Michael McKean‘s Aruthur Przybyszewski – the donut shop owner who was much more still and stagnant.

There was a lot in this two hour plus play.  An awakening from a dull and resigned life for a donut shop owner by a driven and clever young man who talked himself into working at the donut shop for minimum wage.  They help each other (Franco helps Arthur P. out of his sleepwalking life and Arthur P. helps free Franco of his debts by selling his shop).  The fight scene between Arthur P. and bookie Luther Flynn (played by Rober Maffia) was Arthur P.’s release and fight against his own barren and spiritless life.  Race played into this as well – how many black poets can you name? – but played lightly.

I say definitely go see it if you’re in town – the acting was all around believable and tremendous.  Who doesn’t need a good dose of laugh out loud with a wonderful story behind it all?

Dhalgren

Dhalgren must be one of those love-it or hate-it books.  Unfortunately, I’m on the second wagon.  Although I would not quite say reading through this 800+ pages of…pretentious rant…torturous, I would admit that I complained periodically to the husband on some late nights about how I had to force myself to read at least a bit everyday in order to finish it.

I found the mystery of Kid – amnesia, bisexuality and lost hours and days all very not mysterious.  I didn’t care whether he remembered his name or not.  His random memories of places, names and experiences didn’t touch me.  Was he schizophrenic, split personality, high?  I didn’t care.  I was on neutral gear pretty much the whole book through.

So much is packed into this book – by so much, I mean so many themes.  I get this book is about writing.  Although Kid is a “poet”, the process of writing in general – piecing words and sentences together, taking away and editing, inspirations, urges to write, being self critical, tone and subjects that move the writer and ultimately, the reader, etc. – is partly what Dhalgren touched upon.

There were also superficial race, social and economic points of discussion throughout.  The chasm between the haves and the have-nots was illustrated too transparently – case in point…the party Calvin threw for Kid in honor of Kid’s poetry book.

The scorpions are supposed to be a big, bad gang.  They make “runs” – which basically meant they go out and raid an abandoned store or take over some house by scaring away squatters with their beastly lights.  None of the scorpions actually felt scary and some of them were oversexed.  Big whoop – you can find a large amount of these loud, hormonal, obnoxious trying-to-be-bigger-and-scarier-than-they-really-are kids in any junior high or high school.

There is the church, religion and god…George the is-he-really-that-bad demi-god.  Good point in this book is George the demi-god never ASKED to be worshipped and idolized.  The media and people did it FOR him, or more appropriately, did it TO him.  Just think about all the ooohs and aaaahs, goo goo, gaa gaa and all those high pedestals we put celebrities on…even Obama.  Yes, we make up our heroes (most, some are actually real heroes) and some will say we made up our God(s) and religions to compensate for what we lack, but strive for (understanding?).

Prisms, lens, chains…what was their significance?  WERE they significant?  Another riddle.

All in all, I feel the prose and style were contrived and Delany tried too hard to be different, to have hidden meanings, to create a depth through circular confusion and pure mass.  It didn’t work for me.  Some of the best books I’ve ever read had all the depth, connection, layers, sensitivity, etc., but the words were also an elegant dance. Delany’s Dhalgren is discombobulated, distorted, an effort to read and pull through much like a clumsy tango.

Verdict?  Just 800+ pages of literary masturbation for Delany.

Recycling the Past

Salvage – or most anything with a history behind it – intrigues me and instantly renders me into a giggly and excitable lump of goose bumpy flesh.  If I could, I would outfit most of my home with a carefully edited assortment of salvaged and re-purposed items.  Anything with dual uses is a plus!

About two years ago, while searching for some materials for our apartment renovation and subsequent furnishings (that part will NEVER be complete), I came across Recycling The Past.

Based in Barnegat, NJ, and founded by Matt White, Recycling The Past offers anything from architectural salvage to their own recycled creations.  They have unique tiles, antique doors, hardware, mantles, decor items, salvaged flooring and lumber, stones…anything INCLUDING the kitchen sink.

My favorite section is Funky Finds…let your imagination run wild, people!

Up above – WHAT is this…contraption?  Would you like to venture a guess?  It’s an early 20th century Anesthesia Machine.  Knowing that scares the bejesus out of me…but I guess that was better than no anesthesia at all, right?  Imagine it in your living room – definitely a conversation piece.

Moroccan Olive Jars.  I’d want a whole row outside my house if I had a house.

Say it with me, “What the f*ck is THIS?”  Strangely fascinating, isn’t it?  Yet another conversation piece, isn’t it?  It’s a Sawfish Bill standing 43″ long.  What is a sawfish?  They’re related to rays and are critically endangered.  They can go salt and fresh water.  That’s all I know for now.  Learn with me here.

Brass and bronze marine propellers.  I see a grouping of these guys in various sizes on a wall…

At 84″ tall, that’s a lot of industrial shelving.  Some pull out bins included also.  This has become one of my dream pieces…

Adjustable height Screw Top Stools.  These babies have been refinished with a matte clear coat lacquer.  Kitchen counter or entryway (something different than the usual bench to put on or take off your shoes).

Vintage Steel Lockers.  Can I lock the husband in one and have him drink his meals through a straw when he’s being bad?  Why do I try to think of ways to torture the poor husband so much?

Heavy gauge Steel Stacking Bins.  Come on – what can NOT store in these?  A corpse, maybe.  But you can if you Dexter it.

Steel Work Stations.  Craft room or kitchen – take your pick.

Industrial Steel Boxes – don’t tell me you can’t think of at least 5 things to do with these!

Industrial Lift Table – stripped down and finished with a matte clear coat.  Wouldn’t this make the most interesting side or bedside table?

What I Don’t Want for Christmas

photo credit: Reiner Schubert

One of my favorite things to do in the whole world is to give gifts.  I love the process of coming up with creative, practical and meaningful ideas that will make the person or people you are gifting to smile.  A REAL smile, not the obligatorily awkward not-look-you-in-the-eyes with the slight uptick of the corner of the lips smile.

We’ve all seen or witnessed these Ew-this-gift-sucks-bull’s-balls-but-you’re-my-friend/sister/mother/co-worker/therapist-so-I-need-to-winningly-look-like-I-love-it-and-this-is-the-best-sheez-ever gifted smiles.  I, too, shall break out my Ew-gift smile if ever presented with any of these on my please-don’t-even-think-about-it list:

(You might think me coarse and shallow for not appreciating any and all gifts….and you would be so right, my fair readers – all two of you!  But I’m being honest here and truthfully, would rather the giftor save their money and time and not create waste!)

(Yes, I’m using a lot of hyphens this morning.  I’m not awake enough or smart enough this early to be clever and succinct.  Or ever.)

1.  CANDLES – I know some of them smell really fruity and delicious.  Some actually make me salivate and want to chomp down on their waxy goodness.  But really, I don’t use them.  I’ve had candles in the past (a good amount, actually) but I rarely lit them.  They sat and took up space and collected dust.  I’m un-romantic that way.

2.  CLOTHES – I’m finicky, picky and all around impossible when it comes to clothes.  I like to thrift for my clothes for the most part.  I wear a range of sizes (from XS to L) depending on the item.  I could love a loud color on this, but hate it on that.  Subtle shade gradations make a HUGE difference to me.  Fabric makes or breaks it.  And I don’t want this…EVER…unless I’m going to an ugly sweater party:

3.  MAKE-UP – I don’t wear too much make-up.  Powder because I’m greasy like a rabidly hormonal teenager, blush because it makes me look a girl (something HAS to) and eyeliner or mascara (one or the other because I’m too lazy to do TWO things to the same spot) to open up my eyes a bit so I won’t look perpetually sleepy and/or stoned.  That’s it – nothing more.  I’m clueless about eye shadows, concealers, foundations, tinted things and abhor lipstick.  If I had to put on make-up, I would look like this or worse:

4.  TCHOTCHKES – (Ummm…had to look up the spelling for this one.)  I am or try to be minimal.  I don’t like dust because I don’t like TO dust – ask the husband.  I like to have everything behind some kind of doors to minimize said dust.  I like things to be functional.  I don’t like to have or display things because they look cute at a particular moment in time.  They won’t look so cute if I have to dust them.  They definitely will start to look mightily annoyingly after a few months of seeing them day in and day out – cuteness fades away like NKOTB.  No tchotchkes, people!

photo credit: romana klee

5.  TWILIGHT ANYTHING – No, I don’t want to read it or watch it.  No, I don’t think he’s cute.  He’s not either.  Looking at her depresses me, but she can be pretty in a darkly damsel-in-distress kind of way.  The whole phenomenon irks me and makes me squint and itch.  NO!

Iron Till I Drop

Just received a new shipment of vintage fabrics.  The husband was a doll and laundered them for me.  This is the pile he left on the table.  I ironed for one and a half hours tonight and I hardly made a dent, but they sure feel nice, crisp and clean!

Cast Iron

I am almost obsessed with cast iron.  Creeped up on me slowly over the past couple of years.  I love the earthy and  heavy duty feel and the fact that I can always rely on anything made out of cast iron to never just…blow away.  You put it there, it stays put…forever…until you lug it away.

Above is Pair of Danish Cast Iron Pans from TINI.  Yellow with wooden handles too…they’re perfect.

Coat Rack from A Rustic Garden.  A bit of paint…maybe something shocking and shiny?

Barn Wood Rack with Hooks and Mason Jar by postroadvintage.

Antique Stove Plate from madampickay.  Who doesn’t need more happy thoughts?

Adjustable Cast Iron Table Base from Get Back.  This is serious – it’s like a machine, but you get to eat on it.

An alternative – Bistro Table Base from Antiques by Alternatives.

Antique Cast Iron Bed in Mustard from celebratingalife.

Painted Cast Iron Tub in a very powerful yellow from Country Living.

How about metallic?  I’m in.  Huge, adorable and cuddly pooch not included.  Via Design Manifest.  I NEED that pup ASAP!

Vintage Cast Iron Baby Bed from Antique Mystique.  I don’t have a baby.  I want to line the bottom and use it as storage!

Coat and Catch-All Closet Organization

It’s starting to get cooler out and the blistery and icy winter is around the corner.  Never mind that the temperature has been in the balmy 60s for the last few days.  It’s NYC, so freezing snow and slippery icy sidewalks could be the day right AFTER a 70 degree day.  It’s been a bit Jekyll and Hyde for the last few years.

Trusting that winter or a cooler fall will eventually make their way here, we decided to tackle the coat and catch-all closet (serving both needs by default because there is no such thing as an extra catch-all closet or an extra square inch in NYC).

We set the closet up with Elfa shelving from The Container Store when we first moved in over one and a half years ago.  Since then, we’ve left it alone hoping that the coats, jackets, bags, dry cleaning haphazardly and hurriedly dumped in there on the way in the apartment and other random entities would sort themselves out without our human intervention.  Alas, no such luck…

So now we unabashedly show you our coat and catch-all closet in all its ugly glory…first pic above is what you encounter when you open the closet door…a gaggle of coats and jackets across all seasons mingling with plastic dry cleaning bags (some WITHOUT anything in them because either I or my husband were too darn lazy to take out the plastic and hanger after taking out whatever sweater or shirt in there…SOOOO LAZY we deserve a spanking).

Here are more pics…

The floor of the closet – the items strewn delicately about:

- to the left is a drying rack for items that we wash, but need to hang dry – necessary for warm weather delicates.

- a backpack that the husband RARELY uses.

- a grey canvas bag containing a painting from Senegal that was a gift and a Van Gogh book that weighs about 10 pounds that was also a gift.

- An air mattress rolled up in its own black storage bag for guests.

- A black plastic bag with about 5 or 6 wide belts that I had been intending to donate for more than half the year…just waiting to accumulate more stuff so I can make one big trip to Goodwill rather than many numerous small trips – that’s what I keep telling myself.

- to the right, in the neon green plastic bag is a boogie board – I didn’t even know we had one.

- little white tied up plastic bag.  No clue what was in there – made the husband open it up in case a huge skunk jumps out of it.  Turned out it was a too big vintage wool top and skirt set I bought from Zachary’s Smile months ago.  In a bag intended for donation.  Good – so the Goodwill pile is getting bigger.

We have a tall and deep closet, so we extended storage capacity up high.  The top shelf houses a few board games, kadima paddles and a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree.

Second shelf houses a few rarely used bags (straw one for the beach and two traveling bags – one black and one canvas and red), a frisbee, Scrabble and Cranium – my favorite game of ALL time – just don’t make me do the humdinger.  Spy the chrome rod right under the shelf?  See below…

We installed two hanging rods since the closet is so deep.  The idea was to hang out of season coats and jackets in the back and in season ones in the front.  But as you can see in the first pic, things got a bit mixed up.

The floor of the back of the closet is home to our three suitcases.  I can see one, maybe two right now.

The right side wall of the closet.  We installed a set of hooks for hats and such – can hardly even see it!

One more grand shot of the coat and catch-all closet…

We took almost everything out of the closet and added a few more items to the Goodwill bag.  We disassembled the plastic bags and hangers and re-arranged the top two shelves.

We stacked most of the games (ones we don’t really play anymore) on the upper left corner.  We put the beach and travel bags up top also.  The air mattress found a home on the second shelf along with the backpack, backgammon, chess, Scrabble and Cranium.

Spring jackets went to the back of the closet along with the drying rack.  Mine were on the left, the husband’s on the right.

The suitcases remain in the back of the closet.

We added a nylon hanging sweater bag, but using it for my bags instead.

The couple of bags I use more often are on the hooks.

Our fall and winter coats are on the left side, giving me access to the bags to the right – I have enough room for at least a couple more bags!

All the donation items are in one big bag and will be brought to Goodwill tomorrow, the painting will be put up tomorrow as well and the Van Gogh book went into one of our bookshelves.  The closet floor is now free and empty and I can walk right up to my bags!

Until next season!