They're ours!

The happy dance was broken out this weekend when I won four (yes four!) Panton S chairs on ebay. (Insert exclamation points galore) And Mr. Big even surprised me by saying that we could try them at our dining table mixed with our leather chairs. Aw, I love that guy.
They aren't the glossy version, they'll still be lovely.


My excitement has unfortunately waned just a tad over the past few days. See I bought them through the ebay Live Auction feature. Exactly one minute before the auction ended, I was the leading bidder at $175 (yes, for all four) which was well below my max bid of $400. In the last sixty seconds, a "supposed" Live Auction Floor bidder drove the price up five times, until my max bid was hit. At that point, there were no other bids made by this individual. Just seems fishy to me...

I've lost lots of items on ebay at the last moment when there is a flurry of activity. But I suppose that I am skeptical because this "person" went right to my number, but not over it. Hmmm.... Anyone else out there have experiences with Live Auctions on ebay? Did it go smoothly for you?

Make no mistake about it...I cannot wait to get our chairs. And in that vein, I'll through another inspiration photo up. Hurry up and get here!

Saturday morning treasures

Oh how I look forward to Saturday mornings. My energetic hubby sprints out the door by 8:30am to meet his buddies for volleyball and I get lazy, lazy mornings. Sleep in, listen to music, play with the dog...just decompress basically. Lately, I've been spending my Saturday mornings to slowly make my way through my favorite blog posts via google reader. (Yes, I'm completely behind the times on google reader, but I enjoy it just as much.) It's like spending my morning flipping the pages of a virtual magazine...without advertisements. Heaven.

We still have not finalizing our dining room table light. The temporary fixture from Bo Concept will soon be making it's way to our outdoor bathroom (of all places). It's been a cute temporary solution, but it will be much better suited in its originally intended spot. And it's far too small for the dining area.


And while I simply cannot get the Kou chandelier out of my mind, it's virtually impossible to imagine spending so much on a lighting fixture. Oh, but how I love it. Wouldn't it look great in the space above?


This week Design*Sponge featured the talented Alex Earl from Melbourne, Australia. His Butterfly pendant can be custom made in any size and provides a similar soft ambient light. It's modern with a bit of fancy to it.


This could be a real option, especially with our new gardens that surround our dining room. And I haven't done too much "girly" decorating in the house, so I think that Mr. Big might just be okay with it. And his Lionfish lightshade could be really fun in a boy's room.


So my lazy Saturday morning is officially over...I'm now up and motivated. Off to contact Mr. Earl to find out more on sizes and costs. Wish me luck!

Wall print

Now that we've got the new table in the kitchen, we're going to have to move a large chest currently in the room. In it's place, this wall print from Amenity might just be a good option. It's fairly simple and still in our color scheme.

Willow Cream and Cocoa from Amenity

We're not introducing new colors at this point. If we decide to do something more bold, we can do that after living in the house a bit longer. The alternate option is to wait to find a very neutral, large painting. I'm thinking that for $330, it should provide a good solution for at least the next 3-4 years. Are we on the right track?

High low

My favorite articles in design magazines are those in which professionally designed (and well paid for) room are pulled apart and we have a peek into how to achieve the same look at a fraction of the price. The following inspiration picture has always tugged at me, namely because of the gorgeous (and very custom-made) chandelier from Fuse Lighting. Yowzers. It has leather straps and the whole bit.


We have a 6 ft square dining room table begging for something along these lines. I love modern, but Mr. Big just doesn't. A smaller version of this beauty would be a great middle point. I have been searching a while now and was pleased this evening to come across this option.

Graham and Green

No, the leather straps have not been beautifully replicated, but overall, it comes pretty darn close. And you never know, perhaps this little island has a master leatherman in its midst just waiting for a project like this.

More shapes

The first floor ceilings are almost completely framed now. It shouldn't come as a surprise, but I'm again overwhelmed by how hard these guys work. They are framing from sun-up to sun-down, including the weekends. Besides just their great efforts, they have offered a few ideas on small adjustments to make various aspects of the house better. How is that for service? And they have been right each time. Every time we visit there is something new to oogle over and somehow they seem just as excited as we are. It's great to feel that we are all in it together.

There were a lot of discussions during the planning phase about the ceiling design in the kitchen/dining room area. It's now taking shape and it looks really nice. This will be above a 6x6 square dining room table below.


So there you go...the walls and ceilings are virtually complete on the first floor. Electricians and plumbers up next!

Trusting your instinct

Mr. Big regularly sees the computer on my lap and asks "What in the world are you looking at?". It's actually very easy. Wireless internet + mac laptop = frequently distracted Mrs. Big. Usually my distraction relates to USC football, but sometimes it branches into far more appropriate subjects, such as home matters.

A few weeks ago we saw a great hanging lamp at ZGallerie but we decided to think about it a bit. When I went back to visit our friend online, I gasped as this beauty flashed on the screen.

Yowzers...how unique! It's a bit modern (sphere-shaped and monochromatic), delicate (made out of capiz shells in the form of lotus flowers), and intriguing (lots of texture). I loved it in the photo, although I was hesitant about the gold color and exactly what it would look like in person. At $259, it seemed to have a fairly reasonable price tag for a bit of pizzazz above our dining table. My instinct told me that it was a home run, but I hesitated...

...so imagine my excitement yesterday when I came across the following on a home design website. (enter hearts and xxxxooooo's here). Sheer perfection!

These are virtually the same as the ZGallerie lights, but they come in three different sizes and a lighter, more delicate capiz shell. (more hearts and xxxsoooo's). Oh be still my heart...I think I am in love.

Hopefully my internet searching abilities won't be in vain. I've yet to convince Mr. Big that our home just won't be the same without this find...but I'll keep trying!