San Francisco Sources.

•timeless treasures•

As promised, here are a bunch of my favorite spots around San Francisco that I like to shop and some places I just like to spend timing visiting. Most are boutiques and vintage shops I'd much rather frequent than the giant and dreaded mall-o-generic. Over in my own Pacific Heights neighborhood, I always visit Timeless Treasures for vintage letters and unique gifts. This place is what I like to call 'Alphabet City' and owner Joan is a wonderful hostess. I also love Paper Source when I'm jones-ing for cool stationary, beautiful cards, ribbon and wrapping papers. Zinc Details has super hip accessories for your home and they also continue to rotate local artists' work on their walls, which I always love seeing. It's like shopping in your favorite local art gallery.

• zinc details•

Over on Polk Street, from Filbert to Sacramento Streets. there's a batch of lovely new shops popping up, as well as my favorite old standards. Swallowtail being one of the latter, carries the most unique vintage furniture and accessories around. If I owned a shop, this would be it.

•swallowtail•

Mascara Vintage, Picnic and Bella Cose all have great vintage clothing and home accessories. They're all small, mom & pop type shops that carry local designers' new work as well as cool flea market finds, which is my favorite kind of business to support.

•picnic•

Just over the hill in North Beach (our own Little Italy) is the one of a kind shop Aria. They carry just about everything you never knew you were looking for. Owner Bill Haskell rounds up the coolest, and the oddest of oddities and there's usually some melancholy French music drifting in the air. This is just a wonderful old shop to linger in after a cappuccino at one of the many Italian cafes nearby.

•aria•

Rae Dunn's wonderful ceramics can be seen in the ceramic gallery Verdigris that she co-owns and operates, located in San Francisco's infamous Cannery Building. I love her simple and very modern zen looking pottery work.

•rae dunn•

Over in always hopping Hayes Valley there's some great little boutique shops I frequent. Lavish, Flight 001, Friend and Rose and Radish are all really great for gifts, unique art and fun decor finds. For vintage and funky furniture I stop in Zonal, and always Propeller for beautiful modern furniture, lighting and accessories and also because the owners love to feature emerging designers (and they're also really nice!). Alabaster is just plain gorgeous eye candy everywhere you look.

•alabaster•

•And some must-sees off the beaten path•

The Alameda Flea Market • It happens every first Sunday of the Month. It's huge, so wear your comfy shoes, dress in layers and have some of the kettle korn they serve there. It's really good. But, bring your own cup of coffee-to-go. That's just me being truthful - do not wait in the coffee line while many of the treasures to be found pass you by. It's just not up to par with the stuff here waiting to be seen and grabbed. Half of my apartment is furnished from here and there are some really good bargains to be found. I hardly ever miss this flea market and I never wait in the coffee line.

• alameda flea market •

Take one of the old trolleys to the The Ferry Building Marketplace. This historical San Francisco landmark built in 1898 was the gateway to every immigrants' and sailors' arrival in San Francisco. It has now been converted into a gourmet's paradise. Wine tasting, amazing Ciao Bella Gelato, fresh fruits and vegetables, a meat market, the Cowgirl Creamery for the best cheese on the planet, The Slanted Door for the best Vietnamese food ever, gorgeous pastries and cupcakes at Miette and killer fish tacos and tamales at Mijita. It also hosts a local Farmer's Market every Saturday and Tuesday afternoon. It's a really fun afternoon of tasting, eating and I find it always inspires me to hunt for the best and freshest ingredients to take home and prepare my own favorite dishes.

• san francisco ferry building marketplace •

Lastly, just take a walk anywhere in San Francisco, as it is a city for walking (it's only 7 miles x 7 miles). Maybe start on Russian Hill for beautiful views of the entire bay from the Golden Gate to Tiburon to Berkeley and beyond. From there stroll on down Macondray Lane. This the famous lane in Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City, one of the original indie films (Parker Posey & Laura Linney are both in it) based on decandent life in 1976 San Francisco. A good one to watch before visiting, for the clothes and hair if nothing else.

• macondray lane •

It's been so much fun being here. Thanks again Grace for having me and your warm hospitality. I hope you'll all visit San Francisco soon, and if you do I'll hear you had a great time visiting these favorites of mine. And trust me, skip Fisherman's Wharf. You'll be a much better visitor for it.

xo, Victoria
sfgirlbybay

Almost at the end.

Since I'm winding down here on my guest posts at Design*Sponge, I thought I'd leave you all with my gratitude for all the lovely comments you posted and a bit of a source list of my favorite San Francisco haunts (in addition to the ones I've previously told you about). I've had a fabulous two weeks here, and wish I had time to post more (damn that 9-5 job!). I am so honored to have been invited by Grace. She really is my design blog hero.

I hope y'all will visit San Francisco one day and when you do, stay away from Fisherman's Wharf. Instead visit some of the places I will post for you tomorrow. I think you'll find they have a much better San Francisco vibe than any tourist trap could ever give you. It's a wonderful place to live, and to visit. Should you ever plan a trip here, feel free to write me and let me know what you seek. I'll be glad to help. Look for this post tomorrow. I had every intention of posting tonight, but I need more time to give you the list San Francisco, and you, deserve.
xo, Victoria (aka sfgirlbybay)

Behold Art.

One of my favorite resources for inexpensive, yet wonderful and unique artwork is the online art gallery, The Beholder. San Francisco-based curator, creator Suzanne Shade is one of the most soft-spoken, artistic and lovely people you'd ever want to meet. She and I met just about a year ago working on a pro-bono photo exhibit project together and have been fast friends ever since. I completely admire Suzanne's efforts to share the work of various emerging artists on her site, her philosophy being to bring artists and collectors together online, outside the traditional gallery system. These are artists seeking to connect with a larger audience; and collectors seeking new artists. A natural connection.



The Beholder represents a wide range of reasonable priced mediums including photography, drawings and paintings, for first time collectors and those looking to make additions to their growing collections. If you're feeling trepidatious about putting your foot in the collectors' world, they offer seven day trial periods, a brilliant idea Suzanne had, so you can view the art in your surroundings and see how it feels at home.




California Home & Design magazine did a lovely write up on The Beholder back in November. In the article, I really related to how Suzanne described the intimidating feeling one can get from gallery owners on first-time art buying trips. It's this philosophy that inspired Suzanne to create The Beholder online gallery. A place to get your feet wet, learn more about your personal taste in art, and discover some great talent that may have not yet made it to gallery walls. And, all at affordable prices for first time collectors. She provides a fabulous online resource for us newbies to the art buying world.



To see more of The Beholder's new artists and get occasional updates, sign up for Suzanne's mailing list.

The Mission.

Like a lot of cities, San Francisco has its neighborhoods, each one reflecting its own unique personality. There's quite a lot of diversity from one neighborhood to the next here, and just after traveling a few blocks, it sometimes feels as though you're visiting another town, which I just love. Some days you just ask yourself what you're in the mood for and go.


If it's a lazy Saturday and you're not quite not up to the whole wash, blow dry, and getting all gussied up bit, you might head south, over to The Mission, where things are a bit grittier, and it's probably somewhat cool to look like you just rolled out of bed. It's got wonderful old, colorful and vibrant Victorians, funky shops, corner fruits and vegetable grocers and it's full of Latino culture. It's one of my favorite neighborhoods for its food, nightlife and especially thrift shops.


In the Mission I have three favorite stops (four, if you count Taqueria San Francisco for the most excellent and cheap burrito ever). I always hit The Apartment, X21 Modern and Thriftown. Yes, Thriftown.


The Apartment, run by partners Lann Ballard and Lino Beles, is a funky second-hand furniture shop featuring lots of vintage-modern, mid-century pieces at really reasonable prices. The partners are super nice and they just might bargain a bit if you're nice, too. I scored this great end table I found there for a steal. There's lots of wonderful old portrait paintings, vintage postcards, accessories and kitschy finds.





X21 Modern is just as funky, but a bit pricier, mostly because they carry some really, beautiful collectible vintage-modern furniture. But I head on down to the basement, where piled high amongst a ton of furniture, lamps, dressers and who knows what else, are some real gems. On my last visit to X21, they were playing the theme music from Disneyland's Haunted Mansion and I was in Heaven. Talk about a flashback - my parents furniture everywhere and then that music! You can also tour their inventory online by category.




Ah, and then there's Thriftown. What a gem. Pretty much a down and dirty thrift shop, but hey, you've gotta work for your treasures sometimes. This neighborhood, the corner of Mission and 17th Street, is a tad edgy, unless of course you like hookers and drug dealers with your bargains. But, it is a fun adventure and has two giant floors of everything from vintage clothing, to turntables, to some pretty great furniture finds and home accessories. I saw this vintage modern lounge chair for ten dollars (granted it needed cushions, but for ten dollars, no problem) and got six of these fun chartreuse dishes for a dollar! I'm not going to lie, it kind of smells like moth balls in Thriftown, and you're going to need to dig, but trust me, there are some good finds here.




And over on Valencia Street, one block west of Mission, it's just a cornucopia of vintage, thrift and modern furniture stores (not to mention the clothes and shoe shops). There's Architectural Elements for new furnishings and accessories; Paxton Gate which carries really cool garden and architectural elements and fragments, like moldings, fretwork pieces, urns and columns; the ultra-hip Monument, which stocks extremely hard to find pieces of vintage furniture in pristine condition (like these below) and Therapy with both clothing and cool furniture finds and modern kitsch.

I hope I've shared the flavor and feeling of The Mission. It's not on most tour guides, but it's not to be missed if you like getting the real feel of a city and its culture.

Pardon no posts.

Blogger is running amok tonight and the photos have gone haywire. I have new posts ready to go, and as soon as Blogger straightens itself out, I'll be back up.

San Francisco Ceramics.

Ceramics and graphic artist Diana Fayt is one of my favorite San Francisco talents. Moving to San Francisco in the early nineties, like many artists Diana made her way as a server, at Firefly restaurant (another San Francisco favorite not to be missed) for a decade, while experimenting with her printmaking and ceramics, culminating in the beautiful work she creates today.




Diana has also been venturing into the world of graphics and illustration on and off for the past few years, most recently creating a gorgeous 2007 calendar printed on Japanese paper, which was featured in the December issue of Domino.


Each year Diana gravitates towards different colors and color combinations, but also stands by her old favorites. This year it seems to be all about green, orange, and red, a much brighter palette than we're used to from Diana, but I quite like it. But then, I like all her work!




To keep up with Diana's newest work, gallery exhibits and workshops, drop in at her blog, One Black Bird.

Nesting Instinct.

Depending on how you look at it, it's either really fantastic, or a dreaded curse to live as close as I do to the Fillmore Street Shopping District. There are so many lovely local boutiques on this block that one could presumably shop from dawn to dusk and stop in between for coffee ten times, eat a few meals and never hit the same cafe or shop twice. I kid you not. And one of my very favorite haunts is Nest. Nest is quite like a French Flea Market with a little Moroccan Street Market thrown in for good measure. Lots of fun ethnic looking accessories with loads of unique flair.


Nest has the most beautiful vintage furnishings and accessories, gorgeous glassware, soaps and candles, colorful, bohemian and luxurious bedding, pillows and throws of French, Moroccan, Indian, Chinese ethnic styles. If you've got an eclectic eye, you'll love visiting this shop. Although it's not inexpensive, just wandering around you're sure to gain inspiration, and there's always a few lovely things I find I can afford.



Everything in the shop is unique and very often, handmade. Among flowing caftans and beaded slippers you'll find antique chandeliers and ornate bird cages, lots of kitschy Parisian knickknacks, jewelry, travel books and souvenirs, as well as handmade bags and jewelry. All gathered on buying trips from around the world including Paris, London, the Far East and even our local Alameda Flea Market, where I've have seen the owners leaving with their cart piled high with gorgeous pieces I missed just to catch a few more zzzzz's. Nest is definitely one of those places that's has nothing to do with 'need' and everything to do with 'want'. Lots of luxuries for those days when you need a little gift to yourself. Go on, you deserve it. Visit Nest at 2300 Fillmore Street, San Francisco, 94115 • 415-292-6199

EmmaRose Papery.

I am super proud of my friend Eszter Rabin of EmmaRose Papery. She took a big risk, and chucked the world of advertising (yeah!), bought a couple of old letter presses and started up shop in her basement garage. She has been busy ever since, most recently designing and printing an invitation for San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, and a whole slew of June weddings. She creates a lovely line of custom designed wedding invitations, stationery and cards that are uniquely personal, and has just introduced her baby line, which offers really sweet birth announcements, shower invitations and thank you notes.


Eszter is special because she really talks to her clients (she's an amazing and intuitive listener) and is inquisitive about the small details of the momentous events they are planning. She amazes her clients with truly personal and intimate graphic icons, incorporating unique aspects of their lives into her designs.


Originally from Hungary (I love her accent!) Eszter is a student of art in both Europe and the United States. EmmaRose Papery combines bits of her European culture and modern American simplicity. Eszter currently lives in San Francisco with her husband and their cat, Rose and dog LuLu. Lately, she is often found in the company of her clients, who not surprisingly, have become fast friends with this thoughtful, talented and authentic girl.

Week Two: San Francisco Stories.

I have lived in San Francisco for 13 years now. Lucky 13. I grew up in the burbs of Los Angeles and almost every summer my family would load into the little red bug, at the crack of dawn, for a road trip up north. That's when I first fell in love with this city.

Later, and long grown up, when I decided I wanted a big life change, San Francisco is where I headed. I didn't know anyone here, save for one person who moved to Chicago the week I arrived. She left me with a clock radio and the keys to her now barren apartment, to use until her lease ran out. I improvised by going out and buying two rubber rafts (the cheap, neon colored, blow up kind), duct taped them together, sprang for some cowboy-themed flannel sheets and for the next couple of weeks that was my bed. I couldn't have been happier or felt more at home. San Francisco just is the place I'm supposed to be.

13 years later I have met some of the most caring, creative and talented people you'd ever hope to know. They inspire me every day. Some of them are artists, photographers, craftsmen and designers, and many of them are good friends. And I'm going to shamelessly promote them in my posts this week. I promise you it won't be nepotistic, because as you'll see these lovely people are not only friends and acquaintances, but as I said, really talented. And you don't have to be in San Francisco to enjoy their work, as most of it is available or can be appreciated online. I'll also share with you this week some of my favorite shops, bargain-basement haunts and hangouts. I hope it'll make you want to visit.

The Art of A Party.

A few years back I decided I'd host my own birthday party, but I didn't want the focus necessarily to be on my birthday. I just wanted to hang out with good friends, and do something creative and different. I don't even remember how I came up with the idea, but I thought it would be fun to have a Paint Your Own Portrait Party. I went out and got a pile of small canvases and some inexpensive brushes and gathered up all my tubes of watercolor paints. I recycled some old jam jars and got them all cleaned up and ready with water for cleansing the brushes.

I set up a painting station in my then Sausalito cottage basement (a dining room table with a painter's drop cloth works great and can look pretty art studio-ish). I can tell you that at first, no one would take the first move to start painting. But once everyone had a margarita in them and one brave soul started painting, everyone couldn't wait to grab a brush and channel their inner Van Gogh. Everyone created amazing portraits of themselves, their girlfriends (be careful to add enough cleavage as to not upset your girl, as happened at our party) and even some beloved pets. It was a blast. And everyone ended up with a pretty cool party favor to take home. Except Tom. Sorry, Tom. Yours was too good and I had to keep it (see above, it's good isn't it?). Trust me, it was really fun and an inexpensive way to shake up a party.

Etsy Bits of Art.

If you don't yet know about Etsy, it's this wonderful online art gallery of sorts, supporting independent artists of every medium, selling their handmade goods online. There is some amazingly talented artists here and I'm always discovering something new. I'm also always surprised at how inexpensive their work is and have made a lot of great purchases at Etsy. It's one of my favorite resources for finding beautiful art and fun accessories at great prices. Here's just a few of my favorite artists.

Creative Thursday's print of original acrylic painting, Love Birds in Orange Hats. I love the titles of these prints, too.


UK based Askey creates limited edition prints of her original digital illustrations, and prints them on beautiful linen paper. I adore this print called I Like Your Shoes.

Frau Mathilda Art from Vienna, Austria's print of original acrylic painting Doglove. I can so relate.


This piece by Fifi Lapin is entitled no.57 Fifi Wears Alexander McQueen. How great is that?


I've long been a fan of The Black Apple prints. This sweet one's called Tea Time Print, but check out her other work, there's something kind of haunting about it, and I really love it.

One girl in Melbourne, Australia creates these lovely cards from vintage dictionary illustrations, printed on hand dyed fabric and sewn on cream card stock with contrasting cotton thread. So sweet.

Etsy is full of wonderful art. And although you should never buy art just because you can afford it, this site helps you afford what you love.

The Power of Flowers.

One of my favorite tricks when I'm looking to brighten up my apartment, is to add some fresh cut flowers around the place. I like to make a habit of heading over to our local San Francisco Flower Mart on Fridays, so I've got bouquets all weekend long, when I'm around to enjoy them and have friends coming by. The flower mart is good, because you can can get great flowers and plants at slightly higher than wholesale prices (unless you have a resale license, in which case you can buy them at wholesale prices!). So check around your city for the closest market. I'm a sunflower or gerber daisy kinda girl - they're such happy flowers and I can usually find a good bunch for under $10. Another one of my favorite spots for flowers is Trader Joe's, a neighborhood market that's popping up all over the country. I believe one just opened in NYC. They have super inexpensive bouquets starting at just $2.99! They also have live orchids and other small house plants, sometimes potted in some very nice containers.


Whether it's cut flowers, or live plants, both add a fresh look and a bit of color to your home. And live plants (I'm not talking crazy vines everywhere!) obviously last much longer, so they're even less expensive and get you more bang for your buck, so to speak. And growing fresh herbs is the best! Not only do they look great and smell so tranquil, but there's also a really good feeling you get when you trim off a sprig of your own rosemary to toss into your recipe. I don't know why, it's just gratifying and makes me smile. If you've had trouble growing your own perhaps check in with You Grow Girl for forums and advice.


Succulents are really cool, too (especially if you've got a black thumb and kill every orchid in sight, like I am prone to do). These modern, and yet slightly prehistoric looking species are quite resilient. They can withstand a lot of climate changes and a whole lot of neglect. I plant mine in funky containers - sometimes vintage pottery I've gotten at flea markets or thrift stores, and they look pretty cute (and also make nice hostess gifts). Flowers and plants, nature's little way of brightening your home on a budget.

Mix It Up.

As I've said, I really like to make my decorating investments in larger pieces of furniture of excellent quality and then add to them with less expensive accessories and accent pieces. I also really like to mix things up and create an eclectic look that reflects my taste and personality. Nothing cookie-cutter, please.


Thus, this example. A Design Within Reach Case Study Day Bed. I've always loved the simple lines of this classic piece and it's a perfect palette to work around. To soften the lines of this sofa, I'd add a fluffy throw like this Tessuto throw by CB2 in a pale chartreuse. Some colorful art on the walls could start with this inexpensive Winter Print from iso50 and then perhaps I might invest in a lovely painting by artist Camilla Engman. This super cheap Urban Outfitters Floral Flocked lampshade and a bright slipcover made from some Amy Butler Fabric create accents that funk up the look a bit and give the room a touch of the ornate to play off the mid-century day bed. Toss in a bit more color to pick up the tones in Camilla's painting and Amy's fabrics with an Urban Outfitters Chenille Shag Rug, at a real big bargain price. A pair of these beautiful Room & Board Wegner Stools placed in front of the daybed serve as a unique and nontraditional coffee table. All in all, a mix of a few quality pieces with even more less expensive fun ones create a look that's completely unique. Just the way I like it.

Maybe I Want To Look Cheap or...How to Make Art on the Down Low.

Many of us have the tools we need to make fabulous and very personal art inexpensively right at our own finger tips. I'm talking basic color copiers, people. And, just about everyone has a digital camera, Photoshop, scanners and whatnot these days, and it's a great way to create affordable artwork. On most color copiers you can enlarge an image up to 11" x 17", plenty large enough for framing, and although not perfect reproduction, it can give images a cool, gritty look, like my Italian movie poster above, or my hula-hoop girls below, which I enlarged from a postcard! I've enlarged maps, and they have a pretty cool look, too.

If you work in a creative industry, like I do...you've probably got one of these tools at your disposal. But if, by chance, you work at Dunkin' Donuts and don't have access to the necessary company-provided equipment, simply check out your local Kinko's (just be patient with the humankind who work there). All you need is a photo you love, a picture torn from a magazine, an old band flyer...whatever it is you'd like to see adorning your walls and have a hankering to display. If you've got a digital camera or you can get your image scanned (maybe a friend has a scanner?) at the highest resolution possible (300 DPI is good!), you can save your image on a disk. Then take your disk to your local color copier shop and have them output your image on a large format color printer. They'll turn your favorite image into a poster-sized or oversize photo enlargement. And if you want, they can even mount your poster or laminate it to preserve and protect your photo.


As I mentioned in a post below, Ikea has some great, inexpensive frames, like all of these shown (search 'Ribba' frame), with matting and glass already cut for you. Just measure the inside dimensions of your matting - print out your image at those dimensions (plus add at least a 1/4" bleed to your image so the matte covers the edges) and lay the photocopy in the matte and va-voom - you've got art! This is an old photo I enlarged of my brother, our mum and me riding the San Francisco cable cars in the 60's. Check my mod little ensemble and mum's rad shades ala Jackie-O. Nice memories and mementos make great and super affordable art.

The Bargain Books - Part One.

Okay, so the series of books I'm going share this week aren't really bargain books per se, but rather books that show you how to bargain some good design ideas. The first book I want to share is Amy & David Butler's Found Style, Vintage Ideas for Modern Living.


I think there's a lot of good inspiration here and a lot of useful suggestions for 'found stuff'. I quite like this design manifesto - turning something mundane into something unexpected. And I also like the green, recycling aspect of this idea. An old shoe rack turned into sewing kit. A medical table gets a new life as receptacle for bathroom accessories. A vintage dress form serves as a spot to hang and display your favorite bags (I have one of these and love it!).


David and Amy Butler have exquisite (and really fun) taste and a unique approach to creating spaces that are undeniably stylish. They also do a great job of educating us in flea market savvy, and blending vintage and modern with unexpected panache without being too fussy or cluttered. There's also a sense of humor, or of not taking oneself too seriously here that I like.

Found Style is the perfect guide to creating an eclectic personal style, and with over 200 color photos, there's something here for every taste. Some of it may look a bit shabby chic, but I think if you put your own spin on found objects it'll work for you, no matter what your style.







I am a big fan of the found object, as you are probably finding out. Here's a few of my latest finds: a bolt of vintage fabric from the flea market and a pink throw from a shop going out of business (1/2 off!); an old finial used as mantel decor next to some teak candlesticks; a vintage throw pillow; my faithful deer planter used as a mini book holder; vintage photo of a misbehaving child in an ornate, white frame; and some white Gerber Daisy's in my new birch bark vase from Small Stump. Now it's your turn for hunt and seek. Have fun!

The Idea of Ikea.

On with sharing my thoughts on thrifty design. I think a lot of people think of Ikea as decor for your first apartment right out of college. Or perhaps while you're in college. And Ikea is an excellent resource for those on a tight budget, but originating in Sweden, they're bound to have some great design too, right? I thought I'd share some pieces I've bought there, as well as some new pieces they have that are pretty great and, of course, very affordable. Oh, and I'm going to apologize right off the bat for the lack of direct links - for some reason Ikea's rarely work.

Part of my design philosophy is that I'd rather purchase a really well made and possibly expensive sofa, dining table or any piece of furniture that is the real focal point of a room, and then decorate inexpensively around it. Accessories at Ikea are a prime example. I bought the little white vases (they're very Jonathan Adler, no?) and planter for $1.99 each. The frame is their Ribba frame and it comes in lots of great sizes and finishes (birch, white, & metal) and has a pre-cut matte and glass. I think the largest one is about 28" x 39" for only $30.

This is their Docksta Dining Table. I found it surprisingly sturdy and a pretty good Saarinen knock-off. I put some vintage Mies van de Roh Cantilever chairs around mine and I'm quite happy with the look.

These fun, colorful lacquered Önska round boxes are $4.99 for the whole happy set of 12.
I love this great Mid-Century Danish Modern knock-off Stockholm Coffee Table. It has a functional second tier which is nice for stacking coffee table books and displaying small accessories or stashing the remote (I hate the look of remotes!).

I'm also a huge fan of these $3.99 Polarvide throws. They have this sweet little die-cut pattern and fringe and they're super soft. In person, they look really expensive! I got my mum one at Christmas and she thought it was gorgeous (fooled her, didn't I?).



They've also got a large and well designed selection of chairs. I like all of these and they're all under $50.


This set of two sweet Maränge teacups, wooden tray and spoons are $7.99. They look so peaceful and pretty for tea time with a nice brew of jasmine pearls.

I hope I've left you with an open mind to the idea of Ikea. Just remember there's some pretty fun stuff there that will leave you much more in your wallet for the bigger purchases.

Have No Shame.

Here I am, design*sponge guest blogger. It's a such an honor and also, a little hard to comprehend. Some of you might know my blog, sfgirlbybay, and some of you might be like, "who?" I've only been around a little while, since last June, and have long admired Grace, so to be here is, well, slightly intimidating! I plan to focus my first week of posts on what I believe my forte to be - thrifty design. I'm kind of flea market obsessed, I thrill to the sight of yard sale signs and have been known to pick a thing or two off a street corner. I have no shame, and have some pretty cool finds to prove it.
So...to get started, today's post is going to focus on the importance of giving up the idea that having a great place means you've gotta spend a lot. It's just not true, and I have an apartment full of examples. So to encourage the evolution of your purchasing patterns from spendy to saving, I'll show you a few of my many finds. All of the vintage jars above, where I keep my make-up essentials, were just a few dollars. The funky tray, sweet little bird cage and black coral were all under $5, too.

The vintage mirror up top was found at an L.A. yard sale for a mere $10. It's super heavy, but I've trekked it everywhere I've lived over the years and finally all the way up to San Francisco. It's prized possession.

This old school house chalkboard was a score. An art director left it behind where I work. He didn't want it, as it's actually 'broken' because it's supposed to be on a stand, but I like it just as it is. And it was free.

This is where the trash picker in me shines. The old wicker chair was on the side of the road in an upscale shopping area. I swerved to the side of the road and threw it in the back seat of my convertible bug, as wealthy mothers with children in strollers stood staring, mouth's agape with incredulity. It doesn't look like much, but I have it now in the bath with fresh, white towels stacked on it and it looks just great. They never would have guessed. I did, however, pay for the little 70's pillow. It was a whole $7 and I love it. It's got a really unique shape. The metal stool, again picked off the street. Covered in dabs of an artist's paint and lots of history.

I found this beautiful buffet at a yard sale, covered in hideous beige paint. Again, I carted into the back of my bug and took it to my mum's garage where I stripped off all the paint amidst highly toxic fumes, sanded it and polished up the natural wood. And the pièce de résistance? It was just $5!

So you'll see, good things can be found. Sometimes there's a wee bit of work involved, but the satisfaction and happiness from these found gems is worth every bit. Shameless, indeed.