Ultra Swank

The Brick House have visited a couple who have done a fantastic job of redecorating and restoring their home back to its original style and feel. Located in the high desert of Southern California, they invites us to a house tour.

Jill and T.K. have been DIYing the crap out of their mid century pad for the past six years and while it’s still a work in progress (isn’t everything, always) this place takes getting crafty on a budget to a whole other level. I must say that I was floored by the care and craftsmanship (and maybe a little ashamed of our own little Brick House’s amateur status) that went into the many, many, MANY handmade touches throughout their home. Luckily for Jill, T.K. is good with his hands and spends his days fabricating a whole gamut of items ranging from cutting boards to credenzas to entire kitchens.

(Via)

IKEA Design and Identity Through the Years

This book looks really swell! There are probably no one left in the world who hasn’t heard about IKEA with its affordable build-it-your-self-furniture concept. Ingvar Kamprad, the man behind IKEA was only seventeen when started his soon to be blooming enterprise in 1943. Ten years later he opened his first IKEA store in Sweden. Today there are over 200 stores worldwide and as much as I love IKEA I also think it’s too ubiquitous and consumer driven. People throw away their furniture to buy new every two years because it’s so inexpensive, not stopping for two minutes reflecting on the design and functionality.

The book is titled “IKEA Design och Identitet” and can be bought from Adlibris if you live in Sweden. Which is your favorite IKEA piece?

IKEA’s catalogs are like a photo book of the Swedish home. Here contemporary living is reflected from the 1970s brown corduroy couches and painted pine kitchen tables to todays modern design of the PS-collection of top international class. It’s retro, nostalgia, present and future vision, all at once. But what lies behind such a strong concept that allowed them furnish almost every Swedish home for decades?

Ultra Swank takes you back in time into the kitsch, chic and swank living of the 50s, 60s and the 70s. We mainly focus on the design, architecture and the lifestyle of the happy-go-lucky and space-age-living mentality of that era – but also on the music and movies that takes you back to happier times. Ultra Swank is run by Chris, a Swede born in the wrong decade that currently resides in Barcelona. Read more

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Here is something for all you office / gadget geeks. Corporate environments used to be stylish, fun and zany a couple of decades ago, pre cubicle-land, Lumberghs and Hawaiian shirt day. Look at those big machines and the women who knows how to operate them, pretty sassy huh? There are a bunch of more retro office porn photos here (Via) [Thanks Cam]

I lived in Stockholm for two years but I totally missed out on this cafe! Cafe Valand was opened in 1954 by Magdalena and her husband Stellan Åström whom also designed it. The cafe is located in the cute and lively area Vasastaden in Stockholm where it has sat frozen in time with its stylish wooden walls, signs, machines and tables for over five decades and is still owned and operated by Magdalena and Stellan. I highly suggest you give the place a personal visit on your next trip to Stockholm and enjoy this time piece which hopefully will stand for another 50 years. (Via)

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Here is another very swank and swizzle cool house for sale in California for those of you who are immune to the recession. Located in Desert Hot Springs and nick named The Desert House by architectural firm Marmol-Radziner & Associates. Built in 2005 with the use of prefabricated modules and environmentally consciousness using solar powered energy, high efficiency glass and recycled steel framing. In total it consists of a nearly 7.5 acre site on which the main house, guest house, studio and nearly 2,400 square feet of outdoor decks reside. The price? $1,195,000. For more information and images visit Crosby Doe Associates. Thank you again Royalton for the tip.