Furniture Reporter

I see trouble on the way
- Creedence Clearwater Revival, 1969

Human beings are mostly water (or, after last Friday’s dinner party, mostly wine; I am meeting some very hospitable Berran locals). It’s no wonder then that so many of us seem subject to phases of the moon.
The full moon is the one we discuss most, usually in terms of weird complaints and aberrant manic behaviour, from the public and colleagues alike. But I reckon that there’s a corresponding effect in the days at the opposite end of the scale, around the dark of the moon. I’m still studying it, but it seems to bring out a sort of negative, cranky-pants streak, a helpless-belligerent, passive-agressive sullenness, or else a kind of deer-in-the-headlights cluelessness.
On the weekend the road users were all nutso. In Fyshwick, despite having the right of way I slowed down for a bike rider who clearly hadn’t looked towards me. When he did, and noticed I had slowed for him, he pursed his lips and shook his head at me, to signal I was clearly a villiage-idiot-Volvo-driver who drove too slowly. What, he would rather I barrelled through the intersection dragging his mangled bike and person because I had right of way? Well, I rather wish I had, he made me feel so small.
I was still fuming sullenly a little later when, while cruising a narrow road beside Lake Curly-Gherkin, a fellow in a very large Landcruiser leaned over to fiddle with something and began driving directly at me. Too shocked to honk, I took evasive action and narrowly avoided a head-on with both the Landcruiser and various walkers and ducks. Really, it was too much. I had to go home and have a lie-down on the couch.
And I’ll spare you today’s details; a Monday from hell, the kind of day that makes one wonder how it is people don’t go postal more often.
All the tramping around on the weekend was in search of an item of second-hand furniture: a dressing table, to compensate for the dab of a bathroom in my funny little house. I’ve realised a curious thing about the Berra that is unlike any other city or town I’ve ever lived in before. There’s almost no second-hand furniture. All the usual sources, like the Salvos and Vinnies, are wastelands of 80s clothes and 70s pottery knicknacks. No furniture.
Wow. What do the Berra students do? In my salad days I would have slept and studied and ate and everything on the floor if I had not had second hand furniture. In fact, as I look around the loungeroom now, the only item I bought new was the couch. Once I would have thought, I should grow up; now I am embracing my inner recycler. Why do I need so many newly things made from stuff freshly chopped down or dug up, when oftentimes there’s a perfectly good old thing that has outlived its original purpose and needs a new home? And if for a bargain, so much the better.
Not that I run an orphanage for old unloved stuff. Much. Except for a lovely vintage bookshelf from a garage sale in Armidale. CD shelves made from recycled timber and copper by a clever friend in Nundle, that somehow go with a wing-backed timber and green vinyl armchair. The TV / stereo stand from the junk shop in the former Walcha theatre. Some funny old stools from those Melbourne salad days, a green vinyl footstool from the Hobart tip shop to go with the armchair. A little round dining table I don’t much like except that it was my Grandma’s, and I still miss her. And now – well, while I’m still searching for the dressing table, I didn’t come home empty handed. Check out this example of the Berra’s style heyday: a 70s coffee table, all dovetailed timber and curves. Delicious.

As someone who really loves modern style furniture, Amodica has become one of my favorite places to browse for furniture. The prim count on some of the items is a little bit steep at times, but if you have plenty of prims available to decorate with and you want very high quality, detailed work- you will probably enjoy Amodica. Even the layout and design of the store is appealing, and I always spend a lot of time here just browsing.  When you first arrive at the landing point, you can find a variety of magazine vendors (some of which I’ve never even heard of, but look cool), as well as kiosks for Onrez and SLX.

Everytime I come here, I always stop to admire the patio sets that flank either side of the entrance. There’s something about that semi-transparent fabric of the umbrella and chair backs that always grabs my attention. And I always have a weakness for glass topped tables. The round ring at the center matches the seat cushions and makes a nice touch.

In addition to furniture, Amodica also has a line of clothing. That section can be found by entering the building to the right. But the furniture section can be found on the left. When you first enter, you will see a large desk with a sign behind it that you can touch to join their update group. (They use a “HippoGroup” instead of a usual Second Life group, so you don’t have to give up a group slot. I imagine this is similar to Subscribe-o-matic.) In addition to home furnishings, they also provide custom services such as sim development, landscaping and interior design. You can IM Prad Prathivi for more information. Or better yet, drop him a notecard.

Scattered throughout the store are teleport displays that you can use to find the different sections. (Dining, Outdoor, Bathroom, Lounge, Bedroom, Kitchen and Office.) However, I highly recommend just taking the time to explore the whole store. Its huge, and there are so many cool things to see. Lots of nice accents like lamps, rugs and framed art.

Another personal favorite of mine from Amodica is the Chicago lounge set. Again, the chairs and sofas have embedded pose scripts, which I’m becoming quite a fan of. I love that you don’t have to see the poseballs- and I especially love the assortment of pose options. I really like the black shiny satin type texture on the seats, it looks so realistic. I fell in love with the Cubist rug that accompanies the set and ended up buying it because it goes absolutely perfect with my Catero living room set from the Loft. But it also works wonderfully with the Chicago lounge set.

And if you love rugs like I do, be sure to look at the rug section. They all seem to be in the modern art/deco style, which is my personal favorite. And there is a huge variety to pick from!

Prad Prathivi has done some amazing work, and I can’t wait to see what he’ll come out with next.

Slurl to Amodica: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Southsea/86/122/432

Recycling has become so passe’ hasn’t it? Tossing you’re water bottles and beer bottles into your little plastic bin everyday and taking it to the curb every week? We all recycle don’t we? And have you noticed that most stores now have a place for you to stuff your used plastic grocery bags when you go back to do more shopping? Doesn’t it make you feel good when you bring a hand full of those bags back and put them in there? It makes you feel like your completing the cycle.  But did you know it costs more to recycle a plastic bag than it does to make one?

But let’s take it one step further. I don’t want to talk about how you should recycle. We all know we should. Lets talk about another term that we don’t hear enough of, and what it means.

Recycle, Renew, Reuse. So here comes the back story. (There’s always a back story isn’t there?) Years ago, furniture was expensive!  Then sometime in the 80′s all this furniture started coming out that was made out of fiberboard or pressed wood chips.  All this stuff came in a box and you brought it home, pulled out the directions and started assembling it.  Remember the stuff?  How cheap and convenient!  A desk, a bookcase, an entertainment center for under a hundred bucks!  But the problem was, it worked great until you have to move it.  The first time you moved it, the thing fell apart!  I vowed to never buy the stuff again.  I vowed that I would rather save my money and buy a decently made piece of furniture than go to the store and buy something that was going to fall apart.

One step up from this wood and glue slurry furniture is Ikea furniture.  Hey, don’t start bashing Ikea! I’m not bashing them.  They have a niche and I’d rather buy Ikea (my wife and I call it Icky-uh) than Sauder. Ikea furniture is made of chipboard covered with super thin veneer.  Better but not much better than furniture in a box.  (Wait a minute, Ikea furniture comes in a box too, doesn’t it?)

But who can afford solid wood furniture?  So I started looking around for used furniture and antiques.  I started buying beautiful pieces and refinishing them myself.  I started “Renewing!”  Now refinishing antique furniture is a passion of mine and I do it as a hobby.  We have so many pieces in the house, that I either need to find a new hobby or start selling what I refinish.  There is another place to reuse all kinds of stuff.  Craigs list.  And can you believe that I picked up a 1930′s Art Nouveau, curved front, dressing table at Salvation Army.  It had been sitting in a garage for years and had paint can and oil stains all over it.  After stripping the thing, I found out it was made out of 5 different types of exotic woods!

Recycling and Reusing can often be called the same thing.  If you take your plastic shopping bags (also known as the Urban Tumbleweed)

Uban Tumbleweed

home and use them to pick up the poo when you take you’re dog for a walk, are you recycling the bags?  Not quite, you’re reusing them.  You have given them a “double” life cycle.  But they still end up in the trash and the landfill.  At least they wont blow out the back of the garbage truck or off the top of the landfill as they are laden with poop.  But wouldn’t it be better to not get them from the store in the first place?  “But then what would I use to pick up the dog poop?”  How about the biodegradable bags you buy at the same place you buy you’re dog-food.  But those cost money!  Yes they do.  But wouldn’t you rather support a company making biodegradable poo bags than a plastic bag company?  Worst: use plastic grocery sacks and throw them away.  Better: use plastic grocery sacks and re-use them or recycle them.  Best:Don’t use them at all.

I know it’s hard to do.  The last time I went to pick up a prescription at the local big box pharmacy, (when was the last time you saw a Mom and Pop pharmacy?) I picked up a quart of milk.  I watched as the cashier put it in a plastic bag.  Then put that bag in another bag and then put the whole think on the counter.  I reached into the mass of bags, extracting my milk and “I don’t need a bag”, leaving two bags sitting on the counter.  Hey, if she’s not going to ask, I’m going to leave them sit there!  Do we really need to bag a single item?  Or even two or three items?  The only person who should need a bag for so few items would be someone with a metal hook at the end of each arm.

We need to get away from the cheap plastic, made in China, breaks, fades, rips, falls apart, gets consumed in a day, week or month, Walmart philosophy.  And it is a philosophy.  Some people do all their shopping at Walmart, and most of those people are the same ones that work there, because that’s the only place they can afford to shop.  Talk about giving you’re money back to the company store!

Renew – Reuse – Recycle.

I’ve always had a thing for Ray&Charles Eames, but lately my taste for 1950s modern design has turned into an obsession. In trying to find some images of an orange patent leather 1960s channel-back rocking armchair (to convince my husband we should buy the one up the street at Ballard Goodwill-less than $20, come on!), I have come across some amazing other stuff that I just plain wish we had the money and space for. It just makes me that much more excited for when we get to buy a place of our own and start over with decorating. Currently our basement apartment is sunken in dark brown wood and shades of blue and green fabrics. This stuff is beautiful and I appreciate it, however in my attempt at putting together “our home” after we got married I think I settled for instant homogeneity rather than taking the time to piece together a collection of recycled and funky items that would mean more to me in the long-run. That’s where my roots are and I have recently been drawn back to that place.

I think there was something that set me off on a rabbit hole of safety and in safety you have to give up risk. They don’t work together. Things in my life (wardrobe, decoration, activity) became bland and boring. I often did not veer far from black and white shirts with jeans. I felt uncomfortable with attention. That all changed while I was pregnant. All of a sudden I just craved color and creativity. These were things that people knew me for in the past, but again, something along the way changed. I think the enemy has a way of depressing us to where we lack a degree of emotion that allows us to be creative. Be it cooking, style, design, whatever you like throw it in there, the enemy wants to destroy it and keep you from risking your heart.

All of a sudden I was tired of being boring. I started wearing turquoise and violet shirts, some pink, some chartreuse. It was weird. Doesn’t sound like that big of a deal, right? Well it was for me.  It was like a light bulb had finally been changed. My husband noticed and is thrilled. After the baby, things like caring about my hair, makeup, whether or not I matched seemed to have fallen out the car window while driving down a highway. I started wearing hats after a couple days of not showering to cover up my frizzy and unstyled hair (thanks to colic I didn’t have the chance to- now its because I would rather be knitting or sewing or in the garden!). I didn’t care anymore what people thought. I feel confident in myself as a woman of God who is a wife and mother. I know my husband loves me more than ever. I imagine Jesus does too now that I am making a disciple. I know where my identity is and that’s so freeing. It’s crazy to see how much Solomon’s placement in our lives has redeemed me (“Us” really, but that’s for Tim to share). I feel like I am finally living as who God created me to be. I don’t know how I got to talking about this but what the heck…. Oh, so, in being redeemed through childbearing I see that I am finally getting back to the Stephenny before sin, the one who is free and creative in Christ’s likeness. Does that make sense? Whatever, it’s for Jesus and I anyway. In the meantime, I’ll be falling asleep dreaming of the orange chair and how I would arrange things at our place if we got it. Also, you can eyeball this beautifully refurbished and reupholstered Eames designed chair. One day… one day. Maybe in lime green and hot pink… oooohh.

Eames Desk Chair

Plain ol' Awesome

Furniture designers and manufacturers Nine Stories make furniture out of car panels. “we are exploring the vast landscape of the american salvage yard to collect textures and colors that ony years of sun and rain can create.”