Category Archives: kitsch

Gothic interior design (as in the subculture)

Before I moved to Israel 11 years ago I was a Goth – as in dyed jet black long hair down to my tush, black lipstick, black clothes and very white skin (no makeup needed for that one). I was pretty active in the Los Angeles scene and was even in a documentary on Goth’s – one of my silly folly’s of youth that I’m hoping will never find it’s way to the surface…
As such I’m extremely familiar with Gothic style and I had to run a counter post to Patti’s take on Gothic yesterday.
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The Aumbry at the Bury Parish Church is thanks to Andy Marshall
The Gothic subculture is very colorful – but not in the color sense of the word.

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Wild, wacky shell house

nautalus-shell-house-mexico-city
I love the bizarre, the wild and the wacky.  This Nautilus Shell House in Mexico City is all of the above… and people live here too! 

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Color and pattern in China

The color and patterns in the Forbidden City and garden next to it were so amazing I couldn’t stop taking pictures of the details. Look at the straightness of the lines and the perfect symmetry of the pattern. They didn’t use tape to keep these lines straight – this was all done with a free hand.
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The one bummer about looking at the pictures a week after the fact is that I’m not totally sure which way is up in this photo – so I don’t know if it’s on it’s side or as it should be. No matter – gorgeous pattern, isn’t it?

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Today is Barbie’s birthday!

I bet you are wondering what this has to do with interior decorating and design
Well, I had a barbie (many of them) way back when and I got to thinking that maybe she had something to do with my love for interior decorating and design…
barbie-original-side
Check out her first house, it was basically a hovel made from a cardboard box.  Hey Barbs, you’ve come a long way since then!

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Oh dear. Design gone wrong

It all started innocently enough. I was on Twitter this morning and was reading a post of a new follower, @jeremyschneyer and he posted a link to Craigslist where this beauty of a dressing table was for sale. I saw it and immediately thought – “that’s so awful I have to do a post on it.”
How often do you see a hot pink painted dressing table with black and white wallpapered top and drawer fronts? 
pink_thing
And then I thought – I bet if I did a bit of looking I could find things even worse… 

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Wall candy: French vinyl wall stickers

 Pretty french wall stickers!

I am always looking for new ideas when it comes to walls.  These cool, new, individually designed, vinyl “wall drawings” from Domestic are decorative with an uber creative twist. 

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Tchochkes – A warm kitsch home tour

Boaz is a tutor for Probability and Corporate Finance in the Kellogg-Recanati program. He’s also personable, adorable and an absolutely amazing guy. Shachar, his partner, is equally fabulous. I ran into them a while back at a wine bar and asked if I could come and take pictures of their flat. I can tell you it wasn’t quite what I expected.
Actually, part of the reason was to write about Boaz’s incredibly sweet partner Shachar is because he is trying to start his own personal shopping and fashion styling business – but I have torn apart my entire house and can’t find his card. So if you need a personal shopper or help styling for an event – email me.

These were done by Shachar. I love their campy kitsch appeal.

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Big game tables by the sea


There are many cool things in Tel Aviv that no one ever sees, like these giant tile game tables by the sea.  These tables are something from the past, when people gathered together on Saturdays to play a good game of Backgammon, Chess or Checkers. 

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Art walk: Fun fish

fun fish sculptures in Cesaria.
  It seems that animals, think cows on parade, pigs and more; and now amphibians make for good self expression. I discovered this display while on my way to photograph the home tour featured below. Just for the fun of it,  A group of Cesarians teamed up with local artist and came up with these whimsical swimmers.

Submarine fish

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Betili / Beitili – it’s all about black and white

First things first, the URL listed for Betili in the newspaper this past weekend is WRONG. Yes, the proper way to spell Betili in English is Beitili, but that isn’t their URL – it’s Betili. Typos happen. I did send them an email about it – and I’ll let you know if they get back to me.
Now, about this black and white collection they are doing…

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