Friday, February 22, 2008

Barbie Dream House Update #14: Art for Your Ass.

One of the coolest things about moving into our new flat is of course decorating. Last week we made a huge amount of progress in that department. We finally have closets! For the past 3 months we have been living out of our old IKEA armoires which are stored in the 2 guestrooms. That’s fine and all, but getting dressed in the morning entailed going to one room to find my underwear and then crossing the hall to get some pants.


ikeaarmoires



About 2 month ago we ordered custom closets and had the rooms measured. Last Thursday the nice man came and installed them. Nevermind my bad photos, they are fabulous!


entry





bath



The downstairs entrance has a coat closet with fancy white glass doors. The upstairs guest bathroom has simple beige doors that match the tiling seamlessly, and our bedroom has a gorgeous wood panels that actually warm up the entire bedroom. We got good Feng shui goin’ on.


bedroom



Then, Friday morning, BoConcept came and delivered our entertainment system furniture. In 14 ginormous boxes. FrenchBoy and French Father-in-law spent most of the day Saturday arguing and assembling the unit. It’s installed and it looks freaking fabulous. It’s the next best thing to being able to live in the actual Bo Concept showroom….which they don’t let you do. Believe me I tried.


fight





boconcept



You will notice however that something is missing from the above photo. Uhm, yeah. Alas we still have no sofa or chairs. We spent months before the move looking at furniture and had almost settled on a fancy little leather ensemble from Roch BoBois, but I was very lukewarm about the whole leather sofa idea. I know it’s the norm here in France, but I just can’t get into it. Plus that’s a whole lot of money to spend on a sofa that you have NO love for. (For the record, I also hate carrelage! Tile flooring should be used only in kitchens and bathrooms for Christ’s sake!)


rbb_arcadesofa



So after leaving Roche Bobois a bit unimpressed, we stumbled into Ligne Rosett which I always considered a bit snooty and over priced. Exhausted, we sank into one of the display living rooms to pout for a bit. It was so comfortable we didn’t want to get up to leave. So we bought it.


redFacett





facett-by-ronan-erwan-bouroullec



French Father-in-law rolls his eyes and calls it the “Coquilles St Jacques furniture”, but it reminds me more of origami. And we LOVE it! It’s weird looking and modern and….just weird. And for some reason when I look at it I get a craving for sushi. Does that make sense?


facett3


The only draw back is that since everything from the fabric to the color of the seams is made to order, it literally takes 4 months for it to arrive. Thus, no furniture for us until at least the middle of April. But who can complain when we will have furniture that’s this cool? Dude--it’s art you can sit on!

dreamroom



Anyway, being the total google stalkers that we are. We did a bit of research on the designers. Turns out it was designed by this freaky little design team of two brothers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec.

rowan_and_erwan



In 2000, Issey Miyake hired them to design his A-Poc boutique in Paris, and recently they designed a pavilion in the new MUDAM (Musée d'Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean) in Luxembourg that opened in July 2006 in a building designed by Architect I.M Pei. And I think they’re only like 34 years old! That’s totally rockstar!

So being that we are total Art & Design nerds, I am convinced this is the furniture we were meant to have.

facett_rosetbouroullec



Oh great. Now I’m hungry for sushi!



10 comments:

Joke from Amsterdam said...

K - your house is looking amazing! I love love loooove the entertainment and sitting furniture!

Travel said...

Wow! Great space, great furniture (including what is on the way.) I would vounteer to trade places with you, I don't know what Frenchboy would think of that;)

DG

Anonymous said...

You have a gift my dear. When I purchase my own dream house, would you decorate it for me? This is, of course, assuming that I'll be able to afford you :-)

dougphoto said...

officially jealous.

Anonymous said...

Oh, I feel you on the leather. When we moved in together we opted to use my old IKEA couch as a sitting op in the guest room and use his leather furniture in the living room. No my butt is always COLD! Thank goodness my mom sent me a chenille throw, which I use no only decoratively, if you get my drift.

Congrats on turning the Dream House into a Dream HOME!

Trina

Cherise said...

Love love love the place. It really is coming together well. Excellent furniture, esp. the couch/chair. I am drooling.

Liz Tran said...

Wow! Your house is so totally French! I love it! Yesterday evening I walked by Ligne Roset and saw your sofa/chair through the window and waved hello.

The Late Bloomer said...

OH.MY.GOSH. I am *so* in awe of your incredible decorating choices. Wow, so modern, so slick -- and it looks like they're going to perfectly suit you. And that entertainment system is beyond amazing!!

OK, I'm just going to slink away to my very basic, boring apartment. But that's OK -- we get to live vicariously through you here!

Lisa Wines said...

First of all - I love to get your posts in my email inbox. You make me laugh and I enjoy the daily process of your life.

Meanwhile, I am diggin' on the media centre and the couch is amazing. I like that it was a) comfortable, and then after that, b) uber cool. You didn't say what color you chose?

And I don't like leather either. Too slip-slidey, too cold, on muggy days your thighs stick to it...leave grease spots. Gargh!

Madame K said...

OMYWORD- Thanks for stopping by. I'm always glad to amuse!

For the furniture we ended up choosing the sofa in a dark charcoal grey with red/orange stitching as an accent, and 2 chairs in bright crazy neon orange that match the entertainment center thing...hopefully....

and p.s. It was very comfortable! I cannot wait to spend weekends loafing in front of the TV watching 'Buffy'.