Good bye 1972.. Hello 1978!

The original wallpaper is textured vinyl in yellow and green stripe. Most likely made by dow chemicals or 3m. Wipe it clean materials were really popular in the 70s.

The new paper is Cole and Sons (it's more of a charcoal plum and silver, but photoed chocolate and gold)
Apparently Target tried to offer wallpapers, it didn't go so well and I snagged a case of this vintage inspired paper for practically nothing.
Lee Jofa has some of the best papers in America imho, but I won't turn my nose up at Target.

Wallpaper, who'd have thought a few years ago it'd make a big mainstream comeback? I've been buying and selling vintage papers for years. Almost all of it going to NY. Foiled and Flocked papers were especially popular 4 or 5 years ago. Now you can buy them new.

Our super fabulous late 60s Rancho Deluxo was decorated in typical Brady Bunch style in the late 60s and was NEVER updated. Ever. Romper Room meets Better living though chemicals.

Our real Estate agent had her doubts but the bones were great and since our agent is a good friend she's been able to watch the improvements. She's a Craftsman kind of girl and I give her props for being able to appreciate a mid 60s internationalist design style.

It's been two years (almost), all the carpeting has been replaced with cork, the hideous deep walnut wall paneling has gone away, the kitchen cabinets have been refaced.
We've picked a color for the exterior that is not Chocolate or Beige. The banana trees have been replanted in back and we have more of a tropical oasis in the backyard.

Now we're working on the guest bath since it's too hot to keep messing with the exterior.

Sadly the Master bath in true 60s style, is a walk in shower. Which would be fine, except the walk in is very South American hotel. As in the toilet is practically IN the tiny barely-enough-room-to-turn-around-in shower stall. Maybe the architect thought 747 in flight bathrooms were SUPER Cool. It makes no sense. Two very large walk in His and Hers closets, an 8 foot long double vanity sink and a separate pocket doored room that might on a good day, measure 6' x 4' for both the shower and toilet. Seriously.
The husband being a tall man would have to squat to get under the shower head, but if he did that, his knee would literally knock the glass door open. It really is a poorly set up bathroom.
Picture the Desi Arnez shower scene in the Long Long Trailer and you'll get the picture.

We have not used that shower once since we moved in. The main problem? The pocket doored wet room, is smack in between the walk ins and the opening from the bedroom to the closet vanity area is on one side. So no matter how we reconfigure it, we'll either walk through the clothing closet to get to the bathroom OR walk through the bathroom to get to the closet. We're still contemplating various redesigns.
Bleh.

Miss you my favorite son

Two stupid kids, tra la la la!


Spence and Fergus as catalog models. We were trying to get Spence to push the laundry/mail cart.

Spence LOVED taking photos, Fergus not so much. Spence was better at direction and was very into costumes and props.

Fergus weighs 100 and Spence weighed 110, these are not small babies.
We are still looking for a new brother for Fergus. We all miss Spence more than anything.

Strange flowers

This is the oddest flower!
Looks like a cross between an orchid and a wonderful candy Wonka might have made. Since cactus root so easily, many of us cactus junkies trade paddles and cuttings back and forth. Usually I remember where everything came from. Not sure WHO or even WHERE this guy came from, I don't even remember planting it, but it has popped up in the planter out front and in the back yard.
The flower is solid and shiny, like a hard plastic. Definitely not delicate like an orchid, I'm sure it is in one of my cactus books, will have to check later today.

It's not all freaks and geeks

I post a lot of our weird encounters onto blogger. I use it to vent.
But I wanted to note a recent call I had that was a great big morale boost!

We sell to several "well known designers" henceforth known as WKD.

This particular WKD has written several books and has superb taste. When this WKD calls, I get butterflies. She's classic, direct, knows what she wants and she just buys. She doesn't require discounts, she doesn't belittle or suggest that something is too expensive. She knows my prices are honest and she says so. Most designers have their assistants call, this WKD calls personally. It may be worth noting that this WKD found us 5 years ago and we've been selling to her ever since. These relationships don't usually develop overnight.

She's REFRESHING! There are a few other WKDs that we sell to who will request 20% discounts on $20. items because they can. *I can't give that sort of discount, but they ask anyways.

So WKD has class. Ok, I confess, I'm also a big fan of almost everything she does. So she calls to tell me she needs item X and it needs to ship overnight to NY. She tells me it's for a photo shoot for Elle Decor October and she says she'll make sure that my shop gets credit as the source. How awesome is that? We've been in several top shelter magazines over the years, almost ALWAYS uncredited. One of our items made the COVER of Veranda and the item was attributed to the ID we sold it to, this happens a lot.
I don't mind, it's pretty common. But when someone like WKD says she loves our stuff and wants to see us succeed, its incredibly special.

weirdo show part two

must be something in the air.
Today I catch the shop phone before it goes to voicemail, it went something like this:

me: Hi thank you for calling Austin Modern, can I help you?
caller: Yeah I was calling about item x on your website?
me: uh huh, what can I help you with?
caller: I have something just like that but mine has this, this and this that is different...?
*Yes everything is in the form of a question*
me: ...mmhmm?
caller: do you buy, 'cause I have like, a whole house of this..?
me: it depends, where are you located?
caller: why does that matter?
me: well, I don't buy items I can't inspect in person.
caller: oh. well, I'm in California but this is just like the ones you have except for this, this and this, which is different. But other than that it's the same.

* maybe in your book, but not in mine*

me: try finding someone in your area that specializes in Mid Century or Hollywood Regency
caller: it that still popular? "cause it's been like, a trend for like a year now...?
me: yes, these trends do have a tendency to last for longer than a year....
caller: oh... do you know anyone in my area I ought to call?

*Seriously?? Did you just call a business long distance, across several state lines, to ask who you should sell your stuff to locally?*

and people wonder why I screen my shop calls.

That's HILARIOUS!

So we're contacted by a local interior design(ID) firm. This firm has a reputation around town for being sort of unfocused when it comes to what they are looking for from vendors. And then blaming those vendors when the outcome is not as expected. Call it mind reader syndrome. As in "I'm not a mind reader, please be specific".

We're on vacation and I get an email that basically says "Need items immediately, need to make an appt to come to the warehouse to see several items immediately, need measurements and addl images right away"
Sounds like a rush job.

So I email back, explain that we're not in town but please look at our website for addl images, measurements and pricing until we return.
I was not sure why prices were requested when we provide prices for everything online. But whatever. I get an email back that additional images are no good, "need to see items and take pictures in person". Ok, I understand and that's fine.

I ask which items specifically are under consideration.

There is a real reason for this. When the majority of our business started coming from New York and LA, we made the decision to go ahead and close our retail shop and moved to warehouses last summer. Our warehouses are not set up for browsing, they are set up to warehouse our stock. We get an order, I pull the item, pack it up and it's gone.

When someone makes an appointment to come to the warehouse to look at a specific item I need to make sure the item is down at ground level, unpacked and ready for inspection. We are not set up for browsing. Everything is stored vertically and well wrapped in boxes. We have 10 storage units in several climate controlled buildings within a secure facility. Knowing which items are "on the block" ahead of time is crucial. Again: several buildings, items stored, not set up for browsing.

So when I ask which items are under consideration, there is a real reason. I'm not just deciding whether the potential total purchase is high enough.

When the response is "everything" this presents a problem. It means either the person making an appointment doesn't know what they want and is looking to browse OR wants to buy everything in stock. Which would be wonderful, but unlikely.

So we are aware that when a request comes in for an appointment but a specific item is not of interest, this is most likely about to be a waste of everyone's time. We are not set up for browsing.

We get a lot of messages on the office phone that go something like this "Hi this is so and so, I'll be in town this afternoon and I wanted to make an appointment to come by and look at your store around 2pm?" often this call comes in around noon giving a scant 2 hour window to set it up. Usually when I return the call, thankfully most people confess they just wanted to browse around and kill time. Most are happy to look at the website when I explain that warehouse really means warehouse. Not a cool-industrial-secret-password-warehouse-that-looks-exactly-like-a-retail-store warehouse.

So anyways. after all the immediate rush-rush email business, the ID does not contact me until a WEEK after we've returned to town. Hmm. Then the ID needs to see one item. Just one. We've gone from needing EVERYTHING to just one coffee table.
It's the most inexpensive coffee table we have. It's priced at HALF of it's wholesale price because it has no glass. I have already priced the glass and know what it will cost, the table WITH new glass will still be half of it's lowest retail price.

While looking at the table the ID tells me they just bought a 'truck load" of items from someone in Dallas who I wholesale to regularly.
If I'm charging 400, this person in Dallas is charging 1,600. So, I feel confident that this table will be purchased. It's a documented/known designer piece, it's gorgeous and it's very affordable.

The table goes out on 3 day approval. 5 days later I get an email, they like the table but they can't afford to buy glass for it. Ok. Please bring the table back.
What else can I say?

It is not my responsibility to make items fit a clients budget. When returning the item the ID accusingly tells me that they called for a glass quote and it was going to cost almost as much as the table.

Hmm. Well, A. I obviously got a much better quote and B. the item is clearly listed as "priced without glass". Even including the cost of overpriced brand new glass this table is still HALF it's retail price. Had the ID not snapped at me the ID might have heard who gave me a much better quote. Also, if price really is a problem, I'm not understanding why they are purchasing "truck loads" from someone whom I wholesale to.

The whole experience was weird. This is the second time I've been told by this particular ID that my item is exactly what they want but that it is not in their client's budget. I am not expensive and my prices are not a secret. I didn't like the way this experience went.

I don't think I will work with this ID firm again. It's not worth the hassle. I almost feel better that other local sellers and service providers feel the same way about this ID.