Sunday, July 09, 2006

Furniture Frenzy!!


I have a new favorite furniture store -- which is not to say I have an old favorite furniture store -- we don't buy furniture. We're artists... we don't walk into stores and point at $1400 sofas and say "I'll take it." Noooo, among my people, sari fabric draped over parents' hand-me-down sofas is a "new sofa." Well, until now...

The new favorite furniture store is Cargo, in the Pearl District. It's a warehouse filled with antique chests and benches and puppet theaters from Java and Bali and China, with parasols and lanterns and dusty rugs, cabinet beds and trays and beads and old rusty gates and pieces of houses that we must imagine, have finally fallen over on some backstreet of Surabaya or Jombang. I went to Cargo by mistake a few weeks back when I was hunting for a glass shop to buy glass for my mosaic table, and I walked in and almost had a heart attack. I wanted to call Jim, but as usual my cell phone battery was dead (I just can't be bothered plugging that thing in) so I had to wander around gasping like a fish, like a furniture-loving fish. I have never really been into Asian style. Not for me, the fu dogs and shiny busy Chinese ceramics. But our trip to Turkey (mentioned in my last post) instilled in us a love for the gypsy caravan look of Turkish rugs and peeling chests of the Near East, and Turkey is as near as the east gets, of course. But now, my love has extended to Indonesian antiques.

Pictured above is our adored new "bench" from Bali (bench is such an inadequate term!) -- you see, Jim gasped like a furniture-fish too when I dragged him into Cargo a few days ago and agreed we needed to adopt it immediately into our loving family, and after wrangling this piece of solid teak massiveness into the back of the truck and barely BARELY squeezing it through the front door, it is presiding over the living room in quite a queenly fashion. As Alexandra has been known to do with her beloved leather armchair, we are still in the phase of sitting in the old sofa so we can LOOK at it, rathing than actually sitting ON it. And you can't really grasp the size of the thing in the photos, but when I sit on it, my toes do not reach the floor!!

I also went a little crazy and bought a cool old Indonesian porch pillar for the corner of my writing room (the work is progressing in there!) to hang lanterns off of or something, but now I need to revert to the old ways of not buying things, and try to forget this little mania that overcame me. Not buying things is a pretty easy habit to maintain, when you're a starving artist, but buying things can become a habit pretty easily too, when you become less starving. I think we're furnitured up for the next little while!

30 comments:

Darlene said...

What a great ROOM!

oooo I want to curl up like a kitten on that couch into all of those lusciuos pillows and let it inspire me...

then you'd have to pry me away because I'd probably fall asleep...

I love your style...so playful

thanks for the peek

x Darlene o

Michelle said...

I was all into it until I saw it was in "The Pearl" which is unfortunate. I would be out the door to visit this place if it were on Hawthorn or Belmont but lately the Pearl district makes my skin crawl. Even the name is pretentious.

meghan said...

Beautiful! I am desperate to go to that shop. I love every picture of your house - it's always so creative and warm and inviting and cozy. I'm glad that you found a piece of furniture that you love so much!!! oxox

Anonymous said...

Beautiful bench. Best to sell the truck now. Not having a vehicle to haul your furniture finds is a great deterrant.

Jamie said...

Beautiful! It just invites you in and asks for you to begin the thousands of exquisite stories you're going to share there. What colour! Enjoy!

kelly rae said...

oh my god, laini. i have to have that couch! i LOVE it!!! and it goes perfectly with your house!

Alex S said...

iT is as drEaMy as dreamy can be! I have been lucky enough to park my buttocks on it and you feel so regal you feel like you are going to be carried or whisked away when you sit on it, like it can't just be s sofa! And I LOVE all the cushions on top of it!

Anonymous said...

These are photographs of your living room? Oh my, oh my...beautiful! The colours are so beautiful! That's a room that must instill happiness in everyone who enters it.

Darlene said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
boho girl said...

i am drooling...

Amber said...

Oh, I love that style too! It's so rich with texture and color. This is really nice. Enjoy it! And the store looks like a place I might get lost in...

:)

Anonymous said...

I think that is the most coolest piece of furniture ever. I don't care where at in Portland this is, I am going!! We are going to Seaside in a few weeks and I for sure need to take a detour to this store. I try really hard not to covet what other people have---but this is tough. I just love your style!!

Susannah Conway said...

Right now i am in the middle of an attack of *serious* furniture envy!! my god, Laini, it is *divine* - i would have bought in a flash too :-)

and red walls - what can i say? you are my inspiration
Sx

Shesawriter said...

Wonderful colors there. It's very festive. Love it!

Deirdre said...

Oh. Yum. Your house looks delicious. Really Laini, you're inspiring me to do something colorfully dangerous.

Deb R said...

Wow, that bench is gorgeous!!

Darlene said...

Back for another peekaboo!

Can I take you shopping with me?

It's a date!

Dar xo

Holly Loves Art said...

What gorgeous, jewel toned colors you have there. You know, I truly believe in making ones home the most beautiful it can be - even with an artists salary, it can look amazing and it's really all about putting it together the right way. You've done just that. Now, every time you walk into that room, you'll say, ahhhhh... and you'll really feel at home. Isn't that the best feeling???

Anonymous said...

What a jewel of a sofa! No wonder you're channeling such magical stories of the near-East surrounded by such inspiration. Lovely home, Laini!

Aithbhreac said...

Stop it now! I love the colors in your room. Wow! And thanks for the tip about Cargo, as I live in Portland and it is all I can do to keep from running out of the office and over to NW to have a peek for myself.

Left-handed Trees... said...

I am apparently one of your "people" with the "sari fabric draped over parents' hand-me-down sofas" as new sofa thing. I love your bold and brilliant style here, though it doesn't surprise me at all. I want new furniture, but think that my kids need to be at least 4 years older than they are now first. But, until then I can look at your living room and dream...

paris parfait said...

Laini, that is one gorgeous piece of furniture! Fantastic find! I love the artistic and colourful look of that room - so bright and cheery - and that beautiful Arts and Crafts lamp.

Letha Sandison said...

Oh Laini, I LOVE IT!!!!! I am green with envy!! I think I need to come down to Portland to visit your shop!!

Your whole room is beautiful with such amazing energy!! You can really tell two artists live in that space. Enjoy!!!

andrea said...

Me want. Portland is only ... oh ... 6 hours away ...

Claudia said...

That sounds like my kind of store!

liz elayne lamoreux said...

Oh I kept trying to leave a comment on this post and I could not. Blogger was being the pain that it can be!

But here I am again...
Love this couch! I cannot wait to see it in person. The first thing that came to mind when I saw this picture was "pitchers of sangria must be consumed while sitting on that couch!"
I need to visit Cargo the next time I come down. And I cannot wait to see the progress on the writing room.

Melanie said...

love it! I saw the photo and thought it was a picture of the store, then read it was your room- beautiful. :)
Melanie

Anonymous said...

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