When in London Henen and her husband dragged us (willingly!) along to those delicious antiques shops and question kept nagging me: how come Stockholm don’t have places like these? With hand-picked designer goods, odd curiosities and hearty old furniture? Then by coincidence, I discovered vintage/antiques store Dusty Deco. Had to pay it a visit this wknd just to make sure there’re for real.

And YES,… it’s real. There is a garage in north-east Stockholm city that houses treasures! Hand-picked furniture and odds and ends from 30s, 40s, 50s…this place is a real treat for Retro and Industrial Vintage lovers. Excellent website shows all the goods, new stuff added (and removed/sold) every week.

Hello from London! Now both trendey-eds are gathered and yesterday we went for some antiques shopping. Here’s a brief report from trendey’s favourite: Crystal Palace Antiques.

This South London haven has four floors of antiques for sale. Everything from Victorian and country chic to ultracool retro classics. I wanted all their original Eames chairs!! And their vintage designer lamps! And they have a mid-century room too! And lots of curiosities and trendy details such as the vintage phone, antlers, etc etc..

In all, an eclectic mix to die for. Now happy ending of 2010 to you all!

Discuss!

August 25th, a really cool auction is opening its display at Swedish auction house Bukowskis. It’s called Eclectic and presents a wide range of objects inspired by the decades around 1900, the golden era of great adventure and when the old world transformed into the new industrialism.

As my sample below shows, this auction contains a daring mix of old and new, mahogany and steel, handicrafts and industry. The border between the centuries is blurred and the line between what is considered beautiful and ugly is questioned. Because, this auction wants to inspire cross-border decor or might I say, out-of-the-box decor. Through the themes conservatory, industrial and adventure Bukowskis aims to capture the contemporary dualism and ruined romanticism as well as industrial exploration and progress.

Browse the full auction here. If you happened to fall in love with any of the pieces featured above and want to know how the estimation on how big the hole in your wallet will be, a link list of featured items can be found if you

I really like the look created by mixing items from different eras in a completely current way. The contrast is fun and interesting and makes the old look older and the new newer! Mid-century classics (like the Saarinen tulip chairs from 1958 in the pic below for example) are great to use in an eras-mix as the 50s “space-age” style tends to look more modern than modern items!

To me, this “retro-vintage-antiques-modern” mix is all about recycling and reusing great designs from the past – disregarding as many rules about consistency and coherence as possible – and in the process creating interesting and elegant rooms fit for modern living. This eclectic style (which might be easiest to pull of in a period property), ought to have real staying power. So many combinations to try! Posssibly stay clear of the most heavily used 50s classics at the moment to avoid it all looking predictable, but overall I can’t see a room with a successful and harmonious vintage-modern blend going out of fashion any time soon!

Here’s more from the same stylist…

All of the above pics come from stylist Aaron Hom.

A trend line that is very pervasive right now is “the new old“. The new old is a mix of revival and update. Different ways to reimagine the past—its colors, its style, its artifacts—toward fresh and exciting ends. The NeoVictorian is a part of this. The Victorian Era of the UK was the period of Queen Victoria’s reign from 1837-1901. The reign was a long period of prosperity for the British people and the British Empire: An era of abundance and beauty. It’s a style with eclectic mood, based on the revival of older styles, often in new combinations. The Victorian age was the age of imitation and reproduction: the heavily upholstered furniture, the masculine (gothic) preserves such as libraries and billiard rooms, the feminine rococo style, the Oriental influence…And this – all this! – can be updated and neo-revived:

We both love the eighties—the 1880s, says fashion designer Anthony Malat and photographer Jamie Isaia in NY Magazine. In particular, film has inspired this couple’s fab interiors. The office interiors of the film Downfall were a big influence on their coulor palette. And in general, it was a mixture of Flowers in the Attic, Pretty Baby, The City of Lost Children and Spaceballs that inspired these fascinating decor choices.

All photos by Todd Selby/The Selby.