vintage

If I had an apartment in Paris …

October 3, 2011

My parents recently returned from Paris, and it’s got me daydreaming about french macaroons from Lauderee, shopping in St. Germain, the Ile St. Louis and chocolate croissants for breakfast.

It’s been a while since I’ve been to the City of Light, but there is definitely something magical about strolling those quaint Parisian streets. You can’t help but wonder what it would be like to live there … climbing the stairs to your very own Paris apartment after a fabulous day of shopping, eating and lingering at sidewalk cafes . Of course it would be luxurious and romantic, filled with the perfect mix of vintage furniture and glamorous accessories.

So if you can’t swing your own pad in Paris, at least you can visit the The Paris Apartment or pick up a copy of the book by the same name.

Author Claudia Strassor lives in New York City but travels to Paris frequently and knows just how to assemble and create that perfectly effortless Parisian look. She even takes small group “shopping trips” to Paris to go treasure hunting in flea markets and trade shows. How fun would that be? Her website suggests that instead of hotels you should stay in … what else? … a Paris apartment, and offers up her favorite sources for finding a rental … like one of these …

Yes, please!

Her site even has an online boutique where you can purchase some quintessentially French treasures for your own home.

Swoonworthy furniture and lighting …

(This bench looks very similar to the one I recently got for the end of my bed!)

And I have a chair like this in my living room …

She sells lots of Lucite items, even Lucite “legs” you can add to your own furniture.

This chandelier is literally dripping glamour …

And there is something about these old windows and doors that seem just right for a lofty Parisian apartment

And of course you need the perfect accessories …

(Vintage Gucci ashtray)

A luxe vanity tray for all your fabulous French perfume …

Ahhhh. It is nice to daydream isn’t it? But she definitely has the right idea. I love having things around my home that remind me of my favorite trips and places. What are some of yours?

Anniversary weekend in the city

August 30, 2011

Yesterday was Dan and my 13th Anniversary … for the past several years we’ve decided that our “gift” to each other is to get away for one night in the city. We look forward to it all summer.

So my parents graciously arrived Saturday morning to stay with the boys and off we went.

After 13 years, Dan knows me well enough to guess that I would want to go visit a few of my favorite home stores while we were there. Our first stop after lunch was to West Grand Ave. … and you guessed, The Painted Lady … and she didn’t disappoint.

How sweet is this lamp that is shaped like a knight’s breastplate? I would have snatched that up in a minute when we were decorating our nursery years ago with it’s subtle fairy tale theme.

A cluster of old demijohn’s in the window …

So many soft and wonderfully vintage-looking grainsack pillows …

I totally loved this driftwood inspired candelabra. What a statement piece for a dresser like this, or a dining room table.

I checked out a few of the other stores along Grand Avenue too, but the Painted Lady is still my favorite.

After checking into the Hotel Dana and enjoying a couple of mojitos on their rooftop lounge we worked our through River North and over to the Mag Mile. We decided on a meeting time and place and then split up a little bit so we could each do a little shopping. I was anxious to check out the new Anthropologie just off Michigan Ave. on Chicago.

Anthropologie is one of my all time favorite stores. I love their clothes but I also just love the overall vibe of each store. There’s a warmth and quirkiness … a laid-back elegance, a wonderful patina to everything … I kind of want to just move in! It’s always amazing to see how they transform a new space into something that looks like it’s been around forever. This one has a wonderful street level entrance and then you actually walk down a grand staircase to the main part of the store. (Swoon.)

Again, more driftwood inspired candle holders … and the large tin bottle is a vintage perfume storage bottle, believe it or not. I love how they tag some of their vintage pieces and tell the story behind it.

After shopping it was back to the hotel to put our feet up for awhile before heading out for our night on the town. We primarily picked the Hotel Dana for its great, walkable location to so much great nightlife.

Our first stop was Studio Paris, the lovely rooftop lounge atop Paris Club.

Rooftop bars seem to be the place to be in the summer and we were happy to go along with the trend on this lovely evening. Our next stop was the rooftop of Epic (appropriately named Epic Sky) with it’s great skyline views. (By then it was getting dark and I forgot to take any pictures.) Finally, for dinner we headed to Roka Akor … one of the “hot” new openings of the summer … everything was melt-in-your-mouth delicious.

Sunday morning the game plan was to sleep in as late as we could (why is it that once you have kids, your body is somewhat incapable of sleeping late?) head to brunch at Orange (I talked about it in this post) and then head over to the Randolph Street Market one more time before summer is over (and while we could take our own leisurely time sans kiddos.)

I didn’t take a lot of pictures this time (I truly was trying to not “work” and just enjoy the day, but I couldn’t help snapping a few …)

If the time were right, I would have loved to snatch up this table and chairs for our dining room and then reupholster the backs of the chairs in a fun print.

Cool old door turned mirror ….

Authentic old fishing floats.

So what did I get? A few fun little treasures …

I spotted this vintage metal T in this great coral color with a rich patina. There was only a T, so I think it was fate. I love the pop of color on our mantel and how it ties in with the other pops of coral I have in the room.

Dan found this baby and I was so thrilled.

As a writer and former journalist, I love its symbolism and like to imagine what wonderful novels or newspaper articles were created on it.

Someday it will sit prominently on the built-in bookshelves of my newly remodeled home office.

Have you seen these sugar molds in the NapaStyle catalog?

I’ve always liked them as a centerpiece to fill with candles, flowers, or … as they’ve shown … some “nibbles” for your guests. Plus I like how it can have a dramatic effect, yet you can still have eye contact with the person sitting across from you. The price for the long one? $189.

I picked this one up for $30 and it’s even longer …

For now I’ve got it on my buffet … and I still need to get some glass inserts, but I can’t wait to use it over the holidays.

Scary to think they’ll be here before we know it! Yikes!

Summer livin’ …

August 19, 2011

We’ve been away …

There was a lot of this …

And a whole lot of this …

… which led to a lot of this …

Also rode in one of these …

… on a very exhilarating (and a touch scary) ride up to here …

It’s our 8th year going up to Saugatuck, MI and we discover new things every time.

There are many antiques shops … but with three “boys” in tow … that’s not high on the agenda. (More of a girls’ weekend getaway …. anyone?)

But there was one cool place right across the street from where we took our dune buggy ride that was a perfect little place to kill some time while we waited for our 3:30 departure.

Even the “boys” were entertained walking around here …

I spotted this big basket of vintage golf flags …

I thought they’d be cute hanging in a boys room or rec room … especially if you could find numbers with special meaning … birthdates? We are a 13, 23, 27 and a 30th … so only one that falls in the under 18 (holes) category.

Just next to Saugatuck is Douglas … and, I must say, it’s home stores are even better than Saugatuck’s …

I picked up this cute vintage seltzer bottle in a store there called Circa.

It’s the last weekend before school starts … I can’t even believe it.

Hope you’re all enjoying yourselves too!

Crates and Cats

August 3, 2011

Just a quick post to show you a little metal crate I picked up at Vintage Charm in LaGrange today.

(Yes, that is my cat Leo who prefers to drink out of the island faucet. He’s waiting for me to turn the water on and is somewhat annoyed that I am taking pictures instead.)

Even though our home office is right around the corner, there always seems to be a proliferation of papers strewn across the island … things that need to be tended to in the next few days or more likely …weeks.

When I saw this little crate I thought it might be cute to corral all of the paperwork so that I can actually prepare food on my island.

I like the patina and texture it has. They had a few other sizes and shapes as well. We’ll see how long this system actually lasts. But I also like that I can just pick the whole thing up by the handles to clear everything off to cook or change it out for a vase of flowers. In the meantime, I’ve spotted a few other interesting uses for metal crates …

eclectic home office design by media and blogs French Larkspur

Spaces and Faces on Etsy

Small treasures

June 30, 2011

So, as promised, I’ve got pictures of the things I purchased last weekend at the Randolph Street Market … and they were each under $25! Truth be told, that’s one of my favorite things about this market … the little things I sometimes come across that just make me smile. The big pieces of furniture or mirrors aren’t hard to spot. But the true treasure hunt begins when you stop at a table filled with items and take the time to look and find that one special little thing you just have to have.

My first find was this wonderfully weathered, hand-carved corbel …

(That’s Kyle all dressed for the pool but willing to be my blog assistant before we headed out.)

I like to imagine what old building it came from … and where its siblings are currently residing.

For us, it will reside on a wall in the kitchen as a little shelf.

We haven’t hung it yet, but Kyle wanted you to get the idea.

The cost? $25.

I recently saw another great use for something like this, if you were ever able to snag a bunch of them. This is especially great if you have a rather uninteresting kitchen island that you’d like to spruce up. Like this one.