Swoon Interiors

interiors that make your heart skip a beat.

Wednesday Wish List – Jayson Home & Garden

Ahhhh … there was a time when I actually had time to just pop in to Jayson Home & Garden just to walk around and drool over pretty much everything that crossed my path. It was always such a great source of inspiration for me.  The perfect mix of old and new, classic and unique.



via Cococozy

Nowadays, both time and distance make that a lot more difficult. When I received their Spring 2011 mailer just the other day it brought me back to the good ol’ days. Their mailer alone had enough eye candy to create an extensive Wish List of “Maybe-Someday” or “If-I-Win-the-Lottery” items.

One of the very first pictures was of this chair.

 Penelope Chair
Check out that nailhead trim. (Swoon!) In fact, almost all of the chairs I fell in love with were graced with a lovely nailhead trim.
Greenwich Chair

How comfortable does this one look? You could literally sink into it for hours.


Morgan Chair




Rivington Chair

And then … on page 21 …. (drumroll please …)

Emma Feather Pendant


I know it is totally over the top, but I love it.  I would design a room around this. (Or I’d kinda love it in my bedroom.)

When I was done daydreaming my way through the mailer, I decided to take a little virtual walk through their store.  I was pleasantly surprised to find a link to their “Petite Flea Market.”  What could be better?

There are so many swoon worthy things I hardly know where to begin.
This would be so lovely at the foot of a bed.
Vintage Chinoiserie trunk

Love the turquoise interior.

I’d like a couple of these for extra seating in my living room.
Vintage Brass Stool
An old Grandfather clock has always been on my wish list … this one is so majestic and I love that it is light wood  instead of dark.

We play a lot of board and card games at our house. Another idea for my living room is a game table … this one flanked by two comfy chairs in front of the window … a fire in the fireplace … mmmmm.
Vintage Lucite Game Table

How cool is this?

Vintage School Desk
If only … this would be the centerpiece of my home office … or Kyle and Braden could each have their own homework desk. (Hmmmm, how much homework would they get done sitting side by side?) 
And finally … these made me swoon as soon as they popped up on screen.

Even one would be such a conversation piece on a fireplace mantel or sideboard table. A collection would be stunning … especially if you were a talented musical/singing family. (We are not.)
By the way, if you go to their website and sign up for their newsletter, you can be entered to win a $1,000 shopping spree. (I already signed up.) Granted, that wouldn’t cover much of my wish list … but it’s a start!
Ok … back to reality.  What are some of your favorite stores to daydream about?

So that’s what they’re called …

As I was writing my post earlier this week, An Easy Idea with High Impact, I couldn’t find the word I was looking for to describe the large bottles.
Then today I saw this article on Houzz: Flea Market Finds: Demijohns Around the Home . Demijohns! That’s it!
The subtitle goes on to read “Once Purely Functional, Now Decorative, These Bottles are Worth the Hunt.” I agree, don’t you?
Old World Custom Home contemporary dining room
It’s an interesting history of the bottles along with more pretty ideas on how to use them and group them. They date back hundreds of years and were originally used to transport everything from wine to molasses.
In addition the inexpensive ones I found, I still love the one I mentioned in my post on vintage finds.
And then, as fate would have it … yesterday I found these lamps.  I guess you could call kinda call them demijohn lamps …

I love that they are two different sizes. It’s a departure from the symmetrical look of buffet lamps … and I always like the unexpected! Plus I love to display actual serving pieces on a buffet .. and while you obviously wouldn’t put anything in these bottles, I like that they are an ode to the historic demijohns that might have graced an elegant buffet table long ago.

Have you found any demijohns for your spring branches yet?

More Vintage Finds …

There was an interesting article on Houzz the other day about 12 ways to achieve a “collected” look in your home. I love the word “collected” as it applies to interior decorating, because to me that is the fun of decorating … finding and collecting things that I love over time. Rooms that look like they were all put together at once or from one or two stores are not interesting to me. Becky Harris, the author of this article, loves the word “collected” too and explains that “the ability to edit and curate diverse pieces, eras and textures needs a worthy name.” 

One of the best ways, I think, to achieve the “collected” look is to incorporate vintage pieces from various eras into your decor. Did you read my earlier post about some of my favorite vintage finds?

As promised, here are a few more favorite vintage pieces from my home.  The first is a wonderful little federal style convex mirror I have hanging in my front entry. 

Lauren Liess of Pure Style Home recently did a blog post featuring federal style convex mirrors and I was even more excited about my little one, especially after seeing this in her post … 
Mount Vernon Federal reproduction Convex Mirror by the Friedman Brothers  $3200
I’m pretty sure I paid less than $50 for mine. I also love some of these rooms she featured with similar mirrors.
Eddie Ross in Lonny

via Elle Decor

This one is of her own beautiful bedroom.

Next up is an old globe that has been covered in vintage ledger paper, old postcards and vintage brooches. I love it’s uniqueness and the idea of worldly travel it conjures up. The globe itself just rests on an old iron base with caster wheels. A beautiful twist on the traditional globe, don’t you think?

I also love this vintage jewelry holder …
image from Etsy
 Not only is it pretty, but very functional! I use it to hang the necklaces I wear most often. I like to imagine what other necklaces and jewels it proudly displayed in a former life.

What do these three things have in common? I bought them all from a wonderful Etsy shop called Blue Bell Bazaar. The owner, Gosia, collects interesting objects, antiques, oil paintings, industrial art, you name it, from a variety of places, including trips abroad.  She is a favorite of catalog stylists at Anthropologie.  Visiting her Etsy shop makes me feel like I am wandering around a quaint little flea market. She carries everything from vintage Scandinavian designs, old store signs, and laboratory and apothecary bottles, to modern china, vintage chalkboards, industrial lamps, vases and giant metal alphabet letters.

I feel lucky that she is a Chicago-based gem, as on several occasions when I have ordered something online, she has personally brought it to my house.  I’ve even pointed out certain places or walls where I am looking for something to put there and she will email me some ideas from her collection within the week.

If you read the post on my master bedroom, you may remember the vintage Paris prints hanging above my nightstand. Yep, I got them from Blue Bell Bazzar.  I’ve also purchased a number of other pieces of art from her. Here are two of my other favorites.

Still waiting to hang the one below … I am working on collecting pieces for a gallery style art wall to go up along our main staircase. (Stay tuned for a future post.)

Best of all, she and a partner have opened up Architectural Anarchy in Chicago’s historic Pilsen neighborhood.  I am dying to get down to their amazing 7400 sq ft warehouse showroom to see her latest collection of vintage furniture, lighting, artwork, and other wonderfully quirky pieces. 

Have a great weekend everyone!

My favorite vintage finds … Part One

I love looking for little vintage treasures … not so much large antique furniture, but fun little things that look like they have a story to tell.

Even if your decor is more contemporary, try sprinkling in a few vintage pieces here and there.  I guarantee you’ll get compliments. They are conversation starters; the things that make people say “Wow, where did you get that?” They are the things no one else has or seen in all the stores.

Here’s a few of my favorites:

I picked this up shortly after we moved into our house when I realized we lived a couple minutes away from Old Plank Road … one of Nate Berkus’ favorite shops.  (Sadly, they have recently relocated to the city, but I am dying to go down and see their new space.)
Anyway … Swoon! Since then, I’ve seen other ones in NapaStyle or even Pottery Barn. But they  aren’t as curvy and don’t have the cool vintage label.

I’ve also collected an assortment of vintage copper cookware that I have hanging over our kitchen island. I have loved finding different sizes and shapes. How cute is that little butter warmer in the front?

It’s just a little thing, but I love this book!  If you’re an avid reader of home decor magazines you’ve likely seen it in numerous tablescapes of well-styled living rooms. It makes an exotic addition to any stack of books, don’t you think?

I move mine around the house periodically. I bought it at one of the stands at our local outdoor “French Market” (kind of a Farmer’s market).  Doesn’t every husband want his wife to have a book called “I Married Adventure?” I once saw one on ebay selling for $90 dollars!  I just checked again and there is currently one for $23 … go snatch it up now if you can. (Then please come back and keep reading!)
I love this little chair I found at a local store called Vintage Charm. I wasn’t crazy about the fabric so I recovered the seat with a remnant I found in the sale bin at one of favorite fabric stores, Les Tissus Colbert, which sadly has also closed up shop.
It’s really weathered and, well, it just made me swoon. It may get moved around the house over the years as well. I can just change out the fabric.

Also in my bedroom is this old Gardener’s toolbox.

It is perfect for holding large earrings and chunky bangle bracelets.
It would also be great in a kids room to store craft supplies, Lego’s, race cars, or other trinkets.

I love these old tins I found at the Randolph Antiques Market that’s held the last weekend of every month from May to October in the West Loop of Chicago.  The big one is an old hot cocoa tin. I usually put it away come spring and bring it out again right around the time you want to start drinking cocoa in late fall. The other three are say cloves, ginger and mustard. I love the pop of color they give to this shelf in my kitchen. They were very inexpensive, too!

Do you have some favorite vintage pieces in your home?  Where are your favorite places to go “hunting”?

Stay tuned for more of my favorites, as well as some online sources for vintage goodies!