Fresh Finds at the Sacramento Antique Faire

I had the chance to hit the Sacramento Antique Faire last Sunday ( it takes place on the second Sunday of every month. I was expecting rain, but it held off in the morning long enough for us to scan all of the isles and find some treasures.

The thing about antique faires I love is the hunt for that overlooked gem....it may not be in perfect condition, but it might be perfect for me. You may remember this blog post where I found the painting in the photo above for $30!!! This time, I came across the beautiful blue bottle....it worked out pretty well with the painting I think.

I have also been rearranging a few things in the Living Room to lift my spirits during this rain on, rain off season (right now....rain). Bringing out a few of my shells go a long way to get me thinking about summer. There is something about knotted rope that gets me reminiscing about sailing lazily about Balboa Bay. So when I came upon a large green glass bottle surrounded by knotted ropes, I stopped in my tracks. I assumed it would be a big splurge, since many demi-john bottles this size can be upwards of $300 on ebay. There was a slight bit of damage at the neck, so I thought "why not ask the price?".  Can you guess why it ended up in my Living Room?

$20........ That's why. I think I was a little in shock at first.....I almost walked away thinking the damage had significantly lowered it's value. Value, schmalue!!!! The late great Madeline Castaing was never fastidious about a decorative item being perfect...why should I be? $20 was an absolute steal and I love it! 

Here are just a few of the things I did not walk away with, but I dream of houses where they could find a home:

A few antique vendors from the Antique Trove in Roseville ( a half hour drive from Sacramento) made the trip down to the Faire. I am glad they did! I will be visiting the Trove a little more often in the future. (This booth is where I picked up my blue bottle.)

I loved the grey painted glasses case...just the whole display got me thinking. The books on top were a collection of Dickens greats.

I also had fun at this gardening display...the old concrete bird bath, the glass float in the bucket, the lidded metal containers, it all could have come home...but I must restrain myself or I would make the next episode of Hoarders.

I had to leave myself something to hunt for next time!

"Quick....I Need a Tablecloth!"

 What does one do when one needs a tablecloth and has a particular thing in mind.... no time and no funds? One idea.....make it oneself!

I have a different table in the Dining Room this year than last....the old one was a rectangle, and now it is round. This new (old) table may not be permanent since I think it is too small, but it is doing for now. I had a table cloth in mind....one with bold dark grey stripes. But I certainly did not have time to find it or have one made for the Holidays!

What to do in a pinch? Take out a trusty paint drop cloth....they are huge and very inexpensive....

 Buy some paint and a 9" roller from Home Depot. The 9" size was just about the right size for my stripes.....

 Spread out the drop cloth on top of another drop cloth....don't forget! The paint does seep through....

 If you would like things to be perfect, use painter's tape for making the lines straight. I chose to go a more casual route that ended up being a bit modern looking and "imperfect"...much less stressful! 

 And in one afternoon....I had the effect I was going for....I draped the table and tucked the extra edges underneath....

 Then the real fun of setting the table began! I have a pair of hand blown glass candelabras from Mexico...I used one for the center. I added gold chargers and my vintage Tiffany gold edged plates....I kind of liked the simplicity and was thinking to just stop here....but I kept on going.

 I added some Chinese green glazed plates and my new La Rochere Jacques Coeur wine and water glasses, white hotel napkins and silver....

 I made a boxwood "ball" using boxwood from the yard to put on the candelabra and some little mercury glass votive holders held more boxwood....

A few brass horns and pine cones from my Holiday stash....

Some votive candles, and Mother of Pearl salt dishes.....

All done!



Dinner at 8:00!

I hope you all had a wonderful Holiday!

Here's to a Joyful and Prosperous New Year!

Changing Things Up for Fall

 Things have been very busy this Fall, in a very good way! I am working hard with clients who are wonderful, and I will have lots to report on that front in weeks to come!

But it was time to take a little break last night, and my daughter and I had some fun arranging some little pumpkins and gourds on our front room table. The light was not the best, but you get the idea. A few wicker bottles, ghostly white pumpkins, and an antler or two, with the best pumpkin taking pride of place under a glass cloche.

I had picked up the pumpkins while grocery shopping, but when I saw Grant Gibson's front stoop display HERE, I realized I have to stop and smell the corn husks.....that is, take a bit of a break from the weekend work hours and head over to one of the many local pumpkin patches with the family to get some bigger pumpkins!

After all, Fall is my favorite season...it is time to enjoy it!

 Are you decorating for Fall?

Making Lemonade.....

Back Yard Concrete Block Wall, Fountain Under Construction!

When we moved in to our 1911 house, we were thrilled to have an old house with all of it's charm and quirks. But things happen over the years. Things get built that make you wonder what the owners were thinking. We inherited a decrepit carport that was attached to a massive concrete block wall (9-10 feet high?). We took down the lean to, but the wall remains. An eyesore with rebar sticking up from the top. I guess it was never finished?

We left it alone while we busily attacked the house remodel. But now we are tackling the yard. So....what to do about this wall? Should it come down? Or should we try to work with it? Our neighbor has one of the most beautiful rose gardens I have ever seen, and many of his climbers are on the other side of this wall. We hate to disturb the plants....or our very patient neighbor ( he has kindly put up with two dogs that love to bark at the squirrels that run across the top of the wall).

We decided to leave it where it is. I had designed a large wall fountain for a restaurant a few years ago, and Tim loved it. So...we are creating a smaller version to break up the expanse of wall that blinds us with glare almost all day. I sketched up our vision of what the "After" will look like ......soon I hope!

After!

We plan to use corten metal plates for the back of the wall of water, and stucco the rest of the wall to match the house. A concrete finish cap will go along the top. Tim is building the trough for the water with a seat topped with the same concrete cap. Trellised vines will cover the wall on either side of the fountain, and I am hoping Tim will agree to potted citrus tress on either side. This wall gets sun almost all day....so Mediterranean plants will do well here. We will be trying out water plants for the first time in the fountain!

I am looking forward to the sound of falling water and the thermal cooling when the temps get up to 100 around here!

Another project on the books.....(Tim doesn't know about this one yet!)....our front door! It is a massive four feet wide, and to replace it would cost a small fortune. Plus, most door companies do not warranty a door this wide. 42 inches, yes....48 inches, no. I would have thought that the front door to a house that is otherwise very charming would have had some character. But sadly, it is a plain slab door with wood veneer that has seen better days. It is heavily scratched and peeling away. Plus, the dark stain stops the eye dead in it's tracks in our white living room. And why someone would feel it necessary to add a peephole to a door with windows, I will never understand! Here she is....

Front Door..."Before"

So this is my plan....... I want to add battens to the door to add some architectural interest. The pattern will echo some of the other patterns throughout the house. like the wainscoting in the dining room and the beamed ceilings. The battens will also hide the flaws in the veneer. Then a fresh coat of paint, new hardware, and voila! I hope to have a much prettier door that will not break the bank!

After!

I will keep you posted on the progress......soon I hope! it is dependent on my "contractor" (ahem....Tim!)

Remember This Table?

Brooke Giannetti had the giveaway of the year on her beautiful blog Velvet and Linen back in November. You may remember that I had entered with my office space in hopes of winning one of the three tables in the giveaway. Alas, I did not win....but the winners did a great job with the tables in their own spaces. It was very fun to see the results! (In case you missed it, click HERE.)

But the blogosphere is a wonderful place. When one computer window closes, another opens. Because of the blog post I did about the giveaway, I was happily reintroduced to an old friend I had lost touch with. Mike Whisten, a talented custom furniture maker and "imagineer", contacted me and we discussed a potential collaboration to make a table for my office. Mike was so inspired by the post, he began a project of his own. Mike recreated his own version of the metal frame table but instead of reclaimed lumber, he used reclaimed sales signs from a Loft project in Sacramento.

As you can see, his version is quite contemporary, and I love his spin on what constitutes a reuse of discarded materials. I think this table would be great in a loft, a beach house, or any eclectic setting that combines one-of-a-kind furniture peices. This is the kind of peice that makes a home unique. And that is what makes Mike special. He can work with anyone to create a peice of furniture that is perfect for them in size, material and function. Best of all, the prices are RIGHT!!! (This table is listed at $600 on Mike's website!)

I hope you have a chance to check out Mike's company website, 12M Design.

Give him a call and see what you can conjure up.

Meanwhile, Mike and I are talking about my Office table.

Happy Weekend!

Our front porch just a week ago. The leaves have almost gone now, and the Christmas lights have taken their place to warm the chilly nights. It is time to get the Christmas tree inside and decorate it this weekend. The boxes of ornaments are waiting. But I will miss this sight from our front porch.

Until I can get my home in order for Christmas, please take a moment to hop over to my good friend Scot's blog, Tartanscot.

He has put together a beautiful video of his home all set for the holidays. And the accompanying music is brilliant: Scot is a part of the San Francisco Concert Chorale and it will warm your soul. So start a fire, sit down with a hot toddy and enjoy.

Have a brilliant weekend!

HAPPY EASTER WEEKEND!

I was over at Pigtown Design today and could hardly take my eyes off of the homes in Meg's post here. Each house better than the last. It reminded me that I had taken a picture of the Cherry tree that had bloomed in front of our house a couple of weeks ago heralding the beginning of Spring. The garden was just beginning to bloom and we were overrun with forget-me-nots. My husband thinks they are a nuisance, but I won't let him pull them out. They and the azaleas are the first things to bloom, and they just lift my spirits.

The good old days when the girls liked to go out with their parents in public and actually let us take pictures of them. This was a particularly beautiful Easter we had at Daffodil Hill in the Sierra Foothills. The meadow behind the girls is full of daffodils of every kind. If you are ever wanting a perfect Spring excursion in Northern Cal....look this up.

Is anyone planning anything special this Easter Weekend? We are playing it pretty low key: brunch with family and some friends.

I wish you all a

HAPPY EASTER

I've Done It Now: Big Fat Remodel and the Home Tour

As you all know, we are still working on our house....a never ending saga. Since the weather has been exceptionally gorgeous lately, we have been concentrating on the yard.....and none to soon. I have gone and done something no one else in our position would do. I have agreed to be on a neighborhood house tour this Spring. (Picture my face with as Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone). Our neighborhood community group asked, and well, I couldn't say no. So now we are in a race to get things done inside and out before the deadline. Notice the complete absence of any plants except the occasional dandelion weed.

As you can see....we are no where near presentable. These are the "before" pictures. I hope I can pull something together in time. The long term plan is to do a water wall on the existing concrete block wall to the left in the first photo, a fireplace at the back fence, and cover the concrete slab with blue stone. But with non-existent funds at the moment, we will have to do a little smoke and mirrors staging for the short term.

You may be asking, why is she posting this? Well...I was visiting The Adventures of Tartanscot blog this morning, admiring a line-up of beautiful outdoor living areas, one or two of which are giving me much needed inspiration.

Potted plants and patio furniture will do alot to dress things up. We will be leveling out all of the planting beds and covering with redwood mulch. We may even be able to afford a plant or two. And the table settings I have already...no dollars to spend there.

This photo is what we are ultimately going for: stone and raised planters, and a wall covered in vines.

I might just be able to pull something like this off...with a little luck.

Thanks Tartanscot for providing a bit of a vision for me! And for those of you not yet acquainted, do pop over and say hello to Tartanscot! He is a San Francisco designer and stylist with quite a wonderful flair!

"Fireplace-scapes"

After the cold and darker days of Winter....after the last blazing fire of the year....after the embers have cooled and the ashes have been cleaned out during Spring Cleaning, it's time to figure out what to do with that empty space where the firewood used to be. So....do you just put some new wood in and call it a day? Or do you get more creative? It seems that many are "scaping" their fireplaces these days.

House Beautiful, July 2004, Photo by Charles Maraia, Home of Chris Madden

It used to be that a fern in the fireplace was the expected solution during the warmer seasons. But you would be hard pressed to see a fern in a fireplace these days. The options are only limited by one's imagination. I have collected a few photos that caught my attention.

Domino, December/January 2008, Photo by Annie Schlechter

The style team at Domino got creative using wallpaper to line a non-working fireplace, then added some fuchsia painted logs. The wallpaper is "Summer Palace" by Osborne & Little. Andirons by Lyle and Umbach, who are kinda known for cool andirons btw.

House Beautiful, June 2008, Photo by Eric Piasecki

Christopher Maya used art to enhance this fireplace. The vibrant colors of the Picasso above the mantle are balanced beautifully by the metal shield sculptures in the fireplace.

Elle Decor, May 2008, Photo by William Abranowicz

Art collector Beth Rudin DeWoody collaborated with her designer friends Randall Beale and Carl Lana of Beale-Lana Interior Design to create this fantastically artful display with the tortoise shell front and center.

Elle Decor, March 2007, Photo by Simon Upton

I love this stark white castle against the black interior of this fireplace. Simple and very striking. It is small wonder I discovered that this house was also put together by Beth Rudin DeWoody (socialite, philanthropist, and real estate executive). A woman after my own heart. A collector of art and and anything else that suits her fancy. This house is her Southampton retreat, and this single photo is far from doing the whole article justice. So please do check out both stories (this in the Elle Decor March 2007 issue) to get a picture of this very interesting woman.

House & Garden, May 2007, Photo by Pascal Chevallier

Perhaps a set of extremely cool andirons is all you really need. Children's wear designer Cordelia De Castellane put this pair to great use in the fireplace of her Paris apartment. Sorry, no source information on these, but do check out Lyle and Umbach.

House and Garden April 2007, Photo by Jeff Riedel

This one I love because it so perfectly captures the personality of it's owner, Douglas Little. Mr. Little has a fascinating past, and his present is no less so. In 2003 he launched D.L. & Co.: Modern Alchemists and Purveyors of Curious Goods. To find out more about this eccentric and his candles scented with poisonous plants, check out his website here. But back to this fireplace: the red coral hints at flames licking the backs of these black owl andirons. Wicked fabulous!

AD, April 2008, Photo by Tim Street-Porter

Jewelry designer John Hardy simply places a huge piece of rock crystal in front of a beautiful metal fireplace screen. It also is reminiscent of flames as it catches the flickering light. Very effective in it's simplicity.

Domino, June/July, 2008, Photo by Paul Costello

And, yes, there has been much buzz about Katie Lee Joel's apartment in the June/July issue of Domino. But what hasn't really been discussed much is that Nate Berkus is behind the design here. From the article, I am not sure how much is Nate and how much is Katie, but for the sake of argument, let's assume this fireplace "scape" is Nate's brainchild. It does have his look about it with the tailored crisp black and concrete color palette. Again, I love the simplicity here. Each element is the stronger for it. The concrete garden urns, though perhaps not inspired on their own, are certainly beautiful in combination with the glass domes and olive branches creating a very pleasing whole.

So, you might be wondering where the photo at the beginning of this post came from? Well....maybe not, but in case you were, it is my own living room where I got really creative with a can of white spray paint and some fake concrete logs that I got for free at a garage sale. Although perhaps not as wildly creative as some of the photos above, I like 'em. They are sort of my own DIY version of the KleinReid Porcelain firewood, which you can read more about here on Apartment Therapy.

So....WHAT'S IN YOUR FIREPLACE?