Monday, January 30, 2012

The Flea, a Fail and Fish

Crazy title, I know, but all will be revealed. First up, the flea market which I hit up on Friday with some equally designed-obsessed blogger friends (Melissa of Insane Domain, her friend Brandy who will soon be blogging, and Modfrugal). We had a ball, and while the pickings were slim (not as many vendors in January), Modfrugal and Brandy had some luck (Melissa and I - not so much). But here's a little bit of what we saw . . .
Brandy nabbed this chrome, brass and glass table for an amazing $10. We peer pressured her into getting it even though she didn't really have a spot for it. That's what friends are for.

Oops, let me back up a bit. I've gotten ahead of myself. Before the flea, we all met up for lunch and on my way there I happened upon a moving sale. Of course, I had to stop. They mainly had some serious crap junk but one thing caught my eye and I just had to grab it - it was only a $1.
Isn't it cute? The irony - I don't drink tea nor do I collect teapots, but I just couldn't resist the gold squiggles. It's so modern-looking. Kind of like if Kelly Wearstler made a teapot. Anyway, it's made by Sadler in England, a very popular teapot maker. They're apparently pretty collectable. Who knew? The point of the story is that even though I've never cared a bit about teapots, I kept seeing them at every turn at the flea market as you will see. 

More flea finds . . . 
This thing was crazy ornate, but so interesting. It had a marble base with a malachite veneer. I've never seen anything quite like it.
Teapot #2.

You never know what you'll find at the flea, and this is the perfect example of that. These vintage chrome hotel luggage carts were massive and so pretty (in a weird way). They would be so cool re-purposed as . . . something.
Teapot #3, McCoy Pottery. 
Yes, I have one of these as do a lot of people. But I still have to stop and appreciate the bamboo. Those are my Christmas boots in the mirror. 
 Brandy holding teapot #4.
They had two of these super cool ram/Aries swings. Loved these but alas have no need, place or money for them. 

And last, but not least . . . 
Teapot #5 with matching cups, saucers and sugar bowl. It was a beautiful vivid orange (although it looks a little red in this photo). 

After I left the girls, I hit a little antique mall on the way home. There I found a couple of things . . .
This footed brass bowl. I know, I'm obsessed with brass - I just can't stop myself.
And this porcelain bowl/dish made by Block Spal in Portugal. I just thought it was pretty and would look nice with some fruit in it.

Okay, now on to the "fail." I present the scene of the crime . . .
Yes, I'm afraid that's exactly what it looks like - several shattered glass shelves at the bottom of my etagere. And there's the telltale bottle of Windex with a paper towel. I knew one of the shelves was not perfectly secured, but thought I was being careful. Apparently not. That's what I get for cleaning. Now, I'm sure I'll be paying more than I paid for the whole thing just to replace three glass shelves. FAIL.

And, the "fish?" Well, you'll be happy to know my dolphin table or the "fish table" as my children lovingly call it is now in its rightful place in the basement serving as a desk. 
We finally got our nasty basement carpet replaced this weekend, so we're slowly moving some furniture in. Here's a quick before and after . . .

BEFORE: Gross and stained (disclaimer: these stains were here when we moved in, and in our defense we only used this room for storage before) . . . 
AFTER: Clean and cushiony . . .
We now have an about-to-be-tween daughter who was practically begging for a space away from her brother where she could watch TV and play on the computer and hang out with her friends. So finally, after five years, we decided to make this room into something usable. Stay tuned for updates. Here's how Meg describes the space: 
Well said. It will be one kick-ass tornado room. Glad it has so much glass in it - very practical.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

In the Pink

It has been one of those weeks. I feel like I was busy and running around, but don't have anything to show for it. Do you ever have those weeks? And now it's Thursday night. Where does the time go? Before the week escapes me totally, I wanted to share my newly upholstered Milo Baughman-esque chair.
Yes, it is pink. I'm calling it raspberry. Here's a reminder of what it looked like before in all its 70's glory . . . 
I love the shape and lines of this chair and really needed a colorful pop of color in my house, so I got inspired by the colors in my rug . . . 
and this photo my husband took in China which I'm going to have blown up and put in the corner above the chair.

Here's a close up of the fabric. It's got a subtle herringbone pattern . . . 
I threw my velvet pillow from World Market on it just to experiment. 
I'll share more photos once I get the photo on the wall and a side table/some accessories. It's a little lonely right now. 

I'm so excited to hit the flea market tomorrow with some equally design-obsessed friends. Hopefully I'll find some goodies to share. Until then . . .

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Brassing Up the Joint

I know some people haven't jumped on the brass bandwagon, but I'm still loving it. Who knows, maybe next week I'll change my mind but I doubt it. It may be a trend that comes and goes, but I don't care . . . call me trendy. Yesterday, I brought home a vintage brass etagere from a local antique mall and am so excited to put it in my newly painted basement.
I know it's not centered on the wall. We'll have to move it out and back in anyway when we get the carpet replaced. It needs a little shining up with some Brasso and the glass needs some Windex, but overall it's in pretty good condition, maybe just a little wobbly.

Reading through blogs the other day, I came across a photo Melissa of the Insane Domain had pinned from Emily Henderson with a very similar if not identical piece (mine is currently flipped the opposite way) . . . 

I love the look of the brass shelves against the dark walls. Here are some more brass/dark room inspirations from Pinterest . . .






So, are you feeling brassy?

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Around Here

I recently found some Persian rugs on clearance at Homegoods for $25!
Yes, my hardwood floors are orange. Trust me, it's on the list.   
Of course, I had to get one, and actually bought one for my friend Becky too (she paid me back). It now sits in my entry replacing this one that I bought for $20 at an estate sale . . .
While I still love this rug, unfortunately, my puppy has had a couple of "accidents" on it, and it has a couple of large bleached out stains on it. Ugggh. I'm going to check into having it professionally cleaned (my amateur cleaning didn't do much good), but for now the new one is taking its place. 

Speaking of my puppies, when I left the room for a moment to get something, I came back to my seat on the sofa to start my blog post to find this . . . 
Seat stealers! And I think Zoe is trying to take over my blog as well. She's basically sitting on poor Piper. Aren't they the cutest?

And some of you (namely Nelya) have admonished me for teasing the painting of my basement room Hague Blue and not showing you at least a sneak peek. So, I ran downstairs and snapped a shot to give you an idea of what it looks like. So, without further ado, ta da . . .
I hung one of Matt's photos on the wall just to show you the contrast.
This is about all you're gonna get for now for several reasons. A. There's a bunch of furniture in the middle of the room. B. We need new carpet down there and C. It will be a while before the room comes together because we need to get a new sofa upstairs so we can move the old one (the one the dogs were lying on) downstairs. This will take time. But, I love the color. I may have mentioned this before, but this room has NO windows, no natural light, so rather than fight that, I decided to embrace it and paint the room a dark blue (Sherwin Williams color-matched Farrow & Ball's Hague Blue in semi gloss). It's very cozy and enveloping. I can't wait to share the final product, but it may be a little while so please bear with me. 

So is there anything new going on around your house?

Monday, January 16, 2012

Color Me Happy

It's no secret I'm a big fan of color. So, when I got this in the mail, it made me extremely happy . . .
It's the mailer for the 2012 Antiques and Garden Show of Nashville. While it's always a don't-miss event for me with wonderful events and lectures, I audibly gasped when I spied the first speaker this year on the back of the card . . .
That's right - none other than Mr. Color himself, Miles Redd! Must. Get. Ticket. Immediately. He is undoubtedly one of my favorite designers. Although his brazen use of color is not for everyone, his spaces are always inspiring. While we can't all lacquer our walls in a saturated hue (although I'm trying my best to emulate the Hague Blue walls below - stay tuned), by following Mile's lead we can surely summon up the courage to at least splash a little color around our rooms. So, in honor of Mr. Redd's journey to Nashville in February, here's a small retrospective of his colorful rooms on this dreary, gray January day.












There . . . don't you feel better now? I know I do. By the way, after I pinned all these images my email blew up with Pinterest notifications, so I know I'm not alone in my love of color. If you'd like to follow me on Pinterest, just click here.