Chambre de Lit

February 10, 2010 by Trish

Sublime. Simple bed crowned by incredible beauty overhead.

Voluminous drapery at headboard and window…

Charming domed “ceil de lit” (sky of the bed) elevates bed’s stature…

Crystal drops glittering in the cool blue-green light above…

Most of the drama in the room design takes place overhead.

The un-patterned wash of neutrals

adds to the serenity…

Cote Sud

Dec-Jan ‘10

Pam from Red Ticking found and sold a fabulous

ceil de lit last year that I would have considered

worthy of raising the master bedroom ceiling for.

Besides the carved wood roses (drool)

love the color, and the scraps of burlap underlay…

Catches breath….

I opined about it in an earlier post here

I think I first saw this on Country French Antiques a few years ago…

How is it any less beautiful…?

Veranda ‘02

I love the mix of incredible French antique pieces

toned down with humble cloth and color…

Setting up Shop at the Flea Market

February 8, 2010 by Trish

What a gorgeous day at the flea market….

My just turned 18 year old boy (here on my bulletin board)

came along. Made him a thermos of cocoa and off we hurtled into the

brisk and clear Sunday morning before 7 am. Just look at that sunrise.

So many vendors go out of their way to catch your eye…

Loved this vendor’s full coat rack of vintage frames…

Everyone loves Big Daddy’s Antiques …and owner Shane Brown is such a

nice guy. He really is always my favorite stop at the Flea. I have friends who’ve

visited and have been blown away by his enormous warehouse in Los Angeles…

If you get on his email list they send out reminders, and offer to put anything

you see on their website here on the truck to bring up north for the monthly

Alameda flea market. His displays are always incredible.

The trumeau is reproduction, huge, available

in several colors and sizes here

Shane had many black and gold framed prints

Nice strong visual/traditional statement able to hold

its own against the heavy industrial…

Wire multi-compartment baskets filled with

jingling glass test tubes, rough bowls filled with

succulents, huge twisted wood balls…

At 7:30 his guys are still pulling things off his truck

setting up his “rooms”

Lots of industrial…with personal touches here on the drawers…

“Collier”, “Manchon”, “Raccord” … Collars, sleeves, connection….

Shane had his guys fill this metal cauldron with

sand and then set and light a quantity of votives

that flickered in the morning breeze…

Faux bois style mushroom trees on the industrial

table behind, wrapped at the base in burlap…

Magic in the midst of 800 vendors set up on

acres of asphalt, with the huge cranes used to

unload cargo off the bay stalwart in the distance…

Chopping block table with industrial pot rack…

Under “custom tables” here

Shane was almost apologetic when he gave me a price on one

of these gorgeous antique vellum books ($750)

C’est la vie. They’ll be well worth it to someone.

Love the row of milk pails at top

Gorgeous wheat colored cabinet

hit by the early morning sun…

I always come to the flea market with an open mind

but I needed a few of these long antique bread baskets…

and grabbed Big Daddy’s last two.

Always leave Big Daddy’s wishing I could buy more

Across the way …

a bit of quiet reflection on a busy day…

Antiques by the Bay

Romancing the Stone

February 4, 2010 by Trish

I found this austere lion’s head in a stone yard

more than a decade ago, had the trough made from

cinder block, cement, and stucco a few years later…

Every year it yields further to winter’s mossy embrace

Might make a buttermilk and moss cocktail to help

that right corner along…

The gold fish…

Are great companions…

We added many stone retaining walls

to wrestle the most use out of our yard…

Necessity, the mother of invention,

adding character in the landscape…

Cast stone capital…

has followed me around for over 20 years…

The overturned garden cloche winters inside

to force narcissus over pebbles

First offerings from the garden…

muscari, violets, narcissus

Garden steps growing their own winter garden…