Within the first 24 hours of being in Boston my stylish friends Anne and Allison both (independently of each other) directed me straight to Hudson, a lovely boutique in the South End. It reminded me of a mini Jayson Home/Calypso Home hybrid. They've got a great mix of furniture and accessories both new and vintage. I really loved a pair of recovered Danish Modern chairs in a rich green velvet they had in the store. And bonus points: They have their own matchbooks! Check out the website or go into the store at: 312 Shawmut Avenue, Boston. They also have a new store in Wellesley.

Good Monday Morning All.  A little bit of an emotional morning, just dropped my girl off at her first day of 1st grade!  Really, time flys. SIGH:)

Now, there are no excuses for not blogging, I have all the time in the world, right?

Since I woke up at the crack of dawn, and already had most things done (ie lunch packed, breakfast made) and the kids hadn't woken up yet.  I had a couple minutes to myself.  So, what does a girl do with a couple extra minutes, she opens the closest Design mag she has....the July/August issue of House Beautiful.  As I was flipping through I came to one of my ALL time FAVORITE rooms in magazine.  The Nick Olson Studio Apartment.  Now, that green just takes the cake.  I LOVE everything about this room. 

But there was something just a little different when I flipped through, that I had a Double Take moment.

Everything about this room is beautiful.  I Want curtains, pleated like that.

The fabric on the headboard and dust ruffle...it reminded me of something, something that has been sitting in the back of the car since our trip to DC.  A roll of vintage hand printed fabric that I scored for $20 at that estate sale in Georgetown.  I KNEW i was drawn to it for a reason.


I quickly looked at the source...Schumacher Hong Kong Fabric, but mine says


So, the question is this.  "Is this the original vintage fabric?"  It doesn't say Schumacher anywhere on the fabric...it says Patterson Fabric.  And the printing is obviously Hand Printed....and just gorgeous. 

So, needless to say, I am tickled that I have this fabric.  And feel extra special, I may have something original that Schumacher re-printed.  So, the question now is..."where in the world will I use it?"

Happy Monday.

There's nothing wrong with a little vintage Rolex around your wrist. I love the men's Oyster Perpetual design because it will always be in style. I've been seeing these vintage timepieces pop up in the past few years at places like Paul Smith, Bergdorf Goodman, and now even J.Crew is hocking 'em. Above right Rolex vintage silver bracelet watch ($3,500) at Bergdorf; the second watch is also from Bergdorf (call 212-753-7300); and far right Vintage Rolex 14k gold Oyster Perpetual ($5,200) circa 1960s from J. Crew.

Alexis over at This is Not Ikea emailed me a few days ago, and it reminded me I wanted to blog about his company for some time now. His story is similar to mine in that he moved to LA when he was young and furnished his first apartment entirely from (you guessed it) Ikea! He said his bedroom was pg. 22 of the Ikea catalog (minus 4 little leftover screws—why does that always happen?!). One day he realized that many of his friend's bedrooms also looked like pg. 22 of the Ikea catalog.

So he started checking out high-end design stores (and quickly realized that they were a little out of his price range) and then consignment stores and estate sales and started learning fascinating new words like "vintage" and "retro" and “mid-century modern.”

Piece by piece Alexis replaced the Ikea furniture with vintage finds that added character and history to his home. He knew this should be his business, and so This is Not Ikea, which has been up and running for five years now, was born. Alexis scours over 50 estate sales and auctions every single week to bring a constant rotation of stylish finds to provide unique furniture for people on the Ikea budget. Check out his inventory right here. Above retro chairs with cushions ($100, $140); Ratan bar cart ($115); mid-century dining table ($185).

I really love old French and Spanish demijohns and carboys (carboys are very large demijohns). The beautiful vessels, many of which are over a hundred years old, were made to hold wine, vinegar and cider. Everything shown above is sourced from J. Peterman and is dated between 1900-1930. Below is an assortment of early 20th century antique Jeroboam Burgundy bottles ($89) and a Balthazar Bordeaux bottle ($199) which holds 12 liters (both shown with standard size wine bottle for scale). I love the old labels and think they make great vases or accents.

My bottles in the window in my living room.

Another view. I am still fiddling but I like the way it emulates the blue line in the print on the wall.

ecently I bought 6 vintage blue seltzer bottles at an auction for CHEAP!  I saw them at an antique store for $60 apiece a while back, and couldn't justify buying a bottle for that much. I would periodically think about those bottles, and how I would use them.  Now I am having fun moving them about my house.   I still haven't found the 'perfect' home for them.  Back to my fiddling tendencies:)  The blue is so pretty, the etchings are so cool.  Back in the day, these bottles were just every day objects...just bottles...  now we see them for the beauty in the color, the etching, the history behind them.   The craftsmanship in every day objects.

Here is some 'seltzperation'. Enjoy.

A tablescape that I found, I can't find the attribution:(

via beachbungalow8

via seltzersisters.com (can you think of anyone that these might be appropriate for, I surely can!) SCHMUCK BROS. I still can't stop myself form smiling when I see these:):):) via kitchenisms.com

via Sundance How inventive.  Leave it to sundance.

via 1stdibs.com  These lamps are awesome, I DO like the french seltzers.

How would you use seltzer bottles? Where would you put them?

I spent a good portion of my morning staring at this Anthony Sabatucci oil on canvas of a vintage bathing beauty from Paris Hotel Boutique. I love it. I really want to buy it because I know it will sell quick. Agghh!!! The painting measures 22" by 18" and it most likely dates from between 1950-1960. Stunning colors. Buy it right here ($525), if you must.

If I would have known how effective Facebook would be of reuniting people I thought I'd never ever see again from boarding school, I probably wouldn't have filled up empty trash cans with water and leaned them against freshman doors and knocked and ran away. Last week, through the magic of online social networking, I found that one out the hard way. Hopefully this post will help Danie Bubenik, the talent behind Boone Books forgive the water I spilled all over her CD burner (how late 90s is that?). I'm loving her Etsy shop for its Anatomy series of cards like the below heart notecards ($10). But what I'm really loving from her store are the blank notebooks she binds with old book covers, like the above Along Friendly Roads notebook ($30), perfect for summer traveling. Thanks Danie!

It's interesting how the 1980s are coming back into all facets of the design world. I'm loving the cheeky 80s-inspired graphic design that surf brands are putting out this summer. All t-shirts from Swell and Huntington Surf & Sport.

I'm not at all lying when I say that Jayson Home + Garden is my most favorite thing about living in Chicago...I mean, BESIDES living near my family (no, seriously, it's being a 10 minute walk from Jayson). Jayson's marketing director, Abbe Maclise, alerted me to the fact that they are having a mega sale starting July 1st and my heart started pounding mega fast. For the first time they're putting every area of the store on sale at the same time, from the basement outlet to the outside garden. All the floor models are on sale for as much as 50% off and items in the garden, like trees, shrubs and garden containers will be marked down as much as 30%. Their basement outlet, which will have discounts as deep as 75%, will actually be turning into "a subterranean loft-like selling area to house a greatly expanded collection of upholstered and case good furniture, more lighting options and a hand-picked selection of rugs." So it may be one of your last chances to get in on their basement outlet finds. Sale starts: July 1st! 1885 N. Clybourn, Chicago.

Chicago Home + Garden's blog, Design Dose, definitely had the scoop of the day as they reported FLOR's latest release of modular tiles based on the textile designs of Alexander Girard—perhaps the most influential textile designer of the modern era. These designs are specifically modeled after the restaurant La Fonda Del Sol, which opened in the Time-Life Building in Manhattan in 1961. The entire restaurant including the furnishings, dishware, everything down to the table linens were designed by Girard. And what I wouldn't do to get my hands on some of the old matchbooks! By 1971 the restaurant was closed. Alexander Girard items have been notoriously hard to come by as few items have been re-issued, even with today's modern revival. Until FLOR's release, your best bet was ebay and Maximo Design. The FLOR collection, which can be mixed and matched with other designs comes in four different combinations of six tiles ($160), check them all out right here.

I didn't think the day would ever come again when I would want to rock a pair of Oakley's, but their best-selling frames of all time, the Frogskins, have been re-released in a limited quantity of 3,000. Getting them can be tricky though, Oakley's website has only been offering them up in tiny quantities over the past year and currently they're sold out of every style. You can get them easily on eBay in most colors if you're willing to pay more than the normal price of about $100-$120, or you can check out surf/skate shops online that may have a few styles in stock, like Hillcrest Sports which has the Dalmation style in stock for $100. So radical, dude.

Last night I interviewed Lynn Goldfinger-Abram, the owner of Paris Hotel Boutique, an online vintage decor catalog based in San Francisco. Items from her store have been featured in Lucky, InStyle, The SF Chronicle, on HGTV, and on blogs like Apartment Therapy and Style Court to name just a few. I asked her about business, the blogosphere, trends and how the Internet has changed the antique business. Thank you for sharing your story Lynn!

All of the photos are of Goldfinger's 1939 Deco Moderne home in the Miraloma Park neighborhood of San Francisco. She lives there with her husband Leif and dog Vito. Photographed by Sandy Backman.

How long have you lived in your current house?

10 years. I’m a native of San Francisco, and before the housing market got crazy I became obsessed with having a Deco house. In the garage is where I store, pack and ship all the smaller things from my website. It’s a small space to operate part of my business especially with a Mini Cooper in there.

Did you grow up surrounded with antiques?

Yes and no. My great grandfather came to San Francisco from Romania as a prominent woodcarver. He carved for Hearst Castle down in San Simeon as an example. But I didn’t have an appreciation for design until later in my life. I was always a collector though, as a kid I collected candles shaped like food, hippie beads, stickers, stationary, and smiley face pins. In time I honed my style, but it’s still always changing, I don’t think I have any one particular style or era that I absolutely embody.

How did you start your business?

After college I worked in a bank for ten years working my way up to bank manager, then I worked for a non-profit, then was the assistant to legendary blues musician John Lee Hooker. One of the people I met along the way told me my childhood Barbie dolls were worth hundreds of dollars. I did a doll show and made $3,000 in one weekend and that was it. I got bit. It started slowly, like I would find a Raggedy Andy doll at a garage sale for $1 and sell it for $40 on eBay. At that time (the 90s) Rachel Ashwell was huge, so I started selling those types of Shabby Chic hooked rugs and that type of 'worn elegance' and as trends evolved so did my business.

Your store has been featured in many big print magazines and on some of the biggest blogs. What’s your opinion of new media versus old media?

I’m from a different generation, I mean, we didn’t even know how to use a computer when I was growing up. So, in my opinion, I don’t think magazines will ever be extinct. It’s funny, there’s a lot of blogs that post about magazines when they come out and I try not to read those posts because I want to see it for myself in print with my own eyes. To me photos look better in print than online. That said, I read dozens of blogs daily and almost can't start a day without my blog fix.

Which publication if any was the break through for your business?

Town & County without a doubt. But first I need to give huge credit to the first press I received in 2003, because it actually made me launch my website. I had a ten-page spread in Home Companion and had to scramble to slap together a logo and launch my website by the time the issue came out—something I don’t think I would have done if not for that deadline. From then on my business went crazy. It’s funny, I put together the site on a whim and now I couldn’t even change my logo if I wanted to because it’s my brand now.

In 2005 a Town & Country editor called me up and asked if I could have 60 pieces of San Francisco hotel silver available because I was going to be featured in their Christmas gift guide, and it was just insanity after that, my business took a huge turn. That’s when I hired my first employee, I sold out half of my hotel silver, and began to see that I had a niche cornered.

How did Paris Hotel Boutique operate pre-website?

I started selling though eBay in 1997. In fact that’s how I got the name of my store, my screen name on eBay was ParisHotel. See what I mean, the website was sort of a fluke, I never imagined that the press would keep knocking at my door, who knew?

Who’s your typical customer?

Well, I attract the over-40 crowd typically looking for early French pieces and old world antiques. And I also get the younger Domino Magazine crowd looking for Hollywood Regency pieces. It’s a very fine line and my biggest challenge is keeping that balance healthy.


You’ve always operated electronically, have you ever thought about a brick and mortar store?

I’ve never had a storefront and I don’t want one. I do rent a small space as part of a collective on Union Street with 30 other dealers called Past Perfect. Mostly I have bigger furniture pieces there. But based on what my friends who have had storefronts have gone through, the insane rents in San Francisco, the current retail economy, and the responsibility of being tied to a store has never made it worthwhile. The website is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and anyone in the world can “walk in” at any time.

Has the Internet helped the antique industry?

Yes and no. People used to buy things from magazines like Antique Trader sight unseen with no photo and couldn't be sure of what they were getting. So the Internet has certainly helped people understand what they’re buying from afar with digital photos and online auctions. But the Internet has closed down some of the big antique shows and antique shops—as well as flooded the market with merchandise that was otherwise limited. For example pre-internet one blue lamp from the 1960s in your region was a lot more valuable than the 500 everyone has access to on eBay today. Ultimately those who love collecting still love the adventure of hunting for collectibles, and I think that’s why flea markets still do well.

How did you learn the business?

There’s no book or manual unfortunately. You learn the hard way, by making mistakes. I’ve made big buying mistakes, like at a flea market in Nashville I bought a reproduction of an Art Nouveau vase and didn’t realize it until I was trying to sell it. Like most things you learn by doing. Over time I know what to look for—pieces that work with current trends but that won’t ever be dated. Unique classics will always have value, like old hotel silver. If I stop in my tracks when I see something, I hope that someone else will too. I try not to second guess myself too much and buy what I love. It’s always a trip when someone else buys it too. What I’ve learned is that decorating is in your heart. Style evolves, and trends come and go, so you're just going to want to buy pieces that you love.

August|Morgan is a new Austin-based design duo that offers one-of-a-kind "pillows with provenance." They collect antique and vintage needlepoint and transform it into decorative pillows, like the above 18" x 18" Rainbow grid pillow ($250). Below: Hounds pillows ($200 for the pair); Plastic pillow ($125); Bergdorf Goodman pillow ($125).