sweet vintage baby boy's room decorations

I have two sons and when they were babies, I loved decorating their rooms. Being an old soul, I naturally wanted to use old things. After all, their dressers and side tables were antiques, why shouldn't the decor? But there's not exactly a "vintage nursery decor" store like there are mega baby marts. You have to scour around for your discoveries.

For my youngest, I settled on a theme of dogs. I put antique/vintage books about dogs between bronze Scotty dog bookends on his dresser. I found engravings of dogs for the wall. I even found a vintage dog lamp from the 1940's.

These finds above from a local antique store would have been right up my alley. They are so sweet for a baby boy and mommy who loves old things.

Colefax and Fowler - London, June 2009

While shopping in London, I ran across the Colefax and Fowler shop on Brook Street. Of course, I had to go in. And what a treat it turned out to be. I've posted some photos from my visit.

I especially love the brass lanterns at bottom. There's a pair, which is hard to come by. And, sadly for me, the price reflects it. The pair is 3,200 pounds (I don't know how to find the "pound" symbol on my mac keyboard). I'm not sure where the dollar is today, but that's a lot of nickels. I dream of having the pair hanging on two ends of a kitchen island.

I also love the big yellow room upstairs. I can't even begin to tell you how dreamy it was.

Paris windows and architecture - June 2009

Well, my sweet hubby and I have just gotten back from a trip abroad... alone! The kiddos stayed behind with my mother-in-law. It was wonderful. We spend time in London and Paris. And as you can imagine, my camera memory cards are full.

Since I'm an old soul, I found myself almost neurotically fixating on photographing certain things: metal fretwork, stone elements, doors, windows and urban gardens. I've programmed them to run as a slide show screensaver on my mac. 

So for your viewing pleasure, I'll post some for you to enjoy.

lighting finds

I found these two great items in the same booth at a local antique mall. I'm crazy over the vintage 20's student lamp. And the cardboard shade at right? I bought it and will keep it until I find the right vintage floor lamp.

an antiques booth done right

If you follow me, you know I love to go antique shopping. Good booth dealers, regardless of their style, create vignettes with their wares. Pictured above is probably my favorite dealer's booth. While I probably would not style my whole house this way, I find so much inspiration from her and love her eye. I constantly poach her ideas.

And how about those lamps? They cost $550 and I'm thinking about going back for them. Wouldn't they look amazing with new black silk shades?

painted porcelain

I ran across these beauties at one booth in one of my favorite antique malls today. I simply adore hand painted porcelain. Old Paris is, of course, a favorite. But I also love anything with sweet florals. It's so southern to me. The nice thing about them is that you can endlessly mix and match Old Paris and floral patterns. As long as the colorways go, use it all together.

Along with the patterns, these are also some of my favorite shapes... an oval serving tray (perfect for finger sandwiches, which I frequently serve to girlfriends to come over for a meeting), a tureen (for a chilled summer soup or without the lid with flowers) and a compote (which is great for sweets - perhaps petit fours - served on the matching plates).

Lovely!!

eBay today - antique plumbing fixtures

I'm trying to plan a bathroom remodel right now and I definitely want to go with a vintage look. And since I love eBay so much, I thought I would see what they have in the way of fixtures. As it turns out, there's some good stuff there.

A few caveats: having an antique sink shipped will be expensive. Customize a search under antiques: architectural and garden: plumbing within 50 miles of your home town. That way, you'll get an e- mail when something fitting that description pops up. If you bid and win, you can pick it up yourself.

Also be aware that you might not, for instance, get a functioning antique faucet. You might have to pay a plumber to make them functional. That's more money out of pocket. And it's possible they might not work even with money thrown at them. In that case, you probably won't be able to get a return from the seller. I would suspect most items like that are sold "as is." Buyer beware. But check the listing details. You might get your money back.

But if you're willing to take a chance, check out these beauties. The pedestal sink comes with the faucet. And speaking of faucets... I love the aged brass wall mount faucet.