Me and Celerie

One day I received an email inquiry about a vintage wicker birdcage I had for sale.

The person inquiring about it signed off in an unusual manner.

Simply Xo c

 

It turned out to be the fabulous Celerie Kemble!

We all know that the world has become much more intimate and connecting with each other much more organic.

Well that inquiry led me into finding her a number of items and accessories for her Tropical Retreat in the Dominican Republic!

 Let's just say it was quite an adventure and a dream come true for me.

Finding rare and unusual things is my forte and selling them to designers is my ultimate goal.

Well that came to fruition with the publication of Celerie's Dominican Republic Retreat  in Architectural Digest this month!

This particular piece found its way front and center in one of her fabulous vignettes!

 Click here to see it in situ

 

It's pretty cool to see some of your beloved treasures make it all the way to paradise in The Dominican Republic and onto the pages of Architectural Digest!!!

Here is my wicker piece used as a divider/nightstand between twin beds.

And here is my vintage metal boat in the children's quarters.

She loved all the mid century curly wicker pieces I sent her!

I spy it to the right of the sofa!

Congrats Celerie!

It was a blast working with you!

 

And if you haven't seen this exclusive spread of Celerie Kemble's Playa Grande on Sketch 42 then head over there now!

It's a great escape and perfect to get you in the mood for the weekend!

A New Cast of Characters

It's been awhile since I've shown you around the place.

 I thought I'd share some new additions or shall we say, "cast of characters" that have recently moved in and look like they are here to stay!

Back in October last year while visiting fellow blogger and fabulous friend, Andrea, The French Basketeer, in Laguna Beach, we happened to find a parking place directly in front of a wonderful consignment shop. 

Needless to say I had a hard time enjoying my breakfast at Zinc because all I could think about were these fabulous lucite shell back chairs I saw in the window! 

Fortunately for us we decided to drive our Volvo wagon down to Laguna instead of flying.  

We were not only able to negotiate a wonderful price of the set of 6 but my amazing hubby was able to fit them all in the back of our wagon along with our luggage and get them safely home.

It's been a bit of a process finding the perfect chairs for our ever evolving dining room.

In fact this is the 3rd set and is definitely the hands down winner!

Slowly but surely we began upgrading our original Thomasville Dining Room Set.

First it was the table which we replaced with our gorgeous McGuire bamboo glass top table.

Then came the buffet which we swapped out with this marble topped beauty we scored at a high end estate sale for a song on the last day.

But it was much tougher to find the right chairs to fit in with our upgraded dining room scheme.

I have to admit I had serious regrets when I sold the Thomasville chairs upon finding my ornate Pagoda chairs.

I tried to convince myself that they were fabulous and so much better than those traditional fruitwood chairs but in my gut I knew they were just TOO MUCH for my petite dining room and demanded TOO MUCH ATTENTION.

I held my breath all the way home from Laguna Beach hoping I had finally found the right set of chairs.

Even with their original upholstery we could see they were perfect!

 The best part is I had actually been saving a large bolt of vintage black Alpaca wool fabric for something special. It turned out to be perfect for replacing the very vibrant "Miami Beach" fabric that required immediate reupholstering.

The new chairs are quiet. They breathe.

 They don't add visual clutter.

They open up the room and add such elegance.

They are Lucite sculptures.

The third time was the charm!

Oh and guess what?

I just scored an unbelievable McGuire Dining Room Table/Conference Table this week from a gorgeous home in Pacific Heights in San Francisco.

It is available for purchase.

 Email me if you are interested and I will give you the details.

There is nothing more elegant and versatile than a McGuire Dining Room Table!

Quick Change

I made this pair of oyster shell lamps several years ago and have since sold several pairs to decorators and even a restaurant in Manhattan Beach.

They used to have drum shades and sat directly upon this McGuire table until recently I decided they could use a little upgrade.

 I procured these round brass Asian bases from my local lamp shop,

found a pair of pagoda style silk lampshades at a thrift store,

and crafted a pair of lamp finials from a pair of tiny Quan Yin Blanc de Chine figurines.

Et voila!

 Quick Change

One that I'm liking a lot!

FYI

 I slashed the prices in my Etsy Shop across the board.

Check it out if you get the chance.

You may just score!

Happy Sunday everyone

Serendipity

I have to say I love the fortunate happenstance or pleasant surprise of wandering into my local ROSS store and coming across this set of 3 dip dyed woven laundry baskets!

I couldn't get them in my basket and then into my laundry closet fast enough!

Whites

Darks

& 

Drycleaning

It was a slam dunk!