SEEK THE UNIQUE

Here is a peek at a cute vintage / salvage shop I love that has VERY recently gone under major renovation. Andrea has fantastic taste and an amazing eye for picking up some real treasures! Today, I found the mantle for my fireplace that I have been looking for for years! YIPPEEEE!!!! Now it just needs a good coat of black paint, a little distressing and a little bit of gold accents and we are good!

Here is my new mantle......love it! So excited!!!!!!

This super cool wreath is made out of a vintage gear and holiday baubles...way to be crafty!

today at the flower market.......

So this morning the flower market was buzzing with activity..you know the week before Thanksgiving and all....and while I was gathering my things for the shop, I came across the craziest fruit tree I have ever seen. The image below is a citrus fruit (totally with the skin of a lemon) from a tree called Buddha's Hand - (Citrus medica var. sarcodactylis)

Here is a description I found online.....

"Fruit forms finger-like sections resembling a human hand. It is much esteemed for its delicate lemon fragrance in China and Japan. Fruit has virtually no pulp, but can be sliced and candied in syrup. It is extraordinary as an evergreen ornamental with multiple "hands" hanging from the branches. No frost tolerance."

CRAZY COOL!!!!!! Buddha's Hand Citrus......

So before the torrential rains started today, this was a perfect fall moment in the Irvington neighborhood......makes me want hot apple cider....

Have a great evening!!!

JIB JAB HOLIDAY GREETING

So, you have to click on this link (below) and see our hilarious holiday video. I love Jib Jab - so crafty!

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/7T6hw2Pn6eYbLaIG

Here is part of a project we are working on for a client that will be installed on Monday morning. I am SOOOOOO pleased with the way that this turned out. We also have draperies to install for the client that will happen in the next few weeks.......so stay tuned!

This is the client's beautiful vintage settee that we are recovering - BEFORE. What a graceful piece!

....another angle......

TA-DA! The finished product! What a huge and elegant difference! Of course, you all know my love for Schumacher's Chiang Mai Dragon, but I have never used the red colorway before, and it is indeed stunning!

...from the back.........

..and from the side.....

Ok then...there it is! Lovely!

more photos of Portugal...

I know the light is bad, but this chapel was really beautiful. The roof line and the roof tiles....in the canal district of Aveiro.

In the warehouse district of Aveiro, these are old salt warehouses. There are tons of salt flats right on the water here and this is where they store the salt...a very precious product. We always bring back salt from here.......

look at this beautiful wild agave in front of an abandoned ceramics factory on the outskirts of downtown Aveiro. so random

Last photo.........from across the canal...very picturesque.

photos of portugal

look at this beautiful blue tile on this wonderful little chapel in Aveiro, Portugal. This is about 15 minutes from where Frenchy grew up. The blue tile art is called azulejos......truly amazing artistry.

small house in the canal district of Aveiro.....

the cutest beach town called Costa Nova is right outside Aveiro....most of the little cabins are painted in broad stripes. For some reason my other pictures did not turn out at all, so this is the best I have got. Google it...I am sure there are more.... we had lunch in this cute little area the day before we left for Spain. Great seafood.......the grilled Atlantic salmon was divine...

here are the gondolas on the canals in Aveiro...kind of like the ones in Venice. Kind of. So charming though. This area comes right up to the center o the downtown area and the gondolas are available for tours.....lovely!

Last one of this batch....this was an abandoned little place right around the corner from the cute little tile chapel. I would love to buy it and fix it up. hmmmm......

madrid barajas airport

I know I have been back for a week, but I just had to show you these pictures of the inside of the Madrid Airport. It is very stark and modern feeling, but the undulations of the ceilings are amazing. Since they used a soft wood, it is much less noisy than any other place would be that had marble floors, metal columns and super high ceilings. The yellow is also quite cheerful. The use of reflected lighting in the Airport is quite resourceful and quite green. The lighting is so well done you hardly notice that it is that nasty fluorescent stuff.....

So we were checking in at the airport at 5 am...doesn't Frenchy look delighted? HA! Glad to be home now.....getting ready for the holidays! Bring on the shopping!!!!

Gnomes and Frogs......

I am just starting to crawl out from under the fog that is/was my head/chest cold courtesy of Portugal and I realized that I could not be happier with how the shop is looking at the moment. It's the little things......Such bright colors to balance out the gray days. What I am most pleased with is my gnome chair and the frog chairs. All of them are vintage and re- purposed pieces with new fabrics applied. The gnome fabric is so freaking cheerful! We have one gnome chair and 4 of the frog chairs - perfect for a small dining table! You should really stop by the shop and take a look........

How cute are those???????? LOVE LOVE!!!!

Out of touch......

DUDES! It has been one full week since my last post......I have my new best friend, THE HORRIFIC HEAD COLD to thank for that...oh yeah, and the really bad weather in Portugal last week..

So The French One and I got home at 1 am this morning - it was a crazy long day - 32 hours to get home....and it seems that I have been added to a watchlist by the Department of Homeland Security. Seriously. That's what I found out during my 3rd body search in Madrid yesterday. I am not sure the woman who corralled me was supposed to tell me that, but there it is. What the hell!

Anyhoo...at least we are home - nothing is more comforting than being able to get into your own bed and hope your cold packs up and just goes away!

So, thanks for your patience, I just need a few days down time to get rid of this cold thing...... The pressure in my head is almost unbearable. Thank God for the inventor of the neti pot. If you don't know what that is, google it. I know, it sounds kind of disgusting, but you cant imagine just how much it helps your head. It took me quite some time to resign myself to the use of it, but on my flights home, when my head was pressurizing and de-pressurizing with the planes cabin pressure, all I could think of was getting home to use the neti pot. All hail the neti pot.

Have a great week!

Hope you like seafood......

I have been here for 24 hours, have had 3 meals, and have had seafood
at every meal. That's alot of seafood. We went out tonight with the
inlaws, sisters, husbands and kids ( that's alot of people ) and had
the biggest and freshest seafood platter I have ever seen!!!! As for
the steaming photos, an incredibly large piece of meat comes out on a
very hot stone that has been heated in the oven for an hour, and you
cook it to you liking at the table. You cannot imagine how good
everything was!!!

Sooooooo..... Off to bed since it is after midnight. Tomorrow we are
heading to Fatima - the pilgramage site..... Should be interesting.
More later......

Vista Allegre....

One of my favorite places in Portugal in the Vista Allegre porcelain
factory and gallery. The grounds are stunning, yet very simple. Too
bad they won't let us take photos in the museum. They have been making
the most beautif porcelain plate since 1824 for the most affluent in
Europe, including quite a few royal houses!!!!

Long day.....

So we are in Aviero, Portugal - it is close to the village Frenchy is
from. We are staying at the Hotel Melia Ria in kind of a gentrifying
part of town. The brick building is an old porcelain factory that had
been converted to a convention center. Our hotel sits on kind if a
salt pond thing that had a canal coming in from the ocean (aviero is
in the coast). Traditional gondolas ferry tourists around for boat
tours. It is all quite charming. We had lunch at a Michelin
reccommended restaurant, SalPoente, which was a converted salt
warehouse, right on the canal. Delicious!!! Aviero is known for their
salt flats...

Tune on for more later......

Goodbye to marrakech. Hello Portugal.

We left Marrakech before dawn and flew back to Madrid. Got our cute
little rental car, a BMW 128, and headed towards Portugal. After a 6
hour drive we are now in Aviero. These sate a few last photos from
Marrakech. We
needed to weigh our bags as Ryan Air had super strict restrictions, so
Abdel went to the neighborhood butcher and borrowed a scale that was
straight out of the middle ages. Earlier that same day I had seen 4
goat heads hanging off the hook. Seriously. All in all quite funny
though. Last photo is of Frenchy with Monsieur Babouches. I had 60
pairs of babouches made for the shop by his factory. Such a nice guy.

Tomorrow it is off to the Vista Allegre porcelain museum. Then dinner
with the on laws.... Stay tuned!!!!

Elaborate doorways...

Wandering around marrakech's souk today we found a few very elaborate
and beautiful doorways. The brass example was unbelieveable. We also
found a section of the souk for the woodcarvers and you cannot imagine
how beautiful they were. Too bad it is not allowed to take photos...