Get the look: British Colonial

British Colonial is a timeless look. Look for these hallmarks to create your British Colonial look:
Dark wood tones
Textural woods- bamboo, natural wicker, rattan, cane
Pretty rich metals, including brass and silver
Clean lines
Whites with crisp brights or whites with vintage dusty colors


Dark woods, clean lines, neutral palette with a hint of animal print!

Still from Out of Africa. Great textural woods

Pretty Bedroom by Charmean Neithart Interiors

Dark wood with accents of far away places and an old brass finish on the starburst mirror.

My super fave shopping purchase

Sometimes you find a real treat when shopping... something you need to hold on to for a while... you don't know why, it just speaks to some part of you. My current talker is a pair of altar candlesticks. Brass and bronze with gold gilt. Elegant, historic looking... awesome.

Memorial Day Sale for Laurl Designs at Interiors and Antiques

Today is the last day of my week long Memorial Day Sale! Everything in my space is 25% off and I'm ready to make some deals!

Find something you like?

 Let's make a deal! Ask the folks at the front desk of Interiors and Antiques to give me a call and make me offer!

Like all good furniture advertisements I feel compelled to say,

"I'd rather sell it that store it"

and then say things like, 

"New merchandise is arriving and I need to make space!" 

Which is true, it just sounds phony thanks to the Old Ronnie Marchant furniture commercials. Residents of Birmingham, do you remember those ludicrous commercials from the 1980's and 1990's?

the great hotel hunt- the ongoing story of my new old steamer trunk

My recent acquisitions included an old trunk. A real handsome devil with two vintage labels from the same place, both damaged and each with a partial address. As a former researcher, I hit the trail to find some provenance for this trunk.









There was a name on the end, Russell Clark of New Orleans and I did find an actor in the 1920's with this name. Could be the same guy, but I wanted to work on the labels before I decided it was his.

So on to the label and the internet.




I pieced together the two labels in photoshop to see if I could pull any more info out of the labels. I knew I would be able to complete the address, though I was guessing not the establishment.

 

So, together, they read Fourteen East 60th Street and then I have an EA and a big missing space and a BCOCK with an illustration that looks like a street scene.

 

I started with the address, without a city or state to see what would come up. Perhaps there is a hotel still in that location, or a train station.  And, I can up with the address for flagship store for Barney's in NewYork! It is a cool old looking building and the street is Madison Ave. I also found other businesses with that address including The Library of America and the Central Park Conservancy. Not from or in NY, I'm not sure how all this plays out. Maybe the building spans the street to the avenue since all three business claim that address on Citysearch... not that that is really advancing my cause.

 

I searched the history of the building that Barney's is in and I have contacted the conservancy as well as a blog about New York City's historic buildings hoping they can point me!

 

 

Oddly I also found an e-book poorly, poorly formatted... so poor that I cannot tell exactly what the subject is. Too bad, because it could be exactly what I need. There is an entry that reads like this:

 

 

Fourteen East 60th street, 156 rooms, 84 baths. Eager &

Babcock, proprietors; Theodore Fassig, steward; Felix
Delill, chef. 

This appears to be a hotel with 156 rooms and the proprietors would fit the EA and the BCOCK on the label to my luggage... but what is this place! What kind of food did Felix Delill cook? When was Theodore Fassig the steward? Was is fancy? Was it an apartment hotel?


I still do not know, but hopefully I will soon. In the mean time, here are some detail shots of the trunk... currently airing on the patio.

... then I used the incantation, "scourgify"!

Finding great objects, accessories, and furnishings at an estate sale satifies the thrill of the chase, but it is not the end of the story. It would be great to be able to "pick" a sales then immediately put it back out for sale with a small finders fee. However, many times...well, most of the time... 95% of the time, really... you have add a heaping helping of elbow grease and some cleaning know-how. 

Take the lovely Paul Hanson Lamp with the oh-so-stylish lattice-work base. Pretty, stylish, and a TOTAL sticky dirt magnet. Every top edge of the lattice edge was filled with sticky dirt, as in not vacuum-able, not to mention the crevices of the base and the edges.

So, since this is glazed white ceramic, it is basically glass... for cleaning purposes, or course. So, with a light weight glass cleaner- with no dyes- and many cotton swabs, I went to town on every edge, crevice, and flat plane with Mrs. Meyers window cleaner in lavender... be case lavender is my fave small. Always choose un-dyed cleaners. If there are light cracks or crazing in the glazing, the dyes can deposit in the crazing and draw attention to the cracks.

My before and afters are below.

"the funk of forty thousand years..."

And then I used the incantation, "scourgify" with my magic cotton swab wand.

It is always best to start with the least of the cleaners and more work on your part, than a harsh cleaner with light work on your part. You want to clean, but not damage. And remember, some patinas are important to not only the value but aesthetic of the piece. When in doubt, do a little research by searching on Ebay, Etsy, and Pinterest for what you are debating to see what the current trend is.

Mr. Selfridge inspirations- the turquoise parlor set

As I sit on my turquoise velvet chaise watching Mr. Selfridge and loving the turquoise/teal parlor set. Will it start a color trend? I hope so! What do you think? Here is some inspirations to mull over.

(And, in case you haven't seen the series... here is a link to the series. Mr. Selfridge.)

First two images are stills from Mr. Selfridge.




from Lonny magazine


from Apartment Therapy
 Yum, turquoise and warm dark wood tones!


From a Southern Living Idea House 2006... and there is the chaise I'm sitting on. Wish I could have gotten the doggie chaise for my schnauzer!


From PR Girl in KC blog

Pickin' and a Grinnin'- part two

I told myself that I would not go back to the estate sales today... that I should not... that I've spent enough... that perhaps that Monkey Lamp is still there. No no, back up there... that I should not go!

Then I remembered that I need a pillow form for the Monkey pillow from yesterday, and I was already headed to the car with one thought in mind- Monkey Lamp. I mean, pillow form.

And, while I was checking on the Monkey Lamp, I might as well go to the other sale that I missed yesterday. right?

Oh, well, I did find more things to love and I did eventually get the pillow form! Here are today's picks and a few from earlier this week. I need to do some clean-up, rewiring, new lamp shade, but these are all winners.

Love this collapsible table with brass trays. I think I need to darken the legs, maybe.

Glass top tables are quite hard to photograph... especially against a stack of old suitcases. However, great table, great lines! And hot, not brass!

great feet!

Sail boat painting, which is actually in a frame I just didn't include it in the pic. Original tag is on the back from a New England Gallery for $200.

 Lovely lamp with great trellis pattern and yellow base. Vintage Paul Hanson Lamp with original shade! Nice size at 32 inches tall from base to finial.

 I love vintage cameras and this is a really cool one with a "garage door" that slides up to reveal the view port on top and the lenses on the front. Comes in original leather case... though the front panel of the case is missing.

View of the view port.

See something you like? Just let me know! I'm happy to give a pre-store discount on the prices and I even deliver, within reason!

I'm a pickin' and I'm a grinnin'... today's picks are excellent

I headed back out today for one last pick for the week! I was muggy, sticky, and the first time I have actually seen "pushy people" at an estate sale... usually they are nice. These people were like angry bulls- snatching tags and some were using their girth to plow the crowd.
Doesn't matter. I found some winners despite the crowd. Here are some of my picks that are soon to be in Interiors and Antiques in Vestavia Hills on Hwy 31. Or, if you see something you like, just let me know! I'm happy to sell direct and I take cash, checks, paypal, and credit cards. Just contact me for the prices.

This chair, I love, love, love! Vintage Broyhill with cabriolet legs, woven caning sides, club chair lines and pretty button tufted back. The caning is in excellent condition and I would guess the age to be from the 1960's. Why do I love this chair so much? Beside the aforementioned... it is the pretty moss green mohair velvet. Ah, mohair, how I love that you feel like my schnauzer right after a haircut. Or do I love to pet my just shorn schnauzer because he feels like mohair? Any hoo, the chair is an awesome bargain! Only one condition problem I can find, there is a smidgen of moth damage on the underside of the cushion... about a dime size spot.

Mmmm, monkey pillow! Needlepoint is always in style and some how, so are monkeys. As this is needlepoint AND a monkey, it is a win~win. love the lushy bell fringe and cording. At a generous 22 inches, why would you not want this on your sofa or fave chair.

 

Horse figure lamp. So strong, vaguely Asian, antique looking but will all the modern functioning. Brass rod holds a three-way bulb. About 27 inches tall with the horse measuring about 11 inches.

Lamp lit.

 

Horse cannot believe how cool this creamer and sugar is! Handmade set is marked with and NS on the side at the bottom (I'm research who that is) High fire ceramic with the body of the set in a stripe of the natural cream/white of the clay and a green glaze. The top and inside is glazed in a iron-red which pools to reveal some hints of brown in the glaze. Really pretty set, very "artist made" look. Makes me miss working in ceramics.

 

A group shot of finds!

 

Next needlepoint pillow! Pretty, dainty, and and oh-so-useful size  (12 inches by 14 inches).There are lumbar pillows for function and lumbar pillows for looks~ this has both!

This table may stay as is or be painted, I haven't decided yet! It's a perfect drinks table and the top is actually a tilt top. 22 inches tall and 16 inches in diameter. What do you think? Paint, no paint?

These suit cases are AWEsome. I have a stack of old suitcases as a end table in the living room. It is the perfect storage spot and looks super cool. And, on occasion has served as stage props! Stacked together, these measure 27 inches tall. Great brass locks, all functioning, although it looks like I left one open in this picture.

 

What do you think? Interested? Wanna come shop with me? Want me to be on the lookout for something for you?

Today's Pickin's

 

Today I hit four, count them 4, estate sales in 2 hours. There was so many that I actually didn't have enough time to get to the 5th! I decided to simply put the addresses in groups by area and just plug them into the GPS. I learned a few lessons today.

Note the picture on the left relates of #4!

 Here are my top ones-

1. Look at a map to generally know where you are going.
Had I know that I would be backtracking so far between #1 and #2, I would have put them in a different order. However, had #2 not been a bust, I might not have cared.

2. Use a GPS!
I was so easy to connect between the sales by plugging in the next location, like a real treasure hunt.

3, Always drive past the sale before parking.
I invariably choose a parking park that is WAY far way from the house when there is one quite close, that I would have found if I had only tired to get closer. Not that I am the person who is always on the look-out for a close parking space, but at estate sales, you might be buying big. It is easier to get it to the car when you are closer.

4. Take pictures.
Sometimes you see things that you do not want, but you want to remember. If for no other reason because it is so strange you want a record! I did not buy this cart above today- but I had to record it for posterity!

5. bring a bag, maybe some bubble wrap.
If you check the websites of the sales and you know that there is glass at the sale that you might want, then bring a bag and a smidgen of bubble wrap. A little bubble wrap will shield your new glass pieces from each other.

Laurl designs- collections and vintage cameras

I've added a few new cameras to the shop with more on the way.







And here are some items to add to your other collections!