Antiques Garage Saturday Adventure.

This weekend was too much fun! On Saturday, my friend and I braved the rain and headed on over to Antiques Garage and the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market. Antiques Garage, on 25th street has always been a favorite of mine and may I just say, it was a success.

How gorgeous are these patterns? There was so many pages of them and I wanted them all but wall space in my apartment is growing scarce.

Butterflies! They also had many beautiful botanical pages.

In this booth they had the sweetest old cursive practice books. These were so carefully done, and this one was actually framed.
A + GOOD JOB! Btw, it says "Eat to live, do not live to eat."

After taking a fencing class with the US Olympic Fencing team a few weeks ago, my bf is a master fencer! I should have gotten him one of these antique fencing masks.

Woah.

I really loved this woven basket and really wanted it but it was broken on the bottom.

Here is super fun lantern that my friend found. That would be a great accessory on a window sill, coffee table, or bookcase.

There were SO many buttons! Buttons galore!

And, yes. I got some. These will be really useful for pillow making.

The best part was that we found what we were looking for! My friend needed a mirror for the living room of her apartment and wanted something round or oval with an interesting rim. This one was just taken from a home the day before and my friend scored it for $60! I'm obsessed with the rope detail on the rim.

Here it is in situ! Without the weird man from above! It was the perfect size as well.

Tomorrow I'll show you our adventure to the Hell's kitchen flea market and what we found. I can't wait to go back when it's not raining and there are more treasures to be had.

Alicia B.

Entry Foyers for Mini Spaces

James Michael Howard. Perfection in a foyer.

Entry foyers are an important space in the home. They set the tone for the rest of your living space. They should be welcoming but also say something about you. I have an extremely mini entry hall and as you may know I just set up/restored a chest to go in it. After much research, I have come up with some great ways to maximize your space and still have it look gorgeous!

The first element is the mirror. Mirrors have an amazing way of making the room look larger than it is--crazy right??! You can do one large mirror like I did, or several arranged in a fun way!

Pamela Banker used an octagonal mirror here which works quite harmoniously with the wallpaper!

In this foyer by James Michael Howard, he used many small mirrors and arranged them around pieces of art.

This is my sister and BIL's foyer in her apartment in Chicago! The gorgeous console is from Gumps, and I appreciate their symmetry here. Perhaps they could add something under the console? A bench or a ceramic stool?

Another important factor is storage. The entire reason that I needed this wardrobe chest was so that I could store my fabrics and other craft/design supplies. You might not have a chest, but a console. This is okay too because there so so many attractive storage containers out there now! Nobody likes clutter so you can easily store shoes or other things that might have a way of "living" in your foyer.

Robert Stilin put an oversized basket under this console--great for mittens and scarves?? Or maybe tennis raquets?

From Country Living, this designer used vintage suitcases as attractive storage.

Secondary elements should be added to your foyer as well to add interest to the space. I'd love to add this adorable little caned seat chair I saw at an antiques store but I don't have a lot of room. You can also add something functional like a cute umbrella stand or a plant stand.Amanda Kyser placed an intense red modern chair next to her console table. I love the contrast of modern and antique--the table is swaying down because it's so old!

From House Beautiful, Schuyler Samperton placed a stool (on an angle) to counteract the perfection of the scene. Having things look natural is also super important because the front hall is actually a very busy space!

The last part to this is adding objects to the console or chest or table in your front hall. I've decided to put some stacked design books (some of my absolute favorites), an etched brass bowl next to a ceramic candle stick, and possibly a plant. I'd love to add some green to the room. Right when you walk in you say, "Alicia loves design and she sure knows how to kill a spider plant!" See below.


This is just a sneak peek at my newly restored chest! I am quite pleased with what I've done, but it's a work in progress. I have three of my fave design books including Mariette Himes Gomez's Houses, an antique white enamel pitcher, two brass antique candlesticks, and a mirror. I know, the mirror is LEANING and not hanging, but I seem to be handling the trauma of it well. Deep breaths.



Alicia B.

Round Mirrors over the Mantel? I'm in!

Yesterday I was scanning through Elizabeth Dinkel's Portfolio, which I highly recommend, I'm going to have to add her to my inspirational designers folder, and I came across the picture above. I absolutely loved the round convex mirror over the fireplace mantel. It is over-scaled, and has amazing depth. I got curious about this idea of round mirrors over fireplaces; so many people put flat screens which makes me shudder. Take a look at all the different styles.

Todd Romano uses a round mirror in this large and elegant dining room. I like how it is a faded white color and blends into the wallpaper.

This mirror is quite traditional, as are many round mirrors. It is small but clearly the attention should be paid to the large chandelier in the room by Shiela Bridges.

Isn't the wallpaper in here stunning? The flat mirror and the flat fireplace look so pretty on the wallpaper. Just STUNNING. Designed by Nathan Egan.

That's right, there's a mirror there! Leta Austin Foster used a sunburst mirror. I love the dark reds in this room, it's actually calming feeling. And the apple green ceramic stools really balance it out.

This is from Eddie Ross's portfolio. This entire wall is basically mirrors and actually the traditional mirror breaks it up a bit.

I think I love everything about this room, from my dear Domino. This looks like an over-sized pocket mirror, and is hanging on a chain (from Ballard Designs).

Also from Domino, a pair of round mirror with a pair of scones next to it. I love the asymmetrical look to this with pairs.

What a gorgeous scene from Living etc. A pretty and neutral living room livened up with a fabulous mantle display and a Venetian mirror--leaning.

I'm a traditional kind of girl and love to have a gorgeous painting over the mantle, but I think that a round mirror or regular mirror as well is a fun alternative. A mirror adds the illusion of space to a room and a round mirror in particular can add a focal point to the room. Too bad for me I don't have a fireplace in my little apartment but I will be putting a mirror in my foyer to make it look bigger!

PS-ONE DAY LEFT to enter the floor lamp give-away contest! CLICK HERE if you can't be bothered to scroll down.

Also, thank you to My Design Secrets for the guest blog yesterday!

Alicia B.

Snapshot by ME

This is a mini snapshot of the mirror arrangement that I put up a few days ago. They are hung asymmetrically from little blue ribbons. I was looking for the perfect small space and this was perfect! This pipe was making it difficult to put up a piece of art, too. The mirrors are from Pottery Barn, though I'm not sure if they make them anymore. HERE are some cute round ones from West Elm.


Alicia B.

Circles, so hot right now

In a search for some nice looking mirrors I came across a trend. I noticed a growing amount of mirrors with circles, which is also a trend in furniture too, and the clover motif. I think that some of the simple round mirrors are my favorite. Circles are classic. The clover reminds me of my fave jewelry right now from Van Cleef and Arpels. Below are some of my picks.

Neirman Weeks, Carcassonne.

Horchow, Triple Oval Mirrors. Olympics inspired? ha

Ballard Designs, Westbourne Mirror.

Pottery Barn, Eclectic group of mirrors.

Anthropologie, Endymion Mirror.

Pottery Barn, Geometric Circles.

Conran Shop, Nested mirrors.

Pottery Barn, Clover Mirror

Anthropologie, Angles and Orbs Mirror.

Horchow Collection, Antiqued mirror panels.

West Elm, Round mirror wall art.

Horchow, Circles mirror.

Treillageonline.com, Bunny Williams's garden inspired shop!

Alicia B.