Etsy Item of the Week- Milo Baughman Bar

I found this beautiful Milo Baughman Brass Bar Cart in an Etsy shop called JulesModerne this week.

This bar cart just so happens to match these chairs I found a couple weeks back hiding at my local salvage store, chairs that are now in my own etsy store. Imagine if you re-upholstered the chairs in an awesome navy or emerald fabric...or go with a bold graphic print? Either way, set them next to the bar and you have one helluva swanky place to mix and drink cocktails!

Elephant Parade

My grandmother (Mimi) collected elephant figurines for as long as I could remember. After she passed, some of her trunked treasured made their way to my home, where they now sit proudly on my desk. As a child, my mother and I would constantly be searching for the perfect elephant to add to Mimi's collection; the only rule being that it had to have its trunk up for good luck. During the course of my vintage discoveries, I've found a couple of wonderful elephant pieces. My latest find was buried in one of my favorite antique markets in Portland, OR.

This cobalt blue elephant stool is now featured in my etsy store. He also serves as the inspiration for this design collection of trunked treasures for other elephant lovers...

1. $40 zgallerie 2. $9.99 Nate Berkus for Target 3.$129 orientalfurniture.com 4. $25 at rachellelevingston on Etsy 5. $62 at Home Depot 6. $38 at DenizErcelebi on Etsy 7. $25 at VintageandVictorian on Etsy 8. $45 OfAlltheFishVintage on Etsy

New to the Shop

After a long cruise around the Caribbean and Central America (which has given me plenty of material for upcoming blog posts) I'm back this week and trying to get back into the swing of things. New to my Etsy store this week is this wonderful Chinoiserie double happiness ginger jar. The jars are often given as presents upon a marriage or the birth of a child.

Hood River, Oregon

Last week, I had some free time and made a spontaneous trip up to Hood River, Oregon with my brother, Dan, who was in town from Chicago on business. If you've never been to this part of the country, trust me...you need to go. Nestled in the Columbia River Gorge, Hood River is the essence of living in the Pacific Northwest. This is a major destination for windsurfers seeking thrills on the Columbia River, skiers and snowboarders wanting to shred powder on Mt. Hood, and for tourists in general who want to experience the beauty and bounty of the Northwest. Full Sail beer is brewed here, and it is one of the most productive agricultural regions in the country.

Being me, I decided to dink around downtown to see what flea markets or thrift stores I could find. Turns out that Goodwill just opened a "boutique store" in downtown Hood River that features the higher end items that have been donated, at slightly higher prices, but still not unreasonable. I found a lot of Coach purses, a couple of Christian Dior clothing items, and unfortunately, someone had nabbed a pair of Tory Burch shoes before I got there. Nonetheless, I was able to find some items for my etsy store which I will be featuring in subsequent posts. Here is a glimpse at something that I liked inside the store...

I didn't nab it for the store, so this item may still be at the boutique. Regardless, I highly recommend a visit when you are in this neck of the woods!

New in the Shop

I went a little crazy this past week and picked up a bunch of new items for the store. I will drop a couple of hints about where I've found these treasures in subsequent postings this week. In the meantime though, here is a taste of what is new in the store this week...

 Atomic Mid Century Bar Glasses, Set of Six

 Chinoiserie Planter, featuring Chinese symbol for "long life"

Pre-War Handpainted Japanese Maruhun Ware Plate

Etsy Item of the Week - Samantha French

It's time to do a plug for something on Etsy that is not in my own shop. I can't remember where I first saw Samantha French's artwork for the first time, but I know that I have seen it in more than one place, most recently on One Kings Lane. I love her stunningly colorful yet serene paintings that depict people underwater. As someone who grew up as a competitive swimmer (albeit a bad one) I am still drawn to the confines of the chlorine world. There is just something about being in a pool that puts me at ease. Perhaps it is the sense of being weightless and my body being able to move in ways that it cannot on the ground, or it may just be the simply relief of floating. Regardless, I love these images for being able to capture what I (and I suspect others) feel in the pool. One of these days, when I finally get around to doing that gallery wall I've been thinking about doing for quite some time, one of these prints will likely be featured in the center.

Barcelona - Palau Güell

One of my very favorite things about Barcelona is the architecture of Antoni Gaudí; a visionary architect whose works include La Sagrada Familia, La Pedrera, and Casa Batlló. I had visited all three of these sites on previous visits to Barcelona, and my personal favorite is Casa Batlló. In the not too distant future, I will devote an entire blog post to that dragon-shaped building. On this previous visit, I went to perhaps one of the lesser known Gaudi sites in Barcelona, Palau Güell, a building located right off Las Ramblas that was recently restored in 2011. I found this building to be unlike Batllo or Pedrera. The Palau literally is a palace, a monument of iron and stone with a mutli-story central hall. Although the interior is as organic as the rest of Gaudi's work, it was very dark and heavy, characterized by touches of art nouveau with a heavy hand of gothic architecture. In this house more than the others, I found myself breathing a sigh of relief when I got up to the rooftop terrace, which in typical Gaudi fashion, is characterized by a series of colorful tile mosaic chimneys.

One of the tile mosaic chimney vents on the rooftop of Palau Güell

My favorite chimney in the foreground, with a view of the Barcelona skyline behind.

A close up of one of the mosaics.

After spending the morning in Palau Guell, I walked across Las Ramblas to Plaça Reial where I kicked back with a big, fat, delicious glass of sangria and watched the world go by. This is an awesome place for a pit stop in the city.