Black Friday Everyday

BLACK

FRIDAY

DEALS

EVERY

DAY

If you are anything like me you prefer not to head to the stores on Black Friday to fight the crowds, but you also really enjoy a deal, and not just once a year. Over the past few years, there has been an influx of web sites popping up where you can find fabulus deals on designer housewares, clothing, toys, trips, wine and so much more all from the comfort of your own home. The way most of these sites work is that you join them for free and then they email you with the deals of the day or you can just go to the site. They put items up for sale for a limited amount of time, usually a few days, but you have to act fast to get the size, color, etc. you want as many of them sell out quickly.

The sites I follow are Ideeli, One Kings Lane, Gilt, Hautelook, The Foundary, and Ruelala. Whether you're looking for designer denim, luxurious bedding or fabulous accessories, there is literally something for everyone on these sites and the prices are oh so right. So don't drive yourself crazy on Friday, sleep in, sit back, relax and get great deals from home.

Sferra Sample Sale

If you've ever seen Sferra linens, you know just how incredible they are. The bedding, besides being super soft and cozy is also incredibly beautiful and sophisticated. The table linens are impeccable and I can't say I've ever seen a Sferra item I didn't like. With a full line of linens of all kinds and for all ages, a fabulous line from Kelly Wearstler and cashmere scarves, there is a little something for everyone, and starting tomorrow you can get it all for up to 70% off. Sferra is holding their sample sale at Chelsea Market from Nov. 10-14 and if you are anywhere near there, I'd say run, don't walk to get there. Just another reason to be bummed I had to cancel my trip to NYC this week.

Scalamandre Fabric and More for Less!

For a few years now, I've been driving by this tiny shingled storefront called LooLoo Design in Portsmouth, RI and have always been intrigued by it. For one reason or another, I've never had the time to stop in, that is until this past Saturday. I had seen in their ads that they had discounted Scalamandre fabric, and while that sounded wonderful, I assumed that discounted Scalamandre fabric would still easily be in the $50-75 range per yard.

Well, I was wrong! Sometimes I love it when I'm wrong. LooLoo Design goes directly to the Scalamandre warehouse to select the fabrics they sell. While some of them are only sold by the bolt, the prices are still fabulous. I believe I saw some bolts of maybe 7-10 yards for around $140, which is closer to what the price of Scalamandre fabric retails for 1 yard.

They also have fabric squares that sell for about $7-10. Fabulous for a small project.

And there are plenty of trims to go along with it all.

I loved this large square of crewel (which I adore) fabric. It was $50. I was trying to figure out if you could cut it to make pillows and still see enough of the design, but then I decided that the best thing to do with it would be to make an oversized square ottoman and upholster the top with it. That would be amazing!

Here are some of the bolts and bolts of fabric that you can purchase by the yard, mostly in the range of $18-30/yard.

More bolts.

This Turquoise Linen was just about the most beautiful thing I've seen. I bet this would make great curtains for my bedroom with that new headboard I just finished.

Red vases on black would make a great wingback chair or drapes or I would even be tempted to upholster a wall in this.

This strawberry fabric has just the right touch of vintage in it.

LooLoo Design also has drapery panels that once hung in the Scalamandre showrooms. Because they were sample panels, most of them are singles, but there were a few in there that had multiples. For $35 a piece, sometimes you can make anything work. If you only have one window in a room, a single panel pulled back with a great tieback is all you need. I actually almost bought one for my daughter's room, but decided the colors weren't quite right.

It's hard to believe, but LooLoo Design actually considers their main business to be vintage bath fixtures. In fact if you go to their web site, that is pretty much all you'll find. Despite the fact that most of the walls are lined with fabrics and wallpaper (I found amazing wallpaper for the 18th Century Colonial Renovation we've been following), they do have some fabulous fixtures as well, like this swan neck faucet.

They also have some great antique frames and artwork. The above frame would be great to frame out some chalkboard paint if you didn't have a piece that needed framing.

More bath fixtures.

Brackets for shelving, including some really unique shapes.

They also have lots of vintage lighting fixtures ranging from modern to very traditional.

I loved these knobs.

These are vintage birthday candle holders. How cute are they! I think these would be an amazing christening or baby gift.

Vintage hand held vanity mirrors

Large spools of thread from the Scalamandre warehouse.

In case you couldn't tell, I was pretty psyched that I found this place. I have many more pictures beyond this. The owner, Jill, told me that a lot of designers try to keep it to themselves so that other designers won't find out about it. And I have to admit that the thought crossed my mind, but my feeling is that it's important to promote businesses that provide great products and services, especially in this economy. I want them to be around for a long time and so I want to encourage people to go there to make sure that they stay in business and keep offering these goods for both the benefit of myself and others so I'm letting the cat out of the bag and hopefully those other designers will inderstand why.

Brimfield Report

My first trip to the Brimfield Antique Show on Friday was a great experience. We barely even scratched the surface of what was there. I think we visited 6 or 7 of the 23 fields that were open, but it gave me a good sense of what you can find there (just about anything you can dream of). Some of the booths were very well styled (above) and some were literally just boxes and boxes of what many would consider junk (but if someone will buy it then there is still value to it).

My partners in crime were my husband and 1 yr old daughter. The stroller was helpful in carrying our goods, but I think the people pulling wagons were the smartest so if you go keep that in mind. Sometimes even the smallest things are heavy.


Vintage Fiestaware
When I say you can literally find anything there, I mean it. Here are some of the higher end items that caught my eye.

Beautiful Sleigh Daybed

Vintage Stove

I love antique washstands. I actually have one sitting in my garage just waiting for our downstairs bath to be redone. They are great space savers because they tend to be smaller than modern day vanities and they are generally much better quality than your average modern vanity too.

Loved all the vintage letters and symbols in this booth.

When I first saw this booth, I thought what a bunch of junk. Some of the instruments and equipment were literally snapped in half, but then I became totally inspired by them. If you wanted to do a sports or music themed room for your child, I would much rather see vintage baseball bats or hockey sticks on the wall than a baseball or hockey wallpaper border. The instruments could easily be spray painted in fun colors to hide the damage to them. The items can still have a great life as decor even if they aren't otherwise functional.

Some of the items were new products and not antiques which I have mixed feeling about.

A selection of glass door knobs. There were actually some incredibly beautiful doors that we saw too.

Some of the items were really random and I wasn't sure what on earth I would do with them, but I thought they were kind of silly all in a bucket together. Perhaps garden decor?

And there were many many things that were modern and didn't have that antique feel so even if antiques aren't your thing, you will still likely find things you love. We actually only spent about 3 hours at the show and I would have loved to have spent some more time looking at some of the silver and dishware. There was oodles of it and it was a great place to pick up a little silver salt and pepper set or candlesticks.

I did not actually find any of the items I went in search of, but have no fear, I didn't come home empty handed. I'll share my purchase with you once I get it put in place. I broke my own rules and didn't grab anything until I was done looking. I missed out on one of the things I went back for because the vendor had left already, and I almost didn't get the other items either because someone else had scooped all but five of them up just as I got back to the booth, but I am happy with my purchase.

The next show is July 13-18th so mark your calendars now if you're interested.

OPEN HOUSE: Book Shelf Styling

My friend Kim just had a custom built in installed in her living room and has been posting pictures of the progress she's been making on them on Facebook. She and her husband just finished renovating a beautiful home in Newport's Historic Point Neighborhood and while I new they had fabulous taste, I was floored at how amazingly styled her built ins were, especially considering she did them without the help of a designer. They're also fabulous because your eye, both in the pictures and in person, is drawn away from the flat screen television. Book shelf styling is one of those things that people really seem to struggle with so I asked her if I could come see them in person and find out how she pulled them all together to give you a few tips in pulling your own shelves together.
The first thing she did (even before the shelves were built) was find a picture in a magazine of the look she was going for. If you aren't starting from scratch then just find a picture that has a similar amount of shelves as you do or the color scheme you want and adjust it to fit your space. If you have adjustable shelving that will be a huge help and if you are starting from scratch make sure you include that feature. For instance, she knew she was going to put a model boat over the television, but couldn't find one to fit quite right so she ended up having to raise the shelf above it so give yourself some flexibility if you can.
There are a few things that make these shelves look so great. First, she limited the color scheme and stuck to blues and whites with accents of red and brown. Too many colors just become distracting. Secondly, the colors are used repeatedly throughout the shelves. She didn't put everything with red in it in one section despite the fact that people are prone to group like colors. Where it does make sense to group like colors tightly is with the books. Here, different color book bindings are used throughout the shelving, but they are not intermixed. All the blues are together and all the whites are together, and if you look closely you'll notice that even the red coral is resting on a stack of books with red writing on the bindings. It's all in the details! She even went out and found more books that would work in the space to achieve the look she was going for. Another thing that destined Kim for success is that she went shopping with an open mind. She knew that she wanted the white ceramic items, but wasn't set on it having to be a fish or a flower or anything else. When she found the first pineapple she decided to go with it knowing that it was actually perfect since it's the welcome symbol of Newport, and then she went on to look for more similar items, but without making everything overly matchy matchy. Ok, so now for one of the best things about this built in...drumroll please....most of the items on these shelves are from Home Goods or used bookstores! You know how I love a bargain, and here is proof that you don't have to spend loads of money to have a house that is magazine (or shall I say blog) worthy. So take a look at your shelving and see if you can make a few small changes to make your own a little more stylish and I guarantee you'll feel better. Remember that it's ok to let them evolve, but don't leave them jam packed with "stuff". Happy decorating!

Less is More

It's no secret that I love finding great deals on great items at antique stores and yard sales. Buying second hand is one of the greenest things you can do because you are saving a product from a landfill and you are affecting the supply and demand chain in preventing the need for yet another product to be manufactured. On the flip side of this, I have way too much stuff and to add to this, one of my best friends who doesn't know what the word moderation means when it comes to shopping just moved to NYC and gave me 18 garbage bags full of stuff (and I'm not exaggerating) she couldn't take with her to her tiny new apartment-a large majority of it still with tags on it from places like J. Crew and Anthropologie. The good news is that I REALLY needed a new wardrobe and we are the same size, however, I couldn't possibly wear everything even if I tried. I have sorted and sorted and finally have just decided that a lot of it needs to go so it has motivated me (that, and the fact that my husband has had it with all the bags of stuff still lingering around the house) to have a yard sale tomorrow. The timing is actually great because my parents have also decided to drop off every item I had left from my childhood in their home, and I've reached a point where I'm settled enough into my house that I have a pretty good idea whether or not I'm ever going to use the fabrics and curtains that I've been holding on to for a few years now. Since my sister is planning for her move in to their new house too she's going to add some stuff as well. So if you are in the Middletown area and are looking for some great clothes, housewares, fabrics, jewelry, or anything else, swing by. Help the planet and your home or fashion wardrobe at the same time and you'll be helping me feel a huge weight lifted off my chest.

Vintage Wallpaper

I am a big fan of vintage anything, and I have been dying to get myself down to New York for a visit to Secondhand Rose (on 5th Ave between 26th and 27th) , but I never seem to make it. Luckily, they have a fabulous web site that features dozens of their vintage wallpaper and linoleum collections. Here I've picked a few of my favorite wallpapers from their site.
The bold geometrics and bright colors are really fun. I feel like these would make a bathroom with old colored tiles much more livable or they'd be a fabulous accent wall in a large room.

They also have a great collection of Chinoiserie wallpapers in both muted and bold colors.

This green damask print could go in just about any room in the house.

Channeling my grandmother's vintage skirts...in a good way with the floral wallpaper below.

When we were looking for houses a few years ago one of them had a kitchen that this vintage red apple paper would have been perfect for! It still had the original appliances from the 50's, but if you love the look you could find reproduction appliances in a candy apple red that would look amazing with this paper. All I can think of is a Maine vacation cottage with this paper, vintage appliances, and white lower cabinets with open shelving on top in it.

This bright orchard print would be a great accent wall in a little girls room.

I don't know where I'd put this tennis wallpaper-maybe a mudroom of a tennis enthusiast-but it was too fun not to throw in.

These and the other wallpapers at Secondhand Rose originate between the 1860's and 1970's and prices begin at $70/double roll. If you want something truly unique, love vintage, or are searching for that original Frank Lloyd Wright paper definitely check it out.

You'd Be MAD Not To Check This Out

There are few designers I love more than Jonathan Adler . The man is a genius! So when I opened my email this morning I practically jumped out of my seat with excitement over the notification of his upcoming warehouse sale . I quickly checked my mental calendar to see what I had going on October 22-24th and then started planning who I would rope into watching the kids while I made the 3 hour drive to New York so I could enjoy a little piece of heaven-my favorite items at 30-70% off!

About 10 seconds later, reality set in. I don't have a job at the moment so making the 3 hour drive to swim in fabulous design would be thrilling, but I'd be crying the whole way home when I left empty handed. So instead I'm going to encourage all of you to play hooky and take advantage of this fabulous sale and then share with me any of your great finds so that I can live vicariously through you. And if you feel like treating your favorite blogger to a little something special, I've been really missing my whale butter dish since it broke.

One last thing that really shouldn't be overlooked, the sale is in conjunction with Calypso St. Barth which has equally fabulous clothing, accessories, candles and more at 50-75% off. So call in sick and run, don't walk to this fantastic sale.