Vintage Scarf Decor

I've always loved using objects in ways other than for what they are meant. I was perusing Vivre this afternoon and found this fabulous use of vintage scarves by Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent on a chandelier and some chairs by Susan Fellman, and I think this is a perfect combination of fashion and home decor as well as art and functionality. The chair uses three different vintage scarves and each of the pieces is made to order so no two are alike.

Not surprisingly, the prices on these pieces are steep. But if you have scarves that you aren't wearing but still love or are looking for a new piece of art, think outside the box. Frame one, have it turned into a pillow or bring it to your local upholsterer. I love the thought of a bedroom or vanity chair, even if just the seat, being upholstered with a beautiful feminine scarf.

Etsy Pick of the Week: Fabulous Mess

Vintage Art Deco Mirrored Credenza
I know that my last Etsy Pick of the Week (which was sadly a few week's ago) was for The Vintage Supply Co. which specializes in vintage furniture, and I generally try to mix it up, but when I happened upon Fabulous Mess, I just had to share it. I don't really know where to begin and narrowing it down to only eight images was hard because they have so many A-MAZ-ING vintage pieces, from furniture to lighting to accessories. I don't even really think there is anything to say since they all seem to speak for themselves (at least they are all telling me to buy them!) so just enjoy.

Vintage Bamboo Lacquer Dining Table

Vintage Brass Owl Trays

Vintage Brass Nautilus Shell Bookends

Vintage Brass Sea Creature Andirons

Vintage Moroccan Wicker Shelving Units

Vintage Lucite Demilune Tables

Vintage Lucite Table Lamps

I hope you all like these as much as I do. Be sure to check out the dozens of other selections at Fabulous Mess as well. You will not be disappointed!

Europe 2 You

Europe 2 You brings old world central European style to your modern day lifestyle. With an extensive collection of vintage apothecary jars, wine bottles, baskets, bread boards, grain sacks and pottery, Europe 2 You makes getting quality antiques at affordable prices easy. And while many companies are reproducing these items, Europe 2 You is providing the real thing.

The company is relatively new and so all of their offerings aren't yet available online, but you can see here that they will be offering more items like furniture and lighting as well. I am loving the oversized linen upholstered table (top).

I don't know if I am partial to this style because I spent 7 years working for French home furnishings businesses, but while a complete room in this style isn't my thing, I do love these pieces as accents, particularly in a kitchen.

I just couldn't not include this great set of vintage suitcases at their New York International Gift Fair booth. Hmm, I feel the need to book a flight now.

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.

Etsy Pick of the Week: The Vintage Supply Co

Etsy is not all brand new crafts. You can also find some amazing vintage pieces on their site. And The Vintage Supply Co. is a pretty good place to start. They offer everything from vintage Lilly Pulitzer clothing to lamps and furniture. While I'm generally not a fan of vinyl upholstery, the colors and shape of these mid century modern tufted button chairs caught my eye. I love the lines and they actually look pretty comfortable.

You can't really go wrong with a pair of vintage Eames chairs.

And I love this vintage chrome chair, although I would definitely reupholster it in something fun and fabulous, maybe Hable Construction's Sky Beads on oyster linen. Oh, how nice that would be!

Etsy Pick of the Week: Vintage Wallpaper Lampshades

These stunning lampshades are handmade in Florence, Italy from vintage Italian wallpaper, circa the 1970's. Is there really anything else to say? Oh yeah, for only $137! Shipping is a little pricey, but for under $200 you could have one of these amazing shades delivered right to your door to use on a table lamp, floor lamp, or on its own as a pendant lamp (my personal preference). Check out Etsy store Drawflowers for information and additional patterns as well as other vintage wallpaper products.

Vintage Printable

I am always drawn to vintage style botanical and curiosity prints, but they are generally a bit of an investment. However, now you can get the look for a lot less, at least on a small scale. Vintage Printable is a web site where you can download and print vintage images mostly from rare books whose copyrights have lapsed as well as newer images uploaded by their artists that are available for free. There are images of just about every plant and animal species you can imagine and a whole lot of other topics as well. Here are a few of my favorites.

Keep in mind that you'll only be able to print them to about an 8" x 10" size or else the quality of the image will not be very good. Also, some of the images are much better quality than others to begin with so you'll want to look carefully at each one as your making your selections. But these would be great in a series of 4 or 6 prints on a wall or if you just need something small to fill an empty spot on a wall in a bathroom, bedroom or hallway then this is a great, inexpensive option to get the look of something more expensive.

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.