Christmas Has Come Early At My House

After a short break from blogging the past couple weeks, I am officially back in the saddle.  My husband and I celebrated our 12th anniversary in Atlanta weekend before last, and we had a wonderful Thanksgiving last week.

This has panned out to be a very Frenchy month for me much to my delight.  After receiving two gorgeous French baskets in the mail from Cat at Sunday Brocantes, my husband took me to a great little restaurant in Lexington where I had the most delicious traditional French la bouillabaisse.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, it’s basically a seafood stew.  Our anniversary dinner was at Bistro Niko, the only French restaurant in Buckhead. (my husband obviously knows about me being a Francophile!)

But if that wasn’t enough, guess what was delivered the Monday before Thanksgiving?

Yep, there she is in all her glory. At 87” tall and almost 5’ wide, it is one honkin’ piece of furniture.

Finally, my French armoire.  My dream piece of furniture.  You may recall the story of me making an offer on it this summer, finally getting it early fall, then having it delivered to an antique furniture guru for touch-ups, then to the upholsterer for covered shelves.  Shew!  This process took almost 5 months.  But it was worth it.

It’s been authenticated as most likely a wedding armoire from Normandy and made in the late 18th century. It’s made of cherry on the outside and some walnut on the inside.

It has all the original hand forged iron hardware and is peg-joined.  It even has the original very large key which I am told is actually quite rare.  Lucky me !

 

It has the most beautiful hand-carvings.

 

 

The steel ferrures are gorgeous, too.

Wanna take a peek inside?

 

I chose a traditional black and cream toile for the padded shelves.

I think it turned out very nicely.

I really don’t need the storage, so I’m gonna style the shelves with linens and Hermes boxes.

Now I feel like I can finally finish my master bedroom.  My dad hung the toile cornices. 

Here’s my new modern chair by Barclay Butera that is covered in vintage French linen.  A friend of mine brought the fabric back with her on one of her shopping trips to France.  The orange linen pillow is studded with Swarovski crystals.  I love this combo.

I absolutely love the shape of this chair and it’s so wonderfully unexpected with the antiques.

I just ordered the Alexa Hampton swing arm wall lamps in dark nickel so hopefully they’ll be here soon.

 

 

 

 

Yes, that’s Murphy’s bed on the floor.  He gets to sleep next to the armoire.  He’s a Francophile, too!

Kim

Linking to:

WOW! Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

I’ve Found It!….My French Armoire

I have been looking for the perfect antique French armoire for several years.  Either it wasn’t the right style or it wasn’t the right price or it wasn’t the right time.

A couple weeks ago, while antiquing with a friend in Louisville, I found it!

Isn’t it magnificent?

It’s going in place of the triple dresser in my master bedroom re-do.

Here is the fancier armoire that stood next to the one I picked out!  It’s gorgeous but a little too frufru for me.

This one is just so “smart” looking!  Not too plain, not to heavily carved.

This is an early piece, probably walnut and definitely Louis XV in style.   I’ll have to have some shelves added.  I really like the flat bonnet top.

The steel ferrures are absolutely beautiful.  They have such a nice patina.  Ferrures are characteristic decorative elements on some of the finest Provençal furniture and are handsomely wrought and polished iron- or steelwork.  Notice the full length piano hinges on the doors?

Oh, be still my heart!  I’m in French furniture heaven with this one!

There’s only one problem:  It isn’t mine yet.  

I hadn’t fully made up my mind if I wanted to jump right in and get it so we left. ( I could kick myself).  I hope it’s still there on our return trip in a couple weeks.  If not, you might  hear me crying!  My husband says if it was meant to be it will happen.

Soooooo, I hope this will be the armoire that you see in my master bedroom reveal in a couple months!  What about you?  Have you found a great piece and kept your fingers crossed it would eventually be yours?

Au Revoir,

Kim

Linking to:

Open House Party at No Minimalist Here

Treasure Hunt Thursday at From My Front Porch To Yours

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Potpourri Friday at 2805

Inspiration Friday at At The Picket Fence

Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground 
French Obsession at Le Chateau Des Fleurs

Outdoor Art Solution!

You may recall the POST I did a few weeks ago about the big boring brick wall over the sofa in my loggia.  

Well, here it is.

I showed you some examples of outdoor art that I was considering purchasing to hang here and asked you what you thought. You guys had lots of great opinions but it was Bliss who got my mind churning and caused me to switch gears.  Here is her comment:

Bliss said...

I like choice #3 best. But I'd really like a great big white washed piece of wood with some vintage graphic on it from the graphics fairy.
~Bliss~

June 14, 2012 7:27 PM

Uumm……a piece of white washed wood.

I’m thinking, I’m thinking….

Eureka!  I already had this great architectural salvage shelf that is chippy white and large and horizontally oriented!

Whatdaya think?

Is this not the perfect piece for this space?

I had it hanging the other way (with the shelf on the top) inside, but my husband had the great idea of hanging it this way to form the shelf on the bottom!

Here are a couple pics of it hanging in the basement gameroom.

Do you have any idea what this is made from?

Do any of you know what the center panel is?

It has amazing carved detail.

The cobalt blue bottles are actually Arizona Tea bottles.  They make great flower vases.  I’m not sure they even make the blue bottles anymore.  Anyone know?

I wanted to play around with some color, so I used mason jars with food-colored water.

Not sure if I like the blue or the green better.  What do you think?

I love this piece in the loggia and I can’t thank Bliss enough for giving me the idea.  It’s not white washed and I didn’t use a graphic from the Graphics Fairy (yet!), but I think it’s perfect for now.

And, best of all, it was free!!!

Oh, back to the guessing part.  

What is this shelf made from?  The front was actually a …..

The first person to comment and guess it correctly will get a little surprise from me!!!

Good Luck,

Kim

Linking up to:

Cowgirl Up! at Cedar Hill Ranch

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm

Knick of Time Tuesday at Knick of Time Interiors

WOW! Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

What's It Wednesday? at Ivy and Elephants

Open House Party at No Minimalist Here

Treasure Hunt Thursday at From My Front Porch To Yours

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Inspiration Friday at At The Picket Fence

Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground

Vintage Wedding Ideas: Part 3: {Saying “I Do” with an eco-friendly lifestyle}

Well, this is my last post on the ideas that I used during my own wedding in Napa Valley.  If you missed the other two, you can read them HERE and HERE.  If you want to read about wedding, click HERE and HERE.

Three ideas today for Part 3!!!  Today’s tips actually incorporate new and old.

Idea #1:  Dress an antique doll in a replica of your wedding gown.

This was my second wedding so in-line with wanting to do things differently I had my 2-piece outfit custom made by a seamstress and based it on historical designs.  I also added a robin’s egg blue train and the bell/trumpet sleeves were also lined in blue.  This was my “something blue”.

I found an antique china head doll while antiquing and gave her to the seamstress to replicate my dress.  I was so excited when she arrived after the wedding……

What’s she gonna look like…

Is it, is it, my outfit?…….

Yes, she did a wonderful job of sewing a mini version of my outfit.  I guess we can call her "mini me"! LOL  This is one of my most special keepsakes.

Another idea (even though it’s not vintage) is to have a tag embroidered with your name and wedding date sewn into your gown.

Use the same color thread as your accent color.

Idea #2: Put your most memorable items in an antique convex frame.

These are pretty easy to find at lots of flea markets and antique stores. I painted the frame gold and had our framing gallery arrange mementos of our wedding.

It already had the original convex glass in it.

Idea #3: Use a vintage cake topper.

The photo below was my inspiration for our wedding cake. It came from a Mary Engelbreit Home Companion Magazine.  I love it’s diminutive size. We had a very small ceremony so this small size worked for us. For a larger reception, these mini cake beauties could be placed on each guest table with different vintage toppers.

Yep, the cake topper was a no-brainer and so happens to be the first vintage wedding piece we found.  Below is a picture of our wedding cake.

And, a tradition that we did for a couple years was to have this same cake made on our anniversary.

This vintage topper is one of my favorite finds.

O.K. I’m having too much fun photographing this cake topper!!!  The bride and groom are just precious!

Some references are:

Also:  Vintage Wedding by Daniela Turudich

All of these books are available on Amazon.

I hope you have enjoyed my ideas for a vintage wedding.  I’ve had a blast doing these posts.  Create your own memories with pieces that already have a colorful and romantic history. 

Oh, and have FUN. Have lots and lots of FUN with some whimsy thrown in!

Notice the resemblance?  LOL

Happy Hunting,

Kim

 

Linking up to these parties.  Please give them a visit.

WOW! Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

What’s It Wednesday? at Ivy and Elephants

White Wednesday at Faded Charm Cottage

Open House Party at No Minimalist Here