Major Score: Bagues Brass Bar Cart

I've always wanted a brass bar cart in my house. I lust a sumptuous bar nook filled with sparkly glassware and colourful liquor bottles. On Saturday as Anthony was driving us to this year's Christie Antique Show, I did my regular browsing on CList on my iPad and came across this Maison Bagues vintage brass bar cart/tea trolley. Sadly, it was in London Ontario, a long way from Christie Lake where the antique show was. I felt so bummed out that I had to yet again miss another brass bar cart. Anthony suggested that we went anyway because if I changed my mind later on it would've been a much longer drive from home. And boy, wasn't I glad I went through with it! 

This vintage brass bar cart is jaw dropping gorgeous! The owners said they bought it from a jewelry store in the 60s and rarely used it so it's kept in mint condition. A Maison Bagues bar cart of similar style is going for $2,300 on 1stdibs! 

I love the filigree details along the raised rim of the gallery trays. 

I can think of so many ways to style this new baby. 

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Stay tuned for the reveal. 

We didn't end up going to the Christie Antique Show on our way back, but I think the bar cart probably more than made up for it. Did you go to the show? How was it this year? 

In the Mail Today: New Rug

I am sure Rugs USA is no stranger to you décor enthusiasts. I have been following their sale for a while, and finally pulled the trigger on this grey trellis Nedelya rug during their Independence Day 75% off sale. Can you believe it? 75% off!

The one I bought is 5' x 8' in size. I plan to use it in a guest bedroom on the second floor. I ordered it on July 5, and it showed up on my doorstep today (July 15), all the way from the States! The duties and broker fees are hefty, but all in all, it still adds up to be a lot cheaper than what I would pay here in some stores. More importantly, popular trellis patterns like this are just not so available here in Canada, and not to say in this really stylish shade grey!

The Nedelya Trellis Rug in Grey from Rugs USA: the color is a perfect match to the pictures online; It's made of 100% wool, plush (but not too thick), and so far it hasn't shed.

What more can I say other than ★★★★★ all the way for Rugs USA!

Identical Twins

What's better than one? Two! I didn't think it was possible but I found the identical twin of this vintage Gold Imari Peacock Ginger Jar I scored back in June. As they were all hand-painted, I could see some slight variations in the drawing and glazing, but I am pretty confident to say they were painted by the same artist and manufactured in the same batch. I've seen a lot of other jars with the same motif and the drawings are very different.

Woot woot raise the roof!

Have a great weekend everyone!

What Type of Buyer Are You?

As a serial decorator and design enthusiast, I am sure you are just like me - we've all done our fair share of buying and selling on local classified sites like Kijiji and Craigslist. Don't go me wrong, I love KJ and CList which reinvented the way people advertise and sell their unwanted stuff to free up space (and cash). I also love the fact that they allow me to scavenger hunt and score antique/vintage/designer pieces from the comfort of my home. However, with the convenience of these channels also comes with nuisance of dealing with different types of buyers and (sometimes) unpleasant behaviours. These are a few types of buyers I've run into:

1. Talker: also known as all-talk-no-action-er. Let's see a show of hands, how many of you ever responded to emails claiming they were extremely interested and would come right at this moment to pick up but those emails only went unanswered? Thought so. Or how many of you spent time on back and forth emails and phone calls answering questions only for the trail to go cold again? There's nothing wrong with potential buyers asking questions; as a seller, that's always expected. What had turned me off are those that gave out empty promises such as "please hold them for me and I will come tonight to pick them up" but only to go silent on me. Or those that asked if I would accept $50 for a $60 item but when I replied with okay they went quiet. Is that really necessary, people? I hence crown them "talkers".

2. Haggler: again there's nothing wrong with haggling. As a matter of fact, we all expect some degree of it - that's why people buy from local classified - otherwise they would've stepped into a big box store and pulled up their credit cards. The type of haggling I don't like is when potential buyers try to talk you down. This is somewhat similar to the Whiner: they would bitch and complain about how bad the stuff you are trying to sell to show you they are really reluctant to buy your stuff, and you should offer them a huge discount. Or they would expect you to accept a $50 offer on a $100 item you were trying to sell. Didn't they get that if I wanted inflate my sale price by that much I would've sent the stuff to a consignment store? I would always give those that ask nicely a break on price; and would turn down those that tried to haggle in a nasty way. After all, who has more to lose right? They are the ones that travel a long distance to my place - they could go home empty-handed or they could just pay my asking price. Lesson learnt is that niceness goes a long way even when you are a buyer.

Via



3. Whiner: these are the ones that can never be happy, no matter how accommodating you are to their schedules or how good the stuff you are trying to sell. They would show up all stressed complaining about their dogs, their trucks and their loss of love (wait, that's what country music is all about!), and they made you feel like sh*t after they left. These days I am getting pretty good at spotting those from afar, and my communications with them would stop at a phone call.

4. No-show: you spent a fair amount of time and energy over emails and phones to work out a time with your potential buyer. You waited for them to arrive within the 2-hour time window you agreed upon. 2 hours, 3 hours had passed and still no car had pulled up to your driveway. You called but their cell phones were off. You emailed but you knew you weren't going to get a response. You were hoping they would email you as a courtesy the next day explaining why they no-showed, but you also knew darn well they wouldn't respond. They disappeared from your life ever since. My way to counter this type of behavior is always to talk to these potential buyers over the phone - you can judge how serious they are. I'd also ask them to call just before they leave for my place - that way I don't need to hang around and can move on with whatever I need to do if they don't call. Also by not committing to a firm schedule and that you'd be waiting for them, you are keeping the potential buyer responsible for making sure you are available to meet with them when they get here.

Of course the majority of the buyers I've dealt with are super pleasant and decent and would show up on time and haggle in a reasonable way.

So what's your experience with local classified ad buyers? Do share!

Cheap and Chic: Floor Lamp

I've been searching for two floor lamps: one for our basement living area and the other for a bedroom on the second floor. Stylish and good-quality floor lamps don't come cheap, so my first instinct was to turn to local classified. I didn't have much luck there. And then came the West Elm's 20% summer lighting sale. I've always wanted this tripod quadpod Adjustable Metal Floor Lamp in polished nickel so I immediately ordered one.

I also really like this Stephen Antonson Nautilus Floor Lamp with cream linen shade. What had set me back a little is the $385 price tag. Even with an attractive 20% discount, I still couldn't justify spending $350 on a floor lamp that we would only use occasionally.

And then I came across this lookalike at HomeSense today - a turned floor lamp painted in white with white linen shade! I grabbed it without any second thought at a cheap-and-chic price tag of $80! Can you see I am doing the happy dance now?

Hope you all have a great weekend. This weather is a bit too muggy for comfort.

My Vintage Affair

I've been on a shopping spree (again) lately, and sadly it usually took me a while to come to that realization. But how you may ask? The other day when I came home from work, a neighbor ran up to me and asked if I was moving. "Moving?" I was totally puzzled. "Why?" The neighbor said "Oh because I saw boxes and boxes piled on your porch." "Oh that..." As you could imagine I was probably all red like a Boston lobster when I told her those were all packages from my online shopping.

Anyhow, here are a few scores I am really fond of and thought I should share with you.

How adorable are these vintage brass giraffes right? The big one is 9" tall and the smaller one 6". I totally see them in a future nursery.

This quail is made of solid brass, a big and heavy bird at 6" x 6". I think it can go on a stack of books.

 

Do you keep a list of your favorite décor accessories? Mine goes like corals & rocks, vintage brass animal/bird figurines, foo dogs, blanc de chine figurines, Chinoiserie faux bamboo (stuff), and of course, deer antlers. I found this pair of vintage antlers from Etsy. 

 

Last but not the least, an all-time favorite for many decorators, a pair of vintage turquoise foo dogs from 1900-1930s.

 

 

I will be taking some pictures over the next few days to show you how they look like now in my house. Later gator.

 

 



Buying Quality Over Price

I need to warn you that the picture I am going to show you is not pretty, and may cause eye sore and shock. I don't even believe it myself when I dug this up from my hard drive. But no, it's very real - this was once my living room.

I am a bargain hunter and I am not shamed of being one. I've always been on the hunt for designer pieces at a thrift store price tag. But along the way of developing my home decor buying skills, I've made tons of mistakes, and added them up may actually cost more than a quality designer piece to start with.

All the pieces you see in the above picture: the print canvas over the mantel from HomeSense, the oval fabric ottoman from Home Depot, the cream drapery from Fabricland, the lousy DIY pillows on the couches, etc., they are all gone. Altogether, they might only add up to the cost of one Eames walnut stool, but the efforts behind hauling them into the house, the headaches associated with putting them on CList, and the time wasted and risks of having strangers in and out of my house buying them ended up costing me a lot more.

The lesson learnt is never to rush to fill up a room with cheap and disposal pieces like I did. Instead, you should take your time learning what you want from a room and envision what you want it to look like. Don't be afraid to rip out a page from a magazine and start to design a lookalike; leverage design boards like Pinterest to help you visualize what a room would end up like with all the elements you pick out. At the end you might still manage to score quality pieces at afford prices, but you are for sure going to enjoy them more and longer.

Three years later this is what my living room looks like, and I am still happy with all the choices I've later made.

So do you have any buying price over quality experience? Do share.

Rock My World

I've always wanted to get a rocking chair but the selections out there aren't great. If you've been following my blog for a while, you'd know that a big-box-store-style rocker isn't really my cup of tea. I have a very specific list of must-haves: solid wood (there are tons of rattan ones out there and to me they don't belong in a bedroom or nursery); an antique or vintage one-of-a-kind piece with a lot of characters but not too ornate; not a glider; and definitely not shabby chic. Easy peasy right?

I truly believe that good things happen when you least expect them. I came across "the one" a couple of weeks ago as I was aimlessly browsing on CList. After a few email exchanges, a couple of phone calls and 30 minutes drive, we took this gorgeous home. This antique rocking chair has everything I was looking for and more and is in mint condition. It was a heirloom piece of the seller's family from his own nursery! I personally would've kept it in the family, but he and his partner moved into a much smaller home and they have no room for it any more. Hey I am not complaining - their loss, my gain!

Love the Spanish Mission style carved legs and Revival finials!

Since it's in such a good shape, the only thing I'd probably do is to have it reuphostered in a fabric that'd work better for the room. I love the peppy yellow fabric as is but it all depends on the overall colour pallete of the room I am going to decorate in.

Isn't it perfect?

Vintage Find: Blanc de Chine Figurines

February 10 marked the beginning of a new lunar year - the Year of Snake. A Chinese New Year celebration means keeping your house clean, decorating in red and gold, avoiding using words such as the number 4 (pronounced as "si" in Chinese = death), and of course around-the-clock good food and wine with family.

You need to be close to Chinese malls like Pacific Mall or Market Village to feel the festive mood. On Saturday or the New Year Eve Anthony and I decided to go there after his haircut. Btw, haircut is strictly prohibited on the first day of the Chinese New Year because it will cut away the fortune. We don't really follow these rules but since we were going to get the haircut this weekend so we went with the Eve. Plus, just like my father always says, why tempt the luck right?

We strolled to the same chinaware store where I picked up the vintage pair of foo dogs. Funny enough, as soon as I entered the store, I saw this pair of Blanc de Chine Porcelain Elegant Figurines on the same top shelf where I found the foo dogs! As if the owner was again waiting for me to find them! These elephant figurines were made of the finest porcelain - they felt so smooth and soft to touch, and appear translucent. They were meant to be mine.

 

Now they are sitting on a sofa table in my living room, together with the also-vintage Blanc de Chine Kwan Yin figurine. It looks like the Year of Snake is off to a good start for me. 

 

This week is full of work travel for me plus two of my cousins are coming to visit. I am excited and stressed at the same time. 

My best wishes to you and your family for a happy and healthy Year of Snake!

Indigo's Home Decor Winter Sale

Brrr...I know it's cold out there, but I hope this winter sale will warm you up. Indigo has just put tens of Home and Lifestyle items on clearance sale, up to 70% off. I was eyeing a few decorative accessories for a while, and my patience has finally paid off. Love me a deal!

I picked up this same throw in Granite Green last year, and have been wanting to get another one in Bamboo. Don't let the colour name mislead you, the throw is actually in a very calm yet happy shade of yellow, nothing to do with Bamboo green. It's now on sale from $45 down to $18.00.



 

This super stylish antler magnifying glass is now at $11.80, from $29.50. It's going to look sensational on top of my coffee table books.

 

Heirloom pinecone salt & pepper shakers in polished stainless steel will brighten up any dining room, on sale for $7.80. West Elm has the identical ones for $18.88. 

 

I would really love to have these stone object bookend now at $4.00 each, but I didn't like the shipping cost for a heavy item (starting at $9.99 per item) so I took a pass. I am going to find out I could store them in store. 

 

Or how about this vintage-y heirloom keepsake box now at $11.80? Similar ones at Pottery Barn start at $38.26.

 



If you like Indigo home decor as much as I do, I suggest you pick up those items on sale sooner than later -- because they are going real fast!

Cheap n Chic: Mercury Glass Candleholders

It's been a while since I added a Cheap and Chic post so it's time to revive this series and get back into the thrifting game.

Mercury glass, or silvered glass, adds a touch of nostalgia to everyday home decor. It's especially popular during holidays for it creates a luxurious and warm ambiance.

Ballard Designs' Antiqued Mercury Glass Candlesticks - Assorted Set of 5: US$69

Pottery Barn's Antique Mercury Glass Taper Holders: $85 for a set of three.

Gluckstein Home's Antiqued Silver Mercury Glass Candleholders: $35 for a set of three, on sale now at 50% off at the Bay.

I've ordered two sets of them and can't wait to see how they turn out in my house. More on that later.