What's (not so) New in the Shop

The thing about buying vintage is that, along with the piece itself, you are buying a bit of history. A vintage lamp has lived its own life, or several lives, long before coming into yours. Of course, old stuff is not for everyone. Not for new-house people, for instance. I was watching a t.v. show a few days ago in which the viewer follows the adventures of a couple looking for a house to buy. My husband, by the by, thinks I'm slightly nuts for spending a half-hour watching complete strangers tour houses, but it's one of those things with an appeal that you just can't explain to people for whom watching such a show would be akin to being poked in the eye. Anyway, this home-buyer was insistent on only looking at new builds. The prospect of taking a bath in a tub in which another human being had already bathed was so repulsive she wouldn't even consider it. Wow. She, and all her fellow lovers of the newly-manufactured, will clearly never be a customer of this store, but that just leaves more old stuff for the rest of us. Incidentally, the venerable NY Times has officially recognized buying vintage as a bona fide trend. You can read about it and view a slideshow here - very interesting to see what yard sale & flea market decorating looks like when maneuvered by the hands of the urbane.

I have a couple of new old charts in the store this week. One of these charts features geographical terms with great graphics. You can even write on it & clean it off with a wax pencil.

The other chart features botanical terms. I have a detailed photo of it here, highlighting Boston Ivy in honor of the Massachusetts connection.


An aqua bureau for a shot of summer color year-round.

If Summer doesn't come to you...

...Then you have to make it yourself.  Summer, that is.  The weather - cold, rain, fog, and more cold - still isn't cooperating, and it's all anyone can talk about here in coastal New England, ad nauseam.  I feel the pain myself.  After suffering through our raw winters, the least we can have is 90 days of relatively moderate weather.  But not this year.  This year we have already lost the possibility of a happy June, and are now in the process of ruining July.  I need to move on from this topic, however.  I mean, how long can one complain about lousy weather?  I refuse to find out.  And to help myself along, I'm posting a picture of an electrically-painted antique piece that will provide the viewer with a jolt of summertime color.  If I can't have summer outside, then at least I will have it inside.  And I promise: no more complaining.  Until it gets too hot, that is.  Then I'll be sure to have something to say.

Whale Trunk + Artist's Living Room = Great Decor

It's feeling festive in town today, as the holiday weekend has arrived - or maybe it's because the economic news hasn't been all bad lately (for a change). Perhaps reporting on the demise of life as we know it, economically-speaking, was not nearly as fun for news outlets once they themselves started becoming victims of the tanking economy... Whatever the reason (and I'm skeptical that the reason is based on facts), the news has been slightly sunnier lately, with hints that things might not be as bad as we thought. The tourists and locals wandering around town seem to sense this, and are deciding that buying a cup of coffee, or a throw pillow, or maybe even (whoa!) a painting does not make them bad people. Just people enjoying a holiday weekend in a small town. Speaking of not-bad people, Karen Tusinski, an amazing artist who happens to have a gallery across the street from the shop (www.karentusinski.com) sent me a couple of photos of her latest Sycamore Hollow acquisition, a small rustic trunk painted with a whale motif. I felt honored that she put it in her house!


Top left corner shows a little of Karen's work.


The tripod lamp next to the couch also came from Sycamore Hollow.