Between wandering around the International Home Furnishings Center (IHFC) by myself on Friday afternoon/evening and then meeting up with Courtney of French Country Cottage {our Insider’s Guide to High Point Market for first timers!} and new friend and designer Janie Timberlake of JBeth Designs {she’s just starting a site on FB and is on Instagram} on Saturday and touring showrooms listening to a fabulous talk at a place I will share with you in a separate post {we were treated to a Moroccan lunch there, too!} and getting to shop for amazing pieces and see all these gorgeous goods coming from Europe and all over the world I’m on sensory overload ~ but in the best way possible!!! 😀 I’ll have several indepth write-ups over the next few weeks sharing more of the beautiful furniture pieces and accessories I found that inspired me. Here are Seven Incredible Showrooms that I found which just knocked my socks off:
Eloquence
Shown in the featured first photo was my absolute definite favorite followed closely by these next three. As soon as I can figure out how to share Eloquence’s trademark with you on their photographs I promise I have a TON of French etherealness by way of incredibly beautiful French pieces to share with you… sigh! Just look at those gorgeous round accent lights! They are such a lovely take on the 1960’s-1970’s ones my parents had in their guest/second bathroom in their country Connecticut home. {Left by a previous owner and they sufficed ~ just weren’t my taste.}
Love the old French novels and the French farmhouse table and benches at French Heritage.
French Heritage
A showroom filled with beautiful fine furnishings the owner designed herself for various designers and pieces of the company’s own label. Gold leaf, incredible French Louis mirrors exquisite reproductions and antiques as well as avante-garde Art Deco inspired pieces ~ totally on trend!
TONS of ironstone tureens inside Golden Oldies.
Golden Oldies
This must be where everything comes into port
from everywhere overseas…
Hat makers forms, chocolate molds, loving cups,
French mirrors, olive buckets in stacks…
Janie and I… Our mouths dropped open at the $$
we could have dropped there
for clients AND for ourselves!
Ave Home
Ave features raw wood designs for the home
and can customize any of their furniture pieces
with Annie Sloan chalk paint matched to your decor
or can stain as desired.
I like their ability to customize!
I think that’s their best selling point as not
every company has the ability to do this.
Ave prides itself on being very vendor and
owner-oriented.
🙂
Bobo Intriguing Objects
One of the first shops we had an appointment with on
Saturday which has really nice clean furniture lines
and a fun mix of funky accessories ~ like the cute
French bulldog who has a name which I forget
{I’m sorry!}
and cute children’s play horses with burlap bodies
but paper maché heads, legs and tails!
Bobo also carries incredible antique artists’ drawings
which would have been used as the original design
for pieces created in the 18th and 17th centuries.
Wonderful for framing
they were on my list of future wallhangings.
Bliss Studio
Lovely reproductions with that ethereal white Nordic look
that I have totally fallen for these past few years…
Bliss is making very European-style cushions
which are thicker and more comfortable than
foam-filled cushions used on a lot of lesser quality
furniture pieces.
They are featuring the Gustavian-French look
brought over from Europe
which is so beautiful and popular right now
in North America and across Europe.
I was particularly excited about this table
set up that you can see in the photo above.
I like that the demilune tables can be added to
the kitchen table to bring in extra spaces
when extra company arrives ~
especially handy during the holidays!
Blue Ocean Traders
OMGosh! We all went nuts for the many
vintage goodies found here…
My picks were horse troughs which come in three
sizes stacked and can be used in the garden
inside in a greenhouse or really anywhere.
Doors from India and the Middle East
are also a big feature here
along with reproduction wooden breadboards
doughbowls and the cutest capitals
from the Phillipines
made of wood.
A very famous t.v. personality has these
in her showroom.
🙂
Mine! 😀
These are the doors I wanted to put in my
suitcase and bring home…
Love all the colors on them!
Coming to Market has been crazy fun and
I’ve learned a ton!
I’ve linked all the showroom names for you
so you can see their products.
If there is something you’d like to buy
just let me know and I’ll
inquire for you and quote you a price.
Sharing with Inspire Me Monday ~ Create with Joy
Dishing It and Digging It ~ Rustic and Refined
Snickerdoodle Create Bake Make ~ My Husband Has Too Many Hobbies Totally Terrific Tuesday ~ Savvy Apron Wow Us Wednesday ~ Savvy Southern Style Welcome Home Wednesdays ~ Five Kids a Dog and a Blog Wonderful Wednesday ~ Oh, My Heartsie Girl Feathered Nest Friday ~ French Country Cottage Sweet Inspiration ~ The Boondocks Blog This post was featured at Dishing It and Digging It at Rustic and Refined 😀
French Ethereal Design and
Photography
is my fledgling company with its own resale license.
The roof of this home, which is massive {see photo above},
was really in need of repair and replacing. The house was originally a red brick Tudor and much smaller;
however,
in the late 1700’s, the architect and designer
Capability Brown
said that red brick was bad and ugly, so
the home was made grander and the red brick banished.
A second major restoration happened back in the 1890’s,
I believe Earl Spencer said, and
his father Edward Spencer ~ the 8th Earl of Althorp ~ had gone about attending to other restoration work around the house.
However, that roof still needed repair.
Well, when asked about it one time, Earl Edward Spencer
said,
“Well, I’ll leave that for Charles.”
Please forgive the terrible photo and cropping ~ luckily the beauty of Althorp shines through despite my wonky shot of the screen from where I sat and final editing! 😉
And this is how the current Earl Spencer came to
become really involved in the caretaking and
history of his ancestral home.
Restoration work and taking visitors on tour around the
house as a kid for pocket-changeled to
his writing about the home.
He has written one
main book
Althorp: The Story of an English House
All photos from Earl Spencer’s speech at DBCLA, 3/7/17
Lord Spencer already had a love for history
this being his major in college and
writing books about England’s history and
his home’s small part in that were just
natural extensions of this love.
Here Lord Spencer is talking about some of the different rooms within his home.
In one room’s hallwaythere are these
incredible busts of famous British figures,
{you know me and statues!}
on the doorway side are hung paintings and
busts of Spencer family ancestors.
Photo taken of a slide Earl Spencer shared from his book ~ Althorp, The Story of an English House.
Earl Spencer doesn’t usually put his family
especially his children
in the spotlight or use them in his work.
He does this out of respect for them and to keep
their family life private.
However, that being said, Lord Spencer shared
that two of his seven kids
are on social media.
One of his sons, who is still pretty young,
interviewed someone rather famous one day, and
this interviewee asked him,
“Well, how many followers do you have?”
“Four,” was the reply.
Holding back a smile, the man made a comment
or other to the effect that
he thought
Earl Spencer’s son might have a few
more followers soon.
By the morning after young Spencer published
his video blog interview
with this rock-star gentleman,
the next day he had
thousands of followers.
So, this is his son’s break into journalism.
😉
Earl Spencer talked about the house
being open to the public 60 days per year.
It was open when he was a boy, too, and as a child
his father would have his children
lead people around the house
if they were home and
this was how he learned his home’s history
and earned a little pocket change
at the same time.
Every large estate needed a way to generate revenue
for its upkeep
and
Althorp was no different.
With the restorations going on and the roof
finally under repair and replacement,
Earl Spencer collaborated with
Theodore Alexander
a furniture company
in recreating 650 pieces of furniture
at last count in its
Althorp Living History
collection.
The earl said that 40% were direct copies with every
nick and dent recreated. {he says he has to get up really close and study
the pieces to be able to tell if its the copy or the original, these reproductions are “that good.”}
Another 40% are pieces with some adjustments and the remaining 20% are pieces inspired by originals at Althorp.
His parting advice for us Tuesday afternoon was
that when creating a brand as a designer
one needs to be authentic ~
be to true to one’s self and don’t collaborate
with a partner that doesn’t fit you.
Good advice, indeed!
🙂
In closing, I want to share how warm, charming
and funny Earl Spencer was.
His love for his children and family,
and for British history work harmoniously together.
Crystal embedded faucet handles, or taps, for your bath and kitchen. The lovely ladies who work for THG ~ sorry, bad iPhone photo shots!
Kitchen and Bath
1. THGa French company which I am just learning about, has some really exciting bath products for the lavatory. Their lead designer has used tiny Swarovski crystals in several of their taps {aka “handles”} giving those pieces such a textural and tactile experience! For this girl who just came out of 14 years working with autistic children, you’ve got to get these for your kids!
They will LOVE the feel of these!
THGalso asked Lalique, the company famous for their incredible crystal vases and perfume bottles, to fashion their crystal into the prettiest rose and apple taps and fixtures you’ve ever seen {the pomme collection}. I’m sorry I didn’t take a closer picture for you, but please check out their company website online HERE. Seriously in love with all of their line! Their idea is that these pieces should be “jewelry for your home.”
2. Miele {pronounced Mee-Lay} is a German company which makes a full range of kitchen and bathroom appliances, vacuum cleaners and hardware for the kitchen and bath. These aren’t technically an individual “new product” per se; however, they are new products in an established line and they are new to me so I’m sharing them here with you. 😉 These ranges have closed burners which are particularly nice to keep food from falling down below the cooktop, and I also really like the burners as they are large enough but move easily, good for people with grip issues.
Love these double ovens! Couldn’t you see yourself cooking a Thanksgiving turkey in one and your pie and other goodies in the other all at the same time??!
I’m hungry already!
Miele’s hardwarecomes in a wide range of colors
{some shown on this display board} and styles to fit yours or your client’s home and aesthetics. Please hop on over to Miele to see their full product line.
Home Decor
3. Universalcame out with these really cute chrome and cararra marble hexagonal-shaped tables. I was in love the minute I saw them since I live in my “Small Cottage” and we need our tables to be small. These cuties can be grouped and moved around super easily as each only weighs about 10 lbs. or so. Universal had a contest to see who could style their tables the best and the winner would win a table. Obviously, I didn’t win one. Sad face…. 🙁 I’m still thinking I might call them up and see about buying one {or two or three} as they are super cute and portable! Universal is only available to the trades; however, you can look them up online at: www.universaltothetrade.com.
Today French Ethereal begins anewin our Little Prairie Home
our new Landmark 365 Charleston RV the blown~up expanded version of our former Coleman travel trailer
as we continue our new life in Texas.
And, actually, I only ate ONE of those bagels, btw…
{Still trying to be good on my diet though I was a little bad this weekend.}
😉
Speaking of weekendsit was a bit wild and windy here this past weekend but the sun is out now and the week looks to be glorious with no more rain in the forecast.
Since good weather is on the horizon, I’m looking to shoot some tablestylings for you since it is very springlike right now.
Spring is springing in Texas!
This week, I have two crafts to share with you. One involves those ripped pairs of jeans over on the coffee table that my dear husband handed me this weekend while we were clearing out unused clothes and putting other things away…
Then, here in March I head back to California for the
Design Bloggers Conference 2017
which I attended last year in Buckhead, Atlanta.
I learned sooo much from attending last year’s conference that I have more questions to find answers to and I really want to understand more.
I am looking forward to going and I also am hoping to visit
some dear friends in the area and from my former school.
At the conference, I hope to meet some of my new blog friends
as well as get to meet new vendor friends.
It’s a great time to share ideas, learn a whole lot of information
and become inspired by a mini tour of the new decor
