Fat & Sassy

I haven't bought anything on eBay in ages, though I've been looking a lot.  We've picked up a few woodblock prints at auctions recently, so I've been looking to find a few more.  Wouldn't a whole wall of them be great?  

When I find them they always seem to have colored mats and that damn gold bamboo frame.  I'm going with crisp white double-matting and simple wood frames, although I haven't decided on a moulding yet. Brett worries that we've got a lot of Asian going on, but I think that a contemporary framing treatment should temper that.

Of course while I'm there searching for the thing-of-the-moment I have to search for the long-standing favorites too.  Vintage Henredon, industrial baskets, murano bowls, hotel silver and Blanc de Chine.

Searching through those Blanc de Chine listings last night what did I find but this super-sweet buddha.  He's unmarked, 12 inches tall, in excellent condition, and the owner estimates from the 70s.  She also described him as holding "a hard boiled egg cut in half, or a seed pod."  

Whatever that is in his hand, and wherever he's from, I think he's great.  And thanks to a bid I floated and guarded tonight (watching on my phone's eBay app) he's on his way here.

Yes, he's very Asian.  But he's also all white and small enough to tuck in most anywhere, so I'll be excited to get him.  Now if I can just score a few of those woodblocks.

About your porch

Ready for something a little different?  My friend Rich was for his covered balcony.  

His place is beautiful.  Traditional, but with a lighter hand and a fresher feel.  And he couldn't find anything that would really continue that outside.

So he watched Craigslist for a while.  It took a bit of time, but finally the right pair of wing chairs came up.  The ones with the straight leg.  And he grabbed them.

His upholsterer sent the shot above.  She's nearly finished and he's pretty excited.  The tan fabric and ivory welt is Sunbrella, so if the wind blows a little rain or snow onto his covered balcony it won't be a big deal.

He liked my suggestion of using Resto's zinc klismos side table between them.  The balcony's not huge so 24 inches and round is a great size.  AND its on sale.  A couple bright pillows and the vintage german porcelain ash tray I gave him a few years ago and he's set.

Worth the wait

Ages ago late home and garden(ish) retailer Smith & Hawken put out a reproduction of an old sort of accordian-pleated galvanized planter, and I wanted one.  The problem was by the time I saw one somewhere Smith & Hawken had folded and was in the process of liquidating their stock.  Stefan was even kind enough to swing by the DC store to see if by chance they had any left, but they were all gone.

Fast forward to the first weekend in August when we started selling our vintage goodness at Bottoms Up.  While out and about looking for a bit of air conditioning I stopped by Liberty Belle,  And what stopped me in my tracks but a pair of the planter I loved.  Real, live, vintage ones, gorgeously displayed at either end of a big console table.

Of course the good stuff always costs more, especially in pairs, so I had to pass.

This past weekend we were back at it, and while the crowd was pretty good, sales were pretty bad.  It happens.  So I took a walk Saturday afternoon and stopped in Liberty Belle as I always do.  And I'll be damned if the pair had turned into a single and the price had come down to something I had no qualms about paying.  I love it when patience pays off.