Sometimes it works out alright

Our maiden voyage selling at Bottoms Up was okay.  Friday's weather was just as hellish as it's been around here lately, so after a flurry of traffic in the morning it was pretty slow.  And hot, even with a big fan in our window.  Still, during that flurry I sold a few things and made rent.  Unsurprisingly, its the "odd object" that sells.

The weather was better on Saturday and the crowds were much bigger, so we all sold a few more things here and there.  It's a fun environment, but because the shops are in old industrial warehouses climate control is an issue.  If its cold this winter I've got great sweaters and jackets to keep the chill at bay, but in the heat of August there's only so much you can take off.

Because I've been out of business for a few years I didn't have that much merchandise to contribute, luckily Connie and Linda just moved out of their mall so they had plenty.  I went to tonight's auction at KC Auction Company in an effort to amass some stuff.

While furniture was what I was mostly looking for, there were a pair of Marbro lamps that looked promising.  They can sell high on eBay so making some money there would help me stock up for our space.  I let go of the first one, and it ended up selling for 80.  I liked it, but only enough to sell, so losing it wasn't the worst.

The orange one pictured here, well, it could totally work in the traditional/contemporary/asian thing we've got going on at Chez Malaise.  So when I bid and nobody else did I could hardly contain my excitement.  Its in perfect shape, including what looks like the original shade and finial.  Interestingly its painted metal rather than the porcelain I originally thought.  With a new shade its probably a keeper.

The booth didn't come away empty-handed though.  In spite of some woman hell-bent on buying all the furniture in the gallery I picked up this Asian-flavored chair.  The green color looked promising in this picture from the auction house, but in person it's not so great.  Even worse, that's vinyl covering the seat.  Both of those things are easily fixable though, so I've got another project to get on.

We'll be back at it on the first full weekend of September, which I believe is the 7th and 8th.  I'm hoping to have a small sideboard and a little drop-leaf table painted up and ready to go.  Also some vintage glass I picked up tonight, and with any luck maybe the chair.

Current crush

Alexa Hampton for Visual Comfort. 28 inches, also available in white marble. I like it way more in black. I also might prefer a drum shade rather than the flare. I love urns as much as lamps so you can imagine my brain when I saw it on Gilt. I googled to grab a picture and found it for slightly more than half of Gilt's price. Filing it away for the next time I feel like I deserve a present.

Modern Love

Mrs. Blandings has mentioned Joanna Votilla and Modern Love, her shop at 45th and State Line a few times, and with good reason. Joanna has a great eye and her place is always filled with beautiful things you'd love to own.

I drive by pretty regularly (Kincaid's is in the neighborhood as well) and when she was open Saturday I had to run in because in the window was this incredible lamp.

Simple, yes, but oversized in scale. The base is 13 inches in diameter and the whole thing is 40 inches tall with the (original, unadorned and unblemished) shade. Best of all though is its shiny, pristine, burnt orange glaze. Its not far off from the can of paint waiting to cover the sideboard that I'm anxious to get to work on.

When I picked it up over lunch today she said "Live with it for a few days and let me know." I've moved it around a bit and its great on a table by a comfortable chair (although probably not that chair in the first picture). It's also terribly handsome on the grey antique Chinese cabinet, but sadly big enough to block the tv that will hang there soon. So while I'm not exactly sure where it will end up, I'm absolutely positive its not going back.

Modern Love is open Wednesday through Saturday, noon to five, at 1715 West 45th Street (just east of State Line).

Before and after. Sort of.

I have some shelves down in the basement where I keep the lamps I pick up at auctions and estate sales. A graveyard or a nursery, depending on how you look at it. Some I've bought with the intent to rewire and sell, like that vintage bottle-shaped Haegar with its original finial, or the one made out of an antique French copper brazier.

More often I've bought thinking they could be refreshed and pressed into service in our home. The pair of oversized Stiffel urns that I hoped could be chromed turned out to be pot metal, so they're awaiting a trip to the body shop for some car paint. The same with the metal horse lamp, the base shaped like an oversized knight off a chess board.

This ceramic seated Asian figure came from an auction, was originally glazed in an unattractive avocado green, and sat on a corroded metal base. I don't remember exactly what I paid for him, but I do know that he was under five bucks. As is the custom here at Chez Malaise, I completely forgot to take a picture of him as purchased.

When the weather warmed up last weekend I took him outside and got to work with a can of Krylon Fusion superbond spray paint. I've never painted a ceramic piece before, but so far I'm pleased with both the apparent adherence and surface finish of the paint. He'll need a few touch-ups to cover a couple thin spots and one small run I hadn't noticed, but the shot above is representative of how he'll look when I'm done spraying him down.

A lamp shop not far from me has simple round black wood bases with oriental bracket feet, which I think will work perfectly. I saved the guts to reuse, but hope to find a silver-toned cap and neck for between the base and socket. With that he'll be done and ready for a shade, whenever I find a little spot to fit him in.

First Impressions (and another old lamp)

Last month Brett and I went out to First Friday because Harriet Bigham, my high school art teacher, was showing at Barkley down in the Crossroads. I'd always liked her work (still do) and I'm so glad she's painting again.

It was cool enough to keep the crowd down (you'll never see me there in the summer when it's more beer garden than gallery walk), but not so awful that you hated to be out. After a few galleries we walked over to Pizzabella for dinner, and then down to see what was new at Black Bamboo.

I've long been a fan of old asian lacquered furniture, and you can always count on Black Bamboo to have some great pieces. Our entryway has needed attention for a while now, and Brett really liked some of the old lacquer cabinets. Still, I wasn't sure that red or black lacquer was exactly right for where we had in mind. There was a small piece in a gorgeous burnt orange, but on our two-tone brown marble floor, hmm, maybe not.

Last weekend we stopped in Kincaid's at 45th and State Line, across the street from Mrs. Blandings favorite, Christoper Filley. Kincaid's is exclusively asian casegoods, architectural, and ceramics. She's got some really wonderful things, including the Chinese cabinet pictured above which now lives in our entry, and totally jump started us to get that room in shape.

Tonight after dinner, completely on a whim, we painted the walls. We'd been planning to since we moved in, but with the cabinet and the print (relocated from the bedroom where it was never really visible), and some paint we had on hand (Sherwin Williams Restrained Gold), we got on it.

The white crackled ceramic lamp (yes, there's always a lamp) was a six buck estate sale buy that I had rewired and waiting for the perfect spot. The new small black barrel shade and silver greek key finial from The Light Shop give it more the scale of a buffet lamp. The lines, while not expressly asian, work great with the old lacquer cabinet. A small round raku box, a preserved boxwood wreath from Nell Hill's, a candle, and we're good. This will be great to come home to each evening.