Queen for a day-or perhaps several hundred years?

The Queen Anne style was born in the early 1700's. The furniture became lighter in appearance and more graceful looking than the bulky 17th-century pieces. Furniture was still functional but became more comfortable. Lines were simple, with emphasis a wonderful curvy quality. Today I wanted to show some variations on one of the most classic styles of furniture. When I moved into my first apartment, I had four lovely antique Queen Anne chairs-no sofa or table-but these chairs set the tone for the apartment! Whether your home is modern, transitional or traditional, there is a Queen Anne seat for everyone's style.

Material Monday-Cork it!

You sit down to dinner in your favorite bistro and order a nice bottle of wine.
Instead of the familiar 'pop' of the cork-your waiter opens the bottle with atwist of the screw top!
This brings to mind Seven-up not a fine Bordeaux! While wine corks are
being replaced with plastic corks and screw tops, cork is showing up in the
home in many forms. I have had cork floors in my kitchen for three years andI love it. It stands up to kids, dogs, spills and it is so soft underfoot.

Savvy consumers know that cork is a natural and environmentally friendly material that is both sustainable and reusable. Cork is resilient, springy, sound absorbing, shock and fire resistant, 100% watertight, resistant to rotting(making it suited to indoor or outdoor) and warm to the touch. In other words, cork has a wide range of applications. Cork has moved beyond flooring as bowls, lamps, vases, sideboards, floating pool chairs and even sinks. There is a mosaic floor made from recycled wine corksthat can be used in your bathroom.






So kick back in a cork chaise and enjoy a nice bottle of wine-with a screw top of course!

Go Green! Antiques are eco-friendly!

When every decorating magazine is talking about 'Green Decor', it is time for Miss Decor to discuss antiques. Antiques are the ultimate recycled product! If you go to any decent furniture store-a set of six very ordinary chairs will cost at least $2400. They were most likely made in North Carolina, are a combination of hardwood, softwood, polyfoam, steel springs and who knows what else. These chairs will not be handed down to your children's children. A similar style of antique or vintage chair may cost the same(or less) and the only resources they will use is in being shipped to your door. Thats it. Secondly, if purchased right, they will not only hold their value, their value will increase. New furniture isn't worth 50% of what you've paid for it as soon as it leaves the store. If you don't believe me take a look at Craigslist!

The examples above all came from Craigslist. They are all antique or vintage and range in price from $475 for six chairs to $2700 for six chairs AND a table! One set even includes a sideboard. Antique and vintage furniture will make your home decor more unique. Its not as easy as walking into a P'Barn but so much more satisfying to know you can be green while saving some green!

Please check out The Antiques Diva-a terrific information site for more information about antiques http://www.antiquesdiva.blogspot.com/.

Left out in the cold?

With the surge in the popularity of stainless steel refrigerators and those designed to look like cabinets-where do you put the grocery list, messages & all those cutesy magnets?? Well, the cutesy magnets will not be missed! When I renovated my house, I purchased a wonderfully detailed old door from ebay. Have I mentioned my passion for architectural antiques? We go to architectural salvage yards everywhere we travel whether it is France or New York. When the door arrived, it was clearly the wrong scale for our front door. My husband was quite annoyed with me-afraid that I was "wasting money"-a door that cost $325 delivered! We were renovating the entire house. I did some creative thinking....I used it for my pantry door. My kitchen cabinets are knotty alder and I wasn't too excited about another painted door(which would have been MORE than $325). The carpenter removed the glass and replaced it with plywood. I painted the plywood with several layers of chalkboard paint and voila-a place to write messages, grocery lists and so much more. Everyone comments on my door and my husband was happy because I wasn't wasting money! Thank goodness....

Creature Feature

OK so maybe this one is a little crazy......A couple of months ago I bought a fabulous cornice for over my bed. The woman who was selling it on Craigslist had such divine things in her apartment! The one thing I would have happily walked off with(besides my cornice) was a carved wooden dog. It was so cool. It was an old target from a carnival shooting gallery. Who knew something like that would be so interesting. Since then I have been a bit obsessed with carved animals, shooting gallery targets and windmill weights(more on these later). The whole world of Folk Art and Outsider Art is pretty wild. Some of it looks like my poodle did it(blindfolded) and some of it is just simply fantastic! Sooooo long story short I bought a carving on ebay. It came from a farm in Maine, the family says it was made around 1910. Rosewood? I have NO idea what kind of creature it is-let me know what you think! And what about a name.....?

Jumping into the deep end!

I have been very, very busy the past year, renovating, decorating and salivating(over the things that are beyond my budget!) I can't stand having something in my home that is just like everyone else's-unless it drop-dead fabulous! But then of course everyone doesn't have it....


I am known amoung my friends as the "go to" girl for finding almost anything for your home at the right price. Just as any fool can buy a good bottle of wine for $50, anyone can buy beautiful things for their home at Kneedler-Fauchere or 1stDibs. The prices at these places make me giggle-or cry depending on the day! They are wonderful places for inspiration but unless your budget is no budget, stick with me.



My mantra is BEAUTY ON A BUDGET(thank you Christy!). Let the adventure begin!