Traveling France…finding French chandeliers

You’d never know by looking at my house that I just love chandeliers. I have one in my dining room and one at the top of my stairs. 

I find chandeliers so elegant, graceful, (well, the ones I like) and each design is so different and beautiful. I’m really drawn to the chandeliers with crystals, but for some reason, in the shop and my house, I only have wall sconces with crystals.

We found a few while shopping the Paris warehouses, and in the South of France, take a look…

This one below is French Art Nouveau, c1900. The beautiful art glass shades are each signed ‘Mueller Frehers’.

   

This is a French Mission Style chandelier with an orange art glass shade. It originally had three art glass bell shaped shades in the ‘Mueller Frehers’ style, but they didn’t show up with the shipment, merde!!

    

  You can see the beautiful mottled orange, blue and white globes…that never showed up…double merde!

When we were an the antique fair in Avignon, we found this gem, a hand-painted wrought iron chandelier, c1930. We had it cleaned and rewired and came up just beautiful.

This is one of a pair of incredible ‘Belle Epoche’ hand-painted wrought iron chandeliers. They are not electrified but hold candles, and have a beautiful green glass ball on the bottom of each. c1910-20. They are 52″ high. Stunning!!

 

At another flea market, we found another ‘Belle Epoche’ style hand-painted wrought iron chandleir, but much, much smaller! It has ‘Saxe’ porcelain flowers. Very sweet, and we had it rewired.

Wonder what we’ll find in August…mmm??

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Paris just around the corner…

A week from today, I head to Paris to meet up with my sister Amy. I was checking out my photos…you know, the ones I uploaded constantly from my blackberry. I was reliving our whole trip, and these are some of the highlights … I was reading  ‘THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE’           ….stayed in an apartment instead of a hotel in the Le Marias, our favorite area of Paris now. The apartment is on the fourth floor with no elevators and fabulous.    …I ate foire grois 5 times because I knew what it was on the menu, and it was prepared differently each time, and every one was delicious!…went to the Paris Maison et Objet where we found THE most fantastic lamp shades and Italian linens…hooked up with our favorite Parisian Cherub Jean-Pierre, he makes me laugh and laugh, and is so full of knowledge of all things French    …ate crepes, well I did, Amy didn’t  …giggled like little kids over sexy venetian goblets we found in a Paris warehouse … I bought a FABULOUS watch that I love, a great addition to my wrist don’t you think? Well, Luanne doesn’t agree 😉 but what does she know??? ;)…   …went to the Porte des Vanves flea market for the first time and found these fabulous blue enamel house numbers...happened upon the big protest march, which affected the metro, not as many were running this day, so were so full we couldn’t get on…so on we walked…  …headed South on the train to hit some flea markets and brocantes, and we found some beautiful earthenware bowls … hung out in Uzes, our fave medieval city, definitely our comfort zone  and of course, the cowboy boots as always…I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE driving around France…laughed stupidly with Amala…and drank so much coffee….I think at LEAST 5 a day  at sidewalk cafes all over, another fave pastime, except going to the flea markets and eating …sooooooo, I’m not at all ready, but I now have a NOOK COLOR, the better to fix the uploaded pics from my blackberry onto this blog. (and I’ll have a bigger screen for facebook!!!) ….AND my book for the plane is the third book to ‘The Girl…’ series, that I’ve been waiting to come out in paperback, but hasn’t…..so it’s on my new NOOK…’The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest’…..I can’t wait to read it……better get movin, groovin, schmoozin…

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A year ago…..springtime, renovating….master bedroom & bath….

I was thinking back on what was happening a year ago. We had decided to change our guest room into our master bathroom, enlarge our bedroom and add a walk-in closet…the closet is almost better than having my own bathroom….almost.

We live in a 106 yr old house with plaster walls, which I love, but not when renovating…..dust, dust and more dust. I cleaned the whole house, with bucket of water and, what we would say in Texas…rags, in hand..three times…three times!!!..But it was all worth it. We did this just 3 months before we had our house on tour….

Check out the progression.

We took out the wall between our bedroom and the guest room, making our room 5′ wider. You can’t see it, but we had to build up the floor in the bathroom because there was concrete between the floor joists…something we found out once we pulled up the wood floor. The room is over an open front porch, so maybe that was their answer to insulation????

This wall with the shower and sink is floor to ceiling white Carrera marble….mmm!

 

 

 This architectural piece, on its side in the new bathroom, is now above the bed…I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this piece.

Detail of one of a pair of antique carved, wood doors I’m using for a wall built-in. We found these doors at the Paris flea market.

I used my grandmother’s fanciful gilt mirror above the sink,  and added sconces with crystals that I picked up years ago at a flea market. I have some beautiful silk fabric to make a skirt for the sink….we’ll see how long that takes!!!

A view of our room, and the master bath beyond…as you can see, the architectural piece is above the bed…the chair in the bathroom has a beautiful French blue linen. The door behind the blue chair in the bathroom leads out to a balcony that looks onto the front yard.

I used two twin antique headboards, from my mother, to make a king-size headboard. The large, oval hooked rug is also from my mom. My favorite wedding photo is now on a large stretched piece of canvas.

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Spring flowers in a little French piece of beauty….found in flea markets across France

Silver urn found in Paris holding a few tulips

Just a few tulips add a bit of color in clear glass bottles found in Barjac...those fab cherub candlesticks we found in Carpentras

My favorite French yellow earthenware with..yes, tulips again....YUM!

Pitcher, from Carpentras sits atop a bistro table we found in Barjac

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first ever….”Best of Gay Philly” Antiques Store…..inaugural issue of GPHILLY

I’m soooooo pumped! Two Cherubs Antiques has been named a winner in the first-ever ‘Best of Gay Philly’ feature in the inaugural issue of GPHILLY–Philadelphia Magazine’s new brand focused on the lives and lifestyles of Philadelphia’s LGBT community….for Antiques Shop. We’re located in Collingswood, NJ, which is just 10 minutes from Center City Philadelphia. Collingswood is on the Gaydar in this issue also….We are listed in this section also…way coooool!…..Thanks GPHILLY…………..I had to take pics of the pics in the mag…sorry for the lack of clarity.

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Springtime in Paris…theme of the Philadelphia Flower Show

  The Fabulous vignettes from Award Winning Florist Michael Bruce at the ‘Springtime in Paris’ flower show in Philadelphia. Michael won ‘Best Achievement’ and no wonder. His SHADOW ART is awesome and crazy. It captures the feeling completely. The shadows show movement ….and the bath girl….Brigitte Bardot yes???

Michael used a few pieces from the shop…a 200 yr old, First Empire (French Napoleon I) zinc tub for ‘the Salon’ scene from Paris, the 7′ birdcage c1920, we found in Montpellier, sweet gilt table with marble top is French ‘Napoleon III’ from a Paris warehouse, and the oil cloth bags are new from a French company just in this month.

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Three of my favorites from the Paris Flea Market left the shop this month!

We found all three of these great French antiques at Saint Ouen in Paris…the famous flea market. One piece shipped out to California, and the other two went to a home right here in Collingswood. I know they will enjoy them as much as I enjoyed having them in the shop.

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New Photos of Store

Check out the iron candle garland over table....found at the Paris Home & Gift Show

I couldn’t pass this one up….Paris flea market

I’ve moved the store around again…New things from our latest trip moving front stage.

View with the 10' vineyard table with earthenware and 200 year old mantle in background

French Yellow Duck Confit Pots from Carpentras, France

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New Photos of Two Cherubs

We set up our 10′ antique French vineyard farm table in the middle of the shop, and set it with a mix of fabulous antique French dishes. The ones with the birds are especially yummy. I love black candles.

10' French Antique Vineyard Table

Two 19th Century Framed Prints from our latest trip

Monogrammed Flat Sheets from the South of France make great tablecloths.

Can you see the birds on the plates?...I'll have to take a better photo...

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Maison & Objets Show in Paris

Chairs, Chairs, and more Chairs

One of my goals was to get to the Maison & Objets in Paris….home and gift show. We couldn’t take photos inside…but snuck a few. Jean-Pierre got caught taking pictures in one booth…this woman demanded he erase the photos right there so she could see him do it…..MErde! Amala and I kept right on going…we didn’t want to get kicked out! JEan PierRe felt like a KindeRgartEner!

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