Paris Holiday Sachets

Mi Septembre Holiday Sachets


At Vintageweave Interiors, we're mad for the time French artists take with every bit of yummy detail.  So I was especially honored that this artist visited my hotel in Paris to show off her new creations...bought them on the spot!  Filled with a signature mix of cinnamon and clove, these linen sachets arrive in a classy black box making them an ideal gift.  (The extra detail of the black box just grabbed us!)

Stop in the boutique to see the vast array or shop for Mi Septembre - Paris Sachets online.

For this product only, mention FRENCH PEDESTALS AND DREAMS BLOG and receive 10% off any Mi Septembre product during the month of December 2012.

Linen Sachet Cream with wood clasp

Linen Sachet Cream Classic

Linen Sachet Natural with wood clasp

Natural Linen with Mother-of-Pearl buttons

Small trio in box

Vintageweave Interiors

*French Farmhouse Lifestyle & Antique Boutique*

7928 West 3rd Street (5 businesses west of Fairfax)

Los Angeles, CA 90048

323.932.041

www.vintageweave.com

Contact us via email: vintageweave@aol.com

2012 HOLIDAY HOURS:

Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 12-4

Saturday: 11-5

Sunday: 12-4

Chickie, Chickie Chickenwire

During my last three trips to France (over last 15 months), I spied chicken wire cloches in retail stores, at the Paris Maison & Objet gift show and in window displays at patisseries. In one such display, the cloches were down the middle of a long farmhouse table with burning votives underneath and the light down low....WOW. Instantly fell in love!

Fast forward to this past summer where my dad and I sat in the workshop attempting to create our own. After a couple of hours of cut-up hands and snagged clothing, we realized it was a lot harder than it looked to get the wire to match up around the diameter. Our results were so lopsided!

{Chickenwire Cloche Set -3; $69; includes metal zinc base}

Imagine my happy-happy smiles when I could finally find a way to bring them to the States that weren't going to cost an arm and a leg (the first artist whom I found would translate to a triple cost after shipping, customs, etc).

A party planner called recently after a bride saw them in the boutique...said bride is now going to plan her farmhouse wedding theme around them! What fun!

Each set includes a metal base. Now available at "Vintageweave Interiors" under What's New and Green Thumb/Le Jardin pages.

{Note: these have been selling like MAD, but new supplies shipping in weekly. If you have a bulk order,(+15) please call or email so that we may properly meet your event time frame: 323.932.0451 or vintageweave@aol.com}

Umbrellas That Make you Wish For Rain!

{Alexandra Sofjer Umbrellas}

Le plus grand faible des hommes, c'est l'amour qu'ils ont de la vie. {Man's greatest weakness is his love of life.} ~ Molière

These designs make us love, love, love life riddled with rain! I feel fortunate to have taken home a few lovelies from this infamous Parisian Umbrella Designer. In a word: WOW....

Drool, Drool, Awe, Ohhh.....



"WISH YOU WERE HERE" did a lovely write up on Alexandra which we ran to share with you. His shop is a MUST STOP visit on your next Paris travels....


BRING ON THE RAIN!

{Thanks to Paris Popcorn, Wish You Were Here, and Alexandra Sofjer for the photos!}

Alexandra Sojfer
218 boulevard Saint-Germain, 6e
Paris, France
Tel: 01-42-22-17-02

One can not cook with an ugly pot!

{French Potato Masher; $75 at vintageweave.com}

During one of my magical trips to St Tropez, I participated in a bistro cooking class. I'll never forget overhearing an instructor comment to a colleague "I can not cook with an ugly pot!" as she grabbed a copper tureen. I loved this! This past March I added to my own copper pot collection, a cocette ronde a couv (round concotte with lid) with a visit to my favorite Paris haunt, a chef's paradise:

"E Dehillerin"

Tucked away in the south of France is a cozy, blue kitchen with a simple
wooden table in the center and a door leading quietly out to a back garden. The
walls are covered in hanging antique objects--egg beaters, ladles, a messaluna,
pewter pans (all in perpetual use)--and shelves are crammed with vintage china
and colorful pottery bowls (the ones wiht the cracks and chips have the most
character). It is one of the most welcoming kitchens I have ever seen
--and some of the most welcoming food you can imagine comes out of it."

The above and below quotes are favorite excepts from "The Country Cooking of France" ~ Anne Willan

"I can do everything by hand--with a mortar and pestle, a knife, a
whisk--it's so much more sensual"

Call us or order online this incredible book--a delight for the tummy and the eyes! Chock full of gorgeous pictures and interesting tidbits surrounding the country cooking style of the south of France.

THE COUNTRY COOKING OF FRANCE
11.5 x 8.5 hardcover; $49
now available at "Vintageweave.com"

Côté Bastide is in the House!

Our few new finds from our friends at Côté Bastide our favorite French atelier. In keeping with Côté Bastide's tradition these beauties are created in the picturesque countryside of in the South of France....

{Orange Blossom Soap in generous 300 gram size. Heavenly scented with Orange Blossom tree; $21. Comes in simple black box}

{French Linen Envelope Pillow with red detail and three shell button closures on front. 22 x 16 includes custom down insert. Exclusively for Vintageweave and limited quantities. $345/ea}

All Côté Bastide items shown here are either available at our online store or by contacting us at 323.932.0451 or vintageweave@aol.com. We carry the largest selection of Côté Bastide in the Country and many items in our inventory are not shown in the online store. Merci beaucoup!!!

}

Vintageweave Interiors
169 South Fairfax Avenue
Los Angeles
323.932.0451
"vintageweave.com">

Paris Hunts, Haunts & Home Depot

I love being in Paris (well, that goes without saying, oui?)

A wee bit of snow flurries
Croissants
A temperature not reaching much above 33 degrees (F)
Hats, gloves, boots, scarves
A large, welcoming American Presidential Inaguration celebration/showing at City Hall (free, mind you, to the public; this event is a VERY big deal here in Paris. Very big deal.)
Did I mention, buttery flakey croissants?

Visiting favorite haunts (most fabulous ribbon store, the venerable Paris Gift/Home Decor/Textile World Expo Show, Maison & Objet, at week's end, a textile manufacturing--shhh---where they create fabrics for the likes of Chanel!!).....
........Hunting vintage finds at obscure flea markets and private sales....
...................Shopping the local "home depot" as I work on a client's Paris apartment....

I promise to share details and pics when I return in February....

Au Revoir!

Parisian Bookstore is a MUST

There's charming, and then there's charming...

Many travelers and book lovers alike flock to a little haven of rows of books on the Left Bank in Paris: VILLAGE VOICE BOOKSHOP

Opened in 1982 by charming Odile Heller (now there's a name you don't hear everyday!), all selections are impressively hand picked by her for their uniqueness. The best part? ALL ENGLISH-LANGUAGE for those of us yet to master our French perfectly.

Her latest recommendations:

HUNGRY FOR PARIS, by Alexander Lobrano
"....Lobrano loves good company as much as a good meal and the 102 restaurants he has picked, grand or small, offer both.....you get the whole experience, a true Parisian one."
{I have read this front to back and in addition to Sandra Gustafson's GREAT EATS PARIS, this one will travel with me. Indispensable for a great meal and a fun ride to read!!}

PARIS: THE BIOGRAPHY OF A CITY by Colin Jones
"...this mosaic of stories recounts the city's history from the first Roman settlements to the French capital as it is today..."

METRO STOP PARIS by Gregor Dallas
"...each one of the 12 Metro stops in the book has a significance...tells the city's history from an original angle..."
{I just finished reading this one and LOVED it! Teaches you a lot of history you really couldn't have possibly ever learned in school!!}


(Inside picture from the book, Writers in Paris}

WRITERS IN PARIS by David Burke
"..elegant hardcover with gorgeous illustrations gives a taste of the Paris of prominent American writers who have made their homes here, and also of French writers such as...Proust, de Boeuvior..."
{I love this as a coffee table book and have given several as gifts to clients!}

VILLAGE VOICE BOOKSHOP
6 RUE PRINCESSE
33-1/46-33-36-47

Paris Cote Bastide

One of the beautiful things about my chosen career is that I can pop over to Paris, meet with the most inspiring artisans and craftsmen, write it off, and call it work.........{"Nice work if you can get it, you can get it....}



When in Paris proper, there are several "must stops". One is always, always, always afternoon tea here:

I'm partial to the one in Le Marais, off Rue du Bourg-Tibourg. No matter how short the business trip or how packed the schedule, I always pop in here for a proper spot of tea. This quick buying trip was no exception.

Another must-not-miss for me, is the Paris outpost of Cote Bastide, probably one of my most favorite family of artists and soap creators as we share mutual sensibilities. Of course they take it to a level that makes me swoon!

I love the simplciity of colors reminiscent of my three favorite fabrics: linen, hemp, and burlap. They throw just the right spot of red into the mix, too.

I'm particularly loving their simplistic snow white packaging for the Coton and Lait lines.


All are available now at Vintageweave. Stay tuned for some fun twists I've done with some of their textiles and fashioned them into unique uses for a client's eclectic home....one is cutting and repurposing this grand laundry bag into bathroom curtains...


Passed by this artistic display while walking down Rue Mambourg. Love when soap is stacked...so artistic. so touchable. so inviting.
..............so french.

Marie Antoinette Pillows

Like most, I love Marie Antoinette. I love the style she represents, her carefree attitude, her love of life....

 I love the romance she exudes....

While my own personal decor is more casual, or what I coin French Farmhouse style, I appreciate Hollywood Regency, Roaring 20's and other more elegant decor schemes. Vintageweave is all about worn wood, hemp fabrics, chipped white & gold and touches of French red, with a weaving in many Louis XV and XVI items throughout the entire decor.  These other styles derive from Lucite, velvets, chrome, feathers and leather. I appreciate and adore them all. I think my friend Claudia Strasser masters this style beautifully and I love her new homage to it. Find a feast for the eyes and a bounty of inspiration  HERE.

So yes, I love the sophisticated elegance associated with the Marie Antoinette era. Her mere image conjures up a fairytale lifestyle surrounded by unspeakable beauty and approachable opulence.

Further, I am gaga for period piece films so needless to say I've watched the movie, oh...some twenty-one times (it played in the background one slew of late evenings at the warehouse)....
.... I love the exhibit in Paris....
...........I love the jaw-dropping boudoir and attire....

(all photos above from Wikipedia)

Got it? No misunderstandings here?

Love, love, love it.

So that said,  I feel compelled to reveal: I am a bit over it. (And have been for some time.) There. I said it. I am alone I know.

I'm not over HER mind you, or the decor associated with her era, but I prefer just that, a decor environment that resembles her persona, not images of her face on decor items. Seeing her plastered on everything is just so everywhere. From key chains to coffee mugs to hats to umbrellas. I'm not a lover of fads, but I do like trends (I recently read: Brittney Spears is a fad. Madonna is a trend. This sums it up nicely I believe.). Maria Antoinette's style represents TIMELESSNESS, thus the liberty taken with her image is gagging me, from ABC Home to Target to Z Gallerie.

When I had an opportunity to purchase MA-related items in January for Vintageweave, I declined. Again in March, I declined. And then again in April and June. Declined, Declined.  All items presented to me by these amazing French artists used only the finest of French silks and English trims. Elegantly done and beautifully crafted. Still, I declined....and without hesitation.

Fast forward to my recent Paris trip.  As so often happens in life, the universe sits back and smiles. Smiles that knowing, worldly, some-day-you'll-mature-to-understand, smug smile. It sees that I am laughing and contradicting myself.

Seen in Paris.
Drooled over in Paris.
Bought in Paris.
Packed in Paris
Shipped from Paris:

I love the juxtaposition of the linen mimicking burlap with velvet and silk trims and fabrics.
Several are even going HOME WITH ME

How's that for the Universe whispering "ITOLDYOUSO".

Pretty Paris in Pink

As seen walking around the Latin Quarter of Paris....

Vintageweave would work on reproducing lovelies like these, but we just love the well-loved and worn items far too much more...Alas, we shall buy the antiques and bring back the antiques to the States to share with you...

Every girl needs her some George Clooney...

even if that means a cafe break mid-day..alone with GC and his salt and pepper hair in one dimensional form. (Three dimensional is far too overrated.)

...busy, busy, busy on a lightening-fast trip to deal with a few last-minute design issues with our amazing Parisian artists...

Paris Indulgence v1

My favorite florist in the 7th Arrondissement, Paris...

One of the first stops upon landing...
Catch up with owner Danny....Load up on flowers ...
White lush peonies atop bathroom sink.
Moss w/white roses display on window sills.
Pink and white rose & hydrangea arrangement near television.
Indulgences one shouldn't live without when travelling.

Farmer's Market Maven

Sunday morn'...a quick visit to your local Farmer's Market will do you good, as well as the environment.

If you're not near an actual produce market, dream of this retailer's creative display in Paris.

"Oh, the French, how they style....."

Don't forget to take along one or three of your favorite Vintagewave Market Totes!




Dash and Albert Rug Totes are just that: made from rugs. Washable and dog friendly. Both Dash and Albert are dogs who test drive all their creations! $56/each available now in many flavors at Vintageweave!


They hold just about anything! While they certainly look ultra chic, the best part is they are REALLY USEFUL: leather reinforced bottom & straps with a generous 6" gusset.