Shopping the Holiday Markets

It is that time of year once again… off to market.  What used to take days here at the Los Angeles show plus a week at the market in Atlanta has been reduced to a weekend here at home. That is mostly due to a slow economy as well as our new refined and focused buying.

Our economy of late, has been especially challenging in the retail sector, many of our vendors have cut their lines drastically while many others have closed their doors all together. This could be devastating for some retailers we, on the other hand, have come to relish the hunting process.

When planning for the holidays my business partner and I have taken a new and different approach to shopping, ordering and displaying. To balance price and quality we have heavily fused trans-seasonal and year-round home décor into our holiday vignettes.

These are looks that can work in any home with any style of décor.

Fall accessories and tabletop wares can be used from September through Thanksgiving (or the end of November) if they are not “holiday specific”. Stick with classic seasonal colors and traditional patterns. If you are searching for value choose large items that celebrate the entire season and small items, that are less costly and easy to rotate, that are holiday specific ie jack-o-lanterns or turkeys.

Winter accessories and tabletop wares can be used from December through Valentine’s Day. Following the same ideas above plus incorporate a “common tread” such as sugared fruits, metallics and or winter botanicals (holly, cyclamen, paperwhites, amaryllis). All of these items span the season and do not lock you in. Yes, add santas or snowmen or angels but keep in mind that you should be able to rotate those items out easily.

Our outlook on the fall and winter seasons is to use color, texture and natural elements first then sprinkle with holiday specific décor. Also, keep in mind my 3G’s of  display during the fall and winter decorating season… Gather like items, Group them together and Ground your collection on a tray, old books, or ?

Bottom line is mission accomplished. We are ready for the fall and winter holidays. As our orders arrive and vignettes are created at Le Potager, I will of course be sharing.

Next post will be of some other year-round lines we saw. I will share the trends and some insights.

Until then, happy hunting and Merry Christmas!

Vintage Furniture Finds Plus

The flea markets in southern california are somewhat predictable. Each weekend, first through the forth, different locations have scheduled events. I try to cover a large area, from north to south- Hollywood & San Juan Capistrano and from east to west- Riverside & Santa Monica.  This being the fifth Sunday of the month there are no scheduled flea markets so I am on my own. Off I went, scouring tag sales and thrift shops within 10 miles from home. It turned out to be a good day for small vintage furniture pieces and a few nice smalls.

This sweet little variation of a demi-lune table is lovely. It needs some TLC but the nice details make this piece worth the time and effort.

This is quite a substantial table. I believe it was a smoking table. Holding tobacco accessories inside and ashtrays etc on top. It features very nice details and weighs a ton! Another candidate for a mini facelift.

Not as old as the previous pieces, this cute side table features built-in newspaper/magazine and or book storage pockets on either end. The cut in handles make it easy to move even thought is also a heavy piece of solid wood furniture. I am thinking this piece is would be perfect on a covered patio, painted a fun color.

This was the most fun treasure of the day. An ultra charming wood umbrella stand. The details are like nothing I have ever seen before. The back panel is pierced with an open umbrella and raindrops dripping from it. The face is so unique! This pierced panel features four fish swimming among water plants. The piercing is backed by the copper box interior that holds the wet umbrellas.  It sits on the floor and any wall color peaking through the umbrella panel would be lovely. This piece too needs a little bit of attention, but I just love as it is, so unique.

I also picked up this nice vintage bistro match holder and...

these four pieces of antique german majolica. I lucked out with these pieces. Each in nearly perfect condition -the turquoise plates with deep green and gold embossed dandelion pattern are just great. They were made in the late 1800's by the Zell Company. Perfect for cabinet or wall display.

I think I will be posting later this week with more information and photos of my majolica. It is so beautiful and really interesting. Off to watch some olympics.

Happy Hunting! 

Blog Anniversary and Thank You

It has been one year since I began this blog. Today’s Treasure by Jen was meant to be a fun stage to share my love of treasure hunting. I did not expect the experience of blogging to have such an impact on my life.

An outlet was all I could imagine a blog could provide however, in actuality, it is the interactions, the shared knowledge, personal enlightenment and yes, even cyber friendships that have captured my heart.

I have truly enjoyed every post both written and read. I have learned more than I could have imagined about places and things and people, even myself.

Originally, I decided to begin TTBJ after being oh-so inspired mainly by two renowned blogs, My French Country Home and Paris Breakfast.  Each author brought her own style to the table. Honest in every way and true to themselves, never pretending to be someone they are not, nor wanting to be and most importantly never talking down to their followers/fans. Thank you to both S.S. and C.G. for continuing to inspire me and for their commitment to this, the blogging world.

I will continue TTBJ for those of you who look from time to time. Although I haven’t a mass of registered followers I know many of my customers link through our Le Potager website. To those of you who read and/or comment on a regular basis, I am honored and pleased that you take a moment to see what I have posted. Thank you!

I hope to continue to bring you exciting finds from my treasure hunting and most of all I hope you enjoy the posts and in turn even comment … as I would love to hear from you!

Here is to another year of treasures.

Happy Hunting!! 

Flea Market Figures and More

This weekend it took a few extra hours to do my treasure hunting. I had to work a little harder this time... nothing was going to come easy. This is never a frustration, just a challenge. It reminded me of being young and single and always finding cute clothes or home decor items when I had no money and then not being able to find a single item when you were able to buy. So, this Sunday, I accepted the challenge and was eventually rewarded.

Searching and scanning.

There are times I am not certain if I choose treasures or if they choose me?

These boys broke the ice. A vintage pair of garden statues. One is a little chipped and cracked but I did not have the heart to split them up. So they both came home with me.

They are each holding an apple in their right hand. I can imagine them sitting in a large basket filled with fall apples or even sitting under an apple tree in the garden.

When I placed a few of my treasures in a chair for a quick photo I started to see a little theme... figures.

This beautiful terrazzo mermaid is from the 1940's. At well over 3 feet tall she has a definite presence and will be a great addition to a poolside or overlooking a pond. She weighs over 250 lbs and took 3 men to move, luckily getting her home went well. 

Rarely seen in California, I found a great Bavent French rabbit figure. I am not sure I will give him up... I have not yet decided. Over the years I have had just a handful of these at the shop and each time I sold one I found myself thinking... why did I sell that? So, I will think very carefully about him.

From one of my all-time favorite vintage lines, I love this Borghese "boy with bow".

Yes, there were many figural finds and then the apple theme reappeared, from the boy garden statues, when I found this gorgeous victorian silver set.

These will also be perfect for our apple harvest event at Le Potager this fall.

The apples in high relief, branch handles and pie crust edging add to the charm of these pieces

Last, but not least, I found a charming pair of Indian Clubs. Used for exercising in the first third of the last century, they are perfect pieces for displaying with their nice height and warm wood tone. 

Thank you for looking at my most recent loot shoot. 

Next I will be sharing some of my thoughts on blogging as I celebrate TTBJ's one year anniversary.

Happy Hunting.

Antiques and a Birdcage for Decor

After far too long, today I post a loot shoot of my weekend’s treasures. Not a large haul by any stretch, but satisfying all the same.

The loot is just a touch of this and that… things that are fun or classic or unique.

There is some antique transferware, a silver stirrup cup and a Victorian covered butter along with vintage paperweights, an antique polychrome delft tile and a plein aire painting.

I love this ironstone dish with the applied daisies all along the top and the small silver footed tray will look beautiful with a glass cloche on it.

The birdcage is very large and would look great filled with décor items on a table or filled with plants in the courtyard. I had a much larger cage, in the shop, that sat upon a table. 

We hung small framed prints on the inside-back. Placed a picture frame on a stack of old worn books. Added a clock and a plant. It looked great and was a real statement piece. 

I "decorated" this one with today's loot just to give you an idea of the look.

The possibilities for a cage like this are endless. Whether displayed inside or out, it is perfect for holding decorative vignettes that could change with each season.

This cage may look a bit better painted a softer color but I will leave that up to it’s next owner!

It was fun to be on the hunt again this weekend.

Next week …the flea on Sunday. 

Happy Treasure Hunting!

Independence Day Tradition

Today, in the U.S. we celebrate the birth of our nation. Like many modern holidays we have taken creative license with what the day is truly about. You know what I mean, Santa and the Easter come to mind. Well, the 4th of July has always been a fun day in our home. It is officially our "F" day! The "F"ourth brings us a wonderful combination of family, friends, food, festivities and of course fireworks.

A house full of people, coming and going. It is the one time of year we see many of our son's childhood friends... We get to catch up with them and reflect upon their childhood antics! To me, this is the official start of summer, my favorite time of year. Summer brings us late al fresco dinners, movies out side, casual relaxed meals and best of all Sunday family dinners.  

Happy 4th of July!

I will be tag-sale hunting this weekend... highlights to come.

Happy treasure hunting!

Silver Pitchers and Shower Bouquets

June is traditionally known as a month for having showers and weddings. This year I have been asked, more than usual, to help friends and customers with wedding event decor and ideas.  Great event decor does not need to cost a fortune and can be just as beautiful, even more beautiful, than items you spend large sums of money on. I was asked several weeks ago to create three wedding shower table arrangements.

As the brides colors are blue and white with touches of pink I needed to be mindful to not make these arrangements look like they were baby shower pink and blue. I used a majority of white hydrangea and accented with a very soft pink, fresh cool blue and lush greens. I was given a very specific budget that could have been a challenge.

I decided, with their budget in mind, that I would lend three of my simple vintage silver water pitchers, that I use for decor only, to be the vessels for their arrangements.

As the date approached I was told that the budget was much smaller than originally thought.

So I had a thought...

The arrangements would not be fresh flowers, they would now be faux, silk botanicals. Faux will allow these arrangements to be used for the shower and wedding and everything in between.

I arranged the bouquets and wired them together making each one a well constructed bunch that could travel without compromising the look. This made them easy to simply drop into the silver pitchers.

The next event after the shower will be the rehearsal. By the way there are three bridesmaids so you may see where I am going with this.                                                         

Wrapping the base of the arrangements with a beautiful ribbon creates an instant bouquet for each bridesmaid to carry for the wedding rehearsal. Then off to the rehearsal dinner where the bouquets are dropped back into the pitchers and featured on the buffet table. As a budget friendly tip these could even be used as the bridesmaids bouquets for the actual wedding.

Here are the finished products, ready to provide soft beautiful color for the bride (and groom's) most important pre-wedding events, on time and under budget. They loved the arrangements and were most thankful for the ability to reuse them. Best of wishes to the bride and groom.

Antique treasures to come this week.

Happy Hunting!

Dining al Fresco Vignettes

Well, I am happy to be back to blogging after too long of an absence. Since my last post I have prepared and held an estate sale for a close friend and her family, hosted several events at the shop and had a seller's booth at an antique flea market. To say the I have been busy is truly an understatement.

 I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed it all. 

Today, I wanted to share a little bit of the Dining al Fresco event we held at Le Potager last weekend.

Nestled under our beautiful grape arbor we set several different table vignettes to showcase some of the fun items we carry at the shop designed to enhance any dining experience.

The combination of new, vintage and antique items on each table make our examples much like a table that one would set at home with a little bit of everything to complete a decor vision. String lights and candles complete the look creating a charming ambiance.

From the French table linens to the Italian dinnerware and the locally made Tufa chargers, planters and hurricanes, we layered this table with festive colors and rich textures in an inviting environment.

I adore mixing expected with unexpected. Tucked to the side of this vignette table we added a rustic antique pine piece. In the cabinet we hung an original vintage French restaurant menu, that we framed, along with a pair of fresh vegetable swags that I assembled using farmers market carrots, beets, radishes and italian parsley. The vintage long basket below was also filled with fresh produce. This is a wonderful and affordable way to decorate any table almost any time.

I hope you are inspired to create a festive table for your next al fresco meal. I plan on having our dinners al fresco from now until Halloween.

I will be back to treasure hunting this weekend.

Bon Appetit and happy hunting!