Antiques

Brimfield Antique Show/shopping fun

Written on September 22, 2011 at 9:23 am
By Michael Diver

The scene: the Brimfield antique show. The set-up: Collect business cards from among the many designers and bloggers who were enjoying both the antique show and the Brimfield Tweet-Up. (What? You don’t know what a tweet-up is??) The fun: Draw three cards and give each “winner” $200 to spend 5 hours shopping the fields for treasure, with the request they report back to us with their finds.

Let’s take our shoppers in alphabetical order. Allison Abbott is a designer from West Newton, Massachusetts, who places special emphasis on renovating with smart green practices. (Check out Allison’s lively blog at greenwithrenvy.blogspot.com.) Allison was a perfect match for shopping at Brimfield: What better place than a crazy-big flea market to find old or tarnished pieces just waiting to be repurposed and placed in a new home?

Allison said she had no particular plan in mind for her $200; in her words, she just “wandered” the fields and kept her eyes open. And the thing that caught her eye was a small collapsible rocker that had once graced the porch of an old farmhouse in upstate New York. She says she was drawn to it because she loves to use small chairs as decorative accents.

Allison’s plan for the chair: Paint it in a Benjamin Moore taupe (Interlude AF 135) and re-cover it in an antique Hungarian grain-sack fabric that she found at Brimfield in the almost-fantastical tent of Pandora de Balthazár. She’ll also dress up the chair with 1940s-era buttons and Belgian trim—also found in the tents at Brimfield.

Allison actually brought us money back! (Talk about recycling.) She spent only $23 on the chair, about $80 on the fabric, and another $55 on the buttons and trim. She did pass on one rueful lesson from her wanderings: She saw a great little side table that she decided she could go back and purchase later. When she went back to buy it—too late. It was gone. “When you are at a flea market, get it when you see it,” Allison says.

We hope Allison will send us a photo of the refurbished chair. If she does, we’ll post it. And we’ll post the fabulous finds of our other two shoppers early next week.

Free design consultation with award-winning designers

Written on April 27, 2011 at 11:43 am
By Doris Athineos

Consider cruising the five-day Spring Show NYC as 65 dealers from around the country strut their stuff at the Park Avenue Armory. The show opens this Thursday and all opening-night proceeds benefit the ASPCA which explains the spotlight on animal-themed antiques. At the press preview, we fell for an ancient bronze ganesh, a pair of dashing Chinese porcelain hawks, a powerful terra-cotta Mastiff (above), and eagle-topped bull’s eye mirror, but you may also leave with one of the  leashed critters (up for adoption!) greeting guests at the door Thursday evening. On Friday night, Traditional Home’s award-winning “New Trad” designers will offer one-on-one design consultations gratis so come armed with your photos, paints chips and floor plans. There’s also a chance to bid for more extensive consultations with designs pros Patrik Lonn and Sara Gilbane, among others.

Never has the Armory looked more alive!

Strength in Numbers

Written on May 26, 2010 at 1:31 pm
By Doris Athineos

For decorative arts devotees, nothing is better than finding lots of fine furnishings and art all under one roof. Better if the roof covers all periods and styles as well as (clearly marked) reproductions and contemporary craft.  Look no further than midtown Manhattan where you’ll find Center44 (222 East 44th Street), a few blocks west of the United Nations.

Proprietors Paul Plumadore and Jim Tindell are the kind of people who make the business of buying and selling antiques pure pleasure. They’ve invited 75 dealers to display furnishings in room-like settings and the results create sparks of brilliance. Mod, see-through lucite chairs rub up against a 300-year-old walnut chest-of-drawers. Fornasetti plates (by Rosenthal) rest on a metal table fashioned from discarded oil drums. The decorative mix, from old Ethiopian crosses to Italian modern (Gio Ponti chairs) reflect the way we live now.

Paul, a former dancer with the Paul Taylor Dance Company, designed the look of the Center while Jim handles sales southern style–friendly and gracious (chalk it up to Alabama where he was born).  Shoppers include a-list designers Bunny Williams, Kelly Wearsler, Amy Lau and Albert Hadley to name (drop!) a few regulars.  The atmosphere invites meandering (and so does the shop layout). Introduce yourself to Paul and Jim before you begin. They can help, but you’re free to browse. Most of the individual dealers leave it up to Paul and Jim to handle sales. Don’t be surprised if a few hours pass before you come up for air. And prices? Affordable. Visit and tell us what you find. Center44 earns four acanthus leaves * * * *  (And the super-groovy hanging lights throughout the block-long showroom are among the best we’ve seen anywhere in NYC.)

The New Americana by the Keno brothers

Written on April 23, 2010 at 1:48 pm
By Doris Athineos

Roadshow superstars Leigh and Leslie Keno showed  off the beauty of curves at High Point market last week when they launched their new line of furniture produced by Theodore Alexander.  Their eclectic aesthetic fits right in with the way we live now. We loved the sculptural shapes and the successful use of interesting veneers some of which we’ve never heard of (anegre?).  You’ll recognize shapes and lines from Federal shield-back chairs and serpentine chests, but applied in fresh, modern ways.  Dovetails are not hidden inside drawers but become a decorative design detail.  The Keno boys proved that they know their way around a curve regardless of century.