coucou! the august sale starts today...

 

 

The shop opens today, Wednesday, August 5, for my August sale!

10 AM Pacific Standard Time!

These past few weeks have been a blast collecting new items. There are 37 new pieces! Today on the blog I will give you a little preview of my favorites.

 But first, I have to tell you a little exciting fleamarket story… You all will die!

This past Friday I had a little “incident.” Truth be told, I nearly choked to death. With ALS, your muscles get weak and I guess my throat muscles are getting a little weaker because it’s a tad bit difficult to swallow and if I swallow incorrectly… All hell breaks loose. I have no muscles to cough so blah blah blah. I managed to make it through the evening with the help of a ridiculously expensive machine that we have to keep at the house called a Cough Assist machine which I had to use at least 20 times that night. The good news is that the machine worked and I didn’t die. Surprise, I’m still here. Don’t worry, the story gets better, much better.

So, Saturday rolls around and I am just very nervous about eating, swallowing… And surviving. So, what’s a girl to do? She takes an emergency crazy pill and sleeps the day off because there’s really no other alternative. Sunday morning my caregivers arrived to take me to the fleamarket with my husband and I didn’t know if I really wanted to go. That was a first for me. Was I too scared? What if I coughed/choked? What if I died? What if I had a panic attack? I thought about it for about five minutes and then I realized, “So what? So what if I choke? So what if I have a panic attack? So what if I die? If any of this is going to happen it might as well be at a Parisian fleamarket, right?” Yes, I have these little conversations with myself all the time and I agreed with myself… If anything bad was going to happen it might as well be at my happy place… The fleamarket. So, off we go.

We are halfway through the fleamarket and everything has been easy peasy, thank God. Now, sometimes flea markets are good and sometimes they are not so good. This particular fleamarket on Sunday was fantastic. I was shopping up a storm. At one particular vendor, I spied with my little eyes, a set of the most gorgeous crystal wine glasses. I said to my caregiver, “Oh my God, those are gorgeous… Grab them!” As he was reaching to pick them up, another hand reached to grab them as well! I had my hat on low, as usual, so I could not see who it was grabbing for my glasses! The woman who had my glasses in her hands said to me, “Yes, they are beautiful.” I said to her without looking up, “Do you think they are very old?” She asked the vendor their history and he said that they were 19^th-century Sevres. The woman said to me, “Ahh, they are Sevres. We have the same taste. Very good taste.” At that point, after hearing her voice more, I thought to myself, “I know that voice.” I decided that I would peek up from my hat to see if my suspicions were correct. They were… That voice that was talking to me at the fleamarket about the beautiful 19^th-century Sevres crystal glasses that we shared a love for was no other than… Catherine Deneuve!

 

I literally almost had a heart attack. And to answer all of your questions, “No, I did not buy the glasses and no, I did not take a picture with her.” I would never take away antique crystal glasses from France’s national treasure and I did not want to draw any attention to her so I did not ask for photo even though I wanted to. She had escaped being recognized thus far at the fleamarket and I was not going to spoil her anonymity. Here she was at a semi-crappy fleamarket in the 14^th arrondissement of Paris on a Sunday morning with her Sunday morning hair and Sunday morning sun dress. It was obvious she did not expect to be recognized. Here’s the best part… As she was holding two of the glasses in each of her hands, she had a lit cigarette dangling from her lips… And was talking with the cigarette in her mouth! I thought to myself, “You are the coolest thing I’ve ever laid eyes on in my entire life.”

So, the moral to the story is: Overcome your fears and just live your life as if nothing was wrong because you never know what’s on the other side of that anxiety. I was scared to go to the fleamarket but I did it and boy am I happy that I did!

Okay, now we need to talk sale! I am so excited for all of you to see the new pieces. Once again, I have searched high and low all over France to curate a special collection for you.

As usual, I have my favorites…

I think it’s quite obvious by now that I have a small obsession with chinoiserie and this month is no exception. In fact, I even have more this time! Chinoiserie boxes, trays, cups and even a very special Chinoiserie match striker! Take a look…

 

 

Have you ever felt that you could love an inanimate object? I have and it’s usually either furniture, dishes or paintings. This month I have three extraordinary paintings for you that I actually got goosebumps over! All from the 1920s France, the colors in the impasto are what make my heart swoon. French blues, mustard yellows, mushroom, verdant countryside green, burgundy, pink, Tuscan orange and red. All of the paintings depict a slice of French everyday life. Take a look…

 

 

Speaking of painting, I have been searching for quite a while to find antique and vintage painters pallets and finally I found some! Take a look…

 

 

My other favorite items of this month’s sale are the French faience platters from Rouen, France from the 1700s! I have been seeing these at flea markets here and there but they are usually so expensive but I finally found some that are reasonably priced… And I have two sets! In my opinion, I would buy both sets and display them on a wall in the kitchen. Take a look…

 

 

Ever since I saw that kitchen at L’Hotel Particulier in the south of France with those black tôle trays I have been on a mission to find some. And I did! A huge black tray, a round red tray and a charming green tôle tray with bumblebees! Take a look…

 

 

 

 

There is lots more including bamboo mirrors, an extraordinary cobalt blue apothecary jar from a Parisian pharmacy, curtain tiebacks, a minimalist match striker, café au lait bowls and more more more!

The shop opens today, Wednesday, August 5, 10 AM Pacific Standard Time!

To shop the shop, click HERE at 10am PST!

I hope you like everything. XOXO