Our Last Tango in Paris

Well, my friends, as you know I am leaving Paris. I am leaving happily but I will never forget everything that I have seen, learned, explored and experienced… and I will bring all of this back with me and it will remain with me throughout my life. Grace has one more year left at college in Paris… don’t worry, the little brat/angel will be fine without me until she graduates in May.
Over the next few weeks we will discuss more about why I want to go home…no big deal but I think it will be interesting to share with you as I am sure a lot of you have the same sentiments. However, today I am still in Paris and we have some very exciting news to discuss!
This will be my last Have Some Decorum Home Shop sale from Paris and boy, is it going to be exciting. It all involves a charming back story…
Let me start by saying that not everything can be an antique, ya know! The French know this best… It is all about an eclectic sensibility… combining the “vrai with the faux.” That is to say, true design is incorporating the real with the reproduction and there is no shame in that! A whole house of antiques is called a museum…not a home.
In Paris, there is a shop dedicated to this design philosophy. The clever owner is dedicated beyond belief to the craft of offering true French designs based on originals. Scouring the country of France, the owner purchases all of the originals and takes them back to his atelier, works with his craftsmen to replicate down to the exact detail a new life for the pieces…and offers them to you.
The success of my shop, Circa, in Santa Barbara was based on the same philosophy…to combine the old with the new. And today, by the grace of God, I have been selected/vetted to offer the line to you. Trust me, this was no easy feat and I have been working on it for almost a year. None of these pieces that will be sold on the Have Some Decorum Home Shop, Friday July 8, are available in the US. This is purely “a French thing.”
All of the designs are based on originals…at a fraction of the price…but have the same joie de vivre of the French style.
I have selected 8 styles to start with and we will grow from there…let’s take a look…
There is nothing more French than a French barometer! Every detail is perfect down to the patina to the French script. Purely decorative, this barometer would be perfect in any room of your house. 
 
 
You know how I love my French herbiers and these do not disappoint! Sold as a set of 4, they are to die for.
 
 
My heart always lies with chinoiserie but it is getting harder and harder to find the originals these days so we are fortunate that I will have 2 different styles that will always be available. A set of huge tea boxes that are so perfectly French chinoiserie, you will never know that these are reproductions and who cares if they are…they are fabulous. Secondly, we can never have enough chinoiserie boxes and now we will never run out!
 
 
 
A set of brass snails! My favorites! A perfect charming French decorative item that brings a sense of French whimsy to any décor… In a bookshelf, on a coffee table, on a stack of books, on the dining room table setting…anywhere!
 
 
You know all of those beautiful blue and white chinoiserie vases? Well, now we have a place to put them…on these perfection of perfection French gilt wall brackets! I have 2 sizes available.
 


 
Now, nothing says “French” like lighting. The French have perfected the art of lighting. The first day that this shipment of lamps arrived to our shop from France to Santa Barbara we sold out of them in 15 minutes. You just can’t get this kind of French classicism in regular ole America. I will have 2 styles available on the shop Friday. The first is a charming electrified lantern that would be perfect on your desk, your bedside table, even outdoors! The second style is the lamp that everyone wants when they come to my apartment. A brass and glass lamp with an oval gold shade. It is marvelous!

 
This is a very exciting sale and everything will be shipped to you before I leave for America. After this sale, our beloved little Gracie will take over the handling of these “French Style Reproduction.” I will select the merchandise and Gracie will make sure it gets to you within a weeks’ time. This month we have 8 styles but there will be so many more added in the future…candelabras, mirrors, lamps and more decorative items… We will never go without!
The sale starts Friday July 8, 2016 at exactly 10am Pacific Standard Time. I have just started with limited quantities but if something is sold out that you had your heart set on, just email me and I will order more for you.
This is super exciting because all of the pieces are only available in France and on the Have Some Decorum Home Shop!
Happy shopping!
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

12 comments:

  1. You have such an amazing eye. These are so typical of the things you see in the homes of "grandes familles," by which I don't mean big but grand.
    Another place with fabulous reproductions, meticulously made, is the town of Revel, just north of Toulouse. It's a center for marquetry, and they do historical reproductions or modern designs using traditional craftsmanship.
    New doesn't always mean junk!

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    1. I agree! what an eye for style! going home to
      Santa Barbars?

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    2. Absolutement! My mantra: "Every antique was once new." Proportions and craftsmanship are what make something worthy of consideration. Provenance, peut-être?

      Smiles from Charlotte Des Fleurs

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  2. Oh those snails!

    Of course everything can't and shouldn't be an antique. I don't even like the word "reproduction" in a way, because it presupposes that artisans just stopped making stuff at some arbitrary date.

    If a design is good, then why not keep manufacturing it? BTW, Gracie is lucky to get a taste of how to run a business at her age! What a great skill set to have.

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  3. To even be able to get a reproduction of anything chinoiserie is a real treat and the quality of these look amazing!
    It must have taken great effort to source all of this so thank you so much for all your hard work.
    So you will be without David and Gracie for awhile, I wonder who will be there for you to argue and laugh with? I hope those spots will get well filled!

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  4. GOOD FOR YOU!
    !LOOK AT YOU WORKING AWAY..................BEAUTIFUL OBJECTS DE ARTE!
    BRAVA.........I need NOTHING as I HAVE STOCK IN ALL and TOO MUCH of everything and a VERY TINY HOUSE!!!!
    Perhaps you will drive NORTH one day and SEE for yourself!
    XOXOXO

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  5. Oh, the snails, indeed. All of it, really. Can't wait to see the prices! Glad you've some things to look forward to. Thinking of you, as ever.

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  6. I love these pieces--the lantern makes my heart pound. So happy that you are back to your passion. Blessings for The Friday Sale. xoxox Mary

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  7. Only you. You truly have me nodding my head constantly with deep admiration these days. Please keep showing us all how it is done.
    Sending great energy for this sale...to help you pay for your move!
    And I can't wait to see what is next...because there is always something important with you...
    Much Love to you
    H

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  8. OMGOSH, you stay so busy and give me energy Ellie.....so wonderful....I so hope to meet you someday in Santa Barbara....beautiful items.....so great Grace is getting involved, another event we all suspected and I think we all read between the lines....when do you leave for the USA? Summer is here....much Love to you and chill travels thru the stupid TSA here, rediculous how much we stand in lines these days to get on a plane, get ready for that one.....absurd, be ready and plan to not miss your plane due to the TSA.....grrrrr.....XOXOXO

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  9. Ellie you never cease to amaze! I had a thought the other day (which for me is a feat in itself), and that was that I was glad Gracie pulled her 'getting out of doing a school paper and heading back to the U.S.' stunt because you decided your work here wasn't done. Selfish on my part, but it has so pleased me to see you out and about, and now this new enterprise. Well done you! I'm thrilled too that you are moving back here, and perhaps now we could have a chance to meet (again, completely selfish on my part). I can't wait for the sale tomorrow, I'll be there!

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