PURCHASE REVIEW!!!

Ahhh... the blessed purchase reviews. That's a throwback to my fabulous days working at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston when our offices were offsite in the Copley mall and myself and 5 other lovely ladies worked in one room together (with a handful of other lovely ladies just outside the door) and would oftentimes come back from our lunchbreaks with new goods to show off. Someone would come back with bags and we'd all yell "PURCHASE REVIEW!!". Loved it.

So here are two recent purchases... both that I am very proud of and cannot wait to showcase in my new home (which by the way, I close on tomorrow! Eek! Yay! Scary!).

The first item I found at an estate sale... not just any estate sale but the one of a sweet Edith Franklin... a famous and established Toledo pottery artist. I bought a handful of lovely pottery from the sale and some nice pastels so I can create my own "masterpieces" (notice I humbly put that word in quotations!). But my favorite purchase was this large oil painting. A complete abstract I have discovered that the artist John Black actually had a one-man show at the Toledo Museum of Art back in 1963... when this painting was made. Hmmm... I wonder if this piece was perhaps made for that show and once hang in the wall of a fancy art museum. Ironically as well, after some research I found that Ms. Franklin (who I had the pleasure of having a nice yet short conversation with that day) is actually a graduate from Boston's School of the Museum of Fine Arts! What a fun coincidence! Anyhow, I got a complete steal on the piece... I paid less than I probably would for a framed Pier 1, Pottery Barn or even IKEA piece. But I love it as if I paid 10x as much.




The other item I just purchased today at a WONDERFUL antique shop in Ann Arbor called Treasure Mart. I went there to visit a craigslist sale that featured a tan Barcelona chair... that was actually not in great condition and a weird greenish shade of tan so I passed. But luckily I hit up this gem of a store while I was in town.

First of all, let me add that Ann Arbor is a GORGEOUS town. I have never been there and the downtown area is all charming and tree-lined with amazing old homes. I'd love to go for a run there or sit in a local cafe and drink my cappuccino on a Sunday morning. But this store was RIDICULOUS! I loved it. Amazing everything -- furniture, lamps, art, books. And tons of it. Three different levels plus it was pouring in the garage, porch and driveway. Immediately I noticed things were all reasonably priced and in reasonably good shape but when I stumbled on a Duncan Phyfe mahogany dining room table for a mere $125, I lept on it before I even walked through the rest of the store. With that price, I couldn't risk losing it by 5 minutes! Upon claiming it and going to walk through the rest of the store to see if I wanted to buy anything else, I immediately noticed that it had an additional two leaves in a wonderfully custom-made crate underneath the table... which was a complete shock because already this table measured about 96" long! I later learned that it had 5 total leaves and expands from 48" to 108"! Talk about a dinner party! It will look even better when I pair it with some contemporary chairs and a shiny chrome light fixture of sorts. It was in impeccable shape as well... check out the images... but even more exciting for my $125 purchase, check out the similar listings for the exact same table (with less leaves) that have it listed at $1000!

Additionally, let me just add that the service at Treasure Mart was just amazing as well... two men shrink-wrapped and carefully loaded the "treasured" table into my pick-up truck with furniture pads (that they lent me under the condition that I return them in 2 or 3 weeks when I get a chance). They literally spent about 15 extra minutes just making sure I was all set and they were the nicest, friendliest guys to boot. I will DEFINITELY be coming back to this wonderful gem. Apparently the turnover there is pretty amazing which isn't a surprise given its great location and the amount of people there on a random Wednesday afternoon!

Listing 1 http://www.goantiques.com/detail,mahgany-drop-leaf,2269878.html

Listing 2 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380234518982&rvr_id=147418976914&crlp=1_263602_263622&UA=M*F%3F&GUID=4111aec512b0a06c1b770637ffded6dd&itemid=380234518982&ff4=263602_263622

Designer Squared

Hopefully my graphic design skillz will translate to interior decorating skillz as well. I've had fun at least impersonating an interiorista and even if it doesn't look professional -- it certainly is getting me excited for the new pad. It may seem like I'm a bit anal-retentive here, but actually the MORE I seem to plan out kitchen renovations and furniture plans, the more flexibility I feel when I'm actually out buying the pieces that will go into the room because I'm so familiar with my final vision (hence also why these sketches are still in erasable pencil format in my sketch pad).

Check out my big plans for the living/dining areas of the new house. Sure, there's a lot of new fancypants furniture in there (including that silly Arhaus Reese chair that I'm just praying will be ours after we hit the Powerball), but its a long-term goal and with the drawings here as a guide, I know I won't just comfortable and end up stuck in a rut too easily. I think I may just frame the drawings and hang them so I can admire them from my bean-bags chairs until I get there.

Dear Arhaus,

I'm obsessed with your Reese chair (hey readers: its so much prettier than this photo in person... with a beautiful weathered look that is just delicious). Its like the most caramel-ly lovable version of the classic Barcelona chair that is just not my thing in its traditional black or white leather. I kind of need to have it. Even my fiancé is pretty infatuated with it.

However, even at your sale price of $1299, it is still more expensive than the ENTIRE sectional sofa I've picked out at West Elm. Yet, it doesn't seem like the look will go very well with the plastic folding chairs that I'll have to buy on marked-down-twice-fire-sale if I indeed spent that kind of money on ONE FREAKING CHAIR! For that price, I would like a nightly foot massage thrown in for a year.

Let me know if you could possibly arrange that and we'll talk. Otherwise, I'll just continue to stalk and dream of that damn stupid chair that I love so much.

Thanks.

Oh and PS: if I do break down and somehow decide to buy all of my other furniture at Big Lots so I can afford this chair, I really don't appreciate spending that kind of bank and waiting 10+ weeks to sit my butt on it. Just saying.