The Estate of Things

Betsy and I went to Asheville, NC back in June.  We did a little shopping and we’re just getting around to sharing. Here are some of the sights.

Asheville is a beautiful city, I highly recommend it. Not surprising that one of my favorite things to do there is play know your neighborhood and drive around the Grove Park neighborhood and oooh and aaahh at all of the old homes there. During this visit, we spent most of our time on foot in the downtown area.

One of our first stops was K2 Studio on College Street,

and a visit to Mobilia on Haywood Street yielded this,

Jamie at i suwannee played blogger hostess and gathered some of our favorite bloggers together for a round table on what to buy at Overstock.  Betsy and I were invited to put our two cents in.  Head on over to i suwannee to see the picks, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at what you can find at the “O”.

By the way, have those commercials ever bothered anyone else?

Jamie put together the montage above, links to products can be found at i suwannee

Jenny from Little Green Notebook made some great rug picks, it didn’t take very long before I was pretty cracked out in the rug section on Overstock.  And one of my favorite blogger/new mama/designers Erika from Urban Grace made some picks too.

Thanks for inviting us to play Jamie.

Well I returned finally from a 5-day trip to New York. Five days in the city for a girl like me who lives a much slower life results in relief to return, collapse on to the couch and read Charley Harper ABC’s to DC five times in a row (”book” she exclaims as she shoves it in to my lap).

I have to tell you and I embarrassed to admit this fatal error that I made before the trip but… I forgot my camera! Shameful! Oh the humanity. OK let’s move on, it’s too painful to talk about.

I borrowed my cousin Kristan’s camera whenever possible and she took a lot of pictures and we are still waiting for all of those to come together. She was packing a Panasonic Lumix camera with HD capability so all is not lost.

While in was in the city I tried to hit all of my favorite spots that I have been admiring from afar via the internet. One of the shops on my list was Ochre. This turned out to be more pleasing than I thought. The door to Ochre was really beautiful. When you’re close to it you can see the remnants of some of the paint that was stripped away, the raw quality of it is really striking.

Horn accessories everywhere, not just in Ochre but we’ll talk about that more soon enough.

I was sold on a chunky horn cuff bracelet.

interior store images all via Canadian House & Home

Some antiques were mixed in. In the back portion of the store pictured above, there was a collection of antique shaving mirrors that were in great shape. They would look sharp sitting atop a bathroom vanity in a modern bath.

The textiles are perfectly worn and soft and the whole place exudes that modern rustic vibe I love so much. Texture could be found everywhere in wire storage, turkish towels, baskets, rugs, wood-oh the fun we had.

Then I walked out of the store and saw Sofia Coppola crossing a busy SoHo street.

image via grillchef99

In October I will be venturing to New York. 

Maybe I’ll run in to SJP filming the sequel to the Sex in the City movie? I think I knew there was a sequel already but I was just reminded on Habitually Chic. Expected release date is 5/28/10.

I haven’t been to New York in about five years. We are taking the trip in celebration of both my mother and cousin’s birthdays, that means they get to pick the shows and I get to pick everything else-especially our shopping destinations. I’ve already been making my shopping list and this is whats on it so far,

• Aero
• Muji
• John Derian
• Kiosk
• Apartment 48
• Anthropologie
• Hell’s Kitchen Flea Market
• Antiques Garage
• MOMA Design Store
• Century 21
• Calypso St. Barth
• ABC Carpet
• Global Table
• Clio Home
• Jonathan Adler
• Billy’s Antiques & Props
• The End of History
• Ochre
• Kid O
• Loehmann’s

Does anyone have any recommendations or criticisms of my list? And by the way, I’m wondering if they allow photography in the NY Public Library?

After doing some searching on Craig’s List, I stumbled upon a store called Hipsteria that had several listings. To say I was excited would be putting it mildly. Hipsteria is located at 18 Glenwood Avenue in Raleigh, NC. They have some items listed on their website but there was more at the store, so I had to go.

welcome to Hipsteria

Hipsteria’s shop space is located downstairs in the Carter Building.  It is surrounded by artist studios, which is another reason to stop and shop. The grand opening is this Saturday 2/14.  The store will offer special discounts, hors d’oeuvres and live Jazz.  Email Benjamin at hipster@nc.rr.com.

The shop’s owner, Benjamin Clark has this to say about his fantastic store,

Many people find mid-century furniture very confusing - not only the many different looks, but also the pricing - prices can vary widely for pieces that appear to be very similar. Our goal is to be a “safe haven” for mid-century shoppers - a place where someone can feel confident that whatever they select, it will be of good quality and priced fairly. You don’t have to be an expert to shop at Hipsteria, just someone who appreciates mid-century design…or who knows someone who does!

After visiting, I met Benjamin and learned that the store had only been there for about a month. Benjamin told me his favorite piece in the store right now is a Paul McCobb fold-down bar. He said he is partial to McCobb because he grew up in an apartment in New York filled with these kinds of pieces.

I settled on a Milo Baugham tufted ottoman covered in gold velvet which unfortunately has seen better days. I was in the market for an ottoman and this one has a storage compartment (for toys) and it is on casters so it will easily roll around the room to be used as an ottoman and as extra seating or a soft coffee table that my little one can bump her head on and keep on moving.

Benjamin carried my ottoman out to my car, loaded it in and we shook hands and I said I would be back. He has old records and big stack of art and design books that I didn’t even look through yet.

This is a really special piece, a Milo Baugham settee with a rosewood shell, wowsers

Wasilly chair

Heywood Wakefield cocktail table

Chrome and glass end tables, made in Italy

Heywood Wakefield dining set