Gifts From My Ebay Watch List to Yours

I guess if I were a "professional" blogger I would have written this post three months ago, but as it stands I'm lucky to blog anything at all. I miss you guys.

Well. Ahem. Verklempt. Anyway, I spend a lot of time on the 'bay (we're close like that) shopping for clients and maybe probably definitely OCD shopping for myself. I learn a lot about what's interesting or desirable or unique by looking at ebay. It's a completely uncurated onslaught of mostly junk, but also some seriously amazing finds you won't see or be able to afford elsewhere. As a result of my compulsive shopping, I've amassed a watch list that must be pruned like a delicate bonsai on an almost daily basis. Part of that pruning process involves you, my friends. Vintage is my thing, but there are some fresh picks in here too. Everything is either dirt cheap or extremely well priced for what it is. I hope you enjoy.

Can we talk about how striking that art is? It's a vintage serigraph (screenprint) by Carmen Herrera and I so wish Pantone had gone with something more in that vein for the Pantone color of the year.

Gorgeous vintage French copper mirrored sconces/ Carmen Herrera Rojo y Negro art/ Vintage modernist necklace/ Vintage Stark 8x10 carpet/ Donghia fabric.

This is all about chillaxing with neutrals grounded in solid graphics. Nothing too crazy here, but you might wonder how you ever lived without these anchor pieces.

Vintage modernist painting/ Large brass Stilnovo style sputnik chandelier/ Kelly Wearstler Barcelo pillow ($12!!!!!!!)/ 8x10 Tibetan hand knotted rug/ Sascha Brastoff surf ballet teapot.

Animal print. If you follow me on instagram then you know I really do have a problem. But I loves it all the same.

Kelly Wearstler Barcelo pillow in alabaster/ Tibetan tiger rug/ Psychedelic Roy Ahlgren serigraph (that means some person hand printed this)/ Large cheap lucite ribbon chandelier (why am I not buying this again?!)/ Pierre Frey panther fabric.

Hi, I love the 80s. And the 40s. Basically I love statement pieces that pull your hair out and demand attention.

Vintage French sconces/ 40s Italian miniature volcano paintings (bigger is not always better)/ Op art screenprint by Leviant/ Contemporary Tibetan hand knotted rug.

So there you have the tippy top of the iceberg that is my watch list. Ebay and craigslist posts are not good blog fodder. They are terrible for SEO because there is no one to link to. It's dirty, thankless work. Nobody gives you a high five for pimping their page/blog/stuff. The links expire.

So hold this moment like a snowflake in your hands, precious friends. Buy the cheap stuff asap, for tomorrow surely it will be gone...

Merry Christmas.

I really and truly love and miss you all!

2nd Dibs

First of all, thank you for tuning in for the One Room Challenge series and sorry about the technical snafus brought on by extra traffic... I'm working on some hosting ch-ch-changes. Anyway, after spending six straight weeks cranking out decorating-as-spectator-sport posts, I'm still feeling a little frenzy whipped. The pace was INSANE. But the whole experience was super fun and I learned a lot and I also bought a lot of stuff along the way. When I say a lot, I mean I can't park my car in the garage anymore and my husband is pissed offus maximus. Let's review just a few fruits of my recent shopping labors, shall we?

If you follow me on instagram, then you already know I scored these vintage Italian arc lamps at Round Top a while back. My buying inhibitions were precipitously low on the day we hit the market so I have a smidge of buyer's remorse over a few things, but not these. I do need to call around and get some plating estimates, though. Anyone have experience with brass replating?

Whilst at Round Top I also bought this 80s painting by a Dallas artist that dealers kept going nuts for, but I can't remember his name and the vaguely legible signature is not helping me track down any info.

I do know that basking in the glow of that mustache might give me sunburn. I can tell this is a really good painting... wish I could figure out who done it. I also wish a new frame would jump up on that because birch wood is not doing the dude any favors.

Not content to buy just one (million) paintings, I also nabbed this Jenny Andrews Anderson jellyfish inspired masterpiece. Can't wait to get it in my house and figure out where "Abyss" wants to live. I keep selling all my good stuff to clients when they bat their cute little eyelashes, but this one is mine.

Meanwhile this picture is full of stuff I plan to sell. I already sold the needlepoints and you may recall that the cobras and black vase were employed in the service of my dinette reveal. I know someone out there desperately needs a giant brass boot vase... right? And I am dying to do a super chic moody kid room with those silly Master Simpson and Chums prints in them. I hope the child bearing world is listening to my pleas.

And then there's this. At a flea market I spied with my gimlet eye a filthy ice bucket... I'm not sure what turned my head, but I bought it and what do you know? It's a beat up Christofle piece designed by Luc Lanel in the 30s. The pits and dings were really bugging me for a while, but I'm starting to love the patina.

So to summarize, I have way too much stuff. This is not even a teeny tiny molecular fraction of the stuff that's wrapped up in the garage. Apparently I can't stop buying things "for clients," so I'm wondering if I should rent a storage unit? Would that make me a hoarder? Is it too late for that anyway? Should I open an Etsy shop? Would people buy my junque?

I even have one of these lying about. I have EVERYTHING.

Off to catalog and inventory the warehouse. Send in the jaws of life if you don't hear from me in a week.

Shot Through The Heart

Yeah, I know it's kind of old news -- Hunger Games blah blah blah -- but I can't quit with the arrows. Last Christmas all I asked for was a pair of vintage brass arrow sconces, because I have my priorities straight. Also, as I have explained to Ben 100 googleplex times, I am very low maintenance. I hereby demand a medal for my low maintenanceness.

 Or maybe just some new candles. Black? Gold?

Let me tell you a funny story about those there pillows. I was shopping away at ye olde Homegoods when some stranger walked up and asked if I was Erin, to which I was forced to reply yes because I am. It was Courtney, a very tall very pretty blog reader, and it was weird. Like I was swimming underwater and someone else with dirty unkempt hair was talking to her.

Anyway, Courtney if you're reading this and you still want these pillows, come and get them. I can't bring myself to return them because they are oh so soft and squishy and cheap. Yet, I know in my heart what I really want is a pair of these:

Pierre Frey is not low maintenance. But I can't be a martyr all the time.

I digress. The whole damn raison d'etre of this post was to share some sources with you, and here I go talking about me me me.

I want to be a giver. So here.

I made a photoshop graphic. It will probably never happen again.

1. Uttermost end table | $262

2. Arrows barrel table | $110

3. Armillary chandelier | $1680

4. Arrow pedestal table | $60

I might actually buy one of these. Guess which one it won't be?

Happy Friday, dudes.