What a fun trip! Halloween is in full swing in New Orleans, and that, mixed with the good food and music proved to be the perfect recipe for a great vacay.
In addition to eating way too much, we did a little shopping. My husband was in conferences for a portion of the time, so I spent some quality "girl time" with some of the other wives whose husbands were in town for the same conference.
We stayed at the Intercontinental which is a couple blocks away from the French Quarter. It was the perfect location and in walking distance from tons of shops and restaurants. Here is a picture of the lobby of our hotel. That banquette is in a metallic tufted leather.
In addition to eating way too much, we did a little shopping. My husband was in conferences for a portion of the time, so I spent some quality "girl time" with some of the other wives whose husbands were in town for the same conference.
A mention of thanks to my sweet friend, Allison, who lived in N.O. before Katrina and took the time to put together an amazing list of her favorite shops on Magazine Street for us to visit. There are so many places to see that without her guidance, we would never have discovered them all!
Source
Our first stop was Source. Talk about inspiration! This shop had some of the most interesting and chic items. Two of my favorites - lacquered boxes (which you know I love!) and accent pillows.
What I loved about these lacquered boxes were the silver handles in the front - made me want to peek in every last one of them!
Although it is difficult to see, the accent pillow in the middle is raw silk with the most wonderful double sided chocolate velvet ribbon trim and soft satin inner lining. The detail is so hard to capture in these photographs, but trust me when I say I swooned when I saw these!!
Here is a closer look of the edging. This one has a leather tie rather than the satin.
Very fun shop. If you are in New Orleans it is well worth a stop by Source.
Passages Antiques
Very different from all the other places we visited. This shop had a real English country vibe with scads of Majolica, including a New Orleans must have - an oyster plate. If I lived in this city, I might have several of these.
When we stepped out of this shop, these two guys asked if they could film us walking down the street with all of our shopping bags for an AOL special of places to see if you have 48 hours in the Big Easy!
We agreed to let them film us if I could blog about them!!
La Belle Nouvelle Orleans
This shop owned by Fernando Promoslovsky was such an eclectic mix of old and new. What I loved most about it was the fact that it was not displayed in any real way. Rather, you felt like you were having to dig for a find, which to me is half the fun.
He had a pair of these newly upholstered yet old wingback chairs. The patina on the wood was wonderful.
Also, I loved this piece.
A beautiful little kidney shaped table. It would be so versatile - as a side table between a pair of chairs, as a desk or vanity in a bedroom or as an entryway table. Although you can't see it from this picture, it had veneer detailing on the top in the shape of an "x."
Spruce
Spruce is a great shop full of cool accessories. One neat find were these disposable paper products.
At first glance I thought these were the most fragile porcelain I had ever seen and thought who would use this? Then I realized it was paper.
I think the larger plates start at $12 for a set of 8.
Shaun Smith Home
Far and away, my favorite stop. I loved everything this man had in his shop. It was so fantastic that I am going to write a separate post about these very special pillows[see below]. His shop is brand new, so the website is still under construction, but here is the link for future reference. www.shaunsmithhome.com
Shaun gave us a little history on this Fortuny fabric, but you will have to wait and see my entire post on it. It is really a special fabric.
Other Random Sites and Finds
We also found these wrought iron remnants. I think a pair on this design was around $28.00. They would make a fabulous pair of lamps for a bedroom.
These would look great made into buffet lamps for a dining room. (I think these were $18.00 each).
In the French Quarter, I saw this - wrought iron railing in the form of a row of corn - very unusual.
Overall, it was a fun trip. I think it's always good to get away for a bit to get a different perspective. In the words of William Hazlitt "I would like to spend my whole life traveling, if I could borrow another life to spend at home."
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