jupiter aligned with mars
hey guys, happy thursday. what do you have planned for the weekend? i hope a whole lotta nada or major productivity, whichever you prefer! i’m about to have a full house so it will be hard to get back here much. these last couple hours of solitude are going way too quick! i had to come by, regroup and keep track of what’s happening.
it’s been a whirlwind putting the trip itinerary together. there are so many connections between all these incredible women that have happened in one split second. i want to remember the path as it’s wonderful circle of friends and i had no idea it existed.
over the past couple years i’ve met up with some of my blog buds and have always wanted to meet with others. sharon, for example. we briefly met at the bloggers’ cocktail party in paris but didn’t get to chat much. but we kept in touch a bit and i always loved her site. turns out she’a the local brocante expert and also knows melanie. check out her site, her life and photos are pure soul food!
is this even real? she gives brocante tours so keep her as a reference if you’re in the provence area. and that’s not all.
PHOTO: hipparis-normandy
turns out my girl erica from haven in paris has been antiquing with her in normandy and they had a ball:
mimi of belle inspiration (another blog bud turned hard core friend)! mimi has been giving my flea market tours when i’m not in paris and is my soldier on the ground.
ok well that’s officially full circle and would be enough but i’m sure it’s going to get even thicker!
this image was taken by dash who is in the region now. well, it’s getting late and i officially better jet. have a great rest of your night!
french riviera antique & secondhand shops
i just liked the sound of that and figured it was a good time to stop by.
hi all, i hope you’re having a ball this june weekend. i spent the morning at the ocean and got my groove back. now i’m home, focused on researching my upcoming job in nice. i want to nail down our itinerary toute de suite. like today cause the trip is June 21. i’ll post what turns up!
french-riviera-antique-and-secondhand-shops
i just had to post a couple cute pics that jumped out first thing. this antique store is in grasse, apparently an ancient perfume-making town that inspired the book ‘perfume‘…
but i digress. first thing is getting the lay of the land. the region is officially called Provence-Alps-Côte D’Azur.
there are regions within regions. we’re looking at the 06 (although below it’s called by another name, guess it’s a french thing)
it’s such a dense country with so many villages, towns and history! this could take a lifetime to explore.
this may be sort of dull if you’re not going this year but if you ever decide to, hopefully this can be a reference. i want to get out of nice and up into the less traveled areas but there’s so much front and center!
in all today’s research the most obvious data is that the people of southern france, like parisians, enjoy a good brocante, vide grenier and their antique foires. call it what you will, they’ve been buying, selling and trading the same gems for 200 years.
googling around i stumbled on an article that gave a little backstory on the area:
‘As Gastou tells it, the mid-sixties, was the golden age of the French antiques business. “In those days a merchant could still buy, at one stroke, the entire contents of a château,” he recalls. “As a kid I was dazzled by getting into so many places and seeing such valuable things. In 1968 French priests lost the right to dispose of works of art, but before then provincial curés were permitted to sell them for certain purposes—to repair a church, for instance. Old charitable institutions and hospices, some dating back to Louis XIV, were emptying their attics and cellars.
The best antiques, like major pieces in the Louis styles, went to Paris—or perhaps to America—by the trainload. The next-best material went to the antiques dealers on the Côte d’Azur’. hmmmmm, so that’s a good sign…
anyway i have about a million notes and links to go through. i have a friend in nice who offered to take us around and all the girls (vicki, mel and corey) are on board too. whew!
well i hope you get some sunshine in these next few hours and enjoy the rest of your weekend! more soon~
nice is nice
hi gang, good morning! it’s actually getting close to noon. it’s turning into one of those days that goes by in a flash. the other day i told you i had some good news and can finally share it. i’m heading to Nice in a couple weeks to help decorate an apartment!
seems like every year since i can remember i’ve wanted to go to the south of france and explore the markets. it’s been ages since i’ve been there, once as a kid with my family and then again after college working on some ancient building restorations. but that was before i fell for the fleas and know nothing about them there!
we’ll have a van and a gps as well as our list which is everything from furniture and rugs to lights and accessories. we’re going to do the whole place start to finish in a week so being prepared is the first step.
of course google is the first place to search and i did get lost in what is obviously a magical region.
first checking out the major markets, working on the schedule and to do list.
lots of times towns have vide greniers and you never know what will turn up. researching that is its own project:
vide-greniers.org/flea-market-france
i can’t resist the old shots, this one is a flower market in nice. so easy to get distracted!
french-style-at-the-flea-market
to make sure we hit every nook and cranny i’m calling in my local expert gurus for advice. first is vicki archer of french essence who lives in provence and is an incredible wealth of knowledge. she’s renovated her home in provence and i bet knows just where the secrets stashes are!
next will be to check in with melanie aussandon who’s in marseille and has been a blog bud for years. she works with her family in their shop restoring pieces and upholstering them. her favorite pastime is shopping the brocantes.
and last but definitely not least is corey amaro, one of my favorite photographers. her esteemed opinion on the local markets and brocantes will be the cherry on top. each of these ladies is brilliant in her own right and i can’t wait to hear their words of wisdom and learn from them! if you have any tricks up your sleeve i’d love to hear your pearls too! i’ll have share mine along the way.
well, i’m going to have to sign off and will upload shots of the apartment and what’s been planned so far. my client has exquisite taste and wants to decorate with french silhouettes, meaning take the great shapes of french furniture but skip the curls and fancy stuff. so, more soon, my insatiable inbox awaits. have a fabulous friday!
the paris apartment 