Postcards from France VII: The Doors of Provence

I wonder if these French people know how lucky they are to live behind these dreamy doors.

Which is your favorite door?

photo credit: Miryam Lamonaca

Door Number 1, the dreamy blue number with natural ivy valance?

Door Number 2, the layered look with beautiful stencil topper?

Number 3's whimsy and bold strokes?

photo credit: Miryam Lamonaca

Or our last candidate, Door Number 4 with it's massively beautiful stone portico, and stately walnut carved doors?

My buddy, Miryam, our two beaux, and I went to visit the glorious village of Bormes-les-Mimosas in Provence. Miryam started snapping these beautiful doors as we took on our proménade around the village.

If my magic wand worked the way it's supposed to, I'd wave it and Door Number 4 would be mine. I'd love to know your pick.

Postcards from France VI: Dining Room Decorating Ideas

I bring my vintage buying tour clients to the most fantastic chateau for a cooking class in Provence. The class is given by a wonderful man named Marc. He gives his classes in his 17th century castle.

Marc is a former set designer and has Marvellous taste (with a capital M) and I thought I'd share some of his ideas with you. These ideas can be easily applied towards vintage elements.

These pictures are from his dining room and his kitchen. One of my favorite vignettes is the antique bread baskets surrounding the portrait of the lady.

He painted in a clever brown "back" for his pottery display, and added a shallow shelf on top of a long table.

This is from his kitchen. I like the use of the open shelves on the bottom to place pretty mixing bowls. They stay in view when not in use - great idea when you have something functional and beautiful.

Hasta!

Postcards from France IV

Up this little driveway lies a chateau in Provence that dates to the XIVth century. This is vintage cubed - well outside the realm of vintage and well into antiques, I thought it would be nice to look at some age old design that may inspire us when we use our vintage pieces in décor.

This is the entrée to the chateau we commoners use. I'll bet there's a grander one elsewhere in the castle.

The use of two empty unglazed terra cotta vessels is so lovely on either side of the door.

I don't think there's much here that we can use in our homes, but I wanted to show you this amazing stone carved staircase.

The yellow painted walls are fantastic with all the rest of the room appointed in earth colors. The big floor vase with the large dried stems in front of the window is a great element, easy to replicate.

Here's another use of a bold splash of color in one part of the room contrasting to subdued colors covering the rest of the space.

This can be easily replicated and is a great look. This is not lit very well, but imagine it with a spot light on it. A vintage religious statue could be placed on a tiny wall shelf or simpy have a hook inserted into the back.

Something else we can't easily replicate - I just wanted to share the lovely silvery gray green hue of the olive trees on the grounds of the chateau.

Voilà, voilà. It's interesting how not that much has fundamentally changed in interior décor in the last several centuries.

If you make it to Provence, have a visit of the Chateau de Lourmarin. There are other terrific rooms to check out including the kitchen and bedrooms.

Postcards from France I

How exciting to be part of the Etsy Vintage Team blog launch! As an American living in France, I'm especially happy to be able to connect with the vintage sisters back home.

I'll be sending over Postcards from France to show you the awesome vintage buying is over here, how it's done, and some of the treasures I come across.

This restaurant chalkboard had already been sold by the time I got to it at a fantastic brocante (vintage/antique markets) on Sunday. It says "We emptied the attic, we bring back nothing! Your (reasonable) price is our price." The magnificent turn of the century wicker chair was still for sale. He was asking 30€ (less than $40) and I'm sure he'd have taken less. Hélas I don't have a spot for it so I kept on walking.

The brocante was enormous! I really only went on a whim as I'd never been to this village before. I was expecting it to be a little village garage sale type deal (which can also be amazing - unbelievably low prices), but it was huge with hundreds of vendors, many of them professional.

There were three long alleys filled with vendors, with a babbling brook right in the middle...

...with this gorgeous Provençal village as a backdrop. I was au paradis, in heaven.

It's amazing the slices of life you see at these markets. Check out this elderly lady (who was selling the most sublime textiles from her mother's and grandmother's time) with the backdrop of a graffiti covered depot that has been out of use for decades.

My pockets emptied really quickly - the things I got will soon be posted in my Etsy shop.

Voilà tout! I hope you've enjoyed the Sunday stroll in Provence.