Green and Orange Accents on the Table

Things are starting to come in from our orders at the gift show. The purple, green and orange pansy dishes arrived Thursday and Candy has already displayed them in the window. Purple chargers enhance the chartreuse and orange salad plates. We have mixed them with vintage Pickard gilded cups and saucers. The tall candelabra lamp softly glows in the background and beckons one to sit a spell. Note the cute little butter servers with the seed pearls. A silk green thrown is casually displayed on the 1930's gilded chair to play up the yummy green dishes. A Noir pier mirror leans against the wall in the background.

Roasted Beets on a Summer Vegetable Plate

My friend Mariterese called me yesterday with a quick tidbit on how to easily roast beets. I absolutely adore them, but hate to peel them. Her little tip was a miracle cure - roast them in aluminum foil, just like a baked potato. Since I was in the mood for summer vegetables last night, I decided to try the technique. I scrubbed them and brushed them with a little olive oil and covered them with aluminum foil and baked them at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes ( they were large size). And just like Mariterese said - Viola! - the skins just slid off and I was left with a perfectly skinned gorgeous ruby red beet! Slicing them and adding Italian green beans and fresh chopped tomatoes from my garden to the plate, I had a hearty vegetable treat for dinner. I did use the shaved Parmesan cheese from Costco. It's a handy way to have delicious shaved Parmesan cheese on hand - available in their chilled pasta section and is called Cello's Grana Padano. Sprinkle a little sea salt, coarsely ground pepper, and crumbled bacon on top and you are ready for a lite summer dinner. Be sure to visit www.designsbygollum.blogspot.com for Foodie Friday for many interesting recipes and cooking tips.

A Paris Find to Melt Your Heart!

While on our antiquing trip, Linda D. and I came across the most gorgeous Parisian scrapbook. Inside were old fabrics, velvet ribbons, buttons, engravings and gilded embellishments. Unfortunately, it was not for sale, but we did take some photos of some of the pages with our phone. They are not the clearest, but you will get the idea. While at the gift show, we did find some lovely, hand made in France, over sized parchment scrapbooks. They give the overall feeling of being an antique, even though they are new. We purchased them for the store, so that our customers can create their own version of this enticing book.

A Girl's Best Friends - Rhinestones, Crystal Glasses, and Pink!

As I am unpacking my treasures from my 3 weeks of antiquing, I become acutely aware of my fondness for beautiful crystal stemware, anything with rhinestones, and most everything pink! The beautiful pink satin prom dress was found in Wisconsin - note the delicious rhinestone buttons. It will be used in the store to display our incredible new collection of rhinestone and crystal jewelry. The gold etched stemware was purchased in the south - mostly in Atlanta. I am collecting individual stems that look pretty together, so our customers can mix and match the glasses. The vintage silver goblets look great with the crystal and will be available at the store. The rhinestone brooch is a find that I can't ever part with - I just keep thinking of different ways to use it- on a handbag, on a dress, or just simply on a pink velvet pillow. One of my favorite finds on this trip was the billowy pink peacock! Can you imagine it in a baby's room or as a centerpiece for a wedding shower? OMG. Needless to say, we have several coming to the store for our customers. Purchasing pink macaroons at Sucre in New Orleans, I have combined them with the gorgeous raspberries for the delicious pink delight in one of the gold etched glasses. Catching up on my blogs this morning, I found this beautiful pink floral cake, the pink cameo votives ( how pretty are they?) and the pink peonies with the silver votives and thought you would also enjoy the pink eye candy!

New Orleans - The Paris of the Americas

Our affordable interpretation of Antiques from the French Quarter
More Frenchy antiques from our road trip!

The Beautiful Exterior of the Hotel Monteleone - where we stayed in New Orleans.

Looking down a corridor to an inside courtyard.

A beautiful home in the Garden District.


An entree from Commander's Palace- A pecan crusted fish.

A hotel lobby in the french quarter.



Looking through the window of an antique store across from our hotel.

In Jackson square - across from the Cafe'du Monde.



The Napoleon Restaurant in the French Quarter.

The ceiling in the lobby of the Hotel Monteleone.



Dessert at Restaurant August.


The elegant dining room at Restaurant August.

A gazebo in the Garden District.

I am just returning from a 2 week trip of birthday celebrations in New Orleans, and the Atlanta gift show - what a stimulating way to get ideas for the upcoming fall season for the store. First, let me share with you why they call New Orleans- "the Paris of the Americas". Just looking at these pictures, you think you are in Paris- but no - these are New Orleans. New Orleans is a culinary dream - food presentation is exquisite. They entertain with silver, monogrammed napkins and the finest of china. Old Paris Porcelain, manufactured in Paris, was exquisite to look at in the stores, but very pricey. While we checked out the antique stores on Rue Royal and found unbelievable epicurean antiques, the prices were extremely high. But they did inspire several fall trends for the store- Collections of vintage white and gold crystal dinnerware and crystal, along with serving pieces. Since we were driving, I was able to antique through Indiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, and Mississippi , and gather many beautiful things for the store at much lower prices than New Orleans, even some Old Paris Porcelain look a likes! As soon as they are polished, buffed and priced, they will be available for purchase at Romancing the Home.