European Country Antiques

Let's take a tour of European Country Antiques in the Huron Village

area on Cambridge's west side.

The store is at 146 Huron Avenue near the corner of Concord Avenue.

Huron Village is primarily a residential area but within a few blocks of this

intersection are some of Cambridge's finest independently owned shops.

But once you step through the door, you're in a different place and time...

a place that embraces you with its warm honey-toned woods, beautiful

painted antiques just waiting to tell you their personal stories.

The shop's website says the shop captures the authenticity of

true European countryside shops, the ones stacked to the limit with

furniture, where every time you move one piece you discover another.

Many of the antiques are in their original form.  Oh, how I wish I

had a place for this large cabinet!

Other pieces, such as this kitchen island, have been built from

reclaimed antique furniture pieces into modern forms.  There is storage

on one side, room to tuck a few bar stools on the other, all capped

off with a butcher block top with tons of patina.

There a lots of great lamps, these made from old balusters...

...urns and other architectural fragments...

...lots of great vintage and antique accessories...

...wonderful rustic tables....

...and unique case pieces to display your finest wares...

...all with incredible details.

This is another favorite piece.

A great Scottish chest of drawers.

And a nice selection of mirrors.

This trestle table is from one  of the store's custom lines.

Their tables come in two different woods, three different leg styles

and in a variety of finishes.

If you've been searching for that one special piece to finish of a room and you

don't find it here, talk to store manager Angela, or owner Ed Stuart, about the

possibility of making a custom piece designed just for you.

European Country Antiques is about a mile from Harvard Square.  On a nice day,

I would walk down Brattle Street to see all the old mansions, particularly the Longfellow

House where George Washington lived for a short time during the Revolutionary war.

Take a right on Sparks Street and walk to the end which is Huron Avenue.  ECA is on the

right just past Concord Avenue.

But I would drive so you can visit all the great shops along Huron Avenue.  There were

several that were now to me so I can't wait to get over there and explore again.

Be sure to tell them I sent you!

European Country Antiques

146 Huron Avenue

Cambridge, MA  02138

www.ecountryantiques.com

Kitchen Ceiling and Cabinet Paint Tests

There hasn't been a lot of progress on the kitchen the last few weeks but

the holidays gave me some time off that I was able to step right in and get

some things done without getting in the way.  The walls are now all primed

and ready for paint but most of my time was spent on the ceiling.

The wood planks took quite a lot of prep work, filling and sanding before a coat of primer went

on.  And then I walked around and marked trouble spots with blue tape.  There were quite a few

rough spots, nail holes and dents that needed to be filled and sanded down before touching up

with a second coat of primer.  If you ever decide to put in a planked ceiling, let me suggest doing

as much of this work before installing the wood.  It's neck- and shoulder-breaking work.

And finally on Sunday I put on the first coat of semi-gloss.  It's Benjamin

Moore Decorator's White in Aura.

It's really brightened up the whole room.  This is one of the things about the

old bakery from my hometown that I loved so much.  It seems so clean.

I really want to lighten these cabinets so paint seems pretty certain.

I've been playing with some paint to see what it might look like on the cabinets.

I bought some rosettes at Home Depot--the little things that would go in the top

corners of door or window casings--to experiment with.

I would put a lot more effort in the final finish but these are good

"sketches," if you will, of layering a few different colors.  

I used colors #2 and #5 from the Farrow & Ball paint samples

I made up which are Lamp Room Gray and Mole's Breath.

This is Lamp Room with a wash-n-wipe of burnt umber

acrylic paint that was thinned down juxtaposed against

the Carrara marble counter in my bathroom.

I think it's a little dirty looking.

This is Lamp Room with a little Mole's Breath

brushed in the recessed and then rubbed down to

almost bare wood in a few spots.

I like this one.

This one is Mole's Breath undercoat with a dry brushing

of Lamp Room over the top.  The effect is just a little

bit darker than the previous one.

I also like it.

I want to try a darker gray glaze on these to really highlight

the details.

Here's the three of them next to the stainless.

Excuse the fingerprints.

This is a little section of the cabinets that's had the finish sanded

off a bit.  Ideally, I'd like some of this grain to show through so it

might take a delicate dance of brushing paint on and caressing it off.

I only get one chance to get it right so I'll do some more samples

and perhaps look for a piece of furniture I can buy and experiment on.

Stay warm!

Maison Decor

Blogging offers the opportunity to easily connect with people around the world but nothing is more fun than finding local bloggers. One of those local bloggers is Amy Chalmers of Maison Decor.  Amy is a designer who loves french country, cottage and vintage styles.  We've often mentioned how our styles are so different but we can appreciate what the other does.  We even joked about how we should open a store with a line down the middle.  Her side would be light, feminine and romantic; my side would be dark, masculine, rustic and industrial.  It would have something that would appeal to every shopper.

Amy not only opened a store without me, she's opened two stores this year...and, although a little envious, I couldn't be happier for her.

Amy's Malden store sells vintage furniture, chandeliers, reproduction mora wall clocks, window treatments and new and vintage home accessories.

Many of the furniture pieces have been given a new life with various decorative paint finishes.

In fact, both shops sell Annie Sloan chalk paint, Miss Mustard Seed's milk paint and a variety of brushes, waxes and other painting accessories.

Amy also offer Annie Sloan painting workshops.  This is a recent class in her Malden shop.

The South End, Boston location has a much more masculine feel.  Note the 1798 Swedish Mora clock and the heavily carved antiqued French armoire mixed with new London tube roll signs and Parisian apartment clocks mixed with a vintage globe...

...and other "mantiques" as she calls them.

I walked away with a cool vintage Kodak camera on a great old wooden tripod.

The tripod needs a little refinishing but I thought it would make...

...and awesome lamp.

Amy's shop can be found online but if you find yourself in Malden or Boston,

stop my Amy's shops at the following locations:

Maison Decor Malden

50 Summer Street

Malden, Massachusetts

(click link for shop hours and more information)

Maison Decor Boston

524 Harrison Avenue

Boston, Massachusetts

(click link for store hours and more information)