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

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)

Crate and Barrel Apples

I went to the mall over the weekend with a friend to to pick out some new eyeglass frames. I'm a sucker for kitchen stuff so I suggested we cut through Crate and Barrel so I could see if there was anything I needed. I was drawn by these Granny Smith apples that looks amazingly real.

"Look at these," I said. "Aren't these amazing?"

"What the hell are you going to do with those?" he asked.

I put them down and walked away.

And then ran home and ordered them online.

$3.95 each but they're amazing.

Cape Cod Antiques

As many times I've been back and forth on the highways to Cape Cod to visit Provicetown, Chatham and Martha's Vineyard, it's far enough away that I've never explored many of the towns off the highways. I still needed something for this wall of the living room so thought I'd google "Cape Cod antiques" to see if I could find a good place to check out on the way back from Provincetown.

Using my inspiration photos as a guide, I'm looking for some kind of chest, cabinet or table to anchor my convex mirror and artwork grouping. This is one I liked because it's up off the floor which takes up less visual space. Since the sofa is charcoal gray, I think I need something light in color to balance the chair on the other side of the room...

..perhaps more along the lines of the this chippy mantel. And maybe a small chair off to the right, like in the inspiration photo, would also add another seat for when guests come over.

There were quite a few listings for antiques shops but when I found the Antiques Center of Cape Cod in Dennis with four warehouses, I thought this would be a good place to start.

This particular building first caught my attention because I love all the garden and architectural salvage pieces they had outside. Once my front porch is completed, I envision a pair of antique urns flanking the front door so this is a place I'm happy to know about.

I'm not a huge fan of antique shops because they're so hit or miss. But once inside the doors of this warehouse, I might just change my opinion. This place is just packed with furniture--no dainty doo-dads, no frilly froo-froos--just furniture accessorized with rugs, lamps and artwork set up in attractive little vignettes. Let's take a closer look.

I love the chunky turned legs on these chairs. The vinyl could be replaced. And the back is attractive but I think I'd like the back to have more of a pattern that stands out against the white walls.

These chairs are quite interesting. The back has a nice neoclassical design but the arms are almost like elephant trunks that might be an interesting detail if I move toward the "Out of Africa" look. Lacquered black with something like a zebra or cow hide look might be really fun.

Here's a really handsome table. It wouldn't take up a lot of volume in the room but the curlicues on the bottom are really too chunky in scale. It's also maybe a bit too formal. I could paint it but it's been impeccably refinished and I don't think I could bring myself to do that.

Another thing that really stands out here are the reasonable prices. Here's a chest that's got a great serpentine front and it's got an incredible alligatored finish that you just can't fake. It's also up on legs with wheels. On the other hand, I think it's a little too big and maybe it feels a little too "bedroomy." But at $38, I think it's a great piece that I can use somewhere.

Here's a great little chest. The size is perfect. The black might work but I think it would look great painted white with some new black or bronze drawer pulls. The thing I don't love about it, though, is it sits right down flat on the floor and I really wanted to have something with a lighter feel, a little air under it.I'm not looking for an end table but this piece with its graceful lines and unique lower shelf is need of a weekend makeover but for $28 is a great bargain. And below, these unique lamps which have been rewired are very reasonable at $18 for the pair.
I don't know if I've found the perfect pieces for the living room but I've found some things that I can make great use of for very little money so let me figure out what I love the most and how much I can pack in the car.

Charles Street, Part 2

After leaving Danish Country Antiques, I stopped into Churchill & White (no website yet) a few doors down that seems to focus on chandaliers, lamps and accessories. There was an incredible selection of antique lighting but I was really taken with the beautiful convex sunburst mirrors.

This large one below was probably four feet across. And it's all metal so I can't even imagine how much it weighs.

These were certainly nice to see but I was hoping for a black-framed mirror so I headed down the street.

Upstairs Downstairs (also no website) is a quaint little shop that seemed to have a nice selection of moderately priced vintage and antique items. I've always loved this pond boats/ship models and this one was a beauty.

But my favorite piece was this barley twist table. It's not my favorite color wood but I love the legs and graceful curves of the apron.

My last stop was a shop that carried very formal, highly decorated pieces but this HUGE clock face was the star of the show. You can take this beauty home for $14,500.

Or this smaller model might suit you better for $8500.

But I think I need to go back and buy something. I just can't leave it behind.