Shop till you drop

People often ask me where I like to shop, the honest truth is that aside from Trader Joe's and Care a Lot, I never have time to shop. In theory, I'm like many of you who like the hunt. Whether it's yard sales, antique shops, consignment shops, gift shops or the curb, I've always got my eyes peeled for a "great" piece.  That means something different to everyone, but to me, it means something that I can get for a good price, that I really love, or something I can get for next to nothing that I can transform into something I love. The problem is that taking time to shop around for myself gets pushed to the bottom of the list of priorities. That's one reason I think I had such a great time in Ohio - we went ALL over town and then some to the kind of places I love to shop.

  We went to IKEA on our trip - and while I really love an organized space, I'm not that great at creating one for myself. When I walk into those cubes that say, "this is my 325sq foot home" and everything just makes sense, I get inspired. I tend to enjoy things that are attractive over functional, IKEA does a good job of blending those.  My big purchase was more down pillow forms to replace the ones that were destroyed (you can read about that here) and some shelves to make more room in my kitchen cabinets.

                                               

Then we were off to the Ballard Design/Frontgate/Grandin Road outlet. I was very excited because I love to sit down with my Ballard catalog as soon as the new one comes and I thought for sure there would be some steals that I just HAD to have.

Of course there were things I liked - but nothing fit my frame of "good price, love it, or dirt cheap & can transform it."  Mom got this great chandelier in cream for her bedroom so it was not a wasted trip. We then headed over to Anthropologie, which I like to peruse because I think their displays are fabulous. I usually can't fit into any of their clothes, or afford their accessories, but I love it nonetheless.
  
After a lunch at Trio, where we had delicious "big salads" we stopped at Duck Creek Antique Mall.  Our friend from home Ricki used to live in Cincy and said Duck Creek is a must.

We poked around Duck Creek for an hour and unfortunately ran out of time to fully explore both floors.  They close at 5 and we can really empathize with employees that are ready to hit the road after a long day. Mom scored a pair of perfectly crusty green shutters for her screened porch, and I found vintage bamboo wine rack that I quite liked. 
Serious shopping isn't for the faint, we covered more turf afterwards but had to check out Cincinnati's legendary ice cream shop Graeters in between stops.

Graeters has some of the best ice cream I've ever tasted. Hands down. They have amazing flavors like Coconut Chocolate Chip, Mocha Toffee Chip, Buckeye Blitz, Black Raspberry Chip, Strawberry Cheesecake, just to name a few.  We become Graeters experts by the end of our jaunt to Ohio.  We may or may not have gotten some pints and had Graeters pack them in dry ice to bring home to our husbands and shop girls. 
 Some other highlights of our trip:

               Giggi, Karan and Dede - checking out the furniture at Home Emporium

We checked out Miller's in Lebanon, Ohio and were not disappointed.  We all found at least one thing to buy and most of the booths were having 20% off sales. 

 

 Karan's original still life she snagged for $30

 Dede's painting of France she snagged for cheap

My bambooed corner shelf that I snagged for REAL cheap

Dede's car loaded down with purchases

We had a ball.  Stay tuned to see where our goodies landed when we got home!

The Lady of Cincinnati

I mentioned in my previous post that Mom and I were headed to Cincinnati to see our good friend Gary.  We decided that the waning days of summer was really the only time left to get out of our oyster and head to up to see "Giggi" and get inspired after a long summer. Giggi is a decorator in her own right and was Mom's very first flower partner over 25 years ago. She's since moved to Ohio but visits often because her sister and our good friend and shop gal, Hazel, live right across the street.
 It was my first trip to see her beautiful home in Amberley. She and her husband Mark, made us feel perfectly at home.  Giggi has impeccable taste. She toted us around to all of her favorite haunts and in the evening we had wine on her back terrace. 

 

Pinot G debriefing

We ooohed and ahhhed all over Giggi and Mark's lovely home. Between her period antiques, silver and chinoserie and his collection of engravings and lithographs and rugs, I spent a lot of time just wandering around admiring things. We took a couple snaps of some her interiors to show off, but then got pretty involved in our wine drinking and looking out for the wildlife that live, quite literally in the backyard.

 A view from Giggi's "Ya Ya Room"

Corner chair covered in the Union Jack

Can I live in this bathroom?

Like, I said there are plenty of beautiful rooms and vignettes in Giggi's house to take pictures of, but we got a little involved in wine drinking and looking for deer. Giggi and Mark's house backs up to French Park and they always have deer destroying all of their plants, frolicking in the backyard. Plus, the weather was so nice and cool in Cincy, no one really felt like going inside. 

We've just gotten a truckload of furniture in at the shop, so I'll have to stop here for now, but be looking for more pics and finds from our trip in the next post.