THE DIVINE TREASURES ESTATE SALE 2017

THE FALL VERSION

Hunting season began last weekend and to soften the thought of shooting Bambi and his mother for all of us anti-gun tree huggers Cynthia Weston hosted her bi-annual Divine Treasure Estate Sale in Lake Mills.

I had attended my initial foray into this estate sale back in the spring/summer of this year. The spring/summer version had no diversionary tactic as its reason for existing. It was just time to welcome the end of winter and what better way than with a great big sale.

The winter version, however, seems as if it might be calculated as compensation to the widowed partners of the dead hunters, or worse, compensation to those having to deal with the likes of the more unsavory prizes of the kill brought back by their hunters

The winter version of the sale didn't hold back and wasn't a disappointment. It was as equally enjoyable as the earlier spring version

Right at the front door Santa was there to give you a big ho-ho-ho getting you in the spirit to buy-buy-buy

The Chihulyesque chandelier still hung from the star encrusted ceiling,

the ladies were again all decked out in costumes and outrageous hats

and there was a slew of vintage and antique pieces all displayed in vignettes making the hunting process so much easier.

Santa not only stood outside the door but he was present in just about every nook and cranny inside as well

He was outfitted, bag in hand, with an armless Mrs. Claus

and captured in miniature form and held for ransom in a birdcage jail under the watchful eye of the stuffed Doggie Deputy

Christmas wasn't the only holiday featured in a vignette spread out around the room

It was followed by this speakeasy sultriness complete with a bevy of beautiful decanters and some fancy attire for your New Year's celebration.

If you dug a little deeper you could find the perfect gift for Valentine's Day

Or a couple of antique bobble heads and some ceramic steins to pull out for St. Patty's Day

And even though Halloween was behind us there were plenty of the things to scare the bejesus out of you.

Our daughter walked away with the this vintage poster for her room as if her room wasn't already scary enough

The sale always has a touch of being one big curiosity cabinet where you'll find the forlorn and discarded hiding in painted boxes

or a carved baby sculpture tucked behind a funeral floral basket waiting to be rescued

Even a stuffed iguana is there for the taking

We succumbed and brought home this amazing collection of insects held securely in place within this glass display box.

The sale also played with my mind faking me out on several occasions as I turned around and excused myself to what turned out to be nothing more than a mannequin.

There was also plenty to ponder over for the kids or the kid within us

From toy boats our father's might have made for us in our youth or a wooden doll brought back from a trip overseas

To beautiful antique baby clothes

To a complete game set of the non-PC Cooties. We couldn't resist the checkerboard game table. It had to come home with us as well.

This sale is amazing and will continue to be in my calendar every time an invitation shows up in my mailbox

Everyone is welcome no matter the species. There's no dress code. You can come wrapped in a blanket

Beauty is lit up everywhere. If all you want to do is observe you're welcome

If your significant other didn't bag the big one you can help them out with a wall trophy sure to please

Or send them off with a lure sure to bring in a real catch next year and giving you the ticket to come back to the Devine Treasure Estate Sale when winter turns to spring



THE GALLERY

Bee Gee's, New York, 1984
Wayne Sorce, photographer
Represented by Joseph Bellows Gallery, San Diego

HEARTH AND HOME: A JOINT VENTURE BETWEEN MAGNOLIA HOME AND TARGET

CHIP AND JOANNA'S DREAM SHOP

Sunday mornings are usually reserved for a lazy wake-up with Jane Pauley and the news magazine "Sunday Morning" but last Sunday was a little different. At eight o'clock sharp the doors on our local Target were unlocked to a waiting crowd and I was among them. Last Sunday Target's Hearth and Hand boutique was unveiled and I mean that literally.

For the week leading up to the unmasking of Chip and Joanna Gaines home venture with Target their niche on the floor of my Target was shrouded in black curtains hiding the space until the Sunday morning's reveal.

I have to admit I'm a fan of the pair even though they're a little too cutesy, and a little too formulaic. It's understandable that their HGTV program is coming to an end. How many homes in Waco are there that they can remodel with shiplap walls?

Their product line for Target on the other hand is well done, nicely designed, and offers a good selection of well-made objects at reasonable prices.

The stand alone structures incorporate Joanna's clear sense of good design. An open framed home establishes the footprint for the display.

Opening just in time for the holiday season meant that a lot of the product mix was devoted to holiday décor

I know they have a very Christian bent so there were plenty of items with a specific Christmas reference like their Advent calendar and "Letters to Santa" mailbox

Tabletop and ceramics played an important part in their collection. This array of ceramic pitchers in particular caught my eye.

Of course, their visual presence was tucked in everywhere including their New York Times bestselling book. They are pretty attractive so flaunting it when you've got is fair game.

When you talk home accessories and you want to keep your product line on the smaller and less expensive side hitting up the kitchen is a pretty safe place to go. Kitchen gadgets, dishtowels and containers were in abundance; they even offered a beautiful kitchen scale in their product mix.

Along with all the ceramic goods, metal and wood were additional materials that made a showing in their collection. I suppose anyone could come out with a metal tote but these storage bins mixing tin with brass had just the right amount of detail to set them apart from anything else on the current market

When you talk home décor and you're putting out a full product line you can't ignore fragrance. Chip and Joanna didn't miss on this one either. I fell in love with their metal containers with the brass band that came in four seasonal fragrances. I went home with two sugared birch cnadles to ring in the season on our Thanksgiving table.

Personal items was another category showing up in their virtual home display. Leather and canvas bags along with laptop and covers were part of what was being offered

These travel accessories were high on my list of holiday gifts.

They also  had these great leather gloves and at $14.95 I wasn't going home without a pair. I'm terrible with gloves and at that price I figured I could afford to lose them once or even twice and not feel guilty about having to go back and buy them again.

Not even the kids were left out in the cold. Chip managed to put out this great dollhouse. I'm only hoping that it didn't come with IKEA like instructions. No parent wants to struggle with a day's worth of profanity trying figure out how part D is supposed to connect to piece Y prior to having secured shiplap sections N through R to the mainframe.

If you didn't make it in for the 8am Sunday morning opening you may be out of luck. I'm hoping that they will continue to restock their shelves. In the past Target has developed these relationships with other prominent designers but if you didn't get there for the original shipment there wasn't a second chance. When the product was gone that was it

I felt I did pretty good with my shopping scores. Not only did I pick up a couple of candles and a pair of gloves but I grabbed this Magnolia wreath that has two beautifully chimed bells

that now hangs on our front door softly ringing in our guests for the holiday season.






















THE GALLERY

The Weinfeld Family, 2009
Frederic Brenner, photographer
Represented by Howard Greenberg Gallery, NYC

JAYSON HOME NEW YORK

MY NEW FAVORITE STORE

New York is a city in constant change. It's not hard to walk down a West Village Street, a Mid-Town Avenue or an Upper Westside side street you've walked down before and not recognize where you're at.

A new building rises to cloud level, stores that were there last season are gone and new ones have taken their place. It's hard to keep up. I have found myself standing in the middle of a block I've been on hundreds of times before with a look of consternation on my face wondering if Alzheimer's has set in. I don't recognize anything that's there now and fear I've misplaced an entire part of the city. Sometimes it's scary and sometimes it's thrilling to see all that's new

That's what happened in Soho, on Greene Street, at 138. A new store has moved into New York and I'm a big fan. Jayson Home has opened its second store. Their original store still remains in Chicago, another reason to make a trip to the windy city.

Jayson Home has an almost twenty year history of sourcing modern and vintage furnishings and home accessories.

The minute you step in front of the store you get a sense of the whimsical mix of old and new, artistry and structure, antique and vintage.
Once inside the product mix is a toyshop for adults possessing a design gene buried somewhere inside them.

There's even a bit of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari in objects like this metal goblet holding a snake's nest of woven leather whips locked away in a glass and wooden display case.

You can move from sophisticated garden tools with leather details

to amazing textiles from every continent you can purchase as upholstery or as magnificent throws with giddy tassels.

There's an emphasis on furniture throughout the space. From antique pieces that have been restored and repurposed

along with ornate mirrors and consoles pulled from estates from around the world

to Mid-Century finds that absolutely blew my mind. I so want this chair

There's also the truly contemporary and unique. This stone cocktail table with a Plexiglas insert tray was another piece that took my breath away.

Styles ran the gambit as well but even though genres from industrial to Victorian to French Moderne were all housed in the shop everything seemed to work seamlessly and flow as a singular vision

Accessories were just as varied mixing lamps with textiles and decorative items.

Tabletop was scattered throughout the shop like appetizers at a social event where you could pick from full sets

to dining accessories like these matte gray pitchers that now reside on our dining table

Another Christmas list find for me were these leather clad thermoses hidden on a shelf, a little treasure tucked away in the amazing mix of products and gifts at Jayson Home.

Trolling the maze of Jayson Home was like being on a treasure hunt where each find was more "must have" than the next.

Who could not lust after this set of vintage luggage that would set conversation rolling in any home entertainment event.

Every category of the home was covered in their mini department store. Books were tucked into every vignette.

Fragrance was everywhere. Beautiful Cire Trudon room atomizers were set out giving the room a scent I secretly squirted on myself when on one was looking

Then there's the lower level that's dressed in vintage carpets any sheik would be willing to purchase to dress up his Bedouin tent.

If you find yourself exploring the cobblestone streets of Soho make a stop on Greene Street and say hello to the finches chirping out the good news that Jayson Home has expanded to New York.

















THE GALLERY

Suzy Parker Shopping Lanvin, 1952
Georges Dambier, photographer
Represented by Peter Fetterman Gallery