A FLAIR FOR VINTAGE DECOR - IN NASHVILLE

Sometimes, blogland feels like an imaginary decorland, full of pretty pictures of pretty houses, where pretty people live (interactive Architectural Digest meets The Thomas Crowne Affair or something). But every now and then, you get a chance to interact with the virtual world in the real world, even while on a shopping expedition! I visited friends in Nashville this week, and had a chance to swing by the A Flair for Vintage Decor shop in the Gas Lamps Antique Mall, where blogger Caroline hosts a collection of lovely chinoiserie pieces that would do Palm Beach proud. I had so much fun!

I wanted so badly to strap this baby to the roof of my car and head home. But, right now, all my available shelf space has to be filed with millions of stone-weight tomes that would bring down this delicate beauty faster than you can say "book addict." In my next apartment...

These faux bamboo chairs were just lovely in person, and surprisingly comfy (I'M not the person who put the pillows back wrong...).

A fun pop of color - and ANOTHER amazing chair. I wanted them all, but I already sit too much. Maybe I could start a chair museum.

Or a table museum...

Ok. So it was me who put the pillow back sideways.

Yowzah! A China-style china cabinet to put your china in. I could get all three of my sets in here, with room to spare!

The rest of Gas Lamps was a treat too. It's HUGE, and my friends agreed that we were suffering from sensory overload - it took forever to pick through all the booths, and we found some great pieces. So my advice is:  go to Nashville for the (Palm) beach; stay for the (vintage) bounty. 

Happy New Year!

FELIZ NAVIDAD, POINSETTIAS!

For centuries, Christmas has been celebrated with various flora and fauna, from trees to holly, but the poinsettia is a fairly recent addition. We have our own U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, Joel Poinsett, to thank for its introduction to the U.S. in 1828 (in a tribute to aimless walkers everywhere, he found it growing next to a ride while out strolling), but botanists deserve our gratitude for breeding this feisty Southern flower into a demure house plant.

A beautiful poinsettia tree in Southern Living.

The U.S. National Botanic Gardens put on a display this season of various breeds of poinsettias, like these lanky, long-leafed beauties. The Aztecs prized poinsettias (called Cuetlaxochitl) and used them for red dye. 

Some of the specimens were 8 feet or taller - not exactly decorative material! I love the variegated patterns (below), the rarer, pink hues, and the tree-like limbs.

Do you bring poinsettias into your home at Christmas?

 /Images/ poinsettia tree/ all others, my own/

CHRISTMAS AT THE NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDENS

Braving the chill winter air and delighted throngs of toddlers, I made my way to the National Botanic Gardens to see their Christmas displays last weekend. It's a gorgeous building, all glass domes on slender supports, enclosing tall palms, an orchid trail, and several small streams. But things were a little different in the usually flora-filled great hall, where instead of a Victorian crystal palace, it looked like a band of hyper-active, genius squirrels with degrees in architecture went on a building spree.

To wit:

Everything in these miniatures is constructed from organic material - twig pillars, glazed leaf roofs, acorn -crusted pediments - creating a charming tableau of D.C.'s famous buildings.

Bartholdi Fountain (note the jets of water - it works!)

Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson Building

Check out those little leaf floor tiles!

The Lincoln Monument

The White House

National Museum of the American Indian (roofed in mushrooms)

The Washington Monument

The Smithsonian Castle

The Supreme Court

The Thomas Jefferson Monument (gourd dome included)

/All images/ my own/

SANITY FAIR DECORATES FOR CHRISTMAS

This year I was determined - DETERMINED! - to have a Christmas tree. But if you live in a thimble, you have to have magical properties, and mine happens to be finding tiny little fir trees that fit in thimbles. Or at any rate, three-foot-fir trees that fit in a ginger jar. Here's a little tour of my decorating. Hope you enjoy!

I love Chinoiserie, and I have a burgeoning little collection of asian-inspired ornaments (along with greek key ribbon from - wait for it - Walmart!).

I have a particular mania for glass-blown ornaments, like this darling little kimono.

A little Chinese girl carries a lantern.

What's your fortune?

A glamorous pagoda sparkles in several tiers.

A geisha, parasol at the ready, promenades the branches.

Darling panda!

An unfurled fan makes a tree topper.

A little glass fan.

Take-out!

Sushi (non-edible).

White poinsettias (badly in need of a decorative ribbon) adorn a garden stool.

Paperwhites and pagodas (apologies for the terrible photos - iPhone is my only resource right now!).

And I couldn't resist slipping a spare branch and a Chinese knot onto a picture or two.

/All images/my own/