One Minute Diva – Brederode’s Najaarsbrocante 2010

to 10px; width: 400px; height: 300px; text-align: center;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kcTb8DnPVW4/TO-1foPaE8I/AAAAAAAAFQg/XWCDXjsl6xo/s400/Brederode.jpg” border=”0″ alt=”” />Dear Diva Readers,

top: 2px; padding-right: 5px; font-family: times;”>It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Brederode Kunst & Antiek is back with their Najaarsbrocante the 10th, 11th, and 12th of December with a fabulous private sale in Amsterdam’s Jordaan! Brederode joins together with area antique dealers to make a special weekend of antiques, art and open doors. This year’s sale will feature lanterns, candelabras, mirrors, glasswork and a variety of French brocante items! But Brederode isn’t the only one opening the doors to her private residence for a pre-Christmas sale: visit Brederode to get a map to other vendors participating in this open door weekend in Amsterdam.

Don’t forget to mention The Antiques Diva® sent you!

When:
Dec 10, 11, and 12
from 11am-6pm

Where:
Lijnbaangracht 56D
1015 GS Amsterdam

Read past Antiques Diva blog posts on this special weekend to see some sights from former sales!

Happy Shopping,
The Antiques Diva®

P.S. The Antiques Diva® & Company blog was just featured in a list titled “40 Antique Shopping Blogs” to know! Check it out!

A Word from our Sponsor – Auction Hunters!
Tuesdays 10pm/9CSpike TV!

to 10px; width: 160px; height: 120px; text-align: center;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kcTb8DnPVW4/TN1OIyKlryI/AAAAAAAAFOk/6pdzg4vjrHg/s400/auction%2Bhunters%2Blogo.jpg” border=”0″ alt=”” />The LA Times says it “should satisfy fans of the Antiques Roadshow”

Diva-scovery: Tapisseries de la Bûcherie, Paris

to 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center” alt=”” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kcTb8DnPVW4/TNLBizOwkuI/AAAAAAAAFNs/yBb6c5UkAFc/s400/163.JPG” border=”0″ />Dear Diva Readers,

top:2px;padding-right:5px;font-family:times;”>Around the corner from Notre Dame, hidden in a quiet street away from the tourists, happens to be the best needlepoint workshops in ParisTapisseries de la Bûcherie – where you can find the most gorgeous needlepoint patterns available. Should you not be traveling to Paris soon, have no fear – La Bucherie offers an online store, bringing Paris to your front door!

to 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center” alt=”” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kcTb8DnPVW4/TNLBigglLWI/AAAAAAAAFNk/QD5q0DZ-DC4/s400/162.JPG” border=”0″ />Tapisseries de la Bûcherie furnishes decorators as well as private clients tapestries made to order and embroidered by hand. They have a large choice of designs of all French styles for covers for seats, armchairs, banquettes, fire screens, folding screens, chests, stools and wall panels, card game covers, as well as smaller designs for cushions, curtain loops, etc. Better yet, they can also reproduce a design you furnish! The guide for making an Eiffel Tower needlepoint is a standard favorite among friends and clients I take to this store.

But I must confess for me Notre Dame is my first choice!

to 10px; WIDTH: 358px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center” alt=”” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kcTb8DnPVW4/TNLBiUjKz0I/AAAAAAAAFNc/MGzKPHtWA_s/s400/160.JPG” border=”0″ />Each Needlepoint Kit sold on their site or in the store comes with (unless otherwise indicated):

  • Hand painted designs on monofil or penelope, or printed designs on penelope.
  • DMC Medici wool and/or hand-dyed wool at Aubusson, France
  • Needlepoint needles.
  • Instructions for the stitch to be used according to the canvas you pick.

The Gobelin or Aubusson stitch on a penelope canvas imitates the old tapestries and is quite easy to learn. They put instructions and drawings in each kit. If you have a problem, email them and they will assist you.

Diva Tip: Perhaps my favorite feature of the store is that if you have an antique armchair you’d like to recover Tapisseries de la Bûcherie gives you instructions on to-make-armchair-needlepoint.asp”>how you can create your own needlepoint pattern for your armchair!

Contact Details:

Tapisseries de la Bûcherie
2, rue du Haut Pavi
75005 Paris

Hours: 2pm-7pm daily except for Sunday
Or shop online http://www.bucherie.com/
Email to:petitpoint@bucherie.com”>petitpoint@bucherie.com

Do you plan on visiting the shop soon? Print directions and a map!

Bonne Shopping,

The Antiques Diva™

One Minute Diva: Clutter Control in the Bathroom

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top:2px;padding-right:5px;font-family:times;”>You might have already guessed this about me, but I’m a girly girl. My bathroom is filled with all sorts of potions and perfumes, oodles of accessories and creams for this and that. Needless to say, clutter control is down-right a necessity. And while I’m always searching for antique cupboards, cabinets and commodes for s toring things out of the way, there are a few things I need to keep within easy reach but still want organized in a more controlled environment. My Diva-worthy bathroom clutter control solution: a French brocante find now available for $60/47 Euro on “Treasures” by The Antiques Diva™ is this charming vintage champagne bucket!

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Yours,
The Antiques Diva™

(with artfully arranged bubbles!)

Save the Date Berlin: The Art of Entertaining

Dear Diva Readers,

When I learned that CHEFinBERLIN was offering an “Art of Entertaining Workshop” I knew you needed to know about it!

THE ART OF ENTERTAINING

27 September @ 13:00

to 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 317px; TEXT-ALIGN: center” alt=”” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kcTb8DnPVW4/TIEMmUrZ5cI/AAAAAAAAFF8/5RQUa3jwvmY/s400/Chef+in+Berlin.png” border=”0″ />You’re planning, shopping, cooking and working on the details for your perfect dinner party. Excellent table service is also an important component of entertaining. Will it be buffet or plated service, which side do you serve from, how do you place your glasses and arrange the cutlery? Learn how to set your table properly, make different napkin folds, carry more than two plates at a time and other excellent tips from Berlin’s top restaurant instruc tor, Robert Plucinsky. Using amusing props and a light-hearted approach he teaches service hospitality for home and business. Please join us for this unique opportunity.

►Cost: 20 €

Please email to:CHEFinBERLIN@me.com”>CHEFinBERLIN@me.com for registration details and address.

Sign up for more CHEFinBERLIN Classes! Stay tuned for details on Cooking Classes Chez Antiques Diva with CHEFinBERLIN!

Ciao for now!

The Antiques Diva

50 Best Blogs for the Avid Antiquer

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top:2px;padding-right:5px;font-family:times;”>If you enjoy my blog, then you need to know about this great list of “tography-colleges.org/50-best-blogs-for-the-avid-antiquer/”>50 Best Blogs for the Avid Antiquer” In addition to featuring The Antiques Diva™ blog, the list includes some of my favorite sources including The Elegant Thrifter and Pamela’s Antiques Blog. The list starts out with an explanation, “Whether you’re hunting for a killer mid-century lamp, Victorian knick knacks or old photographs, antiquing can be a fun and often inexpensive way to build a collection and spend an afternoon. For those looking to do a little research before they head out, blogs can be a great resource for learning about new ways to use items, what’s valuable and what’s not and discover the tricks the pros use. Here are 50 blogs to help you build your antiquing knowledge.”

Check out “tography-colleges.org/50-best-blogs-for-the-avid-antiquer/”>50 Best Blogs for the Avid Antiquer”!

Happy Reading,

The Antiques Diva™

Pen Appeal

to 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center” alt=”” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kcTb8DnPVW4/S03tFgvHczI/AAAAAAAAD_o/SgZZRD554Mo/s400/Pelikan-Pen-and-Display-768×1024.jpg” border=”0″ />top:2px;padding-right:5px;font-family:times;”>When my friend La Reine visited me in Berlin last summer, she was looking for the perfect souvenir to buy her husband, The Big Guy. Naturally, I took her on a Berlin Diva Tour, shopping at one of my favorite flea markets Berliner Trödelmarkt und Kunst- und Kunsthandwerkermarkt Straße des 17. Juni. La Reine recently mentioned our hunt in a post on her fab new blog, She’s Shopping Now, while giving great details on fountain pen collecting.

For today’s diva post, I’m sending you chez elle to read her post on Pen Appeal!

And Ladies, with Valentine’s Day just around the corner, take note! An antique or vintage fountain pen (or pen accessories) makes a great “mantique” present for your significant other!

Until next time, happy shopping!
The Antiques Diva™

Diva-scovery: Juliana Antique Textiles

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top:2px;padding-right:5px;font-family:times;”>In 2009 I wrote I a blog post titled “Buying Notions in Italy” where I shared my passion for tassels, trims, tiebacks, cords and bows. Judging by the amount of emails I got from readers on this topic, my passion for passementerie is a shared one. The French say that passementerie adds that certain “je ne sais quoi” – that little something extra- that puts the finishing touch on a room.

to 10px; WIDTH: 253px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center” alt=”” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kcTb8DnPVW4/SvwH5XQicWI/AAAAAAAAD0E/jfFFzysnb9w/s400/Juliana+King.jpg” border=”0″ />When I received an email from Juliana King, the brainchild and beauty behind Juliana’s Antique Textiles, asking for sources in Europe, I knew I had met a kindred spirit & now I bring you today’s Diva-scovery!

Juliana also adores passementeria (as well as antiques) but she’s taken this passion and designed a career for herself! She’s a pillow designer, but she doesn’t just make ANY pillow. Juliana combines antique embroideries and tapestries (and other interesting textiles) then carefully selects from her collection of European metallic “galloon” trims and sews them onto luxurious velvets, making gorgeous pillows fit for a diva!

A Few Diva-licious Pillows from Juliana Antique Textiles:

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Queen
15 x 18 – Rare antique European hand embroidered crown appliqué with metallic threading and jewels. Blue topaz velvet hand trimmed with tiny dark gold vintage metallic cording from France. $422

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Remy
18 x 18 – Antique gold and silver hand embroidered metallic ecclesiastical appliqué of a pelican feeding her young. Champagne velvet hand trimmed with vintage gold metallic soutache from France. $550

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Adele
16 x 16 – Antique French painted tapestry bordered with antique French metallic old gold galloon on creamy velvet and self-corded. $410

Juliana first became interested in textiles on a visit to the Guatemalan markets 17 years ago where she began to appreciate the hours and energy poured into hand-sewn goods. While studying in Spain during her college years, Juliana fell in love with anything European and old. Becoming enchanted by antique European textiles was inevitable!

to 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 265px; TEXT-ALIGN: center” alt=”” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kcTb8DnPVW4/SvwH5ZTkG3I/AAAAAAAAD0M/fDYt3DDCdzY/s400/juliana+antique+textiles2.jpg” border=”0″ />Juliana is constantly amazed by the incredible precision and workmanship that went into the antique embroideries featured on her pillow fronts. With the utmost of care, she creates one-of-a-kind unique pillows utilizing these pieces. And when a pillow goes from her personal collection into a clients home – adding that final perfect touch, that certain je ne sais quoi – Juliana is thrilled that another precious piece of our past is preserved, living on, garnering the attention and admiration it deserves!

Diva-scovery: Juliana’s Antique Textiles!
Visit Juliana’s website: www.antiquetextilepillows.com

Happy Shopping!

The Antiques Diva™

A Green Christmas

to 10px; WIDTH: 316px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center” alt=”” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kcTb8DnPVW4/SxjIlYbZjSI/AAAAAAAAD48/d41hcLbevjY/s400/katiesbook2.jpg” border=”0″ />top:2px;padding-right:5px;font-family:times;”>Cue the Little Drummer Boy. My new friend Katie, author of Making this Home blog, has released her very first ebook and, like her, it rocks! Over the last few years, Katie has been consciously changing her holiday habits without wanting to take away from the season’s spirit. If you’ve read her blog, you’ve seen a few of the ways Katie lives green whilst sharing her ideas on how you too can do so. Her ebook follows this line of thinking, offering ideas for you and your family to create a holiday with a lot less consumerism and a whole lot of really fun DIY & green solutions.

Katie promises, “All of it is based on not changing the meaning of your holidays or the things you do. It’s about rethinking and creating even cooler (greener!) solutions to bring your family together.”

to 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 283px; TEXT-ALIGN: center” alt=”” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kcTb8DnPVW4/SxjIlD6a1II/AAAAAAAAD40/1zVTn5sRrAM/s400/katiesbook.jpg” border=”0″ />What this book will help you with this holiday season:
~ Repurposing & creating beautiful wrapping paper without purchasing brand new materials
~ Sending beautiful, eco-savvy cards and invitations
~ Hosting greener parties (while spending far less!)
~ Designing truly appreciated personal gifts that won’t break the bank or Mother Earth
~ Really, truly appreciating the greenest Christmas tree… and discovering if you’ve already got it
~ Decorating like an eco-diva – from handmade ornaments to updated decor and treasured keepsakes
~ Adding “green” to your yummy with simple tricks to green your baking
~ Wrapping up the holidays – from what to do with used cards to how to send the most beloved (cheap! green!) thank you notes
~ Spending less and embracing more

Purchase A Green Christmas here.

The book is organized by chapter and subchapter for quick and easy reading. Katie’s included pictures from her apartment, including a sneak peek at her solution to a Christmas tree! She also included an entire section of tutorials for crafts and computer tricks to make your holidays greener. The book is 37 pages long. For those of you who haven’t picked up your copy of A Green Christmas, there’s still plenty of time. The 37-page book includes a table of contents, a strong flow of content, and easy to follow instructions – all for $10.95.

Have a Green Christmas,

The Antiques Diva™
(seen right Chez Diva with Katie)

Amsterdam’s Best Kept Secret – Annette Brederode’s Open Door Days

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top:2px;padding-right:5px;font-family:times;”>Over the past few years I’ve come to eagerly anticipate the arrival of postcards from Annette Brederode, announcing her twice-annual “Secret Sales” – known locally as “Open Door Days” in Amsterdam, where Annette literally throws open the doors to her private residence and lets you shop your heart out inside her living room. This is a woman with Style – and do note that is style with a capital “S”! She oozes good taste and then combines that flair with innovative and creative ideas, putting together eclectic finds and traditional French antiques in a manner that inspires! After a visit into her shop-in-her-home, you’ll want to go home yourself and redecorate. Apparently I’m not the only one who feels this way, for she (and her home) has been featured time and time again in Dutch decorating magazines! Her shop doesn’t have a store front and she doesn’t run a website or advertise. Instead her Secret Sales dates tend to be spread via word-of-mouth along with her twice-annual post-cards announcing the dates to former clients. This year’s post card (see image above) came with a note attached “No Old Shoes, Simply Antiques”, and the following explanation:

“Dear Diva,

This is my new invitation – I needed a break from my yearly beautiful cards picturing the things that I sell. This old shoe is over 100 years old. I found it in Italy and it symbolizes the beauty of things that we don’t throw away, but keep instead, until they themselves are antiques.
Warm Regards,
Annette.”

Where?
Annette Brederode
Lijnbaansgracht #56D
Amsterdam

The sale takes place on the 3rd floor in an inconspicuous building. Ring the buzzer and climb the stairs for shopping paradise! When you’re finished here pop over to Johan de Feijters Secret Sale!

When?
Dec 11-13, 2009

Loving the concept of appreciating the beauty in all things, I knew I had to share her words with you in addition to sharing some pics I took recently while visiting Annette Brederode’s private shop with Diva Clients. Mark your calendars for Dec 11-13, 2009. Should you miss the sale dates, do note that you can book a private appointment to visit Annette’s home/shop at your convenience!

A few items for sale Chez Brederode:

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This painted armoire has a patina like I’ve never seen before! And I love the long, rustic farm house table!

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You can’t help but wonder how far this funny little gnome has traveled!

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I considered buying these peacock feathers for my mother-in-law, but the real draw in this picture for me is the clustering of vintage and antique bird cages in the background. What unique décor!

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This “Koffie” canister would be adorable in my kitchen and the woven table takes me back to yesteryear, memories of summer wine and eating fresh strawberries off the bush!

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Here one of my clients is in a serious quandary – “Which should I buy?” she asked! My response: “Both!”

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That gnome keeps making an appearance. I love how light and airy this room is!

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Another Diva client pondered the “café au lait” bowls.

These pics are just the tip of the iceberg. Look back at some past Diva posts to see more of Annette’s sensational inventory!

Read This One: Brederode Secret Antiques

Or what about this one: Last Chance!

Happy Shopping!

The Antiques Diva™