Most of the pieces in my Tastemaker Tag Sale over at One King's Lane have sold already, but several super chic items remain! Think rare candlesticks, stylish lamps and vintage lithographs in gold leaf frames. Check it out here before everything is going, going...gone!
Mark your calendars, everyone! My first Tastemaker Tag Sale starts this Monday, May 21st at 11am EST. After years of traveling the country, buying only the most beautiful vintage tabletop, lighting, art and accessories I love the most, I've finally decided to share it—and I mean all of it—with you! That's over 250 dazzling treasures never before seen on Etsy or any trunk show in the past, and all of them are priced to sell! Spring cleaning never looked so chic. That's Monday, May 21st at 11am EST. You don't want to miss it!
My friend Deborah Buck is hosting a fun trunk show of my vintage tabletop and accessories at her dazzling store Buck House on Madison. Remember this chinoiserie chic makeover we did together, turning cloisonné vases into stylish lamps? We're having a champagne reception this Thursday, May 17 from 5 to 8 pm and an open house on Friday, May 18 from 10 to 3 pm. If you're in or around the city, stop by for a glass of champagne and have a look around. We'd love to see you!
Sorry for the silence, everyone! A string of projects, shoots and events kept us from our duties. To make it up to you, here's a table setting full of bright, brilliant color we created for last month’s event at Travadavi in Atlanta. As soon as I saw this prismatic print from Lulu DK in candy-coated colors of coral, teal, navy and green, I knew it would inspire an exuberant, joyful table, mixing vintage and new, traditional and modern elements in a pitch-perfect palette for spring.
The salad plates are antique Royal Dalton; I scored them for a song at a junk shop in London years ago. New Pickard chargers kept the patterns from clashing with a juicy burst of orange I brought to the bread plates, ribbon, candy and flowers.
In a footed crystal bowl from William Yeoward through Travadavi, I made a lush, vibrant arrangement of roses, ranunculus, parrot tulips, helleborus and amaryllis. It may be a favorite for the holidays, but amaryllis is actually a bulb flower in pretty peach hues that work beautifully for spring.
For the glassware, I used vintage opaline and brass from my own collection, together with champagne flutes from Impulse through Travadavi. The flatware is a mix of vintage bamboo and Dirilyte with shell spoons from Be Home through Travadavi. For an elegant starter, I'd serve caviar blinis with crème fraîche, fresh chives and salmon roe.
Decorative accessories and unexpected details make a table feel special. The Blanc de Chine figurines add a chic, Chinoiserie feel, while vintage Lucite and brass candlesticks with turquoise tapers from Creative Candles pop.
I love using pretty things for salt and pepper on a table. The faceted crystal shaker from Travadavi holds black pepper, while my own antique silver shaker holds white. I found the 1880s pressed green glass salt cellars at the Scott Antique Market the day before the event. The gold salt spoon is from Canvas through Travadavi.
Footed silver dishes of my own hold a citrus mix of jelly beans in coordinating colors.
For a simple, springtime place card, cut out a butterfly from card stock, notch it at the fold and place it on a glass.
And for a parting gift, tied up with string? Think beautiful linzer cookies with apricot jam.
Huge thanks to Ann Davis and Sarah Lloyd with Travadavi for bringing us to Atlanta. And of course, thank you to all the designers, bloggers and entertaining enthusiasts for joining us that night! Check out these recaps of all the fun we had from Tami, Hollie and Shelly.
Happy Spring, everyone!
Have you seen the new special issue on organizing from Martha Stewart?
I was surprised to find two projects I produced years ago as the Senior Style Editor at Living. For a bathroom without shelves in an apartment above Martha's carriage barn in Bedford, I had six brass shelf brackets nickel-plated, then paired them with lightweight lacquered trays for extra storage.
Peek-a-boo! I see me.
For the second project, I made a shelf and bench in studio using antique corbels from a salvage yard. How cute is my friend Austin's poodle Matilda on the seat cushion?
I could have definitely used a manicure after this shoot.
And listen up, everyone! We're doing a little early spring organizing in the prop house this month, so look for a tag sale in our Etsy shop with chic, vintage servingware and accessories from previous magazine shoots very soon!
If you want to go treasure hunting with me in D.C. or Atlanta, we still have a few spots left! I always love sharing my secrets on how to find (and reimagine!) the very best things at the flea market, including china, silver, linens, furniture, fabric and art. We're doing two trips to the Big D.C. Flea this weekend and one to the Scott Antique Market on Saturday, the 10th. Tickets are $50 a piece and well worth it! If you don't believe me, here's what others are saying. Check out the sidebar for details and email Jaithan (jaithan@eddieross.com) for reservations.
And listen up, Atlanta: Join me on Tuesday, March 13th at 6 pm for Spring into Style, a dazzling evening of beauty and inspiration at Travadavi, Atlanta newest hotspot for home decor and registry.
I'll be talking table settings, flowers and easy, chic entertaining that will inspire and delight you. The event is free and open to the public, so put a little spring in your step and join me for a toast at Travadavi! Simply RSVP to hello@travadavi.com.
Hope to see you at an event soon, everyone!
Two colors I adore with pink: black and white. And who better to expound on the virtues of this iconic combination than celebrated interior designer Celerie Kemble? Celerie I've known for years, ever since my days as a decorating editor at House Beautiful. Charming, sweet and supremely talented, she's a bright star who's refreshingly down to earth. Jaithan and I are thrilled for the launch of her latest book, and honored that our previous home is a part of it. First, thank you to Celerie and her talented associate, Lindsey Herod, for bringing us on. Lindsey, you might remember from one of our first group trips to the New York City flea market, where she picked up a fantastic set of studded brass fruit. Thanks, also, to our friends at Quadrille, Shandell's and Creative Candles for collaborating with us on the project. Enjoy!
Here's a cake sure to sweeten up the Valentines in your life. Pick up three boxes of your favorite white cake mix—or work from scratch if you have the time—along with a bottle of Wilton's Icing Color in petal pink. Split each box into two batches for a total of six, then add increasing amounts of dye little by little until you achieve the ombre effect. For the outside of the cake, I used a piping bag fit with a basketweave tip. Happy baking, everyone!
Last summer's treasure hunt through the World's Longest Yard Sale has just inspired two more shopping expeditions in March, and I hope you'll join me! Our first stop will be on Sunday, March 4th in Chantilly, Virginia for one my favorite flea markets, the Big D.C. Flea, where I'll show you how to find (and style!) the very best things, including china, silver, glass, linens, furniture, fabric and art.
Here's a quick video of all the fun we had at the Big D.C. Flea the first time around.
Michelle from My Notting Hill joined us that day, and here's what she had to say: A trip with Eddie to the flea market is a lesson in how to see things with new eyes: vintage broaches become napkin rings; dowdy furniture becomes hip and unique; and that brocade dress is a now a fab pillow. I walked away with tips on what to look for, what to avoid and a wealth of information on how to clean, restore and care for my finds. Plus, I had an absolute blast!
From D.C., we're heading to Atlanta, where on Saturday, March 10th, I'll be taking another fun group of readers through the Scott Antique Market, my favorite flea market in the South!
I always love reconnecting with dealers, scoping out their latest finds, and sharing ideas with the group on how to reimagine them in fresh, new ways. Can you believe this will be our seventh trip through Scott's! That's over 150 fellow flea market fanatics who've joined me, picking up plenty of insider tips to help them shop like a pro. Check out this article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution about our first spin through Scott's back in 2009.
And here's what interior designer and blogger Sidney Wagner had to say after her experience: My friend and I carved out some time to go to the Eddie Ross workshop at the Scott Antique Market and man am I glad we did...it was excellent! He gave us a tour of Scott's while pointing out various dealers and sharing his plethora of knowledge on fabrics, china, glass, silver, furniture, fabric and so much more! Although I have been to Scott's many times, it was great to meet some of his favorite dealers and to see all of the hidden gems from Eddie's perspective. I highly recommend it!!!
While in town, we're also conjuring up a fantastic, spring-inspired evening of table settings and flowers on Tuesday, March 13th at Travadavi, Atlanta's newest hot spot for home decor, gifts, bridal and everything in between!
It's going to be a glittering evening of wine, hors d'oeuvres, inspiration and delight. Details to follow, but do save the date: Tuesday, March 13th at 6:00 pm. RSVP to hello@travadavi.com.
Finally, if you're heading to Nashville for the annual Antiques and Garden Show in just a few days, I'll be speaking on Saturday, February 11th on how to use color to give fresh, new life to antique china. If you're in town, stop by and say hello!
Check out the sidebar for details on all upcoming events. Tickets for the flea market shopping trips in Washington and Atlanta are $50 per person and well worth it! Space is limited, so email Jaithan (jaithan@eddieross.com) for reservations. Hope to see you at an event soon, everyone!
Under a cerulean blue sky, on the outer banks of North Carolina and about a million miles away from her busy life in High Point, Elizabeth Harris sat quietly alone, listening to the sea, when a call for entries I’d posted to Facebook and Twitter popped up on her phone. Summer had just begun, and I was on the hunt, this time for a bedroom with good bones I could make even better with furniture and accessories from the world’s longest yard sale, the 127 Corridor.
A couple of emails later, and I was convinced. As a third generation Southern Living reader, Elizabeth understands the importance of tradition. When she bought her bedroom set, shortly after getting married, she was simply doing as her mother had done and her mother before her.
But over time, as Elizabeth found her own style, she couldn’t help but dream of a lighter, brighter room, a tranquil retreat that she and her husband Odie could truly call their own. To start, I headed to Calico Corners, where I found a wonderful Jacobean print in a sea-inspired palette of coral, pale blue, and white. A buffalo check brought a more masculine element to the mix.
Armed with fabric swatches, paint chips, and measurements, I picked up the famed 127 Yard Sale in Union, Kentucky, and headed south more than 300 miles to Chattanooga, Tennessee, in search of furniture, lighting, and accessories that would add one-of-a-kind charm to Elizabeth’s bedroom.
Over the next several days, in the sweltering summer heat, I stopped everywhere and often, scanning fields, rifling through bins and digging for treasure. Check out these two videos here and here, full of my very best tips on how to shop yard sales like a pro. In the end, I scored big with a van full of finds, but nothing was more memorable than the nice people I met along the way.
Before heading home, Jaithan and I made a quick stop at Southern Living's offices in Birmingham to show off my treasures.
While I started revamping my finds from the yard sale, a talented team of professionals helped transform the room into a fresh, clean canvas with Benjamin Moore paint and white Dixie Home carpet. Brightening up Elizabeth's bedroom set with high gloss paint ended up saving the most money, since new furniture would have cost thousands.
Good-bye dingy carpet, drab paint, dark furniture, and fussy drapery.
Hello color, pattern, and light!
I had a woodworker install canopy rails around Elizabeth’s four-poster bed, then hung tailored panels in the blue buffalo check from Calico Corners to make it feel like a cozy room within a room. And on the bed, out went the dated comforter...
..in came a colorful mix of bedding from JCPenney, HomeGoods, Calico Corners, and Sue Wong for English Home. That dazzling painting above the bed is from talented artist Mallory Page, while the white fur throw and benches are from Lillian August.
Remember that faux bamboo chair we picked up along the way?
I thought it would be the perfect perch for Elizabeth to read her favorite blogs and catch up on correspondence. She and her husband had already decided they wanted a place to unplug, giving up television in the bedroom and the large armoire that housed it.
The antique-inspired secretary from Somerset Bay is a stately addition to the room, while artwork from Artaissance’s Biltmore Collection, framed by Larson-Juhl, adds a personal touch.
Here are my best finds from the yard sale and how I revamped them!
I bought most of these pieces so Elizabeth could take full advantage of having a fireplace in the room. Instead of feeling cozy, it looked forlorn with only a few accessories and a dark print hanging over the mantel.
Using the fireplace as a focal point, I carved out a cheerful space for reading and relaxing with two freshly painted chairs anchored on a coral patterned rug from Lillian August. To brighten up the area, I added antiqued mirror to the fireplace surround. I found two fireplace sets for $40 at the yard sale, each with missing tools, then combined them into one. The large peony print above the mantel is from Artaissance’s New York Botanical Garden collection, framed by Larson-Juhl.
In Kentucky, just south of Union, I found a rusty, old cigarette table for $25, painted the base, handle and underside of the tray a dark shade of coral, then gold-leafed the top. To freshen up a set of nesting tables, I scraped off the paint from the backs of the glass tops, then used clear craft glue to adhere marbelized paper.
Down in Tennessee, I'd almost whizzed past this faux bamboo mirror.
I'm glad I didn't because it was just the piece I needed in this corner of the room.
After brightening up Elizabeth's traditional dresser with paint, I hung the bamboo mirror, flanked by wall brackets, then added figures and foo dogs, all from the yard sale, for a glamorous, well-traveled feel. The porcelain canister lamps I bought for $10, changed out the bases, and had a professional turn them into working lamps.
Huge thanks both to Terry Manier for documenting the 127 Corridor with great enthusiasm and to Miki Duisterhof for capturing the finished room so beautifully. Here's one, last look at the room before the transformation.
Here it is all finished!
And finally, on the ceiling of Elizabeth's bedroom, framed in a canopy of white, a cerulean sky opened up around her.
