Thursday, April 30, 2009

Red Shed Girls in Paris Day 2 ** Versaille

Day 2 in Paris included a memorable trip to the Palace Chatteau Versaille. Home to all the King Louis's, many Mary's and Marie Antonette...
The main palace is over the top, gilt and gold, velvet and silk.....
The highlight is the Hall of Mirrors, with gorgeous chandeliers, painted ceilings and mirror on all the walls.....The main thing we love at Versaille is the moldings and trim, art work and sculpture....

And the gardens are absolutely amazing....Here is a little story about Marie Antonette, who was "very modern"..
Marie didn't like being on "public" display at the palace. Now, can you blame her? Here is a picture of her bedroom, and the public was invited to watch her give birth, but make sure the kids were Royal. We weren't told if the little fence here was where they lined up to watch, but the bed was only about 3 inches from the fence.........

So Marie didnt like being in the palace, and had the King build her this "Hamlet" of 12 buildings for her and her friends. Talk about a "Place of your Own"!...


We just loved it!! We walked about 10 million miles at Versaille, from the palace to the apartments, then to the Hamlet, but our very last view was this Zen moment of a French man streching in the Hamlet gardens.
No. shopping today, except in the gift shop, but we had a GREAT day in Paris!

Red Shed Girls in Paris, Day 1!

Our Mascot, Red, who now shall be known as "Rouge", donned her beret to greet all the Red Shed Girls going to Paris!Of course GiGi arrived at the airport with her French name, and all of her French clothing that she has purchased on ebay.........
As we left, our sweet friend, Donna Bradley, gave us each a going away packet fill with everything to make our trip comfortable. As she said "God put it on her heart" to do it. How sweet is that?
Here is the first wave, waiting at the airport. 7 today and 3 more tomorrow...

After our loooooong flight and no sleep, we arrived at about 10 am and we were seduced by the comfy beds a at our lovely Hotel Littre, but no,no,no if we stop now, even for a moment we would lose the whole day, and we had heard about an Antique Papier Market, that is only open on Wednesdays....can't miss an opportunity like that! But first...food. We are always telling people how easy and inexpensively you can eat in Paris if you want to. Here are just a few choices just steps from our hotel:
The fruit is unbelievable here. I don't know why, but it is fresh and beautiful and has a sweet, bright flavor that is completely different from what we have in the states. This is what fruit is suppose to look like:

So after only getting lost a "few" times on the Metro, we stopped at a little cafe....

And a flower market....And finally found the Antique Paper Market on the very outskirts of Paris...
Here's a little glimpse of a few things we bought that will be for sale (in various, altered forms) at the Red Shed in June at our "French Market" Sale..
A whole book of French Ephemera...
A children's French story book with fabulous lithographs.......
French Legal documents from the early 1900's, fabulous script ,stamps, and embossing...

Wonderful bakelite frame with a picture of the Virgin Mary. The stand on the back is lovely and it says "made in France"And some fabulous French ribbons and medallions that I am sure will be made into Red Shed Original jewelry.
Sorry for the typos, grammar, and spelling blame 48 hours with no sleep and a time change!

Friday, April 24, 2009

Shabby Chic Paris Apartment Cottage Furniture at the Red Shed

After every great sale, everyone wants to know, What do you have left? Here are just a few of the wonderful and unique shabby-wonderful antiques, furniture and reinvented home decor that are still available or have been recently brought in to the Red Shed.
This wonderful French sign is not old, but fabulous. It is made from wood planks with a metal frame, it is 4 feet long. One only $149. The triple divider with lace inserts is $110.
Chic black mannequin with heavy stand $119Wonderful vintage icebox turned end table. Original hardware $89.
Also not old, French Cafe blackboard. Someone took the tag off of this one at the sale so everyone thought is was sold (sorry to those of you who asked!) First come, first buys! $79.
Large beadboard, blanket, pottery cabinet. Could be retrofitted for large screen $225. Lovely Grecian warrior statue, she has arrows on her back and her skirt tied up, ready for battle! $49.

Fabulous black display cabinet! $69.
Black bookcase $49.
Wonderful large display cabinet. $149.
Large, Low blanket chest or big screen stand. $149.

Large, unique cubby. This piece was completely rebuilt and redesigned for that WOW factor!
$179. SOLD!Small cubby, $39, Medium below, $79.

Black and gold dresser $129.
Wonderful dresser, cabinet. The drawers stick a little, so this one is on sale for $99!
Wonderful French provincial desk $129.00, fabulous cut out chair $58.00.

French Provincial dresser $149.
Black lingerie cabinet $129.
Wonderful white French Provincial dresser and mirror $189.
We only have 4 of these great foundry mold letters left: LARGE "B" $129. SOLD!

Medium size "N" $89.
Medium size "M" $89.
Medium size "P" $89, Don't forget all of these letters have a reverse, concave letter on the back.
The Red Shed will be CLOSED April 28 - May 5th, while we are in Paris with our Paris Flea Market Group Shopping Trip. Stay tuned for Posts from Paris!