News flash: I found a charity shop in Annecy!

Who would have thought? There may not be 15 charity shops scattered in the main shopping area like there was in St Annes in the UK, but there actually IS the equivalent if a HUGE charity shop right here in Annecy, literally a ten-minute walk from me! I found out about it on an Expat Forum.

As the van says, it's called Bazar sans Frontieres. It's a association that provides employment opportunities for socially disadvantaged people, much like the Goodwill that I know and love in Canada. The website has different numbers but the French gent with whom I spoke says the organization employs 24 such people on site.

The place is huge, consisting of several buildings in which you'll find clothing, furniture, and books/bric-a-brac. Those are the French Alps in the background, BTW.

Outside there's stuff like old basins and tubs. I thought this iron day bed was particularly French!

You wouldn't believe the furniture building - two floors of it! The first floor is lined with solid wood armoires starting as low at 150 Euros!

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you may remember, from my Toronto apartment, my penchant for green velvet.

Sigh. Retro velvet just doesn't excite me anymore.

But if I could have turned this tapestry chair into a handbag, I would have in a flash.

I can't quite banish velvet from my thoughts though: I hauled hubby back one rainy day last week to look a this brown velvet loveseat. I thought it was quite French looking. He hated it, alas.

You may recall the 20-some lamps I had in Toronto, most of which were thrifted, and then given away when I moved overseas (the ones I couldn't part with are at my Mom's for safe-keeping). Now we are lampless in Annecy. I picked up this green baby for 6 Euros as I liked the shape. I left the shade there as it stank of the smoke of 10,000 cigarettes. Now I need to find a shade. I can never remember what 'lampshade' is in French, so my phrase of choice is when asking shop keepers: "Quelque chose pour mettre sur un lumiere,"  and then some sign language and an air drawing in the shape of a triangle. Oh dear, no wonder I'm not finding one.

I found five paisley boho napkins for 1 Euro total.

They totally complement the paisley tablecloth, pictured underneath, that I found at last month's brocante market in Annecy for 6 Euros!

Here's a quick peep at the table with its new covering. Tres French, n'est ce pas?

So is this wee stool, picked up for 7 Euros, which now reposes at the foot of our bed. Why?

Because my darling 16-year old little stinker loves hanging on the bed, and she has difficulty getting onto it sometimes. Our lovely new Ralph Lauren duvet cover is slowly getting ruined with pick marks as she claws her way to the top, poor wee thing.

The little fart jumped on it right away and slept on it for a total of three days. Now it doesn't exist. Off her radar completely. She looks like the Cat that Ate New York or something here, teehee.

The housewares building was a gold mine of inexpensive ceramics, pottery, bowls etc. Check out this "Made in Annecy" pottery serving plate - boho gorg and only .80 cents! This would be a great place to come and suss out local pottery etc for souvenirs.

My crowning achievement that day: finding these Made in France corkscrews made out of dried grape vines, for 1 Euro each!!!. My bro-in-law has one from France that he loves that broke, so guess what he's getting for his B-day pressie?

In fact, every one I know and love is getting one as they're FAB souvenirs. Most have teeny metal plaques screwed into them identifying the maker and place of origin - this one says Annecy Le Vieux, which is a suburb of Annecy.

I'm so obsessed with these things that I cleaned them out (five in total). Then I went back a few days later and found another for .50 cents. Score!

For now they comprise an 'artful' centrepiece when piled in a French-made bowl (bought new) and sitting atop an April Cornell tablecloth purchased recently on Etsy (I had, like, ten tablecloths in Canada and - surprise surprise - I gave them ALL away, duh).

I have more show and tell but will leave it at that tonight. Have a wonderful weekend every one!

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What to buy in the Annecy Markets

I promised to show you the two markets that take place under our window every week - here's a view of the food market, which happens three times a week. Here we buy mostly local fruit and veg, cheese, sausage and so on - the local repas du jour is cheese, bread and sausage and it's a wonder people aren't grossly overweight with that kind of eating ... but in fact every one is lithe and fit. We fit right in, haha.

I snapped a pic of the market when it wasn't busy - by 11 a.m. or noon the streets are teeming with people and you can hardly move. I buy my fruit and veggies from a gent named Verdi and his two brothers. They usually throw in a few free peaches grown in the mountains - a nice perk. If you visit, you simply must buy the (cured, pork) sausage, or as the French say, les saucissons - I'm pluralizing as you can't just get one - they are too delish (and this coming from a gal who doesn't do a lot of meat). The more you buy, the cheaper the price gets (five Euros for one, 15 Euros for five) - and you can get every flavour. Our fave so far: the one with the mushrooms inside. You can also buy a large tub of seasoned olives of every kind (sweet or hot) for between 7-10 Euros, and it lasts for weeks.

The antique market, meanwhile, is the last Saturday of every month. It goes on from around 8 a.m. to 5 or 6p.m., so there's plenty of time to rummage. There's a little bit of everything, though I'd say the vintage clothing, accessories and jewellery pickings are sparse - perhaps a good thing for a lover of beautiful things like moi.

What jewellery there was, wasn't really my style - a bit old-fashioned.

But my eagle-eye landed upon this substantial 1970s gold-tone and faux turquoise necklace - for only eight Euros! A screaming deal for Annecy, my friends. And it just so happens to go with my blue-green dress that I bought in the old town (pictured below).

Plenty of cowbells here, folks (at least I think that's what they are). There's an annual festival in town in October that's called Retour des Alpages - part of an old tradition marking the return of the the cows (whose milk is used for cheese) from the mountains, where they've been grazing all summer. Apparently they parade the cows through the streets of the old town before they put them in their fall and winter digs inside, and there's a whole day's festivities associated with big event. Love it.

We're surrounded by the French Alps, so there's no shortage of skis, sleds and other rustic wooden implements and furniture. Another great local find are lakeside or mountain paintings, like the ones you see propped against the canal railing. I spied some beautiful tiny paintings of the lake, but some were as pricy as 150 Euro. I would love to have a work of art depicting local scenery in our place, but will hold out spending that kind of cash until we see one we both love and can't live without.

Another thing I saw a lot of: ornate tin boxes, most of them larger and more rustic looking than the one pictured above. I really loved this one (but didn't buy it as it was 40 Euros!) as it was so folky looking. Maybe next time.

This was the least rustic Alpine booth of all so I thought I'd show it to you: I call it the Mod corner.

We need a chair in our apartment - and wouldn't you know, I found this one right under my window! You know my penchant for green velvet upholstered furniture. (I left a chair and a loveseat on the sidewalk in Toronto when I moved, as I couldn't get any charity to pick them up, wah). This one was comfy, slightly worn (my preference, always), with a strong wooden frame. Price: 135 Euros, but we could have talked the guy down, I bet. Mon mari wasn't convinced that it would show beautifully in our lovely pad, but I know I'm right: let me work on him for three weeks until the next market. If it's still there, we wouldn't have to try too hard to get it into our apartment!

We did come home with this beaut of a rug, old, worn and featuring an almost Peacock blue that is rare in rugs of this kind. What started off as 50 Euros went down to 30 Euros the longer we stood there and hemmed and hawed (thought of course I knew it would work, and ultimately darling hubby deferred to my decor authority). And it does indeed look grand in our huge living room, and actually complements the one old Persian rug I did bring with me.

All in all, in spite of a few freaky-scary dolls, it was a fun day . The next market is July 28, and I'll be there!

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My fave thrifty decor creations

Now that I'm married to a contemporary streamlined decor kind of guy, I've had to make some major style concessions in our new home together - and indeed, most of what you see in these photos are no longer in my possession, sigh. Not to say that our newly painted living room (pics coming soon) won't have a wee bit of boho injected into it, but let's just say, compromises have been made - on both sides. This post will honour a couple of looks I created in my old Toronto apartment, using salvaged curbside pieces and thrifty decor finds.

TRASH: An ex brought me this wooden dining room table with flip up table extentions - so cool. He found it in the trash. Though it had heaps of shiny paint and varnish on it, I still liked it. The white vinyl chair - covered in a dollar store faux fur rug and velvet pillow - was another garbage find; so too was the curved chrome chair at the front.

THRIFT SHOP FINDS: The silver chair in the back was part of a set of four salvaged at the Salvation Army in Ottawa years ago, spraypainted silver by moi and then covered with a silver tablecloth from the dollar store - tres grunge chic. Ditto for the painting, wall lamp, and handpainted bowl. The lamp was a junk shop find.

BOUGHT NEW BUT INEXPENSIVELY: The curtains were on sale in a fabric shop, tied with ribbon from a gift. I found the heavy crystal Art Deco style vase at a dollar store, if you can believe it. The large black and white photo was a gift, and the two smaller ones are old photos of me that I framed with inexpensive white mattes and frames.
INSPIRATION FOR VIGNETTE: I love the droopy tulips. I had a dinner party the evening before and someone brought them to me after walking through minus 30 degrees temperatures - so they wilted, rather artfully I think. I started with the vase and tulips on the table and went from there.

INSPIRATION FOR VIGNETTE: I really, really loved this creation - I call it my boho corner. The fun thing about this look was that it was created in the dining room space of my one bedroom apartment - but I said, what the hell, let's put the living room in the dining room - something my best friend and I did when we were 20 and living in our first apartment together.

TRASH: The loveseat, a Barrymore made in Canada gem (covered with an inexpensive slipcover from Zellers, a Canadian store) that a beau from years ago hauled out of a dumpster (actually, there were two, and I go them both).  Blue velvet chair: a curbside find in Toronto, as was the amazing wooden console dresser.

THRIFT FINDS: The Chinese style lamp was a Value Village find and the blue shade was also from the thrift shop; the Indian carpet was found at a junk store along with the head vase on the large console; the large mirror and painting balanced on it were both thrift store finds and so were the wooden oval, silver wrought iron and glass/brass tables.

BOUGHT NEW: The boho cushion on the chair was found in Saskatchewan about a decade ago, and the striped silk pillow on the sofa was part of a pair, also purchased new and splurge items if memory serves. The rest of the pillows were thrifted.

LOVE: The green Star Trek decanter on the console (see pic one up) - a gift from my best friend. It belonged to her folks and came with eight teeny shot glasses that matched.
Sadly, though I managed to sell/donate a lot of the smaller items, most of the larger furniture pieces were left curbside in Toronto when I moved. I tried to to donate the furniture to charity shops but they are so under-resourced they could not pick them up. Hopefully some like-minded folk picked up my stash left in front of my apartment.

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Fall chair, among the leaves

It was an absolutely gorg day here in Toronto, more like September than November, wonderfully warm, with lots of leaves still on the trees. One of those days when you're happy to just stroll around and frolic. On my way to meet a pal, I came across tios chair right on the corner of someone's lot. It looked as though there was an open house going on, and I guess this velvety wonder was deemed inappropriate for the function.

But I thought it looked like a work of art nestled there among the leaves, it matched them so perfectly. If I didn't already have a kajillion chairs at home I may have tried to get it home somehow. Wonder if it's still sitting there or if some passerby admired it as much as I did?

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Redeemed: orange velvety

Ok, so I missed my chance with the red velvet couch I saw in the trash last weekend. But the very next night on my way home, I spotted this baby: orange velvety.

He was sitting on the sidewalk with a "FREE" sign on it. I stood there looking at him, wondering how I'd get him home, when I heard a voice from the bedroom window of the house it was in front of.

Turns out, the family had bought the chair years ago for 20 bucks at a garage sale, and they were getting rid of it only because they had bought new furniture and had no room.

As the lady and her daughter came down to the sidewalk and started chatting with me, it became clear that there was a whole family history woven around this chair, funny and beautiful moments of children barfing  while in the chair but not actually hitting the chair, of grandfather sitting in it - I'm telling you, I almost teared up on the sidewalk.

The lady of the house called him "orange velvety," which I thought was so cute. They offered to drive him to my apartment as they knew I loved him. Before they did so, we snapped a pic of Mom and her teenage daughter on the chair.

And so that's the tale of orange velvety. It's a much nicer story than red velvety, don't you think? Just goes to show, when one trashing door closes, another opens.

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Someone stole MY couch

Wah! Someone stole my couch! I spied it from my balcony in the trash on Saturday night and was certain it was red velvet (and you know by now my near-obsession with velvet). When it was still there the next morning on my way to coffee with a pal (and I affirmed that it was, in fact, red velvet, and gorgeous at that), I felt quite sure in my bones that it was mine, that the trashing Gods had deemed it mine, that it would still be there upon my return from coffee.

Well, the very moment I was mentally rearranging my apartment coming back from coffee, the garbage Gods struck me down for my presumption! I rounded the corner expecting to see my sofa waiting for me (I knew I could work my charm and get some helpful soul to carry it up to my apartment with me) --- and it was gone.

Alas, the red velvet, the good bones, the lovely shape - all these wondrous traits obviously did not go unnoticed by some fellow style diva or duke in my 'hood. I have learned, alas, never to be too smug in my trash karma. May red velvety (there is a story behind this verbiage, just you wait as I redeemed myself the next night) rest in peace in its new abode.

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A look at a nook

I still have to snap a pic of the vintage jewellery piece I bought in Notting Hill, but until then I'll show you a bit of the apartment re-org I did before I left on holidays.

I love this little corner nook that I refreshed by adding pops of orange: the paisley pillow found at a massive church sale for a buck; the Made in Canada retro glass vase on the top of the bookshelf (thrifted for about $10 if memory serves); the not so thrifty Anthropologie lampshade that I fell in love with when the store first opened in Toronto.

I found the beautiful framed mini picture hanging over the chair - handpainted flowers on black velvet - for 99 cents at a thrift shop. On the back there's a label that reads, "Mrs. D. M. Gowing, 77 Stubbington Avenue, Portsmouth, Hampshire" and then a postal code and phone number. Isn't it just wonderful that this little treasure made its way from England and across the pond to me and my grungy little home?

The silver glass lamp was $5 at a lamp sale; and the wrought iron chair was part of a set I thrifted at Sally Ann years ago, one of my first major thrift purchases in fact. I spray-painted them silver and covered the seats with a tablecloth I cut up, bought at the dollar store. There's grungy style for ya.

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Corner nook

I'm showing you the rest of my apartment redo. Like I said a few posts ago, I split the room into chunks and rejigged each area (like this corner) as a little room unto itself - if you're intimidated by the process of redecorating or even refreshing a bit, this strategy can make that process less daunting. 

I relocated these huge thrifted glass lamp (with ruby red shade bought for a song at Consumers Lighting in Toronto) to the large teak hutch (thrifted over a decade ago for $80) as it was so large and the scale looked off in its former home, on the dining room table. I added some vintage bags to the end of the hutch and piled other books in a haphazard way.

A red pilllow case hides a stain on the teak and defines the lamp.

I like having a sense of humour when I decorate. This painting, by my very talented sister, features the profile of a man on a beach as he stares off into the distance. I positioned the black statuette beside it (thrifted for a few dollars) so that she was looking the same way too. The Star Trek-type decanter was given to me by my best friend and was in her family when she was growing up.

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Thrift style a la spring

More pretty spring-inspired tableaus from my apartment ....

Think purple as a unifying colour, and a bit of whimsy in a teddy bear piggy bank.

Toss in a lovely hand-painted velvet picture made in England (thrifted for 99 cents), a thrifted flower pot and fresh new purple tulips, and a heavy gold mirror (thrifted for $3.99), propped up on a heavy wooden dresser found in the trash.

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