There is nothing like the dusk light in New Orleans.  Especially in the fall, which is the best time to visit…..

…..Equally mouth-watering is to glimpse the glow of chandeliers through the windows…..

On a recent trip to New Orleans, I had the rare opportunity to go chandelier shopping for my Uncle Chips and Aunt Janet’s’ new second home, a historic shotgun house.

Something for the dining room, which is just in the foreground below.  It would help visually anchor that part of the room.  Some drapes would help that out, too.

But since I was staying just off of Magazine Street, home to a world class stretch of antique shops, I endeavored to find the perfect chandelier first…..

First stop:  Balzac Antiques.  This stunning beauty of a French antique  in the foreground caught my eye…..

It was a little too small.  Would somebody please put that in a foyer – or perhaps a dreamy master bath…..?

Next stop:  mac MAISON, ltd.  Influenced by my recent forays into “Moroccan” style interiors, I gravitated towards these exotic little lanterns.  Very vogue to hang two or three over a table, at varying heights…..

…..but I feared they would get “lost” at the end of that long room.  We needed something that would visually anchor and define that dining room….

Next stop:  Julie Neill Designs – which my New Orleans native client told me was all the rage down there.  This chandelier was fun, breezy and coastal…..

Maybe too breezy and coastal for this particular house…..(love it, though…..)

However, while there, I happened upon a crazy deal on some drapes, so I ran them by my Aunt Janet, just in case…..

You could hang them the way they did at Julie Neill, below…..

…..with a wrought iron curving rod…..

To my delight, Aunt Janet agreed it was a no brainer!

Final Stop:  Passages Antiques…..

…..I knew this was The One as soon as I saw it.  Aunt Janet agreed!  Just the right size to anchor the room, dreamy and whimsical.  But in a “French Provincial” way that befits the space it’s going in.  A 19th century antique from Provence.

And somewhere along the way, we needed to find a cool tablecloth…..

This one’s not for sale, but something like this would be great.

And below, you can see a glimpse of the dining room with its drapes- and chandelier-to-be…..

Some day it will help to create that romantic dusk-like glow that New Orleans is so famous for…..

If you live in Nashville, you don’t have to go to Atlanta to get a good load of antiques.  There is a plethora of offerings right here in Music City, if you know where to look.  The key is to know what “kind” of antiques you are looking for:  “Workaday Country Antiques”, “Refined European Antiques”, or (it has its place) “Junk Antiques” – also known as “Vintage”.  So here are a few key places to go for each of these:

One of my favorite watering holes for “Workaday Country Antiques” is coming right up next weekend -

The Tailgate and Music Valley Antique Shows, down at the Fairgrounds.

It runs from Thursday, October 27th to Saturday, October 29th.  I got Liam’s “big boy bedding” at last year’s – a hand woven vintage blue and cream plaid blanket.

I got it for a deal, after a bit of haggling, at the end of the day on Saturday.  If you miss the show this fall, it also comes in February, and repeats every year.

Another favorite place for “Workaday Country Antiques” – with more of a hip spin, is Serenite Maison in Leiper’s Fork, which I recently reviewed.

And if you’re in the mood for a hunt and a drive in the country, try driving up I65 towards Louisville, and stopping at the little antique shops that pop up along the way – an amazing place to search for antique quilts.

“Refined European Antiques” are on display in abundance in a little stretch along Highway 100, just past the “Highway 70 & 100 split” down on the right.  One that has just relocated conveniently at the “Panera shopping strip” on the left, just before the split, and which comes highly recommended by my clients, is The Little Antique Shop.

Another place to comb the shops for a combination of “Workaday Country Antiques” and “Refined European Antiques” is downtown Franklin.

And finally, Nashville is blessed with an abundance of “Junk Antiques” or “Vintage Stuff”, among which you can always find a great diamond in the rough if you look hard enough (or have that diy knack).  One favorite source, that is really a combination of “Workaday Country Antiques” and “Junk Antiques” is Gas Lamp Antiques, a treasure trove of antique vendor stalls, with just about every era and every type of artifact covered, every day.

Another “Junk Antiques” standby is the Flea Market at the Fairgrounds.

And finally, if you want to peruse a mind-boggling mix of all three types of antiques, check out 8th Avenue, starting just past Melrose Avenue, until you get to Wedgewood.

Happy antique hunting

Recently, I picked up my Winter edition of Flower Magazine, and found this stunningly romantic photo in it….

“This is just gorgeous,” I thought.  “This reminds me of something Robert would do…..”

Then I turned the page, and saw – Robert!

“Oh my gosh - it IS Robert!”  Robert E. Smith is a family friend down in Southwest Louisiana.  He is a French antique dealer by trade, an architect by training, and a flower stylist by passion.   He regularly emails us notecards from France (where he lives part time) with gorgeous photos of floral arrangements, in sumptuous interior settings.  I’m always moved and inspired by his little “floral notes,” and often wonder, “Where does this beauty and creativity come from?”

Reading the article, I discovered “how he does it.”  And now I must now share with you!  Below are some article excerpts, which Robert has allowed me to illustrate with a few additional photos from or family files.

Robert’s earliest floral arranging impulses came from exploring the woods and shores of South Louisiana, where he first discovered his passion for collecting.  ”At age 6, I was making Lilliputian-sized flower arrangements with wildflowers in seashells…I would comb the shoreline for new treasures from the sea and little jewels from the land in the form of wildflowers…”

“…it has come to my attention that history does repeat itself.  In my dining room in Louisiana, I have a 34-inch-wide clamshell, in which I have a constantly changing array of seasonal flowers.”

“As my love for flowers has continued life-long, my approach in creating floral arrangements for my own enjoyment is still naturally that of a collector.  I find the correct choice of the container, sized for both the eventual location of the arrangement and also for the floral material it will contain, is almost half the artistic challenge in making a successful arrangement.”

“I prefer antique containers of glass, faience, porcelain, or silver.”

“The contents are also a collection of sorts.  I might use material from my shop gardens and my home gardens, as well as roadside finds and flowers from the store.  This approach ensures that my arrangements have personal, seasonal, and regional flavors.  Fruit, berries, seed pods, vines, and tree branches are all likely possibilities.”

“As time went on, my fledgling French antiques business exploded and gobbled up the space of this house, so I had an inspired and audacious plan for the construction of a second residence, made out of antique materials:  an early 18th century-styled French pavilion of five stories on a beautiful and wildly primordial lake.”

“There, my man-made gardens are reduced to six fairly small, raised masonry flower beds…”

“(prominent ones at the four corners of the masonry moat)”

“each one containing at the center a pedestal supporting a topiary citrus tree in a large, antique French vase d’Anduze.”

“(Collecting antique flower containers has been a major theme of mine with vases d’Anduze being the high point.)”

Below is Robert at one of his fabulous parties in his “18th century-styled French Pavilion”!  He’s the one with the spectacles over on the right.

If you haven’t discovered Flower Magazine yet, pick up this Winter Edition, and you will see the rest of the article on Robert.  And if you are ever in the market for a French antique, you MUST look up Robert.  He is the real deal, and his French antique finds are the real deal.  My dream would be to hook up with him in his second home of Uzes, Provence, and go on my own personal antique shopping spree!  But even if you just want a bit of France in your home, you can look him up at Au Vieux Paris Antiques, www.auvieuxparisantiques.com.