Pickled Hutch Picks of the Week - 1/29

For my Pickled Hutch picks this week, my favorite thing is partly missing. I took a picture of the adorable little glasses that come as a set with this martini pitcher, but I didn't get it off the card reader before Andrew took the camera out of town. The glasses are adorable, though. They're round and a little smaller than a tennis ball. The set of 4 glasses with the pitcher is $52. Did someone say, pomtini time? (Pomegranate martini's that is--they're pom wonderful.)

Old suitcases. Great for storage. Find one more to make three, stack them, and you have a nice little side table. The small one is $35 and the larger one is $45.

Floor lamp with ivory drum shade. I like the bulbous marble knob. I didn't write down the price, whoops. I'll have to ask Lisa.


The Pickled Hutch is an antique store in San Francisco that I love. Every Wednesday I pick three items to post on my blog that I especially like. The Pickled Hutch is located at 1605 Church Street, San Francisco, CA. Open Wed. to Sun. 11 - 6. PH 415-641-8875. Ask for Lisa.

Editing the Clutter

I'm reading a book called Made to Stick. It's not about decorating or design--it's about, as the jacket says, "why some ideas survive and others die." But one quote in particular touched on one of my decorating dilemmas and stuck with me today when I read it, and that was, "a designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." Coming from a more is more background, which I feel totally comfortable in and love, I normally add things until I think something, whatever it is, is finished. I never really thought much about taking things away, at least not until Paula came over to help me depersonalize our old house when we put it up for sale before we moved to San Francisco.

Once I stored the things Paula thought we should put away, I initially felt like our house looked a bit naked. Then after a few more days of living with it, I thought our house looked better than before, and it sold in just a few weeks. I'm always drawn to knickknacks--little vases, little plates, little pictures, little books, little boxes. After a while it starts to look like clutter if you don't know how to put it all together just so, like some people do so well, which I don't think I know how to do quite yet. I think this week I'm experiencing knickknack overload and need to clear some clutter. It's especially hard to do when the closets are busting at the seams and the bed is close to lifting off the floor because of all the storage bins under it. Time to make a Goodwill run. I'll just have to resist temptation to go in and buy more clutter after I drop off my current clutter. I do love shopping at the thrift store.

Picture from Small Space Style

New in the Shop

I added a few party hats to my etsy shop, and this one's my new favorite. I love the mocca fabric.

Industrial Cottage

What is that, you say? That's the corner of a table, formerly an iron gate that my talented friend Paula had made into a table. How cool, right? I mentioned Paula the other day in my flea market post and wanted to tell you more about her. I was trying to think of how I would describe her style, but I couldn't think of just the right words. In terms of textiles, I thought her style might be described as equal parts linen, leather, and shag. Her style is clean, classic, and modern. But then I thought about how much of her work incorporates so many architectural elements and decided my textile analogy was too narrow--could I add iron and steel to the textile group? So I asked Paula to describe her style. "Industrial cottage" were the words she used to describe her style, and before my eyes finished reading the words in an email she wrote to me, I thought, that's exactly her style! Paula spends most of her days living in her Cape May, New Jersey cottage, but she also spends time in Atlanta, Georgia where she has a beautiful downtown loft. She's a construction consultant and interior designer, and let me tell you, she has a good eye, which also happens to be the name of her business. (Below are a few pictures from her loft.)

One afternoon, after Paula and my mom spent the day together hunting for treasures, my mom said to me on the phone, "Paula has such a good eye!" In her excitement I think my mom said this a few times actually. It was only after she finished talking about their day that I told her that "a good eye" was what Paula had recently decided to call her business. My mom just didn't know that at the time, but she thought it was a perfect name for her business.


Where most people might see a pile of mechanical, nautical, or architectural junk, Paula sees potential lamps, tables, containers, mirrors . . . and turns them into just that. Like the mirror above the bed in her loft--it used to be a victorian bathtub. And look at all these amazing lamps she's designed, all re-purposed from their original use. The lamp bases are drugstore soda fountain stool bases, zinc fragments off of a building in Philadelphia, and antique shoe shine stands. The lamps range from $195 each to $795 a pair.





Her Cape May cottage especially reflects her talent in turning architectural junk into something functional and beautiful. You can see in the pictures below that she turned a bank teller window into a headboard, turned an old bait cleaning sink into a table, an old ship's lantern into a hanging light fixture, and turned propellers into lamps.








Her web site is in the works, so in the meantime, if you're interested in purchasing any of Paula's lamps or mirrors, or if you're interested in having her help you design your house, inside or out, send her an email. paularossell@hotmail.com. I'll leave you now in her garden just outside her newly renovated addition that she designed. Not a bad place to end at all!

Pickled Hutch Picks of the Week - 1/23

Woof, woof. Here are my Pickled Hutch picks this week. The cute chalk pup, well, more stern and regal than cute is $32
I always like a little sea life (past life that is--the unmounted kind) as a decorative element. This coral is $45.

Cute stool. I love the fabric. I think if I owned this stool, I'd paint the base red, or maybe a mustard yellow. $52.

The Pickled Hutch is an antique store in San Francisco that I love. Every Wednesday I pick three items to post on my blog that I especially like. The Pickled Hutch is located at 1605 Church Street, San Francisco, CA. Open Wed. to Sun. 11 - 6. PH 415-641-8875. Ask for Lisa.

Flea Market Outing

This morning I went to the Alemany flea market and had a great time. Just a few minutes out the door, I thought, oh no, I have to pee and I'm suddenly hungry. Crap. I thought for sure I wouldn't last more than 15 minutes at the flea market. Two hours later, I got back in the car and only then remembered that I had to pee and was starving! My flea market high kicked in as soon as I got there, and so I forgot about all physical discomfort. I love going to the flea market. The pickaxe turned paint brush holder is one of my favorite things I saw today. I love seeing how people re-purpose everyday (and not so everyday) things. Even though it wasn't actually turned into anything totally different, I like the way it was used.  It made me think of my friend Paula, who I'll tell you about soon. She's the queen of re-purposing cool industrial and architectural pieces. Below are a few other random things I saw.





A few things I bought . . . . I got this Wonder Pen kit for my friend Lauren. I think she'll like it.


I broke down and bought my very first lady head vase! It was $20, but I've seen them anywhere from $25 and up and up, so I went ahead and got her. She's soaking in the sink right now. A dirty girl, she is.
Then I got this little dish. I like the print. It reminded me of Amy Butler's fabrics. And that's all I got today. I could have filled up the car and then some, but I held back and still had a great time.

Pretty Little Things

On my hunt for a home is in the art pick this week, I came across Lori Marie's pretty little things. So adorable! Here are house tote, panty clutch and fancy face. You know I have a soft spot for home, but I'm flushed over the panty clutch. I feel a giggle spring up just looking at it. And, hey, that fancy face looks like someone I know! Check out her etsy shop and blog to see more of her super cute creations.

Pickled Hutch Picks of the Week - 1/16

Here are my Pickled Hutch picks this week. Lisa has a lot of great new things in store, so if you're in San Francisco, make a trip to the hutch and see what's new.

I love this framed silk scarf of women diving. I'm thinking about it for our bathroom, unless someone snatches it up while I lollygag around thinking about it! $145

1930's mellow yellow Moonbeam clock that works great and lights up. $75
Pair of Indian clubs. I thought these were bowling pins, but Lisa informed that they are actually clubs. She's very knowledgeable that Lisa. $65
The Pickled Hutch is an antique store in San Francisco that I love. Every Wednesday I pick three items to post on my blog that I especially like. The Pickled Hutch is located at 1605 Church Street, San Francisco, CA. Open Wed. to Sun. 11 - 6. PH 415-641-8875. Ask for Lisa

A Perfect Picture

Lately I've been daydreaming of having a house one day and how I'd like for it to look (on the inside that is).  Andrew and I often see things that we want to get for our apartment, but we both hesitate because we're not sure if it, whatever it is, will fit or work in our future, but imaginary for now house.  So we stick to what we have, which is actually really nice, thanks to my mom who's given us just about everything we have.  But I do love the look in this picture, which I saw on Decorno who saw it on Abbey Goes Design Scouting.  I love everything in the picture and how it's arranged--the oil paintings on the mantle, the white sofa, the bright lime green fabric on the side chair, the antique tray, the sisal rug, the putty green colored walls with a pale blue ceiling . . . .  This is a perfect picture of how I'd like my living room to look one day. But a white sofa with kids and a naughty cat, I'm not so sure about.

PS. I'll post my Pickled Hutch picks tomorrow. 

Salvage Central

This weekend Andrew and I checked out two places in Berkeley that I've been meaning to check out for months now, Ohmega Salvage and Urban Ore. Holy cow, I've never seen so many windows, doors, mantels, sinks, toilets, or light fixtures. Ohmega Salvage has its share of the chipped and worn, but they also have a great selection of refurbished anything you can think of to restore your property. Although Urban Ore also has a huge selection of salvaged windows, doors, sinks, toilets, etc., it has more of a garage sale feel with a ton of random items, such as mannequins, old electronics, books, and clothes. Wow, both of these places were so much fun to see.

From Ohmega Salvage:





At the entrance Urban Ore were a few clawfoot tubs filled with plants along with this potted wheelbarrow, which I loved. (The tub pictured at the top of this post is from Ohmega Salvage, though.) The rows and rows and rows of sinks, toilets, windows, doors, etc. aren't shown here in the pictures, but believe me they were there. From Urban Ore: