Sunday, November 29, 2009

Great Gifts

.Wow! What a weekend. All of you came out to say hello and support your local boutiques- THANK YOU so much. We were thrilled to be so busy and especially that we were part of the Kansas City tour you took your friends and family on.

We want to show you what seems to be our best sellers this month. Our shelves are stocked up on affordable jewelry, accessories and scarves. Take a look:

This coming weekend is a big one for us. The 3rd Miss Frenchie's show is this Friday night and Saturday and if you have never been, please make a point to come. It is the best kept secret in town. We have some new dealers and as always, all of us will be offering many one-of-a-kind goods which are the best gifts to give. Would you believe Curious Sofa will be hosting the Curious Cafe & Patisserie for this show? I felt it was time for someone to do the 'entertaining' while the rest of you shopped. Free wine, champagne, nosh and such on Friday night ($10-5.oo admission) and (God willing) soup and sandwiches on Saturday. And of course- I will have many antiques for sale too.

Check back for more.

Email the staff for prices on anything you might be interested in. We ship things out all the time within reason. curiousstaff@curioussofa.com

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Shop Local, Shop Unique!

We have been busy at The Sofa; unpacking, tagging and adding our spin to show you what is in store when shopping local. As one customer said, "Why didn't I come here first? This place has so much more personality!" Well, we think so! Check out our new goods below. We look forward to seeing you!
INTRODUCING
New Bath and Body products from Tokyo Milk. Chosen for their fabulous graphics as well as unusual scents.
Candles 14.95, Parfum 34.95, Soap 13.95 and Bubble Bath 27.50.


INTRODUCING
Waxing Poetic, Silver and Gold Initial Charms 26.50 - 58.00

Antique Beaded Clutch 32.00, Pearl and Rhinestone necklace 36.00
Rare Antique bias cut Satin Bed Gowns 58.00 - 125.00

Ivory Nativity 32.50, Mercury Tree 48.00
XL Antique Needlepoint Cross 195.00


Santa Cookie Jar SOLD Holy Wreath 125.00
Vintage Ironstone 7.95 - 175.00

Vintage Red Velvet Chair SOLD
White Santa 27.50, Bottle Brush Tree on Red Top Hat 46.00


Slipcover Side Chairs with Script Fabric 850.00 each
Great Decorating, Holiday and Cookbooks 9.95 - 75.00

Handpainted Angel with Trumpet 24.95
Antique Blue Velvet Eastlake Settee 595.00

Email the staff for prices on anything you might be interested in. We ship things out all the time within reason. curiousstaff@curioussofa.com

MUCH MORE TO COME!

And don't forget Miss Frenchie's next Friday and Saturday!



Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Silver Bella

It is quite an adventure to be surrounded by 100 women in kitchy aprons and a few with glitter in their hair! So goes the phenomenon of Silver Bella. Women from around the globe fly to Omaha for one short weekend to laugh, share, create and buy with the guiding hand of Teresa McFayden, event coordinator.

On the Friday night of this weekend extravaganza vendors are invited to set up their goods and sell to the Bella Babes. Some come for this night only while others come for the craft classes lead by many nationally known artists. All in all, it is quite a site.

Curious Sofa set up during vendor night last year and as I crawled to my car at 12:30 a.m. I swore I would never do it again! But, like childbirth, I forgot about the pain and called Teresa at the last minute (again) and asked if there were any spots available. This time I was going to get this loading and unloading thing down to a science. The problem is it is only a three hour show with just three hours to put it up and about one hour to tear it down. Whew- thank goodness for the industrial dolly I bought before I left and the help of my friends from Vintage Workshop, Amy and Cheryl.

I was in such a mad dash I did not document all the fab booths there (five others vendors will also be at Miss Frenchie's!!) but search any blog for Silver Bella and you will see booths-a-plenty!
Take a look at our booth and please be forgiving. I unloaded the van, emptied the crates and tossed it together in three hours. Sorry for the soft images but I just refuse to use flash. Enjoy.

Email the staff for prices on anything you might be interested in. We ship things out all the time within reason. curiousstaff@curioussofa.com

Sunday, November 15, 2009

We Say Merry Christmas

My last article for the Kansas City Star.

I’m confused. When did it become so wrong to say, “Merry Christmas”? Why has the fear of offending someone become foremost in our standard holiday greeting? I, for one, am more determined than ever to say “Merry Christmas” over “Happy Holidays” to a friend, stranger or customer in my store.

Being a retailer during the Christmas season is a daunting task. Not only do you have to put your personal faith in check (because, heaven forbid, you might offend a paying customers by mentioning the “Christ” word), but when you set off to plan your fourth quarter business, the variety of items to purchase makes you second guess the reason for the season.

When I opened my store in 2000, I remember taking a stand that I would never sell anything Santa Claus. Now, how stupid was that as a retailer? Although I was trying to make a loud and clear statement about my faith, it was also just bad business to not have a Santa or two for sale in the store. Little did I know that as I went to market to buy inventory, my desire to showcase Mary and Joseph over jolly St. Nick was shot down by aisles, floors and showrooms of the latter. When did we forget how we received this holiday in the first place? I blame manufacturers nowadays for caving to the easier and more politically correct Christmas icon, but are they only doing what we have demanded? I believe they are missing the mark.

Every year, I buy Christmas merchandise and design my store around many themes for the season. When I started to discover lovely, antique reproduction santos depicting religious Madonnas, angels and saints, I knew it was time to stop hiding the reason for the season. For four years now, the staff and I proudly design, display and sell from a large religious assortment of crosses, nativities and Christ-centered items. And guess what? They sell. They sell so well that many customers make a point to thank us for acknowledging the Christ in Christmas. It seems decorating with the baby Jesus (and Mary and Joseph and the others from that most famous birth) was what my customers wanted. They, too, were tired of hiding behind their beliefs and being bombarded with the jolly red suit.

Besides the typical red and green, using the regal colors of royalty is perfect for Christmas decorating. Fresh evergreens combined with dark coppers, burgundy and deep purples can support a design around religious decor. I personally prefer an all white Christmas with the Holy Family center stage. The ethereal look of sparkling lights or candles, mercury ornaments and objects, glistening deer or stars all mix perfectly with the Holy Family. Nativities or religious icons come in all sizes now, so larger figures can be arranged on your mantel while smaller figurines can be hung from a tree or tied to a small wrapped package. Larger nativities look perfect placed inside an unused fireplace. Scatter some straw and arrange the items accordingly, creating your own creche. Medium crosses would also be lovely tied to the inside of your front door wreath.

On the other hand, finding the childlike joy in Christmas certainly takes us back to our younger days — waking at the crack of dawn, ripping open presents under a glistening tree — and makes the red and white Santa fit in perfectly. But let us also remember the quiet calm of Christmas Eve, when we walk into our local church, hear the wonderful Christmas hymns and the message of how this holiday came to be. What a perfect gift. Hallelujah, indeed.

Reach Debbie Dusenberry, owner of the Curious Sofa, 3925 W. 69th Terrace, Prairie Village, at curiousdeb@curioussofa.com.

Posted on Sat, Nov. 14, 2009 10:15 PM See here.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

The National Article, Dubai

This just in: an unusual place to find Curious Sofa:
( go here. to see the article)

The article by Stacy Downs

Although located in a cheery setting in the US heartland, the store’s interior reflects the offbeat pen-and-ink drawings of the famous author and illustrator who fancied morbid Victorian and Edwardian styles.The owner, Debbie Dusenberry, designed the space to look old, adding brick columns, decayed plaster, aged wallpaper and tin ceiling tiles.

One of the few pops of colour comes from the faded blue of antique globes in the stationery department, which also features vintage-inspired maps. Dusenberry has a penchant for paper, especially when it’s tattered and brown after decades of use. She often decorates the backs of cabinets with torn-out book pages and the walls with antique sepia photographs she finds at garage and estate sales.

The displays are always imaginative: for Halloween she assembled broken umbrellas, shattered windows, crusty antiques, battered bicycles, black crows and gnarly tree branches to create a dramatic, haunted opera theme.

The macabre-yet-magical aesthetic comes from Dusenberry’s previous incarnation as a photo stylist. She also designed sets for television commercials and worked on several movies.

After years of buying antiques for photo shoots and her home, Dusenberry opened Curious Sofa in 2000.
“I’m such a visual person and I appreciate the design in everyday things,” she says. “I knew there were others who must feel the same way.”

Initially, Curious Sofa was located in an emerging bohemian area of downtown Kansas City called the Crossroads Arts District. But four years ago, Dusenberry moved to a space more than twice the size in nearby Prairie Village. “It’s got the same stuff, but much, much more of it,” says Dusenberry.

Curious Sofa’s tagline “less than serious surroundings,” comes through in its unexpected vintage finds. Dusenberry recently sold an old metal hospital gurney that would make a perfect sofa table or kitchen island, and a three-metre zinc-covered oyster shucking table from a New Orleans restaurant. Artists buy the store’s apothecary cabinets for organising their supplies.

The architectural salvage includes doors to use as table tops, columns as room dividers and cast-iron accessories to add interest.Vintage chandeliers are a staple, both glitzy crystal pieces and streamlined metal fixtures.

“The antique furniture we sell is almost always painted instead of stained as I feel it’s easier to care for and represents a more casual lifestyle,” says Dusenberry. “We like a few chips on our chairs and a frayed edge on a lampshade. It’s just easier to live with items that are not so precious.”

Mixed in are new pieces: soy-wax candles by the Kansas City-based Pickwick & Co, Hillhouse Naturals home fragrances, Bella Notte linens, Echo France bath products, and costume jewellery.

And yes, Curious Sofa sells sofas – from the California-based Taylor Scott Collection (starting at US$2,770 (Dh10,175) – as well as furniture by Best Slipcover Company of California and French Grey, UK.Among it all Dusenberry is easy to spot – she’s the one wearing her signature newsboy cap and carrying her powder-puff white bichon frise, Pearl.

Prairie Village, Kansas, + 1 913 432 8969, www.curioussofa.com

The pictures they chose: go here.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Part Two

Some new pics just in and more to come this week.