Halloween Pics

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The exterior: Mannequin legs buried
in an iron urn. Vintage frame and gilded farm ax on the door.

Ghoulish greetings everyone!
The perfectionist in me cannot help but apologize for the quality of the following pics but at least I got them documented. After the staff left last night, I quickly zipped through the store at midnight and got these shots before the crowd picked it over this morning. Now at 3:00, some of the real good-goods are gone but many surprises are left and some have not even made their way out.

Antique baby clothes hanging on old wooden ladders.

The Brides of Frankenstein....

The crowd squealed and gasped their way throughout the melange of haunted merchandise. Rats, bleeding candles, cobwebs and the like where grabbed and the cameras and cell phones were snapping away. Although I am dragging today, this is what it is all about: that first hour when the real fans of The Sofa get here- this part is exciting for me. These are the people I stay awake thinking about. Will they be disappointed? Do I have enough surprises? Is there enough of that item for everyone? A large handful of these folks have followed and supported me for years. They tell their friends and they have learned not to miss these moments. It means the world to me to know they plan their day (and their money) on these events in my store.

Our top seller: These red ink syringe pens.
All the signage I made on my computer, reminiscent of the Batman spotlight.

The mad scientist laboratory. We ended up calling this the Boo Radley shed!

Lots of black candy and licorice fill all our glass apothecary jars.

Dirty glass bottles I have been collecting all year.
I designed the labels, added iodine, corked and sealed with melted wax over tea stain cheesecloth.

These white tapers (and pillars) bleed red wax. Very creepy & fabulous.

After I load this post, it is time to reassess. More merch needs ordered, a few projects still need completed and lots of tweaking needs to happen. But overall, the troops rallied, the inspiration was there and I am ready to make a list of the things to do differently next year!

Our witches banquet table.
A giant hallow log was placed down the middle and filled with kale, ginger root, sweet potatoes and turnips. The giant urn is filled with deep, blood red velvet roses, dried twigs and black feathers. Old lace and Spanish moss are used throughout to fill in the gaps. At each setting, veiny radicchio heads were placed in the witches hand with a fork stuck straight up. Spiders and rats crawl about too. The old tattered lace curtains came from home and we have them hung by wire on all our front windows.


I bought this $5.00 brass and wood chandelier,
spritzed it black and wired moss and twigs about.
Springy felt spiders hang around it too.


Piles of dirty silver can be found everywhere.


Another fun project: cutting little masks and skeleton faces and gluing them on these vintage photos.


Behind the counter we removed our fabric awning and randomly hung old shutters and crows to resemble tornado wreckage. The vintage lamps were already black and I added the furry cat-masks over the lampshades.


Another project: I bought this old tattered chair last week and was going to just sell it as-is but got the idea to iron-on a black crow silhouette to the back. Think of the possibilities!

A quick trip to the Thrift Store and I was cutting and gluing new outfits for our Santos.
The mask below was printed on my computer and cut out with scalloped craft scissors.


As I was wandering through the store to find a home for these vintage portraits, I snuck this one under the Santo's skirt. I love the eerie image it makes.

We covered this old chair with a vintage coffee sack.

My idea of piling these old, distressed books became quite the humorous project: Cindy found them, Beth removed the covers, I toted 100 paperbacks home and soaked all of them in a tub of water and hung each one clothesline style on my porch to dry into an eventual wonderful, wrinkled mess. The neighbors did not know what to think.

My latest, fabulous display purchase- an old hay wagon.

Another last minute project! I found this old doll house painted pastel mint green with messy white windows four days before the opening. An hour later I just kept squirting paint colors in a bowl and came up with this wonderful witchie green, added the cheesecloth and we have it displayed with a fan behind it blowing the curtains. These pair of legs were also going in an outdoor urn but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to do this.



Cindy and Donnie wiring the shutters.

Enjoy.

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Food Networking

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Coming to New York for me is all about inspiration. Last night, as Cindy and I were summarizing our day she said, "I am starting to see what you must struggle with at the shop". I had mentioned how difficult it is to see all the splendor of NY; ideas, style, design, product- and then to come home and have to do a watered down version of it because I am in the Midwest and most of my customers can't afford it, maybe don't get it, not all want it... and so it goes. Then, as a creator of retail, I become unhappy because financially I cannot always do what I want visually- and that is how I live and thrive- visually. I can appreciate a good book like the next guy, but I never read as it cannot hold my attention. I love sitting on the beach and taking in the view- but only for a few hours then I get bored. (Now sitting on the beach with a stack of interior magazines, that's living!)

My cafe au lait and chocolate croissant at La Bergamote.

I realized at (almost) every meal or restaurant we have gone to I wanted to shoot a picture of my plate of food. Then I thought why apologize, this is design to me. Especially this place: La Bergamote at 9th Ave and 20th. I am staying in a friends apartment in Chelsea while he is floating around the Hamptons with his Belgium boyfriend. He casually mentioned before he left, "There is a great little French bakery right around the corner'. Cindy and I decided to mosey over and check it out as my beloved Starbucks was further down the street. Oh my- this place also erased everything. Starbucks look out. I am afraid I have found my NY replacement and a comparison is not even possible. This place has it goin' on.

Oh the wonders of lots of pastry in one place...

Pretty great huh?

I decided yesterday was the day to spend away from the gift show and head on downtown. First stop: Pearl River. What a joint! Most of you have probably wandered into your local Chinatown area (if you have one) and seen fun bowls and lanterns and karate shoes. Imagine that blown up into a clean, giant department store. That is Pearl River.


I finally found some wonderful white gauze curtains for my new home decor and these fabrics by the yard, great for upholstery.
In Soho we went to this funky hip-hop place called Yellow Rat Bastard and I was taken by their use of a marquee to decorate the interior. This is really bringing the outdoors in!


I had a moment at the Double RL store.


We then stumbled upon Eleven on Prince Street, a small funky antique store. I loved the industrial light hung inside this cabinet and stuffed tissue decorating the back of the shelf.

This gym basket was hanging over the counter at Eleven- notice the giant spools hiding the cord.

We went back to market today and Buddakan tonight. Central Park boathouse for lunch tomorrow, then home.
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