Champagne Coq-tail & French Toast

Time to raise your glass

Bonne Annee

May all your dreams come true

Santé, Amitié, Amour

futur et la fille française

So it's that time again,

to mark the passing of another year

and

anticipate what the new one will bring.

Come with me for a rendezvous with

the Antiquariess and a peek into the future.

Some prefer crystal balls to gaze into the future,

but she, (the antiquariess), fancies

the dangling sort.

Her mise-en-scène,

objets d'art surrounded by dancing flames

giving tribute to history and mystery.

It is written that by studying the

"Art of Palmistry"

one can interpret character,

based upon the reading of lines and configurations

on the palm.

She (the antiquariess), has always

maintained, that it is what the hand creates,

that gives us a glimpse into the soul.

The object is the manifestation of

the beautiful thought.

Others practice forms of augury.

She, (the antiquariess), tells us that

there are omens.

She sees the auspicious.

The mirror, the gold, the idol of God.

She explains that the Gods will let their

approving voices be heard,

through the creaks in

the furniture.

She also tells us the stars are aligned.

The antiquariess says that telling the future

is difficult to explain.

It is like the wind that fills the sail,

you can't see it,

but you can feel it.

She says that the past is always the

best predictor of future.

I could hear the passion in the antiquariess's voice,

as she proclaimed to me

the spirituality of the antique French chair

and the fragments it held.

She also claims to be clairvoyant.

She kept asking, "Comprenez-vous?"

She then begins to weave her story about

a French girl, named Pascale living in the ancient,

forified Roman village of Avignon.

Pascale loves to scour the brocantes

looking for items with emotional tags.

Tattered ribbons, found buttons, apron ties

once tugged by a child's hand.

Such simple things evoke memories and

bring a smile to her face.

Delicate filigree couronnes and

vintage ephemera can be found when

peeking in her armoire.

Pascale is an artiste, the antiquariess tells me.

She questions not the why.

She understands that her fate lies in her hands.

The French girl, Pascale, possesses a gift.

She takes remnants of the past and

intertwines them with beautiful thoughts

using wire to hold it all together.

With one hand she receives gifts from the past

and with the other she gives.

The finished creation is brilliant!

Fit for Prince and Pauper.

She, (the antiquariess), claims that

Pascale's creations are being spotted

in many a Country French maison.

The French, you know, they just have this

'Je ne sais quoi'

"Vox Populi," claims the antiquariess.

Ahh, je comprend.

The people have spoken.

The popularity of Vox Populi Decoration

is just beginning this side of the Atlantic.

As my glimpse into the future comes to an end,

Madame, (the antiquariess), picks the last of

the grape leaves from her wine, tilts

her head, and winks at me.

"As far as your future," she says,

"I don't know, you create it."

Visit Vox Poluli and see Pascale Palun's

wonderful, whimsical creations.

She will also be at Maison & Objet

next month.

All photos by Joanna Maclennan,

visit her site here.

Photo# 3, 4, 10 & 15 from Joanna's site

Others of Vox Poluli

BONNE ANNEE ET BISOUS

Joyeux Noël

Joyeux Noël

Posting some photos of my Winter Wonderland

and wanted to wish everyone

a Joyous Holiday filled

with memories old and new!

I hope St. Nick brings you lots of

French Antiques

and

Happy New Year!!

Bisou

Golf, comme le français

Tiger Woods should take lessons from

Jack Arnold in how to do something

productive between golf games.

Mr. Arnold is a lover too,

but of all things French.

Lucky for us, he expresses that

through his house designs,

full of Old World Romance.

For those lovers of Country French,

just in case you missed it, his home was

featured in 2007 in Veranda.

Don't you love the extra thick interior walls

and the timber beamed ceilings?

Of course, having a house full of

French Antiques helps add to the ambiance.

Antique Italian chandeliers, metal bistro tables,

and Louis XVI chairs, just to name a few.

Susan Arnold designed the interior.

Another on my dinner list.

I think we would have a lot in common,

like French trumeau mirrors and antique candlesticks.

I love that she used so many French antique

garden tables indoors.

Another no upper cabinets kitchen,

which is a signature of Country French.

The Louis XV vaisselier full of white ironstone

is the perfect substitute.

Besides, if you had upper cabinets where would you

hang the grape hotte?

I much prefer these greens to the ones

on the golf course!

I think most of us would be teaing up,

but with a good design book.

Charles Faudree perhaps?

Are you keeping score of the

French antique bistro tables and Louis XVI chairs?

This powder room would also make a

good practice room.

We could practice our grip on those antique doors

and our stance,

between the two lantern sconces.

I guess the antique French clock would

come in handy, keeping track of how long

it would take us, to make 18 rounds

through the house.

This is the room where you use your imagination,

I'll refrain from any golf terminology.

Susan used hers with the matching tabourets.

Fresh!

What a way to end a day!

If your planning to build and want a

Country French style home,

be sure to visit Jack Arnold's site here.

If you want to fill it with French garden tables,

Louis XVI chairs, or other French Antiques,

drive to my place.

As for Tiger... no doubt he muffed.

Should we give him a mulligan?

Bisou

temps français

Most mornings I wake up at 3 a.m.

My internal clock is on French time.

Really France is more than just six hours ahead of us.

If France was founded in 843,

(I did the math),

She's 933 years (8,173,080 hours),

plus six hours,

ahead of us.

Photo via DayLife

Time has become her friend.

France seems to patiently yield to time

and grants its effects, a connotation of value.

Stones, the heirs of time, bearing the signature of
Water & Wind, 

are given prominence.

Plasters and woodworkers leave their fingerprints

behind in walls

and their works become the aura's of art.

Photo via Lookmom
Plaster and lath is a lost art this side of the Atlantic.

I find it ironic that it took the manufacturers of
gypsum board, drywall, sheetrock,
(or whatever you want to call it),

30 years and three name changes,
to convince people to use it.

It saved on time and money.

So now we use drywall and spend money to
imitate time.

Strange world we live in.

Photo; Peter Vitale

It's difficult to fake time.

Photo via Veranda

But some people do it better than others.

Martin Alan Hirsch who owns

Decorative Finishes Studio

in Louisville happens to be one of the best.

Nobody does washed limestone better!

His Old World European style Villa
is completly faux finshed.

The corinthian columns, Italian plaster archways,

engraved stonework, and faux finished

rusted balcony railings are all faux.

Michelangelo faux renderings have been applied in an eleven layered fresco style to the front of the villa, along with imitations of old, worn wood window frames.

These have to be some of my favorites.

The vintage French posters applied to faux aged walls.

This strie effect is also nice.

If you would like to see more of his work,

or perhaps take a faux finishing class,

click here.

Short of moving our clocks up to French time,

we can get a fabulous faux painter!

Bisou..