Olde Good Things Architectural Antiques. New York

I thought I died and went to heaven when I entered Olde Good Things in Chelsea.  I was actually walking to towards another antique center on w25th when I saw the green canopies of Olde Good Things across the corner on w24th.

I had never heard of Olde Good Things so can you imagine how excited I was just walking into this store. 

After looking over and handling a few things, I realized that Olde Good Things is the motherlode of architectural antiques and of all things I desire.

OGT has shops around NYC and a few other places, but are headquartered in Scranton, Pennsylvania. They also have trucks at every fleamarket, selling their wares.

I've seen them at the Greenflea market on the upper west, at the Brooklyn flea, and looking back at my pictures from DC, they were also at the Georgetown fleamarket! (yes, yes..I went to all of them on this recent trip, and would've visited more if I had more Sundays!)

Perhaps it was the cold brew that I had in my hand, but my heart was racing as I walked across the floor, my eyes not knowing where to look next.

I only started to chill when I saw that I already owned many of things I was attracted to.

Lovely, lovely sconces!! But I already have enough on my walls...

What a gorgeous antique scale. Yay, I already have a scale too!

And this looks just like B's lolo's cabinet that I use to display my teacups! But I like mine better-- and it even has sentimental value.

What gorgeous chandeliers! If I had any of these at home, I might have to come down to dinner in a long gown. Mine fits my relaxed lifestyle.

Mirrors!  Ah, but still I love mine too!

What a nice feeling contentment is....

But look--an old leather chair. It reminds me of our little Airbnb in Paris! I want one exactly like this!

And I think I would like to have an old typewriter too.

I think it would be exciting to have an architectural salvage business--then I can collect the old grills and hardware of the heritage buildings they are tearing down here in Manila.

I just hope my house doesn't look like those second-hand stores in Bangkal! Maybe I should put price tags on the things I have at home and sell from the house.

Hello guests, you can buy my flea market antiques...

I have a light fixture like this 

and a display cabinet like this too! (but it's in storage)

It'll allow me to go to even more flea markets and replace the things I've sold.

 I don't own any seltzer bottles yet.

Oooh, how fun will that be?!

Alicia's Home

This post is way overdue--I mean really, really overdue. I took these pictures maybe three years ago, when Alicia was not writing for a major glossy magazine yet.

I just filed these pictures away after I took them because she said her house was going to be featured in Town and Country in a couple of months,

and of course it wouldn't be nice to pre-empt the feature.

The house came out in the magazine as she said, and although it was a very nice feature and the photos beautiful, I felt it didn't show the house the way I experienced it.

Come to think of it, maybe my pictures won't either--because there's a big difference between seeing a house in person and seeing it in photos.

Some houses look better photographed, specially when a crew comes in and styles the house to make it "magazine-worthy" and some houses just look better when you are in it.

Alicia's house looks beautiful in photographs, but it's better when you're standing in it, with her animatedly telling you the stories or inspiration behind each piece.

If I remember right, this chair above, one of a pair, was a castaway from an uncle. It was about to be dumped because it was old and tattered.

With her characteristic obsessive attention to detail, she salvaged the chairs, restyled, reupholstered and refinished them. Look how interesting and unique they turned out.

"And guess how much they cost me?!?" she enthusiastically asked after she told me in detail how she resurrected the chairs.

I appreciate it when people see value where it exists and are proud of their resourcefulness--especially if they don't need to be!

Aside from being passionate about furnishings and interiors, she is also very excited about the kitchen, cooking and eating--not necessarily in that order.

She actually started a blog on interior design a couple of years back, but has since devoted her time to writing more about food than interiors. 

Imagine, I dropped by her house in the morning with only about thirty-minutes' notice, and this is how neat her house looked.

This TV-watching area is part of the master room.

I can't find the pictures of her daughters' bedrooms which are also beautifully done. They each have a mirrored vanity.

But it's just as well, because this post could go on and on.

Now that I look at my own photos of her house, I can't say I did her house justice either.  You really have to be in it to get the full effect.