antiques in da house!

Since I was a kid, I've been familiar with antique furniture and decor thanks to both my parents' interest in collecting it and my grandparents' and great grandparents' homes being filled with it. I knew what a Chippendale chair was before I learned what Chippendales dancers were, so when I heard of the latter I imagined scantily clad men dancing on these formal antique chairs. Even though the visual was very odd, my 9-year old mind didn't doubt the connection for a second.

My current apartment holds a pretty eclectic mix of furniture and decor styles - but I find myself loving antiques now more than ever. It hasn't always been crystal chandeliers and Staffordshire spaniels though; as a child I had quite a love-hate relationship with this old stuff all over our house. There was the solemn portrait of a George Washington-like man whose beady, following eyes kept me from cutting through the living room at night and I slept in a four-poster bed that had a beautiful canopy but also seemed to have its original 19th century mattress. And much to my annoyance (but I totally get it now), I also learned an early respect for furniture: no feet on the sofa, no leaning back in your chair, no drink glasses without a coaster and absolutely no doing homework on the table without something under it! But of course there was the fun part of antiques too: treasure hunting at the Rose Bowl Flea Market during family vacations to California and needing very little imagination to pretend I lived in the same eras as Felicity, Kirsten, Addy, Samantha and Molly. Those were the days, weren't they?

Being a sentimental person by nature, I tend to treasure old things - those passed down through the family and those found at antique fairs and flea markets that have had another life or a special purpose that doesn't make sense anymore. So, I got especially happy when I saw a tour of interior designer Hollie Wood's Charleston, South Carolina home in an Apartment Therapy post. One of the most unique tours I've ever seen, her house is filled to the brim with an incredibly diverse collection of antiques. While this tour may not be a style for most, it's still pretty fascinating to see - you can tell she has a real passion. The interview is fantastic and considering the fact that her dream source includes "Texas flea markets," I was so hyped up that I've already called my mom to tell her I'm making a special trip home in October for my favorite kind of shopping.

 Enjoy the tour, and if you want to check out Hollie's interview and more photos, look here ...

What part of Hollie's home caught your eye the most?

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The Help: 60s and Southern

After stuffing my face with almost an entire baguette, brie, and blueberries, I have just gotten home from watching the 84th Academy Awards at a friend's house (everyone knew The Artist  would sweep tonight - French snacks were appropriate!). I've spent nearly the past 5 hours commenting on gowns and hairdos, overall-good speeches, and all the movies I still need to see. And I'm still thinking about a few things: Billy Crystal is going to be a really adorable old man, I will never stop girl crushing on Penelope Cruz, and since when did Nick Nolte become Santa Clause? Sad face. (for the children)

And before this past year's films get totally away from us, I wanted to do a post on the set design of the various homes featured in the "Best Picture" nominated The Help, which takes place during the 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi. While watching this movie, the interiors really caught my eye because they are a look I am familiar with: both my mom and grandmother's favored home design and decor style is Southern and filled with antiques (definitely not something I appreciated as a kid. Antique shopping had to be the most boring thing in the world. My, how times have changed). But that doesn't mean they are stuck in the 1960s; there are elements to the interior style achieved in The Help that are timeless and therefore totally doable now. But definitely not that crazy pink bathroom below! 

As The Help's production designer, Mark Ricker, explains for Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles, he found design inspiration from vintage copies of Better Homes and Gardens Magazine, Under Live Oaks by Caroline Seebohm, and of course the iconic Southern film, Gone With The Wind. After scavenging for the right antiques and decor from Memphis to Jackson, he chose to show the variety of 1960s Southern interior design by taking a different style approach with each character's home.

 Hilly's home represented the new South style that was "prim, perfect, pastel and icy." In this photo I am drawn to the pale peach walls and the porcelain lamps. Very elegant.

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 Hilly's bathroom was designed with bubble gum pink everything and vintage wallpaper. This bathroom is soooo retro!

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During this era, painted family portraits were pretty popular as seen in this photo of Hilly's living room; my grandmother had a very pretty portrait of my mom above the sofa in her den for a long time.

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Celia's house was a "relic of an older generation, filled with all the history of a grander time and rich in family tradition." This photo makes me want to play I Spy with all of the animals! Jeez Louise!

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I love that mirror in this photo of Celia's bedroom, but everything else is a bit too dramatic for me.

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My mom often covers her formal dining table in a lace table cloth as done in this photo, and she often displays her silver and china in a similar way too.

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Elizabeth's house was a middle-income ranch style home with a blander style, in an effort to keep with her character. Those walls scream 60s to me! In fact, everything about this room does.

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Skeeter's home was light toned and comfortable, but still had a "formality of tradition."

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 I love that linoleum floor!

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You know I like my chicken fried...

Back when I was in middle school, pepperoni pizza from the school cafeteria was one hot item. However, this pizza had one major issue: pools of orange, salty grease always floated on top. Some kids grabbed stacks and stacks of napkins and laid them on top of their pizza slices to soak it all up before they took their first bite. Well, not me. I reveled in it. Sick, I realize now.

Growing up in Texas, in a family that enjoys eating well (my dad ate his cornflakes with half & half, not milk) you just kinda have to go BIG. You learn that when you get barbecue, you order a chopped beef sandwich, not the sliced beef, because it's fattier and therefore tastes better. PB&Js are best when made on toasted, and generously buttered, sourdough bread and when you make a late-night trip to Whataburger, you wouldn't be a true Texan if you didn't get it Whatasized. Best of all, my favorite Mexican restaurant serves a cup of melted garlic lime butter with their fajitas - and it's normal to simply dip your taco into it before each bite. I swear. So naturally, my favorite dinner that my mom cooked growing up was crispy fried chicken and gravy.

And that brings me to the point of this post. I wanted to share some of the culinary goodness that I grew up loving so much with some friends, so this past weekend I had a low-key themed dinner party, a "Sunday Best Fried Chicken Dinner." Maybe it’s better described as a get-together, since “party” is kind of a stretch for a Sunday night. Anyway, I wanted all of my Portland friends to enjoy some homemade, good Southern cookin' that would make Paula Deen, and especially my mom, proud.

The menu: Fried chicken tenders, cream gravy, mashed potatoes, yellow squash casserole, biscuits, poppyseed pecan green salad, and chocolate pecan pie with vanilla ice cream for dessert. Oh, and the classic cheese straw as an appetizer.

To take it a little further in the theme direction I encouraged my friends to dress as southern gentlemen and ladies: large floral prints, pastels, khakis, braided belts, etc.

In an ideal world I would not have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off, and actually remembered the background Pandora: Johnny Cash, Creedence Clearwater, The Soggy Bottom Boys, etc. I also would have sprung for alcohol and made the Scarlet O'Hara and the Rhett Butler southern cocktails. But I was cheap in this instance and just served iced tea. But I did serve sugar, lemon and fresh mint on the side - that shows some attention to detail, right?

Anyway ... the night went well and everyone enjoyed the food - or at least they said they did. One of the bigger surprise hits was the southern-style yellow squash casserole, where you can find the recipe here.

So basically...I suggest you steal my idea for this dinner party, and take it further and better than i did. Think azalea centerpieces. So southern. Make me proud y'all.