Shopping with Alex

Believe or not I really do not like to shop. Well, I need to qualify that. I only like to shop when wandering the streets in a foreign country, or discovering an artist or craftsman from whom I want to buy something. And the only person who I like to shop with is Alex. Magic can happen when we are together. Both of our houses (hers in Cleveland and mine in Topeka) provide the perfect display venue for our finds with our colorful walls, unique furniture pieces and interesting artifacts. Places where most people shop for accessories to decorate their homes don’t attract my attention at all. Here are just a few of our experiences.

One of our first experiences was decorating Alex’s first apartment in Cleveland in 2013. She had already ordered and received the major pieces of furniture from CB2 (a cheaper version of Crate and Barrel). I flew into Cleveland on a Friday night and off we went on Saturday to look for things that finished the space. Our first stroll was to walk by an Anthropologie store. In the window was a fantastic wall piece of a three-dimensional vintage half bird cage mounted on a collage of wonderful old fabrics. Even though it was part of their window display, they sold it to us. That set the stage for the “look”.

The next stop was at Arhaus where we spotted a vintage-looking bird cage floor lamp and a silver leaf side chest. We filled in with the lamp sitting on a tray covered in a hand embroidered linen cloth stitched by Maira Kalman.

In the old days, there was nothing better than a trip to Pier I. I am sorry to say that they are no longer in business. But while it lasted, it was a favorite. We walked in and found a floor length mirror with a hand painted frame.The problem became, “How were we going to get it to her apartment?” We certainly couldn’t get it in a car.” As we walked out of the store, mirrorless, we saw a Home Depot next door. We knew we could rent a truck for a short term. So here we are, two females, dressed pretty nicely driving a dirty truck and we only had 45 minutes to get to and from her place. We make it, laughing all the way!