For many years, I set my alarm to ring at five on Sunday mornings. I'd slip out of bed, leave my young husband sleeping, and dress in the dark. My friend Anna waited outside in an SUV. We drove on the empty streets of our Southern California neighborhood to the coffee shop, which was supposed to open at six but rarely did. If luck was on our side, we carried out extra-large lattes for the drive and arrived at the flea markets just before seven-Pasadena City College on the first weekend of the month; Rose Bowl, the second; Long Beach, the third; and Santa Monica Airport, the fourth just as the vendors, many of whom we knew by name, were setting up their stalls.
We strolled the aisles slowly. It was our time to talk. Our problems and our hopes were legion. Anna and I were just beginning our home lives. She had two boys; I had one. I'd begun my life as a swap-meet goer in college when I'd rented a cottage in Berkeley, California, that was surrounded by berry bushes. My preference was for waffles with more berries than batter, but the juice from them wrecked an electric waffle maker after only a few months. I found an old cast-iron over-the-burner contraption at the swap meet for a dollar.
WHAT I KEPT: DINING ROOM
Orchard Ware dinnerware with dogwood blossom motif, service for 40; four Audubon bird charts on wooden dowels; Mikasa china in white with gold edging; cowbells
Bu hikaye Elle Decor US dergisinin May 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye Elle Decor US dergisinin May 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
SNOW in Every WINDOW
IN MONTANA'S EXCLUSIVE YELLOWSTONE CLUB, COMMUNE DELIVERS A WEST COAST GROOVE TO A HOME WITH PRISTINE VIEWS OF BIG SKY COUNTRY.
VIENNA WAITS FOR YOU
DESIGNER BEN PENTREATH RECOUNTS HOW HE BROUGHT A VIBRANT ENGLISH SENSIBILITY TO A QUINTESSENTIAL AUSTRIAN TOWNHOUSE.
IT'S HUMAN NATURE
SHEILA BRIDGES DRAWS FROM VERMONT'S HISTORY AND WILDERNESS TO BRING LIFE AND CHARACTER TO A SPRAWLING NEW HOME.
When Can We Move In?
Your next out-of-office email could be sent from one of the world's most beautiful hotel rooms. Go ahead, sign off early.
SEIZE THE DAY
Twenty-four hours in the life of good gifts.
Mic Drop
For former talk radio star Tom Joyner, Studio Roda creates an oceanfront pleasure pad with out-of-sight views and disco-era glamour.
CURTAIN RAISER
ELLE DECOR partners with designers Christine and John Gachot to refresh an iconic lounge at a New York institution, the Metropolitan Opera House.
The Empire Strikes Back - A 19th-century gem in Cambridge, Massachusetts, gets a tour-de-force restoration thanks to Frances Merrill of Reath Design.
Is it possible to simultaneously go back in time and leap forward? This was the challenge a couple set for themselves upon purchasing a salmon-pink 1869 house in Cambridge, Massachusetts, not far from Longfellow House, the National Historic Site that served as George Washington's headquarters during the revolution. We loved all the beautiful old details of this house, the homeowner says.
And How! - Decorator Nick Olsen transforms a Sag Harbor home into a Hamptons retreat with an irreverent humor.
If you must go to the Hamptons, however-because it is devilishly good fun, after all-you may notice an apparently modest, low-slung cottage on Sag Harbor's Main Street and think, with a comfortable sort of feeling, Now that is how a house should look. Nestled amid the Botox bars, helipads, and club-staurants, it could almost set the sordid world aright both a rebuke and a solution to the chaos that surrounds it. A real home.
You Stay Here
At a Martha's Vineyard compound, Steven Gambrel and Tom Kligerman have made a guest retreat so good, visitors may never want to leave.
