15 Oct Lamps Anyone? Finding the Perfect Find at FIND & HIGH POINT

(From left to right, top row: Arianne Bellizaire, Beth Dotolo,  Courtney Lake, Jonathan Legate. Bottom row:  Kati Curtis, Leslie Hendrix Wood, Lori Gilder, Michelle Jennings Wiebe, and Patti Johnson.)

You can also follow the Twitter hashtags #hpmkt and #hpmktss. That’s just one way I find out what’s trending and keep my eyes toward the future. So, if you’re interested in design, even just a little bit, these Style Spotters are the ones to follow for ideas and inspiration

Then, afterward, call your interior designer and get refreshing that home for the holidays! That’s what I’m doing, getting inspired and working with my interior designer, Patrick Landrum, of P&L Design, remodeling our home.

So on to what inspires me. I don’t get much time to go antiquing and I still can’t believe I’ve never been to Round Top, the big antiques fair in Texas or High Point Market. BOTH are on my wish list for 2016. They both offer such unique experiences for the savvy interior designer on the hunt for that perfect side chair, lamp, or mirror for their client, or for people like me, your average home owner, who loves the thrill of looking to get inspired. (Note: Round Top is open to all shoppers and High Point is a market to the trade for wholesale buyers and interior designers only).

The other way for me to get inspired is go to vintage shops. And it just so happened that a dear friend of mine (who I’d been trying to have lunch with ever since I got back from Italy so we could share our stories!), Linda Funay, knew what I loved and had me meet her at this adorable little vintage shop called FIND out in Lakeway, Texas.

Here’s Linda and I having lunch at The Grove that afternoon on a cool day, a rarity in Austin these days, as we’re still topping 95 degrees.

Finding FIND in the Texas Hill Country is not a challenge at all, once you know it’s right next to Benjamin Moore Paints, but getting out of there without coming away with something IS a challenge!

Meet the delightful Kim Neal, above, owner and curator of FIND. Once I walked into her shop, all of a sudden I didn’t hear a word Kim and Linda were saying, because everywhere I turned I was finding something I loved.

It’s funny what inspires you! I felt slightly rude that I wasn’t listening very well as Kim walked me through her store, but that’s because everywhere I turned – and I mean everywhere – I was SO inspired!!

I could not pause long enough from “Ooohing” and “Aaahing” over everything to have much of a conversation. Is it just me, or has that ever happened to you where you’re so enthralled with what you see that you barely can utter a word? I had never had that happen before, and in reality, I’m sure I was babbling away. But really, it’s all Linda Funay’s fault, who kept saying ‘I told you Kim she’d like it’…..and Linda was sure right.  I absolutely loved FIND!!

I got excited about so many things at this cute vintage boutique that all I did was wander around and keep FINDing more great stuff.  Finally I apologized, and of course Kim was so gracious about it all.

I mean, see for yourself. Chairs, lamps, heads, you name it, FIND has it all!  From mid-century modern to antique to plain fun, funky and vintage. And color and texture that was incredibly inspiring to me!

And they reupholster too! So any of these chairs above can be redone in a fabric of your choice.Her assistant suggested that this pair of lamps would look wonderful with my blue velvet vintage sofa if I put black shades on them. Hmmm….just maybe. I also really loved this lamp below and she suggested I could have complementing black and gold lamps in my living room, but sadly this one was too large.

Don’t you just love this line up of heads below? What a hoot!

As you know, we’re doing doing a bit of remodeling here at my own home and I’ve been working with the talented interior designer and dear friend Patrick Landrum. Thank God too because there have been some challenges in getting things off the ground to remodel The Cottage (but I’ll go into that later on). So I was definitely on “The Hunt”, looking for specific vintage pieces that would add some punch to my home that’s already filled with antiques. And I already had my gorgeous blue velvet vintage sofa for inspiration!  (Look for it here on my Instagram).

I loved these 3 copper pendants in the above image….but they were a little too large for my kitchen island/bar. But check out these cool contrasting vintage chandeliers below – one crystal and the other an industrial chic mega pendant! Fabulous texture!!

And pops of color were plenty inspiring too!! (Note: For color enthusiasts, please check out my friend Amy Wax’s NEW Color 911 app right HERE. You’ll absolutely LOVE it!!)

When I saw this mid-century beauty above, I so wished we hadn’t had cabinets built in to our family room, because this would look fabulous against our wall by the fireplace.

I kept seeing mirror after mirror at FIND, but they weren’t at all what I was looking for, so I asked. This is when it pays to open your mouth! I just happened to mention to Kim that I was looking for a very ornate, gold gilded mirror along the lines of Louis XIV.

To my surprise Kim said, ‘Oh I think we have a gilded mirror right by the front door’. And the minute I turned the corner and saw it, well my name was written all over it. I didn’t have to go to Round Top after all, as I found just what I wanted, my perfect find, at FIND!

Don’t you just love it?  This is where it’s helpful to have an interior designer to reign in your imagination and creativity. I thought it would be perfect in my studio above my 1960’s credenza.  I pleaded with Patrick over the phone that it was perfect. And he even calculated all the measurements to tell me that yes, size wise it would work. But then, after checking it out on approval, I realized it wouldn’t do at all for that space.

But then Patrick popped over to have a look see and together we found the perfect home for my gold-gilded, vintage mirror in my husband’s and my master suite.

And, just like that blue vintage velvet sofa is inspiration for redecorating our living room, this fabulous vintage gilded mirror plays that role perfectly for my bedroom! (Watch for details in 2016 on the redecorating of our master suite).

So now you know what inspires me and how it happens. Thank you Linda and Kim for making my Friday one of my most fun days this month!

Me, owner of FIND, Kim Neal, and friend, Linda Funay with Austin Monthly Home.

To learn more about what inspires me and a little history about how I even started my luxury pillow design business, Deborah Main Designs, please check out my interview below with the talented duo of Soft Design Lab, Deb Barrett and Jackie Von Tobel. Till next week’s #TextureTuesday, I wish all my designer friends at High Point, and exhibitor friends design duo John Strauss and Carissa Marie of CMJSCreativ, a fabulous market! XO, PG

NOTE: I was not compensated by any person or business for this post. All views and images are my own, except where noted. Thank you for reading my blog.