February 8, 2010 by newniquenews
On Friday I visited two consignment stores in the Timonium area. The first visit was described in the previous post. This post is about the Clearing House. It is a fairly small store with high quality furniture. There are also accessories, dishes and jewelry but furniture seems to be the main product. If you are looking for an entertainment armoire to repurpose they have some great ones. The prices here are higher that I usually want to pay. That reflects the quality of the items, and the fact that there are not many “finds”. If you are not looking for “finds” and want quality furniture that you can use without refinishing or reupholstering, this is the place to buy at great prices.
Clearing House also has a large selection of chandeliers and decorative mirrors.
You can check out the future prices on the tags. A word of warning – if you love it don’t wait, you don’t know when you will find the perfect piece again.
Clearing House
200 W. Padonia Road
Timonium, MD
Posted in Consignment Stores, Decorating Ideas, Stores | Leave a Comment »
February 5, 2010 by newniquenews
This morning I took someone new to the area to start the process of furnishing her new apartment. She is a great fan of recycling and so consignment shopping is natural for her.
We set out to look through a couple of stores and be home before the great storm hit. The first store was Great Finds & Designs in Timonium. This is a large store with a wide selection. They had a lot of sofas, chairs, occasional tables and some wonderful mirrors at all price points. The merchandise is well vetted and the quality obvious. The prices are reasonable for the quality. It is often difficult to find upholstered pieces on consignment. This is a good place to start the search.
There is also a large glittering room with jewelry, china and accessories. Give yourself time to spend there.
We found one table that will most likely find a home in the newcomer’s apartment. She is just waiting for the next price reduction. (The pricing schedule is clearly marked on each piece so if you are willing to take a chance of it remaining unsold you know when to return.)
Great Finds & Designs is a place I visit when looking for special or important pieces – sofa, dining table etc.
www.greatfindsanddesign.com
Posted in Decorating Ideas | Leave a Comment »
February 2, 2010 by newniquenews
The Surprise Shop has been in business in Towson since the 1960s. I did not visit until today. They have household items and clothing. There were some very nice canister sets, some punch bowls and a great assortment of glass, china, books and jewelry. They do not sell furniture. Most of the items were very reasonably priced with ‘red star’ items 50% off. This is certainly a place I will keep in mind when looking for decorative items or want something useful for the kitchen.
I was not pleasantly surpirsed by the clothes, most were of the polyester/acrylic variety and seemed old rather than vintage. There were exceptions – a pink Albert Nippon jacket that had probably once been part of a suit. It was gorgeous even though the buttons had been moved or the jacket was missing half of them. They had several items in my favorite winter fabric – black velvet. Mostly dresses too dressy for me but good quality. The biggest surprise was the number of wedding gowns. All well protected and marked at $99.95. One pretty dress, with sleeves I am sure were made to resemble Princess Diana’s wedding gown, had a note pinned to it with the helpful hint that a seamstress could make the gown strapless.
I’ll stop back on occasion but I don’t think it will become a favorite.
Surprise Shop (run by Trinity Episcopal Church) 122 Allegheny Ave, Towson, MD
www.surpriseshop.org
Tags: Surpirse Shop, wedding gowns
Posted in Thrift Stores | Leave a Comment »
January 29, 2010 by newniquenews
Last spring I went to the GBMC Nearly New sale (Baltimore hospital with legendary twice yearly thrift sales). It was on bag day where you can buy everything you can fit into a paper grocery bag for about $2. I did not think there would be anything outstanding left. I was wrong! Sitting on an almost empty shelf was this wonderfully simple teapot without crack, chip or stain. How could something so wonderful have survived 3 days of hungry bargain hunters? It was waiting for me. I quickly put it into my bag with a odd assortment of leftover craft items and headed for the checkout.
I use this teapot almost every day for my morning tea. Tea just seems to taste better when it is brewed in a teapot. And this is the perfect size for one mug of tea.
Lessons learned. 1) What I think of as treasure does not appeal to everyone. 2) No matter how late or out of the way a sale or store, it just may have what I am looking for – check it out. 3) Luxury does not always have a high price tag.
Enjoy your luxuries.
Posted in Making a Home, Modern Design, Thrift shopping | 1 Comment »
January 28, 2010 by newniquenews
Time to start posting again. I was feeling a little inadequate with my posts – there were not enough of them and I felt I needed original content 3 or 4 times a week.
Since then I have realized the “professional” bloggers I admire often spend 40+ hours/week on their blogs. So I have decided to have fun with Newnique News and post items I like, helpful hints for you and to include style related topics other than decorating. Hope you like the new Newnique News. Use the Subscribe button to insure you are notified of every post.
Happy 2010.
Posted in Making a Home | Leave a Comment »
April 27, 2009 by newniquenews
This weekend I worked a booth for someone at the Mt Washington (Baltimore neighborhood) Garden Show. The booth next to me was a snowball (a Baltimore delicacy) stand. The people working the booth were doing it for the community. They had a “professional” snowball machine and several large bottles of syrup, including choclate. They keep this machine on their backporch all summer because they love snowballs, they don’t sell them just make them available to family and friends throughout the season. The owner told me she has several during the day.
To me this is luxury, know what you like and enjoy then find a place for it in your home even if it is a little out of the ordinary. Enjoy the early summer days we are having now.
Tags: Baltimore snowball
Posted in Making a Home | Leave a Comment »
April 23, 2009 by newniquenews
Last weekend I was shopping at Ikea with a friend for items for her new home. Looking with a creative mind she was able to get what she needed to create a serene beachy feeling in her new bathroom. Candles, vases, plants all at wonderful prices. She saved hundreds over what she had seen at some of the upscale mall stores.
While we there I saw this wonderful frame.
Ikea Ung Drill Frame
In person it is a shiny black obviously plastic frame. If you like it for it’s kinda of tongue-in-cheek look that is ok. I would use one of the plastic spray paints to redo it in a metallic with an overlay of very fine black to give it an anitque look and put it in a modern room as a focal point. It would also look wonderful in a bright color or white in a casual room such as a vacation/beach house. And the price is right $24.99. You can have fun with it and find other ways to express your own style.
Posted in DIY, Decorating Ideas, Retail Stores | Leave a Comment »
April 15, 2009 by newniquenews
(Note: I messed up with my scheduler and on 4/14 scheduled this for 4/1, so it is appearing twice.)
One great way to add color to your walls is to add murals. You can get them from many online sources. Just google ‘home wall murals’. They are available in many sizes, from small dots, animals or scenes. In a windowless room you can add a window scene of woodlands, sea or mountains easily and inexpesively. Murals Your Way (there may be others) will turn your own art or photos into a mural of just about any size. Larger sizes arrive in many pieces that are then applied like wallpaper with overlaps.
'Eucalyptus' from Murals Your Way
Many of the murals are kitschy, and some are wonderful. I can just imagine them behind some modern furniture or contemporary bed. This image could easily cover an entire wall and not be overpowering because of the apparent transparency.
I have also seen murals used to cover cabinets. This is an inexpensive way to add interest to your kitchen without installing new cabinets or fronts.
Costs range from less than $200 to over $1,000 for a 12′ X 8′ mural.
A more personal, yet more expensive alternative is to have a mural painted by a local artist.
Check the many sources available, you may find the perfect mural for your home.
Tags: cabinets, mural, walls
Posted in Decorating Ideas | 1 Comment »
April 13, 2009 by newniquenews
My business partner and I have finally finished our first investment property and it is ready for the perfect tenant or new home buyer. We are offering it for sale, rent or rent to own. My partner wrote about it on her blog so I won’t repeat. Check out what she has to say here or go directly to our online description of the little house on Miles.
Posted in Investment Property | Leave a Comment »
April 9, 2009 by newniquenews
The Goodwill closest to me has become an “Outlet” store. They sell clothes, housewares, books etc. by the pound. I was there to check on the household items and furniture. It seems that the furniture selection is about the same just marked down a lot more. In my experience Goodwill does not have a lot of furniture I can use but once in awhile a real “find” pops up. Two weeks ago there was a nice mid-century bench/table. It had great lines. And now I regret I didn’t buy it and store it until it fit into a customer’s home (or maybe mine).
I got a little sidetracked. The point of this post is if there is a Goodwill Outlet near you, keep it on your list. You can still find some good deals.
I looked in some of the bins for clothes and found an adorable Christmas apron. It cost about 25 cents.
Tags: Goodwill
Posted in Thrift Stores | Leave a Comment »
