Back on the Chain Gang

So much for a regular feature. My little chain store roundup posts need some Metamucil, and stat!

(Ew, Nick, why?)

To be fair I've been checking back on all these sites for months ... not much in the way of new and cute. Until now. We begin with Ground Zero of cute, also known as my safe place, West Elm:


Can't get over the swirly basket bowl at bottom, but wouldn't mount it on the wall. We need a breakfast table and citrus fruits here! So why buy the set of three for $99? Hmm?


Flokati ottoman? Don't mind if I do. Except it's a $349 bean bag ... curious ... maybe for a kids room, or like a basement movie room in floor to ceiling ivory lacquer? With one of those Lalanne sheep! We all love a theme.


'Serra Console' from HomeDecorators ($299). Go with me on this one: if you painted the full circle base part dove grey and the half circle and flat top ivory, would it look like Thomas O'Brien? For Target?


These nesters might be my favorite. I'm sure the silver finish is heinous and the fluting is kinda 1940s/1980s but that little Chinese leg? Adorable. I'd paint or strip. $209. (Price of the tables, not my rate to enter the Champagne Room.)


Last piece from HomeDesecrators: this faux bamboo etagere ($369) certainly ain't "Qvaulity" as we say at MRLLC, but painted black and with new hardware it would look sort of Wide Sargasso Sea in a bedroom. HD has taken over for the late Bombay Company in the repro continental/colonial antiques department. Cheap, but they have a certain delicacy lacking at most all other chains.


Now who is going to look at that Bollywood Gothic print and then whup out their credit card for anything? I don't get stylists sometimes. But, finally, a simple modern credenza with Parsons-ish framing and a symmetrical door layout. (Those weird off-center door-drawer combos bug the s*** out of me). CB2's 'Basis' line is tall and nicely scaled, the only drawback being the glass top. I'd replace it with white or black plexi or maybe solid stone if feeling spendy. (The thing costs $699 as-is -- what's the Basis for that, eh??)

Forgive me, I like these ceramic trophy cups from Z Gallerie (or at least the one at right for $39.95).


Eleven nautical flags on a string for $29! Pottery Barn justifies its existence yet again. I could see four or five rows of these on a headboard wall in a little boy's room.


Speaking of irrestible, I need one of these turquoise bags from Wisteria YESTERDAY. 16 bucks!

**Musical Interlude**

Rollin' in my 5.0 With my rag-top down so my hair can blow The girlies on standby waving just to say hi Did you stop no I just drove by Kept on pursuing to the next stop I busted a left and I'm heading to the next block The block was dead Yo so I continued to A1A BEACHFRONT AVENUE!!!

That's Vanilla Ice, who I'm told recently played the Pensacola Beach Boardwalk. I miss all the greats!

Last is Wisty's Tramp Art mirror:

Do we like this? Does it look like the most intense summer camp project of your life? I could see one in a shocking pink powder room. And I'll spare you the Cher lyrics if you can name the song!