A garnish: it’s not just a fancy paper umbrella in your cocktail anymore. I am always looking for new and interesting home stores, and I feature their wares in my cocktail/food posts. It makes my job so much easier when I find a retailer who is easy to work with and has interesting taste. Lisa Kazen, who owns the Walnut Street curiosity shop Garnish, is both. Garnish has an interesting mix of vintage goods, ranging in price from $1 for a funky drink stirrer to $500 for a gorgeous piece of furniture.
So this Saturday after you hit the Montclair Farmer’s Market, walk across Walnut St. to the corner of Forest and pop your head in. I recently picked up host/hostess gifts for my summer travels. A large green glass mason jar in which I put home made granola, vintage vases for garden flowers being sold at farm stands across the country and green glass relish jars. The relish jars I am keeping for myself. I have one filled with sand from the Sleeping Bear Dunes, the other is being filled with Cape May Diamonds and the third… who knows? Maybe sand dollars from Cape Cod or sea glass or booze (three weeks until the kids go back to school but who is counting?).
I love the old bathing suit drier/shower caddy at the end of the slide show. It would make a fantastic planter or mail holder.
What is the most bizarre/interesting/ conversation piece you have in your home?
I have a cube of what used to be called “laser-plexi.” It’s plexiglass specially scored with a laser beam to render all 6 sides prismatic. The cats love it when the light is right. (As likely would have Georgette Gilmore’s stoned male parent.)
The stuff, which a friend’s firm developed, was supposed to revolutionize home decor. Instead, as far as I know, it was only ever used for a decorative wall in a few very expensive discos, in Cherry Hill and Hamburg. People always ask if it’s for sale.
That is one gorgeous photo (the pink flower garnished with jewels)! Cathar’s remark about Georgette’s stoner dad is funny… even though her dad obviously wasn’t funny. Sounds like Garnish is a good shop to check out. My most interesting conversation pieces are two deer skulls my son brought back from Deadwood, OR which he found in the wilderness at Alpha Farm last year. He came home for a visit, placed them on top of two lampshades in the den, switched on the lights to illuminate each from underneath and declared it “art” – true story.
Garnishes? I must admit to having just about zero interest in knick-knacks of this sort. About the most interesting thing in my house is the room in which, legend has it, a squirrel once got trapped and gnawed at the moulding.
Roo, snore….zzz…snore. So, clearly Cathar’s home wins unless of course your idea of fun is watching beige paint dry then we can go to Roo’s house. Now, if we can fashion a bong outta those deer skulls Meg, that would be a party (Not one I would drive myself home from though).
I have a my grandmother’s class picture from nursing school framed it reads,” Nurses and Staff Swedish Hospital Mpls MN 1924″ It is a long picture about 12″x24″. There are about 80 women in white nurses uniforms, 35 women in I’m guessing pink striped dresses, one man in a black suit in the middle and a handful of women in black dresses standing on the side. If you look closely there is one random man sticking his head out of the window trying to be in the picture.
People are always facinated by this photo and many years later I was born in the same hospital!
Sounds to me, Hols, that you’re cruising for an invitation. Be careful what you wish for. Maybe I’ll invite you to a teeth-mark painting party.
Obviously you’ve ever seen a squirrel trapped in a small attic room. It’s pretty exciting.
I pass Garnish twice a day on my way to and from the train and what made me laugh a few weeks back (in a nostalgic, sweet way) was this one table on display outside — it was a small square snack table (with, I believe, a $20 price tag). Growing up, my aunt had a set of 4 of these tables (and I’m sure she didn’t shell out $80 for them!), perfect for when we, her preteen nieces, slept over (which was just the end-all, be-all for us). I still equate those tables with my aunt and the sleepovers, so of course I had to take a picture and show my sister (“you will not BELIEVE…”).