Upcoming: Slocum Street

The SLOCUM STREET ANTIQUES AND DESIGN ASSOCIATION and D Home kick-off the 9th annual October Slocum Street Night Walk on Thursday October 4th, beginning at 6pm.

Free to the public, more than 30 showrooms open their doors to share beautiful treasures and indulge guests with food, spirits and live music. Silent auctions at various showrooms and a vacation giveaway all benefit the Dallas County Medical Society Alliance Foundation philanthropies.

Valet parking is available at the entrance to Slocum Street at Hi Line Drive. Guests stroll up and down Slocum Street, which will be closed to vehicle traffic for the evening. Trolley service is also available.

Last year's event was a fabulous time. More details at D Home.

Individualized unique gifts up the ante

I'm planning on adding this crocodile to the list of gifts for those who have everything. The New York Times has several other suggestions this week as their "Holiday Shopper" feature joins numerous other sites in the holiday gift-guide fervor. The collection introduces several unique and eye-catching novelties that trump any World's Best Dad mug-and-tie combo several times over. As the Times explains, "NOBODY wants to give a predictable gift, but in an era when stores everywhere sell the same merchandise, it’s hard to avoid. As long as there are shoppers with imagination, though, there will be surprises in shops and on Web sites." The crocodile is available at Linda Horn antiques in two sizes: small crocs for $575 or $1250 for the larger ones. For those with more mammalian affinities, a horse-cum-lamp is available in black resin from Moooi. It's priced at $4100. Hay and oats and 100-watt bulb are extra. For those who are looking for a lower price point, consider the acupuncture model of a horse from Archie McPhee. Their offerings range from eccentric to unique to complete joke: wind-up leiderhosen, Swedish ear syringes, and latex vultures. Thanks to the internet, all your hardest-to-impress will be easy to shop for.

Even More Local Furniture Finds

Consider softening hard-line modern with a few unexpected antiques. The blend, a mix of periods and materials, will draw more visual interest than religious devotion to a single unified look.

Anchor your seating with a MCM sofa with multi-position adjustable arms (needs recovering to make it a versatile star)





Add a cool and edgy Cantoni chrome and glass coffee table








Mix up your sense of scale with a kiddie-sized Knoll Bertoia chair (provenance undocumented)








Then perhaps blend in some texture with this rustic wooden table

Lakewood's 'Curiosities'

Tonight was the grand opening reception for Curiosities, a gallery/shop on Abrams featuring a mixture of furnishings, furnishings, and accessories that recall your grandmother's attic mixed with an eccentric wunderkammer. Old carnival signs are juxtaposed with dried starfish and corals. Weathered croquet balls and a squadron of glass and ceramic penguin figurines offset vintage lingerie, vintage jewelry, and African masks. While thin on sleek, modern lines, the unique offereings are the sorts of details that make a room at risk of being antiseptic more personal. Jason Cohen (founder of the Forbidden Gallery) and mother Terry Cohen partnered in recruiting a host of antique dealers in order to assemble such a fabulous mixture. The Dallas Observer calls the venture "an express route to that one-in-a-million flea-market find you've been looking for. The Lakewood shop also includes a gallery dedicated to vintage folk art, found art and photography. It's like Crispin Glover's wet dream, only smarter."

Lula B's

Wedged into a block of restaurants and bars on Lower Greenville avenue is a captivating antique mall that the Dallas Observer called the "best scavenger hunt" in 2003. Lula B's Antique Mall is known for its eccentric mix of mid-century modern and other furnishings, housewares and vintage clothing. Wandering among the rooms' furnished scenes and smaller stall presents a wide selection of pieces and decorative accesories. Some pieces have been revamped and updated, but others are original, requiring varying amounts of love before being incorporated into a home. Most items are fairly affordable. To get an idea of the offerings, some items are cross-listed on Craigslist. The selection changes often, but a 60-day layaway is available if you need to think it over.

Slocum Street Style, Oct 5

Let me acknowledge that Slocum Street is known for antiques, and that most of them do not at first glance fit a modern Dallas design aesthetic. But eclectic looks, blending across eras to combine well-loved, aged pieces and crisp modern lines, are being featured more and more. And modern design, in my opinion, should encompass good design elements regardless of age or provenance in order to establish unique and polished, personalized spaces. These carved marble candlesticks by Paul Mathieu (featured at Odegard) would sit nicely next to a Womb chair.

On Thursday October 5th, Slocum Street gets shut down and antique and design-loving Dallasites get the run of the district. The event is sponsored by D Home and and the Slocum Street Antique & Design Association. Between 6pm and 10pm, Slocum Street will be closed to traffic and trolley cars will shuttle event attendees among over 33 showrooms that line the street. Silent auction items will be offered at various stops. The nibbling, sipping and shopping benefits the Dallas County Medical Society Alliance Foundation.