New Orleans, My Inspiration

If you have ever read this blog you know that I have gotten my style and taste mainly from my grandmother and the homes that have belonged to my family over generations.  This house belonged to my grandparents in Tanglewood in Houston.  I loved this house and have many fond memories here.  The following pictures are from realtor photos after our family sold the house.

Granny and Paw's backyard/courtyard had a gorgeous fountain that they bought in Italy.  My aunt kept it when the house was sold.  Granny kept water lilies and goldfish in the pond which grew to be enormous.  This backyard was a total oasis to me.  It had four separate areas.  The terrace with the black wrought iron furniture and potted plants, the fountain area where you could see her camellias and gardenias growing along with kumquat trees, a back area that almost felt like a prayer garden with a statue of Mary- As in pray you don't step in dog poop.  That's where Paw Paw trained Mimi the dog to "do her business." There was also a little side yard tucked around the corner that led to the front with a gate arched with sweetheart roses.  She truly had the Secret Garden. 

 I never needed to go inside.

I was so pleased to see that the current owners kept Granny's wallpaper.  It is a scene from the French Market in New Orleans from the 1800s.  I have the antique chandelier that hung here when it belonged to my grandparents.  The current owners didn't want it.  Lucky for me.

So, that's Houston.  But really, my grandparents both grew up in Louisiana. 

My mother's side of the family has lived in Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina.

Here's an example of one of the plantations that belonged to my ancestors. Yes, there were others.  No, not one still belongs to any family member I know of.  You're sad for me, aren't you?

 My grandfather was born in New Orleans and my grandmother was born in Ponchatula and then moved to New Orleans.

They lived in the Garden District close to Audubon Park.  They lived in a "shotgun" house.

Granny's House today on Audubon St.

My sweet husband took me on a wonderful trip back to New Orleans last week. 

The view from our room.

It was just the two of us which doesn't happen very often!  The purpose of the trip was part relaxation, part antique shopping, part inspiration.  What better place to get inspiration than to go visit my sweet cousin, Renee, who still lives in the Garden District. 

Renee's house. 

We had such a great visit.  I love her home.  It was built in the 1880s.  Her father bought it and she still lives here.  (Sorry for the terrible photo, I blame the photographer obviously)

Ok, so most homes have transoms over the doors.  In fact, her house has them upstairs.  For some reason the architect didn't put them downstairs.  Instead, the doors are enormous.  Scott is 6 ft tall.  Even the pocket doors are this tall!

This is the original lead crystal front door.

 One of the many original fireplaces. 

We had a great visit and hope to see her again soon.  Close by her part of town is one street that has fantastic antique stores.  Magazine.  Scott and I walked the entire street. I had done a little research and scoped out what were supposed to be the "best" shops for French antiques.  We wandered into a few that weren't on the list too.  Boy did we find some treasures.  We took pictures and gathered cards from the many helpful owners.  FYI- Many of these shops use First Dibs as well. 

 

Why oh why do these Olive Jars have to be so pricey?  I mean, there are zillions of them.  It would seem to me that they would like to sell some, right?

 



   There were beautiful French antiques everywhere you looked. 

 Scott and I fell in love with the reclaimed floors at Wirthmore.  We were also hunting for a farmhouse table.  This one is actually made from two different pieces. 

 Treasure hunting is so fun.  I sometimes got distracted by things I will obviously not be buying. 

And the architecture.  It's like a dream.  I didn't take nearly enough photos in the Garden District.  I would have taken more but Scott and the cab driver were not as into it as I was.  I could close my eyes and point and land on a house that would be my dream home.

 This part of town has a different vibe than down in the Quarter.

We were actually staying in the French Quarter.  We walked all over the place.  Walked to restaurants and shops.  We walked and took pictures, ate, drank (no hurricanes thank you very much), and SHOPPED!  Ok, so I was thinking I would find all of my treasures on Magazine.  I was wrong.

Well, actually, that's not true.  I knew there was one place for sure that had just exactly my kind of treasure...

BEVOLO 

 I was so excited to see them in person.

 You can actually see a craftsman working here.

They start off shiny copper and then develop an amazing patina.

 We will absolutely be ordering these.

  Our courtyard will be lit by the same lanterns found all over this city.

 These are the French Quarter style lanterns.  You really do see them all over the French Quarter.

Here's another style if we need a more narrow lantern for certain spots.

A lantern lined hallway that leads to a courtyard.

 So, we wandered all over. 

We went to Jackson Square.  We went inside St. Louis Cathedral.

We toured an amazing collection of Mardi Gras costumes, traditions, and tableau.

But, enough with the educational touristy stuff.  We had more important things to do.

Shop on Royal.  There are some beautiful shops  on Royal St.  Some are a little too Versailles for my taste.  But we found some real gems.

At Royal Antiques we found the perfect French farmhouse table.  We actually saw it the first day but after walking all over Magazine, we decided that this was meant to go in our breakfast room.

Another find was this beautiful store.  I am sad I didn't get to meet the owner who was ironically in Texas while we were in town.  We've been talking via email quite a bit this week.

 I love the way she has her store designed to feel like France.

 This was love at first sight for Scott.

There are little hidden courtyards all over New Orleans.  This was no exception.

So two French lanterns and this French Bibliotheque are on their way to Boerne.

They will all go in the kitchen along with the farmhouse table.  If only she would have thrown in some olive jars...

As we wandered all over town I became obsessed with the little details all around.

Ok, couldn't resist.  I found this sign on someone's porch.

The homes down in the Quarter are beautiful and unique.  I guess one of the drawbacks would be that these darling homes are easily accessible to anyone wanting to sit and "hang"... On your steps.

 

All this shopping made us hungry and thirsty. I didn't actually have a mint julep but...

Here's a quick run down of our non-shopping fun.  There is actually more to life than

But there are some old fantastic establishments still down there.

First Stop: Arnaud's

French 75 and Bananas Foster are a must.

Another fabulous, historic, delicious treat: Galatoire's.

We had a fun lunch at Dickie Brennan's Tableau.

Oops, I didn't get any good pictures here but the building is darling and the food is delicious.  Oh, and they sell rose by the glass so, bonus!

 Just after we pulled the trigger (as Scott would say) on the farmhouse table, it started to rain.  We just had to duck in here for some raw oysters.  Scott needed to regain his strength for more shopping.

We would definitely go back to R'evolution.  It's a John Folse restaurant.  He wrote one of Scott's favorite cookbooks.  The Encyclopedia of Cajun and Creole Cooking.  Amazon sells it.

On Magazine street Renee recommended Joey K's and we were not disappointed. 

 Antoine's is another New Orleans Classic.  Oh, a word to the wise.  These old school places prefer the men to wear jackets.  Some require the jacket.  Forewarned and forearmed.  Don't think you are going to get away with your shorts and sandals but believe me they are worth the effort.  And they have air conditioning;)

The Court of the Two Sisters was Scott's pick.  It's another old New Orleans spot.  He was really dying for some more bananas foster at this point so I had to oblige.  By dying I mean, talking about it for about the last 6 hours.  The men were in training so we had dueling cooks.

The restaurant gets it's name for the courtyard.  We had a cute little friend outside our window.

I think I just about have my story about the little cat worked out.

 At the Carousel Bar- Hotel Monteleone.  One spin was enough for me!

 Ok, that's about it.  I know there are many other fabulous places to go... Pascal's Manale for their signature Barbecue Shrimp (nope, if you haven't had it, it isn't what you are thinking), Commander's Palace, anything by John Besh, but not Brennans.  It is closed, hopefully not forever.

We saw a lot of buildings under construction.  It was fun to look into these old buildings all stripped down to the bare bones.  Old wood and bricks peeking out everywhere.  Guess it's time to get back to reality and our very own construction.  I know we need rain but it sure would be nice to stay dry for about 3 days so they can put on my new roof.  I'll get to work on the next post and get you all caught up.  Hope you enjoyed our little visit to NOLA.  I know we sure did.

PS
Yes, we went to Café Du Monde.  Blah.  Not as wonderful as I remembered.  Next time I'll save my calories for more bananas foster or a snoball.  Just my opinion.  Oh, I'm sorry, what's a Snoball?  That's New Orleanian speak for a Snow Cone.  Here's a list of the top 5.  I say Hansens or Plum Street.