Holiday Gift Guide Part III: Our Favorites

Before we get into the third edition of our holiday gift guide, we'd like to direct you toward our first two installments:

1. Holiday Gift Guide Part I: $10 and Under

2. Holiday Gift Guide Part II: $25 and Under

And now back to our regularly scheduled program:

Sometimes we go into a season with an overarching theme in mind, but this fall we found ourselves buying items that fit into a few general categories. Some we borrowed from the obsessions of friends, a few we've had a lifelong attraction to. Others seemed to arise out of a happy accident (when looking back at our purchasing for the fall it turns out we're not done with faux bois after all), and in at least one case we've discovered a whole 'nother fixation.

Places We've Never Been
I've always been intrigued by geography, real, defunct, and imaginary. So I was immediately attracted to Jennifer Hill's series Places I Have Never Been. Jennifer creates designs based on her fantasies of vacation destinations she's yet to visit. The delightful, limited-edition prints are available in two sizes, 8x10 ($45) and 11x17 ($60). Some of our favorites include the above-pictured Portland ($45); Austin; Burgundy, France; Champagne, France; Tequila, Mexico; and Andalucia, Spain.

Also pictured:

• We love M. Sasek's children's travel series, including This Is London, This Is Hong Kong, This Is New York, This Is Paris, and This Is San Francisco. First published in the 1950s and '60s, the illustrations haven't lost their charm--even if some of the details are a little iffy in the 21st century.
• Listen to public radio wherever the road takes you with the NPR Map from Bob's Your Uncle, $8.
• Little Otsu's frame-worthy train-route-slash-calendar will get you going through 2009 ($12).
• Inaccurate vintage globe with zodiac base, $22.
  
  

Chalkboards
What is it about chalkboards? Perhaps the opportunity for endless fresh starts.

• LBK Studio Chalkboard Budz Vase, $30
• Mine Design Chalkboard Candle (Persian fig, Belgian berry, gardenia, pomegranate), $22 each
  
  

 

Stuff That Looks Like Other Stuff
From plastic-look-alike glass water bottles and cups to porcelain coffee mugs that look as though they came straight from behind the coffee shop's counter, we're fascinated by--well, stuff that looks like other stuff.

• Glasstique Water Bottles ($25 each) and Cups ($6)
• Pop Top Ceramic Vases ($8 large, $6 small)
• I Am Not a Paper Cup double-walled porcelain mug, $19
  

Faux Bois
Oh, faux bois, we just can't quit you! A major Frank & Margaret obsession last year, we thought we were over it for now. But no...fake wood and wood grain are just too alluring.

• Branch Tea Pot, $60. If you really want to go whole hog, feel free to group this little guy with the Branch Creamer & Sugar ($46), Branch Pitcher ($79), and Tree Bark Platter ($58). 
• Letterpress Log "Thank You" cards and Wood Grain Note Cards, $12 for a set of 6. These delightful cards from Night Owl Paper Goods just arrived yesterday, so we're extra excited about them. The same company brings us adorable faux wood holiday cards (one set of which says "Happy Owlidays"), and real wood note cards and jotters.
• Twig Finials, $21.50 for a set of 2. These can be paired with our Cappa curtain rods from Umbra.
• Magno Wooden Radio (acutally just bois, not faux), $250. This Japanese design is really trippy--all but the metal essentials is constructed of wood, down to the back for the battery pack. Includes AM/FM plus HD channels--and the sound is fantastic (but honestly it looks so great we don't even care).
  

 

Interesting Florals
Back in the mid-nineties I used to come home from high school, fix a plate of chips and salsa, and watch The Oprah Winfrey Show. One afternoon the topic was interior design, and both Oprah and the guest designer weighed in against fake flowers. Who knows why that stuck--we didn't have a lot of faux floral going on at home and I didn't have much interest in flowers in general--but I took O's word as gospel. So stocking fake flowers of any kind was a big step for me. But when it comes down to it, it's hard to keep one's house in fresh blooms 24/7/365 even if you do work across the street from a lovely florist (shout out to Susan's!). And not all fake arrangements are dust-catching horrors, as it turns out. Above we've pictured just three examples from our little floral section:

• Deconstructed Metal Daisy, $24. (Love the 70's vibe from this swinging stem)
• Zinnia Beaded Stem, $12. Also available in red
• Porcelain Magnolia Blossom, $8. These have wires on the back so they can be attached to branches, garlands, even Christmas trees. Also available in dogwood and cherry blossoms
  
  

Fake Food! 
I went back and forth for a while on the question of fake food. As with fake flowers, it tends to be a dust-collector, and I was a little worried about making Frank & Margaret look like someone's crazy great-aunt's front room. But it turns out that once I ordered a little fake sushi (something Great-Aunt Hortense never dreamed of, I'm sure), I fell in love a little. Then customers started asking about buying it, so I ordered some more...and more. Really, fake food is right up there with shoes and chocolate in the category of things to cheer you up when you're having a bad day. Though we have quite the assortment from all four food groups, our verrry favorites (in addition to the aforementioned sushi, pictured in this post), are the desserts:

• Tiramisu cake, $65
• Vanilla Bundt Fakey Cake, $14
• Cupcake with a Cherry on Top, $9
• Kiwi Tart, $12
• White Fakey Flower Cupcake, $7
• Gingerbread Men, $3 each

Also pictured: Whiteware cake stand, $28

We'll be back next week with a few more of our favorites. Until then, cheerio and have a fab Thanksgiving!

Comments

[Tana Butler]

Those fake gingerbread men are precious. And such a deal! For $3, you take them home and they blow up, they're still a good deal.