Furbish

By Amy Preiser
August 13, 2010

A version of this story also appears on ShelterPop, an AOL site featuring ideas and inspirations for beautiful, livable homes. On alternating Thursdays, The Inside Source and ShelterPop team up to bring you the latest in shelter trends, so check back often for more fun and easy tips to update your home!

When life closes a door, it opens a window. It's a fitting cliché if we're talking interiors—particularly a nailhead-trimmed door and well-dressed window. Such is the story of how we found Jamie Meares. In early 2009 when Domino folded, the New York Times ran a piece on the many devastated fans and introduced us all to Meares, a blogger who won our hearts with her all-too-familiar magazine ritual: "I would get my 100-calorie M&M's and my hot cup of tea and my Domino and go through the whole thing cover to cover."

We followed her blog, I Suwannee, obsessively through 2009 as she prepared for the launch of Furbish Studio, her shop/interior design business. Now that it's an Elle Decor-approved destination, we're delighted to celebrate the news that starting this week Furbish is shopable online.

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"Going from a blog to a store was scary and exciting, but also sort of epic. I'm not familiar with anyone else who did it quite like this," she explains. But with the fear and excitement comes some major perks—like getting to be her own boss, a super-short commute (two minutes!), choosing her co-workers and of course, having her dog Rowdy, the unofficial Furbish mascot, at work every day. There's also a bit of wonder in it all. "I love doing those tiny bits of magic everyday that makes me shriek," she confesses.

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Followers of I Suwannee know that Jamie's a mean eBay shopper. She frequently rounds up favorite auctions and readers will snap them up ASAP. What does she plug into that eBay search box the most? Hollywood Regency and Vegetable-Dyed Kilim. And as for her eBay finds that get revamped into heirloom-quality pieces, those specs are a little harder to nail down. "They must have interesting lines, be useful and be structurally sound," she explains. When it comes time to update them, her plan of attack is pretty spur of the moment. "It's usually a game-time decision. I have 50 million paint colors staring at me and when it's go time, one will speak up." (Sounds like she was right about that magic.)

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(Photos: Courtesy of Jamie Meares)

Here are Meares's current eBay picks:

Roll over items for details

Vintage Sparkling Washroom Metal Sign

Old signs are always fun.

((starting bid, $149) )

Pink French Carved Bergere Chair

Pink chair = can't lose.

((from $49) )

1966 Cuban Movie Poster

Old cuban movie posters are the best.

((buy it now price, $775) )

Thomasville Allegro Faux Bamboo Buffet Serving Cart

Faux bamboo in the hizzle—just waiting to get glossyfied.

((buy it now price, $299.99) )

Rose & Mother of Pearl Oyster Plate with Gold Trim

Love old oyster plates—they're perfect to hang in a grouping on the wall, or fly solo as a jewelry catchall.

((current bid, $32) )

Vintage Patchwork Pieced Pinwheel Hand Stitched Quilt

I'm a sucker for a pretty old crazy colored quilt.

((buy it now price, $375) )

Navajo Indian Rug Weaving Wide Ruins

((buy it now price, $375))

Navajo Indian Rug Weaving Ganado Handspun c.1900

Crazy about old navajo rugs.

((buy it now price, $1,800) )

Vintage Needlepoint Mod Flowers Throw Pillow

Love a loud vintage needlepoint pillow.

((buy it now price, $44.99) )

Nike LDVs

They were made in 293493 colors, and I love how they fit.

((current bid, $.99) )

A version of this story also appears on ShelterPop, an AOL site featuring ideas and inspirations for beautiful, livable homes. Guest writer Amy Preiser is an Associate Editor at ShelterPop and has worked previously at House Beautiful, New York, and Brides Local magazines. Originally from Long Beach, CA, she now decorates her Brooklyn apartment with D.I.Y. reupholstered chairs and designer pillows: perfect for throwing cheap chic dinner parties. She'll decoupage just about anything, and wears at least one bow a day.

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