Lila Mae and Me

April 24, 2015 mithra ballesteros

I am pleased as punch to share the news that I am a new "tastemaker" at the lovely online destination, Lila Mae. A few new Finder Not Keeper collections are exclusive to Lila Mae, including the Serengeti Vignette, pictured above.

Lila Mae is an eco-friendly destination for high quality products that are sustainably made to minimize the environmental impact. Most of you have figured out that everything I sell is used, antique, and vintage, which means my collections are almost as green as the moss growing on my copy of Aldo Lepold's A Sand County Almanac. So Lila Mae and Finder Not Keeper are a good match.

Here's a Drink to Drown Your Sorrows

April 10, 2015 mithra ballesteros

It was hard enough to say good-bye to the 1960s the first time. Now we have to do it again? Mad Men, that silky smoky show which captivated millions of viewers and inspired me to buy every piece of midcentury barware I found, is coming to a close. Don Draper is free falling through the skyscrapers on Madison Avenue one final season and we are bereft.

Flowers Follow Fire: Carolyne Roehm's Bloom After Disaster

January 22, 2015 mithra ballesteros

When I was in college dreaming of New York and a job in fashion, I followed the career of a young woman who seemed to burst onto the couture stage like a fleet-footed ibex. This was the 1980s of banking deregulation, Arnold Scaasi's red dresses for Nancy Reagan, Ivan Boesky, Malcolm Forbes 70th birthday party in Morocco, Leona Helmsley, The Bonfire of the Vanities, and more cocaine than Jonah Hill ever imagined. The particular young woman I admired, Carolyne Roehm, came from Kirksville, Missouri, and in the fashion pages, her face looked midwestern fresh. She worked for years for Oscar de la Renta, and both were purported to have beautiful manners.

The Farmer, the Curator, and Their Loves

October 30, 2014 mithra ballesteros

This collection is called Prairie Textures and it comes with two interesting stories. The first is about the unframed canvas. It is a watercolor study of a calf and I think it is wonderful. Unsigned but wonderful. Such thick cottony paper. Such expertly mixed colors. I admire the confident brush strokes. And the economy of brush strokes as well.

I bought it from the estate of a gentleman who had sold the family's dairy farm to move to the Big City, meaning Milwaukee. He lived in a loft apartment down in Bayview and his place was kitted out like a 1960s bachelor pad. Swanky barware, Danish teak furniture, a stunning collection of Blenko blown glass, stacks and stacks of vinyl, very expensive audio equipment, and really good lighting. Not at all what I expected from a former dairyman.

Six April Fool's Kits for Last Minute Amateurs

March 25, 2014 mithra ballesteros

April Fool's Day is in exactly one week. It's a sacred holiday in our home. Who knows how these family traditions get started but it has now reached the point that the damn kids expect something spectacular. And I'm really tired.

So instead, I'm passing along six solid ideas to you lowly amateurs who believe yourselves clever when you switch the sugar and the salt. These pranks are presented as 'kits', since that's what I do, though they are not for sale on Finder Not Keeper. Yet.

Inspiration from the Garden Store

January 22, 2014 mithra ballesteros

I was wandering the aisles of my favorite garden store when it hit me. I noticed that each year, the garden store created more and more mixed planters. These are the planters with a variety of flowers and greenery, beautifully scaled, paired for sun or shade, each plant's blooms complementing the other. And every cart had them. People love the mixed look but they don't have the skill or the time to put them together.

It's the same with accessorizing a home! No one is offering a finished look that is more personal, unique, authentic. Why not?

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