Our latest home profile: When remaking their Laguna Beach house, Mark and Cindy Evans wanted to emulate the calm of the California missions they loved while celebrating their favorite pastime: shopping flea markets.

Nearly everything in their 1929 Spanish Revival home overlooking Laguna's Main Beach is courtesy of their excursions during the past 25 years. Monterey-style furniture mixes with San Jose and Tlaquepaque pottery, Mexican yard art and their favorite Laguna Beach plein-air paintings from the 1920s, '30s and '40s. Asked if anything in the house is not from a flea market, Cindy jokes, "the bed and the coffee maker."

To see more, check out our 21-photo gallery.

You also can find the story in the Home section of the L.A. Times print edition Saturday.

-- Lisa Boone

Photo credits: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times

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Although the Wisconsin-based online retailer Country Laundry is geared for bulk wholesale buyers, individual shoppers can buy vintage quilts and linens at wholesale prices during the company's December sale.

Shopping here is a bit unconventional: You peruse the website to get an idea of what kinds of pieces you want. Then after placing your order for a crazy quilt, perhaps, or tea towels, pillows or other linens, Country Laundry will choose the items for you. You can convey preferences for certain styles, materials or colors by phone or e-mail, and Country Laundry will confirm those details before moving forward. Still, part of the fun is the one-of-a-kind nature of each piece and a certain element of surprise seeing how designers have fulfilled your request.

"We start with vintage and antique textiles and then we refashion them," says designer Suzanne Frye. "We recently got a huge lot of high-quality tea towels, for instance, and we then hand crocheted the edges."

Discounted items include the velvet, silk and satin crazy quilt shown here, regularly $425, now $255; prairie quilts, regularly $275, now $165; hand embroidered linen tea towels, regularly $15, now $9 and tufted quilts, regularly $285, now $171.

Frye said a new line of contemporary pieces geared toward the Midcentury Modern home will premiere in January. Shipping is free.

-- Lisa Boone

Photo credits: Country Laundry

One has a tattoo as his hairstyle and problem perspiration. The other looks like the helpful Honda guy on TV commercials but knows how to drive a hard bargain. Meet Clinton "Ton" Jones and Allen Haff, above, of "Auction Hunters." This not-so-odd couple make a living -- and a TV show -- looking for treasures amid the trash of storage units whose contents are being auctioned off because of unpaid rent. The show premieres at 10 p.m. Tuesday on Spike TV.

By the looks of the unscripted series, the recession certainly isn't receding.  Following the success of the History Channel's "Pawn Stars," currently in its third season, and "American Pickers," currently in its second, junking and auction shows are beginning to clog up programming schedules like something out of an episode of "Hoarders."

In October, TLC launched "Auctioneer$," which followed the action at Auction Systems Auctioneers & Appraisers in Phoenix. According to the auction house's website, the series has already been pulled from its time slot. Going, going, gone. The Discovery Channel's "Auction Kings" bowed on Oct. 26. The eight-episode series follows the Atlanta auction house Gallery 63 and runs as two half-hour episodes, back to back, every Tuesday through Nov. 16.

"Auction Hunters," broadcast on the man-centric Spike, bridges the gap between salvaging and sold-to-the-highest-bidder events. In each episode, Jones and Haff bid on the contents of lockers after just a few minutes of peeking from the doorway. In the first installment, they prowl downtown Los Angeles and purchase the contents of two units.

The likeable duo exude the enthusiasm of boys on a scavenger hunt. In a genre filled with hard-luckers and hucksters, "Auction Hunters" is refreshing, a no-nonsense, no-drama half-hour that should satisfy fans of "The Antiques Roadshow."

Interior designer Scott Roberts, who recently completed the offices of the Farrah Fawcett Foundation in Beverly Hills, has teamed with his partner and L.A. Times Home section subject Bryan Fuller to create Fuller & Roberts.The swank home decor boutique has handsomely refinished 20th century designs, Roberts' original furnishings and Fuller's stash of vintage movie posters -- all in one of the newest additions to the Collection, an upscale antiques and vintage cooperative on La Cienega Boulevard in Los Angeles. 

The store reflects the partners' mutual appreciation for American and British decor in the 1900s, "when traditional and modern collided with swell results," Roberts says. "It's masculine, tailored and slightly screwball. Butch and pretty."

That's Fuller, best known as a writer-director, standing, and Roberts, sitting on the arm of his horse-hoofed Saratoga chair while puggle pup Lou hogs the seat. Fuller and Roberts launched the store with a party Sept. 30. Roberts filled the limestone fireplace with birch logs and a flat screen TV showing the 1940 screwball comedy "The Philadelphia Story." Guests admired equine lamps, including the cast bronze and limed oak Hitching Post floor lamp ($1,800) above, and drank a specially concocted cocktail called the Giddyup.

Why so much horsing around?

"I love horses and equestrian design. It's a perfect blend of beauty and utility," Roberts says.

At an early age, the designer fell under the spell of classic movies such as "The Philadelphia Story" and "Suspicion" and idealized the elegant athletic world they promoted.

"If I could make people enter the shop through a mud room, I would," he adds. 

The Saratoga chair has solid maple horse hoof feet, right, hand carved by a Los Angeles artisan. The chair was designed with an extra deep seat for Roberts, who is 6-foot-5-inches.

"The generous proportions are meant to lure you into curling up with a book," he says.

Shown here in camel cashmere-wool, it costs $3,800; a version in black with lacquered hooves is the same price. If customers provide their own fabric, the chair costs $3,000 and takes six weeks to produce.

Keep reading to see more of the store ...

 

 

The Melrose Project is an ambitious attempt to present fine antiques, vintage industrial pieces and contemporary furniture as works of art -- with prices to match. The store opened last month in a 9,000-square-foot loft-style building by architect Bruno Bondanelli across the street from the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood.  

Mother-son founders Kathleen and Tommy Clements designed the Melrose Project as an alternative to traditional antiques collectives. It's stocked with inventively displayed pieces cherry-picked from Los Angeles antique stores including Lee Stanton, which provided the 18th century oak Belgian convent armoire ($45,000) and 1920s French chairs ($7,500 for a set of six), above. The 24-light Italian neo-Gothic gilt bronze chandelier ($39,100) is from Robuck & Co. of Atlanta. 

"A lot of dealers don't have the room for grand-scale pieces," Tommy Clements said. "We want to allow each piece to breathe so they can be fully appreciated."

The cost of some pieces may indeed take one's breath away. "I have seen some people blanch, definitely," Tommy Clements added. "The prices befit the quality, and we may not be the place to fill up your entire home, but if you want important statement pieces, that's where we come in."

The Santa Monica store Obsolete provides the Melrose Project with artwork and newly configured lighting made from vintage industrial parts. The Melrose Project recently landed an L.A. exclusive on Olatz bedding, a luxury line designed by the wife of artist Julian Schnabel. Antique carpets and contemporary rugs come from Woven Accents, including the Clements-designed  Gypsy Maturin line. 

Working as an interior designer for "more years than I want to talk about," Kathleen Clements added that she has also developed a line of furniture including the made-to-order Hudson sofa, above right, which has one continuous down-and-feather seat cushion and starts at about $5,000.  

Keep reading to see more ...

Art Deco collector John Thomas, left, has a home so crammed with his finds that it looks a bit like a museum. But his interests in the period extend outside his home too. To kick off the 6th Annual Queen Mary Art Deco Festival, Thomas is conducting a walking tour from noon to 3 p.m. on Friday.

Thomas is co-chairman of the festival this year, coauthor of the book "Long Beach Art Deco" and president of the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles.

All this began with a plate, Thomas told The Times. 

The festival runs Friday to Monday and also includes a special insider tour of the Queen Mary, lectures on Art Deco topics such as fashion and architecture, and parties and shopping. There's also a grand ball. Tickets range from $10 to $650; the latter includes all the events plus two nights at the Hotel Queen Mary.

-- Mary MacVean

 

 

Photos: John Thomas and objects in his home. Credit: Christina House / For The Times  

Jonathan Adler, the man whose book was titled "My Prescription for Anti-Depressive Living," delivers a brand of happy chic that just got a little more cheerful: All of his hand-loomed, 100% llama's wool rugs are 20% off through Sunday. 

This is Adler's first-ever rug sale, and it applies to all in-stock pieces including the 4-by-6 Lollipop rug at right, regularly $650, now $520; a 6-by-6 green and white Southampton rug, regularly $1,080, now $864; and an 8-by-10 navy and natural Talitha rug, regularly $2,200, now $1,760.

You also can design a custom rug in the size and color of your choice and receive the 20% discount.

Sale prices apply only online at jonathanadler.com and at Jonathan Adler retail stores; local shops are in Santa Monica, West Hollywood and Newport Beach. All sales are final.

More information: (800) 963-0891.

-- Lisa Boone

Photo credits: Jonathan Adler

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Trove, the Laguna Beach design store known for unconventional antiques, industrial and rustic furniture, and contemporary housewares is celebrating its recent relocation with "Vanishing Cultures," a display of international arts and artifacts.

"We've more than doubled our size," says Heather Lee, co-owner with husband Bobby Lee. The goal of this, the third expansion of Trove since it opened in 2004, is to create "an environment that combines items that have been loved and used over the years with pieces that resonate with our soul."

Set in Trove's stripped down, cinder-block and wood-paneled new space, the upcoming display mixes Continental antiques with Asian objects.

Among them: an 18th century Burmese Buddha, a bronze Vietnamese kettle and a bronze pot from Laos with a lizard and spider motif. 

The textile on the antique chaise, above, a Naga tribe headhunter cloth from Burma, is part of a large collection of textiles, right.

Ethnographic art collector Bill Lanz will speak at the opening reception from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday.

370 Ocean Ave., Laguna Beach; (949) 376 4640.

-- David A. Keeps

Photo credits: Trove

On the first Thursday of every month in San Pedro, art lovers wander the streets of L.A.’s port town hunting for discoveries. If they stop by Gallery 741, proprietors George Woytovich and Patti Kraakevik will gladly show their art, but more treasures reside upstairs in the couple's stunning two-story loft, a former ’30s Montgomery Ward.

Inside their self-described “cabinet of curiosities,” maple floors and natural light streaming through loft windows provide the stage for their vintage gems. A brass spotlight from a Japanese cargo ship faces the Pacific. A blue bumper car from the ’20s flanks a green car from Pacific Ocean Park, the Santa Monica amusement park, circa 1953.

Every turn of the head reveals a different find: a glass case with programs from the opening days of the Empire State and Chrysler buildings. A wall-mounted operating panel and floor dial from the elevator of the original Los Angeles Stock Exchange.

For more on the San Pedro loft, check out our 19-picture PHOTO GALLERY.

-- Joshua Lurie

Photo credits: Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times

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Interior decorators, movie moguls and rock stars know and love Blackman Cruz for a lot of things: rare midcentury furniture, odd industrial antiques, skull lamps and lifelike bronze piranhas -- all with four- and five-figure price tags. What Blackman Cruz is not known for? Sales.

On Saturday, though, Blackman Cruz is having a sale -- for five hours only.

"This is the first time we are offering 30% off everything in the store, including our BC Workshop collection," says Lika Moore, who along with owners Adam Blackman and David Cruz designs the line of furniture, lighting and accessories.

BC Workshop's highly detailed, hand-finished artisan pieces are made from luxury materials: walnut, oak, leather upholstery, marble, brass and bronze. Lots of bronze -- as in a leather ottoman that sits on four bronze hippo feet. 

Even with the reductions, the prices are high. Moore's Panthera console, above, with a bronze leg and ball-and-claw foot, regularly $16,500,  will be reduced to $11,550. The forged iron Winged Heart sconces, regularly $3,900 each, will be on sale for $2,730, and the carved-wood gilded Crown of Thorns mirror will be marked down from $15,000 to $10,500. The bronze Salamander sconce, right, normally $7,500, will be $5,250.

Drinks will be served to help dull the pain. 

Smaller, more affordable vintage pieces will be on sale too, and if you're a design fan and haven't yet seen the store, you can always just be be a looky-loo and enjoy the modern gothic ambiance of the space, formerly the gay after-hours club Probe. 

The sale runs from noon to 5 p.m. on Saturday at  836 N. Highland Ave., Los Angeles; (323) 466-8600. 

-- David A. Keeps

Photo credits: Sidney Ben Simon

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Francophiles can French-ify their homes for less as Vintageweave Interiors hosts a sale in preparation for its move to a larger showroom.

While the showroom is expanding from 1,600 square feet to 2,600, that does not mean anyone wants to pack a surplus of French Farmhouse antique imports. "Come take it off our hands so we don't have to pack it," a saleswoman joked.

During the sale, most items will be reduced by 10%, and select items will be reduced by 20% to 40% in the showroom. Items include furniture, mercury glass votives, candle holders, garden items, tabletop and wire baskets. Cote Bastide, Blan C'voire, textiles and cake plates, and online sales are excluded.

The sale runs through Aug. 15 at 169 S. Fairfax Ave. (at Third Street). Hours: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays; Mondays and Wednesdays by appointment. Closed Sundays. (323) 932-0451. 

-- Lisa Boone 

Photo credits: Vintageweave

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When the L.A. Flea Market premieres at Dodger Stadium on Sunday, it will feature about 400 vendors of vintage home decor and furniture, gourmet food trucks, bands and more. The all-day event will even offer carryout services if you don’t want to lug your purchases to your car.

The monthly market is organized by Phillip Dane, who also founded the Melrose Trading Post, the defunct South Park Flea Market and farmers markets in Eagle Rock and Glendale. Dane, who thinks of his latest creation as more of an event than a market, spoke with L.A. at Home about what to expect on Sunday, why he chose Dodger Stadium and what makes a good flea market.

Question: Why Dodger Stadium?

Answer: If you were to ask yourself what is the premiere location in Los Angeles, Dodger Stadium is the first thing that comes to mind. It has the most incredible views, it is a fantastic space, it has wonderful breezes and it is evenly accessible. And the parking is better than any other location. The Dodgers are a great organization and it has been fantastic working with them. It was a long process to make it happen but a very amicable one.

How will the L.A. Flea Market differ from the region's other outdoor markets? 

I think if we offer something that is a bit different, it benefits everyone. Our whole goal is to give L.A. a more upscale version of the Rose Bowl Flea Market, which has been around for 40 years. My concept is to take the flea market to the next level by offering amenities that no one else has and adding fun things to the mix. Bands aren’t just meant to be background music. Our food court will be unsurpassed with 18 of the most tweeted gourmet food trucks.

What are the criteria for vendors?

I personally look at every single e-mail application that comes in along with photographs. We’ve had more than 1,000 applications and have accepted 400. I’m looking for a good cross of antique and collectibles, vintage and new merchandise. I’m not looking to duplicate things. While something like jewelry is more individual, we will have only one person doing high-end bedding, for example.

With the rising popularity of craft fairs and Etsy, will arts and crafts have a presence?

Quite a few vendors came to us through Etsy. They will have a team block of eight spaces with 22 members.

For more questions and answers, click to the jump ...