Ever wonder whether it's a Rococo or Régence? Louis XV or Louis Philippe? A Bergère or Fauteuil? Each week, we will highlight a word, term, or phrase to help identify antique furniture, periods, and styles. ACANTHUS
a·can·thus [uh-kan-thuh s] noun [uh-kan-thuh s] 1. Plants. any shrub or herbaceous plant of the genus Acanthus, native to the Mediterranean region but widely cultivated as ornamental plants, having large spiny leaves and spikes of white or purplish flowers. 2. Architecture. a design patterned after the leaves of one of these plants, used especially on the capitals of Corinthian columns. Origin: 1610–20; New Latin, Latin < Greek ákanthos bear's-foot
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For centuries shutters have adorned everything from small pied-à-terres in Paris to the Maison Bourgeois of local villages. Opened or closed, solid or louvered, these colorful painted shutters known as volets or volets battants (to distinguish them from roll down shutters called volets roulants) remain a defining feature of French architecture — adding beauty and charming details to the windows (and doors) of homes and buildings in villages and cities from the North to the South of France. Rue de l'Abreuvoir, one of the oldest and most historic streets located in the Grandes-Carrières district of the 18th arrondissement of Paris
Bastille Day, formally la Fête Nationale or the National Celebration, is a French national holiday that celebrates the anniversary and symbolic victory of the storming of the Bastille, a grand medieval fortress turned state political prison, on July 14, 1789. Much like America’s Independence Day, le quatorze juillet or le 14 juillet (as it’s commonly referred to in France since they don’t use the term "Bastille Day”), is a holiday filled with cheerful revelry... it is France, after all... and celebrations of French culture and national pride.
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Mimi Montgomery
When this self-described Francophile is not reading or writing about all things French, she's dreaming up charming new ways to showcase Lolo French Antiques et More or traveling to France with Lolo to buy delightful treasures for their store. Mimi, Lolo, and their new French Bulldog, Duke, live in Birmingham, AL. Archives
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