A dozen eggs please, and hang them here

By day, Frederic Lazare of Bourgeois Boheme is surrounded by 19th and early 20th century French antiques. By night, he’s surrounded by ostrich eggs and a power drill. Lazare designed the ostrich egg chandelier shown here with Boheme co-owner Tim Norr.

Lazare has the bronze bases cast at a local foundry, then gilds them himself. He drills each of the chandelier’s 12 ostrich eggs, purchased online, then fits them over the light fixtures. The final effect? Midcentury modern meets Modigliani.

The chandelier retails for $4,900, and the length of the wires connecting the fixtures with the overhead base can be cut uniformly or irregularly, by customer request. Lazare also makes a six-egg chandelier ($4,200), as well as a floor lamp ($1,800), table lamp ($575) and sconce ($500), all featuring ostrich eggs.

Bourgeois Boheme, 332 1/2 N. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles; (323) 936-7507.

-- Andrew Myers

On sale: French country charm

Ever dream of living in the French countryside? Pierre Deux on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills can help you turn your home into the Provencal dwelling of your fantasies. The store specializes in classic turn-of-the-century antiques and reproductions, charming ceramic dishware and tasteful home fabrics in rich, elegant patterns.

Big savings, up to 70%, can be found through Aug. 2. For example, demi-lune Louis XVI reproduction tables in fruitwood oak are on sale for $696 (regularly $995), and a late-1800s Loire inlay coffee table with gold-leaf border is on sale for $2,560 (regularly $3,200). Artful picture frames (70% off), brilliant napkins and matching place mats, blue and red fabric-covered memo boards (30% off), and countless books on French country interiors are among the discounted items.

There is also a wide selection of spices, condiments, imported balsamic vinegars and oils.

Pierre Deux, 222 N. Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills; (310) 274-4115.

Tim Sanchez

Maybe there’s a future in mixing past, present

A room full of antiques has “a sameness, a heaviness about it. It offers no relief -- there is opulence everywhere,” says antiques dealer and furniture designer Richard Shapiro. So last May, Shapiro debuted Richard Shapiro Studiolo (www.rshapiroantiques.com) -- his new collection of linear, minimalist, modern furniture, designed to temper the weight and lavishness of baroque or Italian antiques.

Say you own this 18th century Florentine sofa, made of tooled red leather. Add additional antique elements, and you’re headed for sensory overload, Shapiro says. Instead, using pieces from his own line as examples, Shapiro recommends: flanking the couch with Moderne gilded-iron etageres ($9,500 each), fronting it with a green Art Deco table ($3,840) and completing the look with two Venetian slipper chairs ($3,600 each).

When decorating, Shapiro says, the key is to continually mix antique elements with modern touches. Notice, for instance, the juxtaposition of a 15th century French gothic head atop the Art Deco table with a Hans-Christian Schink print on the wall behind it.

Coexistence of curvaceous antiques with edgy modern flourishes brings out the best in both aesthetics, Shapiro says, and sets up a tension that is striking.

Richard Shapiro Antiques and Works of Art, 8905 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles; (310) 275-6700.

-- Steven Barrie-Anthony