Bigger by design
SHANE BROWN thinks big. The owner of Big Daddy’s Antiques, a resource for landscape and interior designers looking for enormous planters, architectural remnants and American folk artifacts, has set up shop in more than 25,000 square feet of warehouse and outdoor space at Broadway and West 131st Street. In addition to limestone troughs, cast concrete planters, wine barrel stave chandeliers (from $2,600) and Mediterranean olive jars (from $1,200), top, and garden statues, above right, Big Daddy’s has recently begun selling reproduction furniture and contemporary Asian imports. For great room and grand entry enthusiasts, Brown has introduced trestle tables topped with reclaimed wood from bowling alley lanes. A standard 9-foot long version runs $3,200. Big Daddy’s Antiques, 13100 S. Broadway, Los Angeles; (310) 769-6600; www.bdantiques.net.
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FINDS
Customize a classic
With its signature martini glass proportions and trumpet pedestal base, the Saarinen table has never gone out of style. The original design, still produced by Knoll and sold at Jules Seltzer Associates in Los Angeles, has spawned countless “inspired by” pieces, but few succeed as well as these imported from an Italian marble company for Grace Home Furnishings. The tables shown here can be made with bases finished in classic black and white or in cream and custom colors. Options for tops include travertine, onyx, marble, granite and brown and red glass. Prices start at $485 for a 16-inch diameter side table and go up to $3,300 for a 51-inch dining table. Grace Home Furnishings, 11632 Barrington Court, Brentwood Village; (310) 476-7176.
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KIDS
Grown-up, scaled down
Modernist toddlers, meet your new BFF. Francesca Keck, the designer of L.A.-based Kenshoma, has scaled down her teak and woven living room and boudoir pieces for the play-date-at-home set. At one-third the size of grown-up furniture, the newly launched pi.ca collection eschews cartoon colors and cute details for a sophisticated minimalism. The line, as shown here, features S’mores, hand-woven recycled plastic in a Chanel-esque tweed, and washable and hand-loomed jute cushions on armchairs, $390, and a loveseat, $597. Also the Havana wing chair, $570, and the Zen-tastic Shoji juice table, $312. All can be found at Boom, 3239 Helms Ave., L.A., (310) 202-1697; and Crib, 9435 Brighton Way, Beverly Hills, (310) 858-0012. To view the collection, visit www.kenshoma.com, click on catalog and then children’s furniture.
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TRENDSPOTTING
Inner visions
Anthropologie’s toile-lined lampshade, shown here, went from a plain fabric drum to an illuminated damask with the twist of a switch. At $78, the now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t bulb topper sold out over the holidays. Crafty types can emulate the look in a number of ways, however, with store-bought lampshades. Those with vinyl laminated interiors can be decorated with colored markers or paint. Ornate decals such as Blik’s new Iron Vines pattern (www.whatisblik.com) and inexpensive contact paper also can line a laminated lampshade. (For safety, use low-watt bulbs or cool-temperature fluorescent bulbs.) For professionally lined lampshades, contact Fantasy Lights, 7126 Melrose Ave.; (323) 933-7244.
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Reaching the Scout: Submit suggestions to the Home section, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012; e-mail home@latimes.com.