Beloved Curiosity: Southern Accents Architectural Antiques

I grew up in a little country town in North Alabama, called Cullman. It was a small town with gorgeous Victorian and Georgian and Arts and Crafts homes. The downtown was comprised of a few square blocks with an appliance store that still flies brightly colored balloons and streamers outside its doors, a German toy store that sells lederhosen and nesting dolls, and a bakery, The Duchess, that to this day sells 40cent cookies.

One of those city blocks houses a great hidden treasure of the nation--Southern Accents Architectural Antiques. Housed in the 1901 county undertaker's building (the brick exterior still visibly read "UNDERTAKER") are the door knobs, claw-foot tubs, carved mantles, chandeliers, hardware, windows, and more of eras long passed.

Family-owned, Southern Accents is a mecca for the architecturally obsessed. People fly from around the country to peruse the building that still has the original wood floors and piping from the old Undertaker.

They have an extensive Web site catalog of current items at www.sa1969.com. But nothing compares to going there yourself and exploring, though they do ship anywhere...

If you are in Alabama and looking for a nice day trip in this beautiful Springtime weather, you'll find Southern Accents north of Birmingham on I-65 and south of Hunstville on I-65.

Their address is: 308 2nd Ave. S.E.
Cullman, Al 35055

Here are a few photos I took a couple weeks ago when the husband and I stopped in for a visit.










And here are a few photos from Southern Accent's Web site, of current items they have in stock...

LEFT: cast iron sink, $1450.
RIGHT: terra cotta from a building in Chicago (set of 5), $275 each.


double arch beveled and colored rondels stained glass, 14.5"x60," $850.


LEFT: leaded glass windows, 20"x29," $235/pair.
RIGHT: crystal chandelier, 35"x18," $1250.



LEFT: heartpine half mantel, 58'x50," $375.
RIGHT: pine full mantel, 62"x79," $2750.


LEFT: set of gates, 56"x90," $950.
RIGHT: oak gothic-style door, 34.5"x80," $900.


cast iron entry gate, 9' in middle/7' on sides/14' wide, $2850/set


LEFT: heartpine double doors from Chicago, both sides stained, 30"x8,' call for inquiry.
RIGHT: pine door with window with strap hinges, 79"x36," $1850.


cast aluminum benches and chairs, many styles to choose from, call for inquiry.


folding pews, all stained w/metal ends, from an 1887 church in Shelbyville, TN
10' long, 30 benches total, $525 each.


LEFT: overview of window sashes in stock, $15 each.
RIGHT: Providential Tile Works, Trenton, NJ, 6"x6," $45 each.


For more information, give the Gudger family a call at Southern Accents. Or just drive up there. You can walk around, take some photos, and get a 40 cent cookie at the Duchess.

Beloved Curiosity: Andrew Bucci

Andrew Bucci is a Southern-born artist who currently lives in Maryland. Born in 1922, Bucci began taking art lessons at a young age and grew up with a very diverse and thorough education ranging from Engineering at LSU to art in Chicago, France, NYC and some Meteorology at some point. Bucci was a Meteorologist in Maryland from 1956-1979, but he always painted. He still paints now and even creates needlepoint reproductions of some of his works.

He is represented by the Cole Pratt Gallery in New Orleans, LA and Brown's Fine Art in Jackson, MS.


left: "Lady Seated in Yellow Dress," 1950-51.
right: "Seated Nude II," 1950-51.


left: "Lady at Rest"
right: "Color Splash"

Beloved Curiosity: The Garden Gnome

The garden gnome's history begins with mid-19th century Germany. Phillip Griebel began producing terra cotta garden animals/creatures for people to display in their garden so that they may admire and remember the work the creatures do in the garden at night. The gnome, who existed as a willing and helpful character in German folklore was one of these creatures. The popularity of the garden gnome grew quickly, yet their production didn't grow further than Germany for a while.

Gnoming, or stealing someone's garden gnome, is a wildly popular "crime." The motive is to return the gnome to the wild, and there are organizations for the cause, such as France's Front de Liberation des Nains de Jardins as well as Italy's MALAG (Garden Gnome Liberation Front).
This was the beginning of sending a gnome around the world and taking photos of its journey to send home to the owner... (I believe the first incident occured in Australia in 1997. A note from the gnome was left behind for the owner and pictures followed. Owner was distraught. Great stuff.)

For more information, in English, check out Free the Gnomes.

Who doesn't feel a great sense of childlike mirth when you see a gnome?

Here are some special Etsy gnome finds...

LEFT:Gnome door, from NothinButWood. This 9"x7" hand crafted door is absolutely whimsical and would look great in the back yard. You can choose from several styles, and the cimney is available, too! I imagine one day playing in the garden with my future children, telling stories about the gnome in the backyard. Oh, and the door doesn't open (for humans)!
RIGHT:gnome hat, from pixiebell. I think this hat is really fun, and I would think it could bring a lot of joy to a dreary winter day. I would absolutely wear this.


LEFT:Gnome at dusk pillow cover, from Pixelknit. This pillow cover is loom knit and speaks so well to the quirky sophistication of many contemporary designs. The simple contour of the gnome could go a few minutes without recognition, but what a surprise when one of your house guests finally sees it!
RIGHT:Knit Your Own Gnome kit, from greenmountain. This seller has created a unique kit to make one of these adorable little gnomes with hand dyed yarn. Knitting kits have been popular gifts for a few years, but this one is so unique! Even a non-knitter would love this.


LEFT:Acorn Habitat Moss Terranium, from Betty's Love. This seller harvest her own moss and puts so much effort and know-how into these terraniums. The little gnome home is also hand painted. The terranium measure 4" tall and could be the purveyor of many a daydream if set on your office desk. Terraniums are so easy to keep alive and can be that little green something for the person lacking a green thumb.
RIGHT:Spring Garden Gazebo, also from Betty's Love. Okay, I am officially in love with Betty. This is a handmade deluxe gnome home to go in your terranium. How awesome??


LEFT:Mushroom and Gnome Gocco Embroidery Kit, from ricracsews. Another excellent gift idea, for someone else or just as a little gift to yourself. The kit comes with the hand gocco print pieces and instructions for embroidering the pieces. I love this.
RIGHT:Made to order gnome dress with miniature gnome baby, from germandolls. I don't have children (yet), but when I do, I am buying this. I think it is the single most adorable child's outfit EVER. How clever to have a pouch with a gnome baby??

Beloved Curiosity: Alice Neel

Alice Neel was an American portrait painter whose pieces are noted their intense emotion and expressionistic qualities. She married a Cuban painter, Carlos Enriquez, and they moved to Havana where she became part of the Cuban avant-garde set. In 1930, Neel suffered a massive nervous breakdown (perhaps brough on by the untimely death of her first child and her husband and second child abandoning her only a few years later), and she spent a year in a sanitorium. She worked through the Depression, having been hired by the WPA. In the 50s she appeared alongside Ginsburg in the Robert Frank film, Pull My Daisy. Neel's fame really grew through the feminist movement of the 1960s.

Visit her official web site here.

Here are some of her beautiful pieces...

left: "Nadja," 1928.
right: "Rhoda Myers with Blue Hat," 1930.


left: "The Spanish Family," 1943.
right: "Robert Smithson," 1962.


left: "Blue House," 1964.
right: "Hartley," 1965.


left: "Nancy and Olivia," 1967.
right: "Pregnant Julie and Algis," 1967.


left: "Gerard Malanga," 1969.
right: "Nancy and the Twins," 1971.

Beloved Curiosity, Herbert Gehr.

Amazingly, I can't find any biographical information on this amazing photographer other than he was born in the US in 1910 and died in 1983. I know he shot a lot for Time-Life.

But aren't they AMAZING?? Gehr really captures what I've always imagined of post-war America--the clinical existence, the probing, the automated lives, the voyeuristic clinical gaze... These are fascinating and disturbing images. They're just unsettling...I LOVE them! What do you think??