Altered Bloom 10/16/26 Altered Bloom 10/16/26

A Green Onyx Lamp I Kept Walking Past

For months, I kept going back to a green onyx lamp in booth 128 at the Sherman Oaks Antique Mall. Then I needed something for a console radio I don’t even own yet.

Altered Bloom 10/11/26 Altered Bloom 10/11/26

One to Fifteen Nickels

A Mills Violano-Virtuoso at the John Moran preview in Monrovia: a mahogany cabinet with a brass plaque reading You can play 1 to 15 nickels. Inside, a real violin and a piano, played by a paper roll.

Altered Bloom 10/6/26 Altered Bloom 10/6/26

St. Francis Relief Found at a Thrift Store

A carved St. Francis relief caught my attention on a thrift store shelf. A closer look at the surface, worn gilding, frame construction, and carved scene raised enough questions that the next stop is a specialist.

Altered Bloom 9/27/26 Altered Bloom 9/27/26

How to Find and Restore a Vintage Lane Cedar Chest as a Coffee Table

A scratched 1934 Lane cedar chest, buried under a pile of antiques, became the coffee table I had been searching for. Here's how to find one, date it by its serial number, check it, and restore it gently.

Altered Bloom 9/24/26 Altered Bloom 9/24/26

A Crystal and Brass Table Lighter from Gum's Mall of Antiques

A short list, a favorite antique mall in Hawaiian Gardens, and a cut crystal and brass table lighter in the second booth. For weeks I'd been hunting one for the small table in front of my bookshelf.

Altered Bloom 9/21/26 Altered Bloom 9/21/26

Dark Academia Study Decor Ideas From a Room That Keeps Changing

I sat in the green armchair I almost never use, and the room looked different from there. Here is what I noticed from that seat about visual weight, layered light, and how pieces from different eras share a wall.

Altered Bloom 9/17/26 Altered Bloom 9/17/26

A Small Weight, Found by Accident

A shop I liked had moved, so I went looking for its new address instead. What I came home with wasn't what I expected, a small, heavy metal box with a painted figure hiding somewhere I almost missed.

Altered Bloom 9/14/26 Altered Bloom 9/14/26

How to Style Bookends

My partner found a brass owl I'd forgotten I owned, which got me thinking about how I actually style bookends. Weight, proportion, color, and whether a pair needs to stay together all play a part.

Altered Bloom 9/10/26 Altered Bloom 9/10/26

What I Saw the Second Time

A Streamline Moderne ashtray and a pair of brass birds on green onyx, neither one bought for what it was built to do. What changed when I stopped looking at them so literally.

Altered Bloom 9/8/26 Altered Bloom 9/8/26

The Antique Globe That Was More Than a Prop

A small tin globe bought as a photography prop turned out to carry a vanished world on its surface, forgotten borders and all. Here's what to look for if you want one of your own.

Altered Bloom 9/2/26 Altered Bloom 9/2/26

A Black Lacquer Triangle and a Glass Sphere

A black lacquer triangle dish. A glass sphere with no chips or cracks. Neither one was what I set out to find, and neither one meant much alone. Here's what happened when I paired them anyway.

Altered Bloom 9/1/26 Altered Bloom 9/1/26

The Face I Found on a Charleston Ceiling

Alone in a historic Charleston house, preserved exactly as it was found, I stood in the front parlor and looked up. What I saw there changed how I think about restoration, evidence, and the things worth bringing home.

Altered Bloom 8/26/26 Altered Bloom 8/26/26

Dark Academia Home Office: Material Before Motif

A vintage typewriter became the anchor for a dark academia home office built from aged brass, dark wood, layered light, and antique furniture. What followed was a lesson in sourcing for material, function, and age rather than motif.

Altered Bloom 8/20/26 Altered Bloom 8/20/26

What I Learned Hunting Frames for a Gallery Wall

An afternoon spent hunting antique frames changed what I notice first: craftsmanship, signs of age, condition, and the way scale and ornament shift once different frames are brought together on a gallery wall.

Altered Bloom 8/17/26 Altered Bloom 8/17/26

What I Found Looking Up in a Palm Springs Diner

A weekend off was the whole plan, nothing more. Palm Springs wasn't where I expected to find anything for Altered Bloom. Then I looked up at a diner chandelier, and the rest of the weekend kept proving me wrong.

Altered Bloom 8/13/26 Altered Bloom 8/13/26

The Mirror Is Never Just a Mirror

A mirror changes with the light, the hour, and everything across from it. After getting the placement wrong twice, I started paying closer attention to sightlines, reflected sunlight, scale, and what actually ends up inside the frame.

Altered Bloom 8/11/26 Altered Bloom 8/11/26

The Brass Peacock Fireplace Screen: What to Look for Before You Buy

A brass peacock fireplace screen found taped shut in a thrift store aisle turned into a lesson on what makes an antique screen worth buying, from its hinges to its silhouette.

Altered Bloom 8/10/26 Altered Bloom 8/10/26

1980s Postmodern Glam Decor Ideas for a Black Lacquer Bathroom

A wire shower caddy and one shaft of autumn light started a search for a specific, hard-to-find 1980s register: black lacquer, chrome, smoked glass, geometry with real authority. Here's how to actually find it.

Altered Bloom 8/6/26 Altered Bloom 8/6/26

The Room With No Modern World In It

A friend's house showed me how completely a room could leave the present day behind. I wanted that same feeling from horror decor, and found it in antique stores, worn materials, and objects that were never meant to be frightening.

Altered Bloom 8/4/26 Altered Bloom 8/4/26

Antique Bedroom Decor: How to Build a Dressing Spot Without a Vanity

Every bedroom benefits from one dedicated spot for watches, wallets, and the things you grab on your way out the door. Here's how a thrifted nesting table and a Regency-style chair built one, and the one rule that keeps it from turning into clutter.