Decor at its Best is Always Simply Elegant.

What's the deal in Media, Pennsylvania? Better you should ask, What's the Big Deal? That was the burning question I pondered recently - and I got one heck of an answer. Because at Simply Elegant Home, you can find some of the loveliest home decor items and well-priced hostess gifts this side of Manhattan. The owner, Mary Rhoades, provides a thoughtful selection of candles, soaps, silver-smithery, bold ceramics and one-of-a-kind bridal registry presents and sets them out - or rather curates them - in such a way as to make you want to stay a spell and look and look and look...

The blustery day I entered, the owner and her staff were still in the process of getting everything up to speed; unpacking, cleaning, adjusting the lighting. But they were most accommodating to my camera and my questions. None of this casting a cold, gimlet eye upon the shopper (as I experienced a few days prior at "Four Paws Shoppe" at the opposite end of State Street); no - Mary and her busy elves were more than happy to answer my questions and point me towards gifts at any price point.

Done in pleasing shades of brown, cream and turquoise, Simply Elegant Home teases the shopper with the sense that s/he has just climbed inside of a Tiffany's box: that unmistakably seductive shade of aqua/blue wrapped up with white satin ribbon. Playful, smart and stopping short of twee, the atmosphere was comforting, jovial and just the right amount of precious. I wanted to stay, and I most definitely wanted to shop.

Of course, when it comes to hostess gifts - and who doesn't need those at this time of year? - candles are always a crowd pleaser, and so are soaps. Simply Elegant has them in spades, and imported spades at that. The soaps are among Oprah's Favorite Things, and come from Portugal in yummy scents of Water Lily, Honeysuckle and Almond Oil. Getting your mouth washed out  suddenly sounds more like a reward than a punishment!

Then, there are the bigger ticket items. I lusted after this starburst mirror.

If you've a mind to pick up a bit of Italy, this ginormous ceramic serving platter will take you back to Sorrento, or more accurately, Tuscany, since that's where Fortunata is located. It was this item, placed in the window the first time I saw it, that hooked me, line and sinker. I've been a collector of the beautiful painted ceramics of DeRuta for twenty or so years, and this piece just undid me. Can't you envision a beautiful bounty of fruit mounding upon this piece, with red grapes cascading over the edges? Mmmm, heaven.

And when I spied, with my little eye, something that began with ... GORGEOUS, I couldn't stop looking at it in every light. Tamara Childs, the artist who created this bowl with a magical sheen had, it seemed, dipped glass into a mixture of bronze flecked with gold and - there it was again: just the tiniest suggestion of Tiffany turquoise. It twinkled bewitchingly in my hands; and it was only when I summoned every last iota of self-control that I was able to put it down and breathe the words no shopkeeper wants to hear, "I must think about it."

While I do my thinking (oh, alright: obsessing), I encourage you to stop in and visit this enchanting enterprise. And tell them that SchmalltownUSA sent you. It won't get you a discount, but it will let them know that someone, however schmall, is talking them up, bigtime...

SIMPLY ELEGANT HOME, 7 East State Street, Media, PA, 19063 ph: 610.565.4007

Comments

[jerry matthews]

OH, I love, love, love shops like this! I can get lost for hours in them. And exquisite taste in both the starburst mirror and bronzed bowl (which on my first glance I thought was a vessel sink that would look smashing in my powder room). You'll definitely have to take me there if/when I make it to your side of the country.

[Anne Scardino]

The store is absolutely brimming with gorgeous pieces seen in France and Italy. How exciting to have such a store in the Philadelphia area. The owner, Mary Rhoads, also has a store on Dune Drive in Avalon, New Jersey.