Off the Beaten Path: The Paradise Antiques
By • October 23, 2019 0 1411
AN EXOTIC PROVENANCE AND A CURATOR’S EYE INSPIRED ARIANE CARLES SOLARI TO CREATE HER OWN LITTLE CORNER OF PARADISE WITH TREASURES FROM AROUND THE WORLD.
Design is in Ariane Carles Solari’s DNA. Born in Argentina, she grew up in a family “where color, fabrics and aesthetics were a big part of our lives” — starting with her grandmother, “an impeccable English lady with wonderful taste,” and continuing with her mother, an interior designer who opened an antiques shop and design studio in Buenos Aires.
“I really had no choice,” she says with a laugh. “I followed in her footsteps and just fell in love with the business and all the beautiful things in her store.”
In 2005, she moved to Phoenix with her husband, an accomplished equestrian and executive with an international firm, and then, in 2007, to what she calls “the best of all worlds, my lovely and quaint town of Middleburg.”
Three children (and seven horses) later, she’s ready for the next new thing — or “old” thing. This past May, she opened the doors to the Paradise, a collection of antique furnishings (mostly French), colorful textiles from Argentina and folkloric paintings from Uruguay, lovingly curated and displayed to reflect her unique vision and provenance.
Located just minutes from town, the Paradise sits amid rolling hills at the end of a winding road. Next to the store and studio is the family’s home; beyond that are a large stable and fenced-in fields for horses.
The two-story studio, formerly a stand-alone garage, has been thoroughly renovated with large-paned windows, wide-plank oak floors (reclaimed fence boards) and a covered porch or galleria, a tribute to Argentinian architecture. Light floods the space, the better to showcase the art and antiques.
Upstairs, there is a cozy office with a very pretty full bath. Outside, a graveled path featuring garden sculptures leads to a container garden (So. Many. Tomatoes!) and a wisteria-covered pergola.
For Ariane Carles Solari, her antiques do more than “spark joy.” They’re a link to her past and the realization of a dream. Paradise, indeed.
Once a garage, this repurposed, renovated and abundantly lit space showcases the simple elegance of this vintage bleached-wood drapier table.
The Paradise Antiques is open by appointment only. For more information, contact Adriane Carles Solari at ariane@theparadiseantiques.com or 571-271-4589. The shop is on the web at theparadiseantiques.com and on Instagram at @theparadiseantiques.
