Holiday memories are made special because of family traditions. Who doesn’t have many stories to tell of past holidays, as with all families, some good warm fuzzy stories as well as the disaster ones, now humorous with time. From childhood thru adulthood, certain family heirlooms or special objects can trigger a flood of memories. Passing down vintage and antique items as well as the stories attached to them help make “home for the holidays” the best place to be. Even if you are across the country from where your first memories of christmas began, you can still have that special feeling. Old fashioned Christmas ornaments to decorate your tree, a display of vintage toys, a well worn copy of “The Night Before Christmas”, Grandma’s special Christmas tablecloth, Mom’s old silver tray that every year was filled with an assortment of everyone’s favorite cookies, to Dad’s funny old Santa hat, all bring back the warm memories of Christmas past. The few treasures that have been passed on down thru the generations when retrieved from the attic and the holiday preparations begun, bring all of us back to the years of our favorite memories.
Borrowing from the past and building upon new creative ideas we have discovered, we keep the memories alive and create new traditions of our own for the newest generation to look back on with fondness in the next decades to come. Every year I puruse my favorite magazines looking for inspiration to pick a theme for this year’s decorations. I never copy what I see because I want to use things from my own special collections but looking at new fresh ideas gets my creative juices flowing and all of a sudden an idea takes hold and I am off and running. Christmas trees can be decorated with all sorts of items, from a seashore theme using shells and starfishes, to an elegant victorian tree dressed with small lace doilies, velvet ribbon garland and beautiful ornaments, to a teaparty theme, orphan pretty china cups tied on with ribbons and ornate silver spoons tied on with velvet ribbons, a country theme with dried flower and herb bunches with old fashioned metal cookie cutters, the themes are endless, all ideas from one simple thought or item. This is the time of year to take out your collections and decorate with them. Work with a theme and stick to it so that the decorations flow from one room to the next, and not done with a overabundance of different colors and different unrelated objects which leads to clutter. If you decide on a Country Christmas, use things from nature, branches, pine cones, plaid ribbons, gingerbread men, baskets, and wooden toys. An old wooden sled, decorated with a simple red velvet bow makes a stunning decoration. Fill all sorts of old looking containers with pine branches, a pewter pitcher, a clay jug, a big basket, a small wooden barrel, add one of these pine branch arrangements to each room for the wonderful color of green and the Christmas pine scent. Add twigs and pinecones, a Christmas ribbon bow to the larger arrangements. Fill an unused fireplace with a large arrangement. A small porcelain pitcher filled with greens on the bathroom vanity. A bouquet of red roses with greens in a large crystal vase can be a focal arrangement in any room for color and fragrance.
Old toys arranged around the tree can bring back memories of Christmases past. A collection of dolls, a red Flyer wagon, old board games in colorful graphic boxes, vintage ice skates, anything that you enjoyed as a child, your favorite toy that Santa brought you, all these vintage items can be used in your decorating themes. I once did a small tree in the diningroom with all silver babyspoons and baby forks tied onto a Christmas tree with thin red satin ribbon bows. The little baby silverware was silverplate, a little worn and bought for a song in an auction box lot but after polishing and adding ribbons it sparkled under the christmas white lights with a special elegance. Of course my very own babyspoon had the place of honor on the tree.
So as your unpack the boxes of well used and loved ornaments, take the time to share the stories connected with the special ones and leave room for a few new additions with new traditions and stories for the next generation to handle fondly and remember.
Celebrate The Holidays With Antiques
December 19th, 2009Into The Garden With Antiques
June 4th, 2009
Accessories for Decorating the Garden
Bringing antiques into the garden can really make your landscaping fun, unique and eye catching. I look at my landscaping as an outdoor room, the sky is the ceiling, the trees a canopy, my groundcover or hardscape the flooring and garden borders, stonewalls, fences, hedges define the space as walls. Just like in interior design, carefully chosen and placed accessories add the final “wow” factor. In the years I taught landscape design, at the end of the course I would schedule one of the final classes on creating an outdoor room. This class was the most fun, you can get really creative, break all the rules and do your own unique thing. The work is done, the gardens designed and planted, the patio and deck done, all that is needed is the finishing touches, just as jewelry makes the outfit a real fashion statement, garden accessories add the interest or focal point that grabs the eyes’s attention.
I am going to pass over the common items, the urns, the planters, the normal patio and yard furniture and focus on the redesign of antique items to use in the garden. All kinds of unusual items can be used to hold plants, from old barrels and wooden kegs, galvanized washtubs, wheelbarrows, old pottery, the list is endless. The important thing is to make sure the item will provide drainage, this may entail drilling some holes in the item. Stones can be added to the bottom of the container to help with drainage but I use styrofoam packing peanuts, they are lightweight as well as providing drainage. I am constantly moving my potted containers, taking advantage of the ones that are at peak performance moving them into the spotlight and rearranging so the ones that are past prime or their flowers are inbetween blooms or ones that are needing a little TLC are not center stage. I even place some in the garden where it needs a burst of color if the perennials are not giving me a show at a particular time. Plus using the peanuts saves on the amount of potting soil needed to fill the containers. So if an item can hold enough dirt for a healthy plant it can be a container in the garden.
Old teapots, pitchers, mason jars, watering cans can make interesting vases to hold cut flowers to place on your outdoor tables. Anything that can hold water and withstand the weather can be used. Great way to use a china or glass piece that may have a chip or 2 and not welcome in your diningroom anymore, give it a 2nd chance as an outdoor accessory. Using these former inside pieces makes quite a statement outside.
I have an old galvanized bathtub, it belonged to my grandmother from the turn of the century, it was lightweight would be brought into the kitchen and placed by the old gas and gas heating stove and filled with hotwater heated on the stove and the bath night would begin for the family. I have now placed this tub in one of my gardens, sunk it down about 6 inches in the soil, and filled it with flowers and for the winter holidays, I fill it with greens. It makes a great planter and has very few weeds to deal with in it. It has been in my garden for almost 20 years now. At my seaside cottage I took 2 big old galvanized washtubs and sunk them into the ground, filled with soil and planted hydrangeas in one and a dwarf alberta spruce in the other. The shrubs are growing happily, because they are in good soil, seaside gardens have poor sandy soil and need a lot of additives to get things to grow. Along with this washtub theme, I found and old galvanized settub or sink, it is divided into 2 sinks inside , each with a drain spigot on the bottom to release the water. It has a wide piece of wood for a cover. This piece as well as providing an interesting accent for my “Washtub Garden” has had many useful purposes, it is great for filling with ice to cool cold drinks for a picnic, I have dragged the hose over to it and filled and washed all kinds of things in it, soaked pots, hooked rugs, cleaned garden tools, cleaned fresh caught fish, stored clams on ice, it is an old fashioned sink, still performing it’s intended uses but also decorating the garden. An added plus it is on wheels, I guess in Grandma’s day it was placed next to the old wringer washer.
Another fun thing I have done both here and at the cottage, is to take an antique chair, that has lost it’s caned seat and placed a big clay pot that fits right in the seat, it’s lips stay above the seat opening so it doesn’t slide down. Fill it with flowers and place in the garden. Another idea is to find a old wooden chair, paint it an interesting color, place in the garden , maybe in the middle of a flower bed, in a place where no human would be tempted to go into the garden to sit but a place for the garden fairies to rest or the chipmunks sun themselves, or the birds can perch on the back of the chair and sing their hearts out.
An old iron bedframe can be a “Garden Bed” I had riped out an area of berry bushes last summer and had a large hole in a section of garden but it was too late to plant new plants in the ground, so I put the bed all together and arranged it in my garden, covered the springs with a piece of dark green painted plywood and filled it with pots of mums. Now that was a garden bed. This year it is now happily redesigned and living on my deck, covered with outdoor cushions and pillows and has a new life as a daybed for relaxing in the shade with a book. I also have just a headboard of an old iron bed and are using that as an interesting back-drop like a piece of fence or garden gate for ivy to grow up and around. I couldn’t find an old garden gate at the time this garden went in so the idea for the iron headboard came to me and I love it. It is now covered with vines and has a whole garden planted around it.
Creat garden rooms, paths leading to little secret alcoves and using atypical pieces of antique furniture in the outdoors can make your space unique. Everyone can go to Home Depot and purchase the everyday variety of garden and patio furniture. But by using the unexpected you can really decorate an outside room. You can paint wooden furniture with a good outdoor paint to try to preserve it or just let it go au natural, chippy paint, bleached out stain, rust all which add to the rustic charm of using less than perfect antiques outside. Their life may be limited because of the elements but your redesigning and reuse has extended their time as they were put out to “pasture” as not being good enough to reside inside any more but they add charm to your outdoor scape.
Old chandeliers can get a new life with candles being placed in the sockets , but remember to hang them carefully when using lighted candles, I even have found some old glass globes to use to protect the candle flame from the wind when lit. Lamps can be de-electrified also and candles used.
Don’t forget about your broken china pieces, don’t throw away the pretty floral pieces and shards they can be used in the garden, mixed in with stones, seashells ect. A mosiac tabletop can be made with the broken pieces and fastened with mortar or grout, the ideas are endless. I have put a few large pieces of broken china that had roses on it as stepping stones in a birdbath for the birds.
These are just a few ideas for using antiques in the garden, your imagination is limitless. get creative with your cast-offs. Remember these are accessories, use as a focal point to make a staement, don’t over due it, let these be little surprise touches here and there. After a few seasons and they have worn to beyond shabby , let your creative self rescue something new and give it a new life in your garden.
A Thank You To All My Readers
May 4th, 2009
Owner Lavender Path Antiques and Books
I just wanted to thank all my readers and hope you are enjoying reading these tidbits of decorating ideas. I enjoy sharing them and hope you find some useful information and go out an rescue some interesting antique pieces yourself. No time for do-it-yourself, then check out my website www.lavenderpathantiques.com or stop in my shops and say hello. I will match you up with a perfect treasure to adopt for your home.
Looking to learn more about a topic I haven’t covered, drop me a line and I will consider adding it to the blog.
Shabby and Fabulous, Painted Furniture
May 3rd, 2009
White Painted Tea Table
From Shabby to Fabulous
In earlier articles I wrote about honoring the integrity of antiques, of not over restoring or changing the original finishes on antique furniture. In quality antiques, the original finish is a great part of the value and rarity of the item.
But what about the not so rare, valuable or just plain old good used furniture? With these types of items we definitely can get creative and have some fun. Painted furniture has been popular for a long time and can fit into many styles of decor. It was used in all the different eras as a way to dress up inexpensive woods, that finished in a traditional way had very little excitement or beauty because of a lack of grain or the ability to take on a hard high finish. Victorian Eastlake furniture many times was made of pine, painted in a base paint color that looked like walnut and then handpainted decorations of leaves and flowers were added to dress up the piece, this style was called “cottage furniture”, actually an early forerunner of the current “Shabby Chic” style which is so popular.
Whether you plan on doing an entire room of white painted furniture or just want to add a few pieces of painted furniture , here are some tips and ideas:
1. Find a piece of furniture that has the lines, shape, size and style that you want. Examine the piece carefully, make sure it is structurally sound, no cracks or spilts in the wood, legs, arms, seats, ect. or solid. Drawers work, doors aren’t warped and feet aren’t rotting. Minor repairs can be done if need be, but save the labor intensive stuff for the painting and decorating of the piece. There are many great places to find pieces of furniture to paint: flea markets, estate sales, tag sales, thrift stores, used furniture stores and roadside freebies.
2. Decide what type of finish will work best for your decorating scheme. Is this going to be an accent piece that will be totally different from what is already in the room? Or is this piece going to coordinate and blend in, in color or style with furnishings already in the room?
Assuming the piece you have rescued is already painted, use a putty knife to remove any loose paint, clean the piece with an all purpose cleaner to remove any grease, soil, ect. anything that will prevent the paint from adhering properly. Sometimes I will use 0000 steel wool with the cleaner to remove years of built up grime. Once the piece is clean and dry, any needed repairs or tightening up is done, you are ready to begin painting.
For a allover solid paint finish giving complete coverage for a look that looks like “new” your piece must be free of all bumps, dings, crackling old paint, old drips, blemishes, dents, anything that will prevent you getting a smooth surface. This requires sanding and filling of holes with wood putty or filler. Next after the surface is blemish free, apply a primer according to directions. After the primer is dry you can begin the painting process. My feeling is if you want a perfect like “new” finish, wouldn’t you be better off just purchasing a brand new piece of furniture, for the amount of work involved to get a piece totally blemish free?
If your piece has an old crackled finish and you wish to keep that aged look but just change the color or add color, skip the sanding, the priming steps, just make sure any loose paint is removed, leave the imperfections, (that’s what gives the piece it’s character and charm) using a brush working in one direction only, apply a light coat of paint to a small area, while the paint is still wet, you can experiment and with a rag wipe some of the paint off, allowing the remaining paint to seep into the cracks of the old finish. You are removing lightly a small amount of paint from the top flat surfaces. You can get creative and use a darker or different color for the cracks, wiping it away from the top flat surfaces. I have also used India black ink to color the cracks, wiping away the excess, allowing it to dry and then applying a top coat of light or white color paint which doesn’t cover the darker cracks completely. Doing this style of crackling, you have to work fast to wipe before the paint before it dries. You can apply more coats to achieve the look you desire. Remember to work in small areas, apply a light thin coat of paint or use a glaze, stop and wipe while wet, then move on. These is an aged crackle look, like broken eggshells. I use this look when the piece has the crackled or orange peel look already. To me it is not worth the work to sand it completely off or strip it, I just go with it.
A piece that is stained, should be cleaned, “roughed up” with steel wool or fine sand paper and a primer applied. A piece I just did, I used a combination primer/paint, it took 3 coats, going white over dark walnut stain, was maddening while I was doing it, keep finding spots that needed more coverage, but was worth it when the piece was finished. See photo. This piece is now for sale in our Collinsville Shop.
For the “Shabby Chic” look, there are several ways to achieve it. You can paint the pieces solid white covering the finish completely. It will require a couple of coats. If you are working with a piece that is stained, use steel wool to rough up the finish, then apply a primer or a combination primer/paint, this will require about 3 coats. After the piece is completely dry, you can enjoy it as it is or look at it as a blank canvas, to get creative by maybe hand painting a floral design in a focal point like the center back of a chair, a drawer front,, a center or a border around a table top. Timid about hand painting, use a stencil, or use decals (I have seen some great floral ones on Ebay) or decoupage some favorite pictures that are following a theme such as birds, flowers, ect. I have been saving some old magazines to cut up for decoupaging. I have plans for an old kidney shaped wooden vanity table that has a top that has seen better days, I plan to paint it all over with white paint and then on the top decoupage 1940’s ads of expensive perfumes that I have collected from vintage Vanity Fair and Architectural Digest magazines. After the ads are glued to the top of the vanity, I will cover the ads with a few coats of clear polyurethane to seal and protect the decorated top. Note: The vanity came out so good with the white paint, top looks like new, I didn’t do the decoupage look but left it just simply all white. This piece is also in our Collinsville shop now. Phot upon request.
Another “Shabby” look is to paint an all over base paint color and using goldleaf or gilt paint to highlight any embellishments or carvings or turnings on the piece. This gives it a “French” look, a little bit of gold adds some elegance. Here again you can experiment with wiping off or dulling the brightness of the gold. If the gold is too bright, too new looking, rubbing some bronzing powder or cigarette ashes into it while it is still wet will age it quickly. Contrasting or using an accent color paint can be used also on the embellishments or turnings also. If the piece has carvingsalong with the gold you can use black permanent marker in the crevices to create shadows, or black paint or India ink. Vary the pressure as you apply to make it look aged and somewhat worn off. Wipe some off for aging also. Remember all these techniques can be repainted if you don’t like the results till you get exactly the look you want. Like erasing your mistakes and starting fresh.
For a more primitive or aged look, if your new base coat is of a different color than the piece’s original paint color, you can use 0000 steel wool to “wear” off the new coat of paint on places where paint is normally worn off, ex. edges of tables, edges of the arms or rungs of chairs, seats of chairs, corners, tops of drawers, spots where wear is normal from use, rubbing off the top coat and having the different color under coat peeking through in these worn spots gives it an aged look by letting the different color show through. I had worked for a custom furniture maker and had learned aging techniques that would take brand new Shaker style furniture and make it look like an antique original. One style was to use a red or green base coat of milk paint and apply a new different paint color over it, ( blue over a red base was the most requested combination) After the 2 coats of the different color paint has dried, take steel wool and rub lightly over the seats of the chairs, the arms and chair rungs, all the spots of normal wear, to allow the different under color to be seen. After the desired aged effect was achieved, the item was polished with old fashioned butcher’s wax, no varnish, shellac or polyurethane was used. This is a great look for a active family, all the wear just adds to the charm of the piece.
The pleasure and advantage of painted furniture is that it works with a multitude of sins, blemishes, and wear and adding new wear areas will only add more character. It gives you the freedom to change colors and decorations so that a piece can be used in other settings and with other decorating themes. The best part of painting furniture, all mistakes can be painted over. We can rescue a cast-off and like Cinderella make it the “Belle of the Ball”.
Antique and Vintage Lighting
March 22nd, 2009
Italian vintage chandelier
Nothing sets the mood like lighting. From dramatic accent lighting, to soft romantic mood setting to the all important task lighting. Apart from the function of lighting, lighting fixtures can be an all important decorating accessory item for a room. A French brass chandelier dripping with crystals can set the stage for a formal diningroom, or get a romantic shabby chic look in a bedroom or bath. An old 1860 library fixture with a glass shade and globe can be electified and add a traditional look to a den , office or study. Wrought iron or weathered tin can get an Early American primitive look going. I have talked about inspiration coming from out of the blue and get a whole decorating theme going, well a impressive lighting fixture can be a starting off point also for a room. It can set the theme for the selection of all the other furnishings.
Antique or vintage lighting doesn’t require a lot of work to adapt, electify, rewire or dress up. So if you see a great lighting fixture or a special lamp don’t be afraid to purchase it. Many people get rid of lamps simply because they may need a new plug or switch or socket, not realizing how simple and inexpensive it is to fix them. A lamp can be rewired for under $20.00. New sockets are easy to put on. So check out the tag sales, thrift shops, and consignment shops for some real beauties at bargain prices that just need a little work. With all old lighting pieces, if you are not skilled at wiring please take it to a professional to inspect and make needed repairs before you use it. The workings of a lamp are very simple and easy to fix. Be safe make sure the wiring is in good shape.
Start with a basic lamp, that is the right size and shape for the place you want to put it, next accessorize. Does it need a shade? A simple shade or a shade that has braid trim, beads, an unusual fabric or color? If you have purchased a great lamp at a flea market price maybe you can spurlge on a fabulous custom shade. Remember scale when it comes to shades, it should just cover the entire socket area, not too high and the socket shows, not too long that it is uncomfortable trying to reach up under it to turn the light on. A rule of thumb is appoximately, the shade should be 1/3 of the total height of the lamp. The height and size of the lamp should also be in scale with the furniture it is sitting on. Important lamps that are next to seating and used for reading should be high enough to illuminate what ever you are reading as you are sitting, a too low lamp won’t work, a too high lamp will shine in your eyes and make you uncomfortable. Also take into consideration your height. Using lamps you already own of various heights, try them on the table next to your chair to find what heights works best for you, measure it and use that for a guide in purchasing a new lamp. I hate the matchy matchy look in decorating, I call it the Holiday Inn style of decorating. The only exception to my design philosophy of not working in pairs is with lamps on either side of a couch or in the immediate seating area, if you are only going to be using 2 lamps, they should really be an exact match for height, shape and base material, if you don’t want 2 lamps the exactly the same, they have to be very similar in traits. In the rest of the room they should be in scale with the room and furniture and have some single unifying trait that coordinates them all together. There can be 1 single lamp that has a stunningly different look than all the others if it is to be a focal point in the room. Hanging fixtures should be hung at heights, where they will be noticed, provide lighting such as over a dining table, but not placed where they are too low and people will hit their heads getting up from their chairs or the lights shine in their eyes. One rule of thrumb is measure the space from the top of the table to the ceiling, halfway in between is where the light should go, but with about a foot space in that middle half-way point to adjust up or down for your indivual preference. Nothing looks worse or so lost as a chandelier hung way up too close to the ceiling, you can always add a decorative chain to extend it down.
Soft lighting from lamps and chandeliers are the most flattering to you and the room. Chandeliers can be put on dimmer switches to adjust the amount of light needed or wanted. Every woman’s nightmare is the lighting in store’s dressingrooms, the over head flourescent lights are too bright and tend to distort colors, they make every flaw show and turn your skin tones into something from a horror flick. Add the distress of trying on a bathing suits and you can lose your self esteem for a month. This overhead harsh lighting is not what you want in your home. You need soft, subtle lighting to light a room. Lamps can give spot lighting where you need it for tasks, spotlights can highlight special paintings or other works of art, recessed lights can shot down onto work surfaces for doing tasks. Hanging lights on dimmers can softly light a whole room. Out are the glaring overhead ceiling lights as the sole source of light for a room. A single room can use several lamps to spot light areas as needed instead of lighting the whole room. Lamps can vary in size around the room as long as they are proportinate to the pieces of furniture they are on or next to. Don’t over look using floor lamps, great where space is limited and also great for providing light from behind your chair to shine down on what you are reading. Wall scones are also another space saver, some that are used in bedrooms or in bathrooms can be on arms that move, to pull out or fold back. A room can have a combination of mood lighting, task lighting or accent lighting. For example I have a very large bathroom, it is over 22 feet long and has a cathedral ceiling, so it has a very long vanity and mirror to be in scale with the room, over the vanity is a strip of the typical round vanity bulbs, I think there are 8 of them. When the vanity lights are on, it is very bright with that many bulbs, good for applying makeup or shaving but really too bright for anything else. So I found 2 old frosty glass vase shaped lamps, to place on the vanity, decorated with handpainted gold flowers and leaves, very French looking. They are standard height table lamps and I put pretty chintz flowered fabric shades on them for a soothing soft lighting effect. So now just going into the bathroom at night, turning on one of the lamps creates a special soft lighting that is more room like than a cold overly bright sterile looking enviroment. Near the bath I have an antique brass and crystal wall sconce to add more soft light over the tub but not the glaring bright light that reminds me of the store dressing rooms light. Soft lighting in the bathroom can create a private personal oasis to help you to relax in a wonderful bubble bath or a pulsating long hot shower and enjoy some pampering time.
Lighting fixtures can be dressed with shades of cloth or glass, decorated with strings of pearls, hung with chains, or be dripping with hundreds of shimmering crystals, painted, made of metal or wood, the variety is endless as is what you can do to them. Ebay is a great source for buying crystals, drop pendents or strings of them in all different colors, sizes and shapes to suit your decorating taste. Silk ivy vines can be twirled around the chain that suspends them. Christmas brings a whole new area of decorating ideas for your lighting fixtures. A garden room with live ficus trees covered with white mini lights can turn the room into a fairy wonderland. Many people try putting the little white lights on their houseplant trees for the holidays and love it so much they leave them on all year long.
The term “they don’t make them like they used to” certainly applies to lamps and lighting fixtures. many old ones are works of art, wonderful examples artistic handcraftmanship, whether fine china, blown glass, precious metals, hand forged iron, ect.all have a special unique appeal of their own and add beauty as well as function to your home. Anyone can have a store bought, made in China lamp, functional but not unique. You take so much time in choosing the perfect accessories that made your home reflect your unique style don’t lose that creative edge with your lighting. Your home is your “stage” you have designed the set, you are the “star” make sure the stagelights flatter your beauty. Special tip, pink colored lightbulbs in the bedroom will give your skin a wonderful rosy glow!
Thrifting: Giving and Getting, A Win Win Situation
March 7th, 2009
Thrift Finds
It’s that time of year again…. Tax time. Now you are probably wondering what does the grueling task of getting ready for your taxes have to do with decorating? Lots! I look at tax time as another New Years Eve, time for reflecting over the past year, making resolutions and setting goals for the coming year. Going through the previous year’s receipts and seeing where all your dollars went, reliving the past year’s purchases, good and bad ones, helps you focus for the new year. In these scary economic times we all need to tighten up the budget.
This is going to be a little lesson called “Decorating On a Shoestring”. Along with doing the taxes another chore needs to be done, Spring Cleaning. Time to take stock, purge and organize. This task can be overwhelming and easily postponed but there is no time like the present. Tackle this, room by room, closet by closet. To make the cleaning go easier you got to get rid of “stuff”. First off, set up 3 areas in the room with empty boxes, large contractor size garbage bags, and storage bins or containers. Now comes the hard part, being objective. Start in one area of the room or closet and don’t leave that area till you have completely gone through it all. The big questions are: Do I really need this item? Have I used this item in the past year? Would I like to replace this item? Do I love this item and wouldn’t dream of parting with it? With clothing it is a little easier, does it fit? Have you worn it in the past year? This is like a game, you have to answer these questions quickly and make a decision, the longer you take and think about it, the less you will be inclined to part with it. Once the decision is made decide how you are going to dispose of the item. Here’s the rewarding part, think “Green” the ultimate recycling is to donate your unwanted items to your local thrift store, things that are still in good condition, useable, wearable and saleable for the thrift store will be most welcome by them. If it is broken, torn, or stained do not donate but dispose of. No one is going to buy a chair with a broken leg or a pair of drapes that the fabric is rotting or the tee shirt that would make a better polishing rag, these should never be given as donations. You are helping many people with your donations and you can take a donation tax write-off on your taxes (you must have an itemized receipt of what you have given).
Another fun alternative is a swap party with friends, whether it is a knicknack, decorative items party or a kids or adult clothing swap meet or even a children’s toy swap, it is a great excuse to get all your pals together and have a party. There again make sure all your swap items are clean and in good repair, your rhinestone decorated sandals that pinch your feet and you have never worn could make a smashing new accessory for your best friend’s new summer outfit. Everyone brings and goes home hopefully with a “new” treasure and had a fun afternoon.
Another way to look at all this purging is from a money making angle. Dollars made from selling your items at consignment shops, can be used to buy things that you really want for the new season. Or get together with a couple of friends and plan a tag sale, decide whose house has the best exposure for tag salers to find, pool your goodies and share the work and make some money. In a future article I will cover all the points in having a successful tag sale or estate sale. If some of the items you have decided to part with are collectible and have value you may want to contact antique dealers, used furniture dealers, ect. who would be interested in purchasing what you have for sale. Consult the Yellow Pages in your phone book, go online, stop in some antique shops, find dealers who would be interested in the types of items you have for sale. This is usually the fastest way to get rid of unwanted items. Remember a dealer will offer you a “wholesale price”, not the top retail dollar figure that you might get if you spent the time and money to advertise the item and sell it retail yourself. If you want to sell it yourself and you have time to deal with the numerous inquiries, you can try internet sites such as Craig’s List, or set up an account and sell it yourself on Ebay’s auction site. The classifieds in your local newspaper or Penny Saver may find you a customer. But a word of caution, don’t spend the money till you get it, and have sold the item. These times are tough, many people are cashing out the dollars in their closets and attics and things are a hard sell for the most part right now, you have to have a little more patience and swallow hard and compromise on price. What things were selling for a year ago, is no where near what they are selling for today. I was one of the first sellers on Ebay, in the beginning (ca. 1998) no matter what you listed for sale on Ebay, it sold and at a good price, now only 20% or less of what is listed on Ebay actually sells and many times for a lot less than it’s value. This was a lesson we all had to learn, something is only worth what someone is willing to pay you for it. This “Recession, Depression” whatever you want to label it has hit all of us hard, no one is immune from it. So the dollars you get from getting rid of unused or unwanted items may not be a “killing” but every little bit helps, whether it is cash in your pocket or a charitable donation it still helps.
Now remember I suggested you have some storage boxes earlier. These are for items you are keeping but not using at this time or in their original state or for their original purpose. Now I know you fellow collectors or packrats, didn’t totally reform and get rid of everything you aren’t using. But hopefully you gave it a good try. We are still using the “thrifty mentality” many of these items can be refinished, redesigned, or repaired. Curtains, sheets, bedspreads, many things made of fabric can be made into other things. Decorative items can be swapped into other rooms or areas, furniture can be redone, painted or refinished, the crafty ones will look at these items as raw materials to be transformed or made into something new. Quilts were made out of scraps of material, rag rugs were made out of old clothes, kitchen tables had their legs shortened to be made into coffee or cocktail tables. Old armoires were made into entertainment centers, old dressers into bathroom sink vanities. So back to recycling, what can we make out of our discards that we still like and have many more miles in them ?
We had turned into such a throw away society, our landfills were over flowing and new was always better, but times have changed and it’s time for us to be creative as well as thrifty and responsible. Hopefully we won’t ever be in the position of our grandparents, who lived through the Great Depression and made 101 dishes without meat or put cardboard in their shoes but we can re-examine our spending habits and go back to some of the old ways of re-doing, repairing, and redesigning and come up with some pretty clever and unique ways of decorating.
Now for our reward after sorting, cleaning and purging, we have a fresh palate to work with, to redecorate. After Spring cleaning who wants to put things all back the same way. Family and spouses won’t even notice all the hard work you did. Now it is time for the fun of redecorating, getting creative and achieving a new look. Work with what you have, swap things between rooms, spend a little of the money you made selling off your old things, after dropping off your donations at the thrift stores, go inside and check out the bargains, you may find just the treasure you need to start your creative juices flowing, inspiration may strike and you have a theme for a whole new look. That little ladie’s desk that needs a coat of white paint might be just the thing to put in your bedroom corner and make a wonderful place to sit and journal. Maybe you might find a small brass lamp with a toile shade to go with it at your neighborhood Goodwill. Recycle, it’s fun!
Decorating With China and Linens
February 24th, 2009
Delicate Hand Painted Porcelain
One of my antique collecting passions is pretty hand painted porcelain teacups and saucers along with teapots, dessert plates and cake stands. My personal collection started when I was a little girl, my Great Aunt Florence Atwater loved to serve afternoon tea to friends and family. My special duty was to set the table with her prettiest teacups, delicate dessert plates, polished silver teaspoons and beautifully pressed and starched linen napkins. At 6 years old this was a very special responsibility that I cherished. Her and I established this special bond of loving to entertain and setting a very beautiful table using beautiful china pieces and special heirloom linens, her teachings about manners and setting the proper table has lead me down my collecting and antique shop ownership lifetime path. Every birthday, Christmas and “just because” holiday she would give me a special bone china teacup from her collection, all of which I still have today, almost 50 years later.
Some table setting trends have changed since those long ago days. Today we have the fun of being more creative with mixing and matching of patterns and pieces. You no longer have to be restricted to owning and using a huge set of special china, often received as a wedding gift. As time progresses your entertaining style, your decorating themes and colors change. Also has we have become a more mobile society, changing residences as well as states and even sometimes countries, moving a 100 piece set of wedding china just isn’t practical any more. Nor do we always have the space to store a set only used on holidays.
So here’s the way to set a pretty romantic, picture perfect table with fine china. First find your inspiration, theme, pick something that you love and go from there. My muse is roses. I absolutely love dishes with roses on them. I am partial to small roses or garlands of roses. I collected an assortment of antique plates, cups and saucers, bowls and serving pieces, pieces made in Limoges, Austria, Germany, England and by various other fine china makers. All the dishes have the common theme of delicate roses. I have also purchased white and ivory solid color large plates and some serving pieces to mix and match with the rose decorated pieces. The combinations of putting together the pieces is endless and I have the freedom to be creative and am not limited to using just one set of dishes or having to store a whole big set. If one piece gets broken, I can easily find another rose decorated piece to fill in. It is very easy to find a small collection of china, maybe 4 bowls here and 6 plates there and before you know it you have enough pieces to host a teaparty or dinner. Bed and Breakfasts are famous for using these little collections of china to set a festive or romantic table setting for 2 and can do a different theme for each morning or meal. From my days of being a bed and breakfast I worked with the idea of having enough of each collection to serve 4 people. My sub-collection is a violet theme, there are so many single pieces decorated with violets, it is easy to build a collection. For a special teaparty, you could get a whole garden theme going. Add a beautiful bouquet of the theme flowers as a centerpiece and it is picture perfect.
The same goes for silver flatware. Buy pieces in different patterns to mix and match. We no longer sell by the sets anymore, we sell 6 or 8 of each type, whether spoons, forks, knives ect. and sell serving pieces indivually. Just so you can buy what you love, what you need and not make a major investment in a whole set. Nothing makes having a cup of tea such a special occasion as a pretty china teacup with a special silver spoon. Some of my teacup buyers purchase an assortment of bone china teacups and saucers and each guest gets to take theirs home after the teaparty. What a nice remembrance of the special day. Another idea is the gals who have a monthly moving teaparty, which is one at a different hostess’s home each time, each guest brings their own favorite teacup from their own collection to use.
Adding to the elegance of setting the table is a collection of table linens that complement your theme. Tablecloths can be layered with coordinating solids and prints or dressed with lace over a solid color, or perhaps a bright colorful 1950’s print with a solid. Or leave the table bare and use placemats or a runner just down the center of the table. There again the combinations are endless. And nothing says elegance like a collection of cloth napkins. There again, collect just the amount you need, find some coordinating ones and mix and match, should one get damaged, it’s not like ruining a whole set, because the set is made up of different ones, it is easy to replace. Sure most of the antique linens need to be ironed to have that beautiful fresh crisp look. But ironing linens is easy and a little spray starch is all you need. Being a linen dealer I spent hours ironing but it really isn’t a terrible chore, I get so much satisfaction taking something that is a wrinkled mess and looks like a rag, press it and it looks like a million bucks. Ironing damask is fun, when it is wrinkled the woven design barely shows, press it and the design pops like magic. Napkins can be embroidered, have lace trims, be classic damask, have interesting cut-work, and many have monograms. So even if you don’t use a tablecloth, use cloth napkins for a touch of elegance. They really are easy to care for. The use of napkin rings in the olden days was to let each person keep and mark their napkin so it could be used for several meals til it was really soiled and needed washing and no one else would mistake it for their own with the personal napkin ring around it. Napkins also come in several sizes with the largest 25 – 30 inch squares for formal dinners. Smaller luncheon size is suitable for every day.
Although I have been talking about special times for setting the table, what is more special than your family. Treat your family to a special dress up meal at least once a week, who better to spoil? It also is an excellent time to teach manners to the little ones and you will be surprised to notice on these special nights the behaviors at the table will magically improve. Even if you have a housefull of boys, learning fine manners will serve them well as adults in the business world, on dates and inpressing the future in-laws. I truly believe a course in manners should be part of every high school curriculum. It will carry them far in life.
After you have been collecting china pieces awhile, you may have more than you can use for dining, you may have a few pieces that have to be retired because of chips or cracks or some pieces just too delicate to use. Now give them a new life as decorating accessories. Use them to form a wall grouping instead of pictures. a stray saucer can become a soap dish, a earring holder. There are numerous jobs for stray bowls, plates ect. Single teacups can sit on a window sill, I have taken 6 same pattern orphan teacups and tied them with a tiny ribbon to hang off the arms of a painted white chandelier, I call it my “Teacup Chandelier”, perfect for a breakfast nook.
Alas some pieces will get broken or crack, if they aren’t too bad they can make perfect under plates for plants. If they are very bad, broken pieces of china can make interesting mosaics on tabletops, lampbases, anything. So if you come across some orphan pieces of pretty china, adopt them and build a family of china.
Lavender Path Antiques II Open
February 7th, 2009
Our New Satellite Shop, Lavender Path Antiques II
After a long week of sorting, pricing, packing, moving, unpacking, and setting up , we are ready and open. Our new shop is filled with antique linens, fine china and porcelain, victorian vintage clothing plus wedding dresses and baby christening outfits.
This second shop is located in the Antiques on the Farmington Antique Mall, located at 10 Depot St. in the historic Collinsville Axe Factory Building, in the center of Collinsville. 70 antique boutiques are located in this huge old factory. It is an amazing center with a large variety of antiques and collectibles.
Our original shop in Harwinton, Ct. is still open with 20,000 books, a collection of fine china, silver, jewelry, hats, and vintage purses. We have moved all the textiles to Collinsville and both locations carry our beautiful china and porcelain.
I will be posting another Decorating with Antiques article in a few days when I catch my breath and get the creative juices flowing, right now remembering my name is difficult!
Be sure to visit our website: www.lavenderpathantiques.com for more information on both our shops and merchandise.
A Potpouri of Inspiration
February 1st, 2009
Vintage Black Velvet Gown
This has been a crazy hectic week. My new 2nd shop Lavender Path Antiques II is going to be a reality in 2 days. Counting down the hours. This week has been an almost around the clock project, sorting, pricing and packing of inventory to stock the new shop. Much of my vintage clothing and textile inventory has been in storage for 2 years, since I downsized the original Lavender Path Antiques shop. It broke my heart to put those things away. I had been selling some of them off little by little on Ebay but still had kept quite a few of my favorite things, occasionally bringing a few out to display in the shop, but room was an issue. So now this week opening all the boxes, I was like a kid at Christmas, rediscovering treasures of glamorous vintage fashions, somethings I discovered I had almost forgotten that I had. The task of going through it all and getting it ready to move was almost overwhelming at times. I have gone through a box of 1000 price tags already and now started on another 1000 tag box. I sell a lot of pieces of lace trims and tons of doilies, so the units really add up. As I worked and I tried to sleep, ( I get some of my best ideas laying in bed) plans and ideas kept going through my head, trying to come up with a decorating and display theme on how to arrange the inventory and put it all together. In my past work as a designer, I designed store lay-outs as well as displays and window dressing, as in decorating all successful designs start with one idea or theme. You never know when inspiration is going to hit you and the source of the inspiration can come from anything, the idea pops into your head and you are off and running with it and the ideas start to flow. My inspiration was a 1940’s vintage sewing machine in a solid cherry cabinet, when closed it is designed to look like a small writing desk. I was running ideas for furniture to use in the shop, to sell and to display merchandise on. This sewing machine which is from the 1940’s and made in Italy has been enjoying life as a desk in my guest room, with it’s 4 side drawers and pretty matching chair it has been a desk for so many years now, I had almost forgotten it’s original purpose was a sewing machine. This piece is now going to be the focal point in the front display, arranged with the sewing machine open, a few bolts of fabric, baskets of lace trims and containers of antique buttons wil be arranged around and on it. The idea train continued to move along, bringing to mind a collection of vintage pincushions, antique sewing items, crochet hooks and old pattern books for tatting, lace making and crocheting. All these items are related and tell a story. By arranging like items with a theme that coordinates all the pieces together, you create an interesting area, people’s eyes are attracted to the arrangement and it holds their interest to study the parts that make up the story. You are probably wondering where I am going with this, but the point I am trying to make is that inspiration will come to you if you allow yourself to be relaxed and open to it. Decorating is a process that shouldn’t be rushed, find pieces a little at a time, buy what you absolutely love, don’t try to purchase everything at once for an entire room, you will find yourself making mistakes or settling for items that are second best, that you don’t really get passionate about, you are just filling spaces. Look at each room and find one piece that excites your passion and create a theme from that object and then find similar coordinating pieces to go with it to create a story. Your inspiration can come from anything, rooms have been decorated around a oriental rug, a painting , an interesting piece of furniture, you would be amazed at what could be the starting point for decorating a whole room.
Antique lovers usually have collections, stuff that they enjoy hunting for and filling their homes with. Some of us have been labeled terminally ill with this collecting affliction! But a collector knows passion and excitement. Now how best to show case your collection is what can make or break a decorating scheme. There is a thin line between clutter and creating an interesting story area. Let’s use the example of needlework samplers. Say over the years you have amassed a collection of 24 framed samplers. You have haphazardly hung them on the walls all over the house. By doing this they have lost their excitement and appeal. They are just another picture on the wall. They seem to be everywhere, but creating little impact. Gather them all up and place them on the floor and study them, look for a theme, is there several that share the same colors, is there something that unifys a group of them, put together do they tell a story? Isolate these 12 samplers from the group and find one large blank wall space and then hang this mini-collection all together on this one wall as an interesting wall grouping. This will have the “wow” factor making a stunning impact. It showcases your collection by grouping it together. When I taught landscape design, I would use the analogy of planting tulips. If you planted a dozen tulip bulbs, each one a different color arranged in straight rows or just randomly through out the garden, they would have very little impact, go almost unnoticed. They would get lost. If you took another 12 tulip bulbs, all in the same color and planted them in a group filling a triangle shaped space close together, you would have a solid mass of color making a huge impact. Singles spread around get lost, just make up clutter, but put a collection together and you make a statement. I like to work a collection, it could be a collection of anything , in odd numbers, grouping 3’s, 5’s , 7’s ect together , it is more visually interesting, than a pair, which is too planned or a single item that gets lost and has no impact.
Now how to use vintage clothing or accessories as decorating items. These are also considered collections. They can be great decorating accessories or set the mood or theme for a room. Bedrooms seem to a natural habitat for these items. A collection of vintage beaded purses arranged on a dressing table or dresser, or hung on a wall in a group. I had used a pretty wrought iron stand made for holding coffee mugs as a great way to display small beaded evening bags on my vanity. Vintage hats, perched on the edge of a mirror, a wall grouping on the wall, on a hat stand, vintage millinery are really works of art, I love using hats decorated with flowers, I have even put a beautiful flower trimmed big brim hat jauntly placed on top of a lampshade for a colorful feminine decorating accessory. Underneath the lamp, I placed a matching color pair of vintage gloves and a little coordinating beaded purse, those 3 items arranged together on the dresser created a little story area. Arranged together they made a statement, which they won’t have if arranged separately around the room. I love the glamourous fashions of the 1940’s, old movie styles, my passion is beautiful lingerie. The nightgowns of that era could be as fashionable as evening gowns. If you ever watched the old movies of that era, you know what I mean. A glamourous silk or satin floor length nightie, a bedjacket, or camisole with flirty tappants hung on a pretty satin hanger and displayed on the wall or hung on a door, or dressing up an old dressmaker dummy can really set the “Old Hollywood” theme. How about displaying with it a pair of slippers with a high heel and feather pompoms. Talk about creating a storyline with these accessories. Add a few pictures of Hollywood starlets from the era of your collection and you got a theme going on.
Small powder rooms can be dressed up with a display of vintage collections. Old hatboxes, great decorations and useful storage. I sold a collection of 30 hats to a tearoom that was going to cover the walls in their ladies room with vintage hats, mostly flowered. Certainly made a statement and everyone remebers that tearoom with the hats in the ladies. Bathrooms with showers I don’t suggest using vintage things because of the moisture.
Another great decorating idea is using vintage baby clothes, a pretty christening dress, dress or little slips on a special decorative hangers makes a great accessory. A collection of little baby shoes, bonnets, bibs ect. Even better when they are from your family passed down with memories.
Victorian houses are great places to showcase a mannequin all dressed up, standing in a room, foyer, alcove. Dress her in your favorite dress or gown, also a great way to display an old wedding gown. I sell vintage wedding gowns but unfortunately, most of them are too small in size to fit today’s modern bride, even if she is a size 2, our bone structure is so much larger than the ladies of the olden days, our backs and shoulders, ribcages ect are so much broader, the gowns would never fit. but they are works of art and the lace , beading, the styles ect. are meant to be seen and appreciated, what better way to enjoy them than to display either hanging or on a dressmaker’s dummy.
So what ever your favorite era of fashion is a collection can be put together and displayed as a decorating accessory. Maybe your teenage daughter would love to have your old fringed suede vest, your yellow mini skirt, your Anne Hall hat or tie dyed shirt to display in her room and her friends can chuckle about things you wore back in the hippie years.
So I am going to close with getting my thoughts together, about creating little story idea displays in my new shop, the theme being a French Atelier (boutique workshop) filled with lots of fabrics and trims, linens, vintage fashions, beautiful hats and French Limoge china and teacups decorated with shabby roses and lighted with a crystal chandelier. But first I have to crawl into my antique bed under the crisp vintage sheets, get some sleep to rest up for loading truckloads of treasures to share with my new customers.
