Decorating with Antiques in a Bedroom

This bedroom is in a little guest house at my daughter's house.   I just left this morning and thought I would share all the antique touches in the room.

The photo below was taken from the doorway into the room.  It is very welcoming.  I love the dramatic impact of the monster flower painting and the beautiful toile drapes.  The toile fabric is a vintage print, I know I've seen it in the Colefax & Fowler book.

The bed is covered in a white metalasse spread, great in the hot summer.  There is a really cute quilt done in tiny postage stamp size pieces that is nice if it gets too cold.  The giant snake pillow is a wonderful peice of french tapestry, the background of the tapestry is a gray blue.

The lamps on the nightstands are new, they look like trees with birds on them.  The house is in the country and this is something whimsical that works on this country guest house.

To the right of the nightstand is a wonderful little Georgian fire screen, and a needlepoint bench for your clothes or robe.  There are two wonderful blue and white German plaques that echo the cartouches in the toile drapes.   I remember my antique dealer friend telling me the story of how she dragged these back in a carry-on after purchasing them on Portobello Road in London.  Room was made for it on the plane, lucky for me they didn't get kicked to pieces underneath a seat.

 I can't get enough of that fabric. Isn't it a wonderful shade of blue!   I love having so many things to look at.  Some people call it cluttered, but I think it is fun.  There is a wonderful Berlinwork needlepoint with a girl and her parrot.  The glass on the front makes it hard to photograph.  There is a little writing desk in the corner to the right of the door.  It is stocked with note cards and note pads in case you need to make a note of where you are going the next day.  (remember this is a guest house).

Above the needlepoint is a lovely carved shelf, with what else but a cute piece of Staffordshire. Staffordshire is also sitting on the right nightstand.

 To the right of the desk are a couple of oil paintings, transferware plates, and an old piece of French gilt tin roses.

 I know, it's not minimalist, but my decorating with antiques has never been minimalist.  My daughter left this more English & German than the French that she usually does because she knows how much I love all this stuff!

Below is more of the German stuff in the room.  On the wall are Berlinwork needlepoint slipper pockets.  There is a dog, horse and monograms.  There are lots of other needlepoint pieces on the wall.

Above the nightstand, (an English chest of drawers), is a rack with a display of Austrian handmade antique petit point bags.  I sometimes use them when I dress up for special events.  It also follows one of my principles of collecting.  Mass similar items together for a more effective display.

To the left of the bed is this lovely turtle chair with dutch marquetry.  It is covered in Fortuny fabric, (when it is not covered with my bath robe!)

My nightstand has a couple of German hats on it.  There is a black one, very old.  The grey one my dad wore.  (See my German coming through, the verb at the end of the sentence?  I was an ESL kid here in the U.S.)    I didn't do anything to stage the room, so WYSIWYG.  

Ok, so here's my quick go to items on the nightstand.  I have  a silverplate tray to hold Jo Malone perfume, Secret, L'Occitane lotion (great stuff), Chapstick, L'Occitane lip balm.  That teacup is a fabulous handpainted teacup that I like to use for necklaces and rings.  I have a photo of my awesome daugher at work, framed in a black forest frame.  I use the little shaving mirror to put on makeup. The crystal Gallia picture frame of me with 4 of my sisters.  I was the bald baby on the end.  Mom made all the matching red and white dresses (yes it is a B&W print.  I just happen to recall wearing each and every one of those matching dresses.  I grew out of one, and into the other, wore that dress for 6 years..!!)

Below is a photo of my dad wearing the little grey hat.   Last spring when we were in Germany we saw a farmer all dressed up, or so we think, wearing said hat, riding on a tractor.

At the foot of the bed is a lovely antique French bench with stretchers.  Notice the carving on the front edge of the bench, beautiful!  It is covered in grey linen. 

There is carpet on the bedroom floor.  It is soft and wonderful to get out of bed and step onto carpet.  I know everyone loves wood and tile floors, but I am partial to comfort when it comes to getting out of bed and stepping onto something comfy.

Below is the bedroom set in a room before I moved.  We downsized so I had to figure out what to do with the set.  Storing it in the guest house is a great idea!  I get to visit it once in a while.

I think I like the fresh look of the new room, brighter colors.

The other room was quite large and the look more monochromatic.  This room has a cozy (ok small) feel to it, and is fun with all the stuff in it.  I think it would be boring edited down.  If other company stays in here they must know it was done for me!!

Don't be afraid to use antique items for accessories.  I get really tired of all the pieces of coral and shells that I see in all the stores and decorating magazines.  So have fun antiquing and replace something new with something vintage or antique!

To Toile or Not, That is The Question!

I am trying to decide what to do with this bathroom.  I am thinking that perhaps I need some kind of toile wallcovering to go with the pink samplers and transferware.

Of course one day I will rip everything out and put in white marble, but now is not the time.  

My leftover pink towels set the color scheme.   The antique rug goes really well with the pink towels.  My chickenwire basket holds the extra towels and washcloths.  I have a bunch of these baskets, they are so versatile in keeping me organized.

I have some great German samplers that are red on white linen.  They are turn of the century and I totally love them!

Pink transferware and red and white samplers.   I like them.  I still need to work on the wall arrangement.   I'm thinking about it.  Maybe all the samplers in the center, and do all pink plates on each side?

Before I rip out the bathroom and put in my usual white marble, I am going to think about how to make this all work without a major remodel.   

I love toile bathrooms.  Here's one I did in black and white.  I laid the tile myself, popping out white and putting in black to create a border.

 Below is a pink bath by designer Lauren Ross.

Below is a paper I think Schumacher made.  It is after a Colonial Williamsburg design called Aviary.   I know that I saw it in an entryway in a Charles Faudree book.  ( I bought two scarves from Williamsburg for projects, yet to be done.)

Or do I go the cheap route that most designers recommend:  for fast dramatic results - PAINT!

I used Sherwin Williams Visualizer tool to come up with a paint color.  No if only there's a wallpaper visualizer tool!  

I have a great chippendale mirror I could hang over the sink and get rid of the wall of mirror.  I know the wall was expensive, and it is nice to get ready with all that mirror, but I think it has to go.   If I do wallpaper, it seems like I'd need to do some beadboard, and perhaps paint the cabinets.  What would you do?  No mirror?  Paint?  Toile?

Tell me what you would do!

Summer Antiquing - Antique French Bombe Chest

It's hot out.  It's hard to garden in the heat.  About 2PM is a good time to go antiquing.  I enjoyed this pleasant diversion to my favorite shop.

We found a lovely chest.  I knew instantly that it was going home.  It wasn't perfect, but still very elegant, yet the plain marquetry seems perfect for my country house.  It is a lovely light colored wood with ormolu mounts on it.  It looks like pine to me, but it is probably something else.  Is it Kingwood?  Most French chests tend to be around 1900, but this one really does look earlier.   I am wondering if the hardware has been replaced?  The marquetry needs some work, it is what you might say "a bit chippy".

 I like the simple marquetry.  Sometimes they can be over the top.

The beauty above would still work for me, over the top and all, but I will have to settle for mine....as the one above sold at Christies for $55,000.

I wanted to put it in another room that has light colored wood, but frankly I went for temporary functional--underneath the tv.  I'm working on my bedroom, one little bit at a time.

I thought it would be nice to put a painting on a little tole stand.  I don't know how to hide that cable TV box.

  If I ever find the appropriate sized transferware plates on Ebay, I'll show you my completed plate wall.  It looks really bad, I'm missing two sizes on the other side.  Oh, the weather cooled down.  Back to outside.

Here's to finishing projects, I just made a little step towards that.  Other things going on:  I found a bear topiary half price at the nursery.  I thought he was cute.  I think this may wind up being topiary row.

Everyone needs a little whimsy to lighten up the seriousness of life!   Yes, and everyone needs a tractor to dig a hole in clay for a 15 gallon plant.

Thanksgiving Table

The table is set.  The silver is polished.  The turkey is in the oven.  Pies are baked.   Guests are coming!!

There are 17 people coming.   We have two tables set.

 I used Spode "Woodland".  Each plate is different.  Grampa gets the turkey, Grandma gets the spotted pony, Erica the newlywed niece gets the cougar, her hubby gets the white horse, Kirsten gets the snowy owl, because it is cute with big eyes, like her.

Off to finish working!  Happy Thanksgiving!

Beverly's Collection of Everything, Part II

The last post was about my friend Beverly's collection.  She passed away, and sadly all her wonderful collection was sold and dispersed to other collectors.  I thought it would be interesting to show how many different collections she had, and in part, how she displayed them.   My photographs were taken during her estate sale, so they are not the best, and don't always show how a room was decorated, but it is still interesting as it was not completely dismantled for the sales.

Previously covered were the entryway, living and dining rooms.    I'll go down the hallway to the left of the entryway which leads to two sitting rooms and her bedroom.


Sitting Room #1 
This room held a french sofa, a couple of chests, a center table, and a screen.  The two sitting rooms were "blue rooms".

Sitting room #1 had a wonderful carved french sofa, and a collection of blue transferware.

I never understood the wallpaper in the background.  She covered it up with this blue screen.

The needlepoint on the demilune table caught my eye.  It's quite lovely.

Wonderful piece of needlework.   I don't think I've ever seen a nicer patriotic needlepoint.

English game table was used as a center table.   I love the piece of old toile underneath the table.

Some of the items on the center table were loners in her collection.  I don't think I saw another piece of wedgwood-- see the lovely cheese dome.

This room held a few interesting mirrors, and my favorite chest.  You can see papier mache trays tucked here and there also.

William & Mary chest with bun feet

Intriguing mirror.  I love the bellflower drops on the sides.

Venetian chair had its original upholstery.  Bev used tacks to cover the tattered upholstery.

 I thought it was interesting that Bev didn't recover her venetian chair.  She used glass tacks to "recover" it, while leaving the original intact.

Beautiful french sofa had an ornate wood carved frame

Most of the blue and white transfeware was displayed in this room.  Some of the pieces are featured below.

Davenport Transferware

Blue transferware with wonderful hunt scene border

Blue transferware with a pastoral scene.  Who can resist anything with cows on it!

blue transferware with deer.  I love the prancing deer!

Transferware and a jasperware cachepot with horses on it.

You see some of her Bennington (Rockingham) brown pottery mixed in with the blue and white.

Sitting Room #2
This room was right next to her bedroom, and was entered through the previous sitting room.  She had a courtyard in the center of her house, and the two sitting rooms along with her bedroom flanked it.  This was the second blue sitting room.  It had more of an american flavor to me with the bird fabric, where the previous room felt more english (and french)  to me.

Across from the door that you entered, you had the view of this wonderful cabinet. I'm not sure of the history, it had so many little drawers in it that I thought it might be some kind of a cabinet made for a shop.

To the left of the cabinet, you can see a display shelf holding blue and white export china.  The doorway you see goes to her bedroom, a tiny room built off the original bedroom.  I think she did this when she was caring for her invalid husband.

The photo below shows the cabinet loaded with more blue and white export china.

Lovely quilt complements the blue and white export china.

Beverly collected portraits.  I love this picture of a chubby chinned royal.   I'd like to have her visit my house.    There is a papier mache tilt-top table set up for viewing.  Lovely!  In the photograph above, there is a mirror resting against the cabinet.  It is wonderful!

Fabulous 18th century antique mirror

To the right of the table is an old cheval mirror with a paw-foot stool in front of it.

Cheval mirror with attached candleholders.

The placement of the mirror was nice.  It was to the left of a sliding door, opposite from the entry door into the room. While it was a small room, it felt more expansive.  A good note here is that you don't have to decorate a bedroom as such, you can use it any way you want.

Paw-foot stool

Sorry about the blurry pictures.  I thought you'd still enjoy seeing all the wonderful things.

To the right of the door, you see this vignette.

Blue and white room with collections of chinese export porcelain and staffordshire dogs.

At one point, there were so many dogs underneath the table, you had to giggle.   They were darling.  Only a few remain here.   I love the bird cage on the table to your right.  That chair was comfortable to sit in and read.  I think the drawers on the table are from a desk.

Bedroom

This was a tiny little room, almost felt like a sleeping porch.  There was a single bed here.  Missing is a beautiful embroidered wall hanging.   Wish you could have seen it.  I only show you this because it is possible to take a narrow room and make it cute.   The embroidered tapestry had dominated this part of the room.

Quilt collection on the bed --along with a toile throw I made for her. 

I really like her blue and white quilt collection.  The one in the previous room, circle around a star, is my favorite.

Love the star in the center of a circle quilt.  I don't know what it is called, but I like it!

Looking past the foot of the bed, you had this lovely view. You could see her courtyard beyond.  Hanging in the window are wooden cherubs.  The wall cabinet houses santos figurines and retablo religous paintings.

Now, this always struck me as odd, as Beverly would tell you she wasn't religious.   Maybe she just liked the artwork.  In front of the window is a papier mache sewing cabinet, with a Baccarat bottle set on top.  I love the sewing table, adds a black item to the room.  That's something that helps give a room depth.

Santos, retablos, cherubs, candles, baccarat, and sewing table in the bedroom.

Close-ups of some of the collection items:

Darling mirror with 3 Baccarat dresser bottles

Papier Mache Sewing Table is to the right of the Venetian Chair

There were many retablo items.  Beverly said she got alot of them in Mexico early in her marriage.  Retablo refers to a latin america devotional painting on board.  It is often on tin.   They are themed catholic art, most likely.

retablo Mother Mary & Baby Jesus

retablo from mexico

There are a few santos sprinkled in too.

Grouped together, it made a lovely display.   I don't have any photos of the cherubs, but they looked great in front of the window of her bedroom.


I will continue with some more specific collections in a future post.  I hope you enjoyed this post.  I wish my friend were still here, consider this a tribute to her, as her collection meant everything to her.   She was very depressed one weekend posted cancer-surgery.  She was supposed to be in bed.  I called her up, and took her out on a Sunday to an estate sale.  She had so much fun and was so excited because she purchased a period table for $45 that everyone else missed.   I am so happy that I stopped by that day.