The New Antiquarians, Part II

I hope you all got a chance to read the NYTimes article about the "new vintage style" and interesting people like Hollister Hovey and Megan Wilson. What was really exciting to me or should I say redeeming, is that for a few years I have been buying some taxidermy and Victorian globes that my husband rolls his eyes at every time they arrive.
The first photo above is of one of a collection of 19th century Swiss antler trophies and the second is a taxidermy specimen of a French piglet known as a marcassin. None of my clients have really understood the fascination with decorating with "dead things" (though I did sell some taxidermy ducks recently) and I can't really explain what is my attraction to them. I just get a sense of history from them which is alluring.
Some thing else that many find a bit macabre but is typical of the Victorian era, though in this case in France are these globes. You can find all sorts of things under the curved glass domes, from more animals to family albums and dioramas. The first two photographed are more on the religious side. There are wax images of babies (debatable as to whether or not they depict the infant Jesus). They were often made by the Carmelite nuns and their dresses were made from satin taken from a bride's gown. Both of these also have the wax-flower tiaras that the brides wore on their wedding day. After the pieces were finished they were given to the couple as a "cadeau de mariage" or wedding gift, often upon the birth of their first child. Or if not as a sort of prayer for the fertility of the couple. This first one is holding a scroll which reads "Je viens vous Benir" which means "I come to Bless you" and is adorned with a sacred heart (a heart with the crown of thorns around it.) The second one has the child laying under a tree (of life), a consistent symbol of fertility in art, and this tree is filled with fruit and birds, further emphasizing life.


The next two globes are less religious and more in the souvenirs category. While in English the word souvenir has a bit of a kitchy connotation, in French souvenir literally means "to remember", so these are more of remembrance mementos. The first below contains another bridal tiara, as well as the tulle from her veil. There is a lock of hair and two figurines, one from a baptism and one from a first Communion. The family added several pictures from important holidays or soldiers going off to war, presumably the two great wars of the twentieth century. Don't miss the old picture of Mont Saint Michel in the bottom right corner!

This last one is quite beautiful from an aesthetic point of view due to the stunning blue butterfly in the center. It has a bridal tiara and what looks to me as some preserved palms from a Palm Sunday celebration. The gilt brass centerpiece is an nice example of repousse work which includes a dove with a wreath, flowers, and sprays of wheat (more symbols of mariage and fertility.)

"The New Antiquarians"

I had to quickly send out this fantastic article about a generation I like to think I am a part of:
The New Antiquarians. Read the article and we'll talk about it tomorrow!

The Children's Rooms

I am just back from our family vacation to Indianapolis (where my husband is from) and a family reunion in Put-in-Bay, Ohio. We had a great time with the kids driving through the corn and soybean fields and seeing a different side of the America we live in. The weather was also fantastic, nice and cool, quite a change from the scorching, humid heat we are now experiencing in Miami.

As promised, I have photographed the two children's rooms for your viewing pleasure. First we will be begin with the girls' room.

It began as Cecilia's room when we moved into the house and became Paola's as well a few months ago. Cecilia's nursery, at our previous house had been painted yellow and had rather gender-neutral decor so when I got the chance to start over I went super girly. I painted the room a very soft pink--very light as to not be overwhelming. Her bed, is antique (of course!), a French iron daybed.


One of my close friends gave her as a "house warming" gift the opportunity to have custom bedding made at a charming boutique that used to be in downtown Coral Gables called Kate and Leo. I worked with them on the design and they had it made in Brazil. I was very sad when they closed as I would have liked to have matching bed linens for Paola.

Anyway, there is a hot air balloon light fixture, not old, but charming and handcrafted in Italy.


An antique marbletop nightstand with an old porcelain handpainted lamp that was a gift from a fellow antiques dealer. Over that there is a pastel of an angel, a study of an Annunciation by Da Barocci.


On the other side there is a collection of two drawings and an engraving of children and/or angels collected during my travels.


As we live in an old house with little to no closet space, we needed a practical piece of furniture for all of baby's clothes, bed linens, etc. We had this armoire whitewashed with a light pink paint to go in the room. It is very roomy and has room for everything from books to socks.


The window treatments and rug are from Pottery Barn Kids---easy and convenient--- and I fell in love with the animal-themed pink and green toile drapes.

Now on to Marcelo's room.

His bed is a mahogany Empire period sleigh bed, circa 1820.


Just like Cecilia, it is smaller than an American twin-size bed so I had to have mattresses custom made but they are close enough that I can just purchase twin sheets. I use his old crib bumper (also from Kate and Leo) as a railing and it works great! Plus, I'm not ready to give up those sailboats yet. He has a mobile with little wooden sailboats hanging from the ceiling and a wooden oar with his name painted (PBK).


As a dresser and changing table we have a antique chest that is painted with a nautical theme as if it had been on a ship--I always thought it would be perfect for a boys' room.


There are some framed vintage maps on the wall that I purchased from the booksellers on the banks of the Seine river in Paris.


I left everything as it is and didn't stage these photos too much so that you could see that we and the kids really live with all these antiques everyday.

During our vacation we had more than 30 potential buyers and brokers view our house and we received two offers. We have accepted one and will be having inspections today. I'm looking forward to starting over and decorating another house soon!

A Room Transformation- Part II

Here are the photos of the living room after the new furniture additions and some clean up. I have to take off some of the books on the coffee table, but other than that, this is what my potential buyers will see.



Then, to my horror on Saturday, my realtor reminded me with these pictures, that my bedroom looked like this:
I confess that I've always neglected our own room, spending a lot more time and creativity on the kids' rooms (I'll have to post photos of those next.) So I did a little more work and rearranging, and now it looks like this:

It is a small room, so tough to get a decent angle, but we took out the two dark mahogany pieces in favor of tables with open legs. The room looks a lot more spacious. We considered bringing some art in to cover our bare textured walls but didn't want to start making holes in 90 year old plaster, so instead we turned the bed so that the window is the focal point instead of the wall. Here are close-ups of the tables:

Official listing goes out on Wednesday---wish me luck!

A Room Transformation

For several months, I have been wanting to "freshen up" my living room. While other parts of our house get lots of light, the living room is a bit dark as it only has one window. You can recall what it looked like from our magazine feature:
Basically, we had this sofa and armchair:

Both are beautifully carved French Louis XIV or Regence pieces, but a little on the heavy side.
So, I decided to switch them out for these:

A Louis XVI style Giltwood settee with white canvas upholstery (and some artist renderings).

And a Louis XVI style Giltwood Bergere with antique hemp bed linen upholstery.

I am very pleased with the results. The room looks lighter and cleaner. I changed the little table to a giltwood caned bench that goes perfectly with the two giltwood pieces as well as one side table we already had. And I also cleaned off the mantel and have only these Italian antique candlesticks on either side of the mirror with one framed reliquary leaning in the center.

You may be wondering how it is that all these items at my house are still for sale on our website...yes, I keep everything there and when someone wants something it gives me a great excuse to redecorate! Once in a while, when I can't part with something I have to mark it sold, but usually--why not try out something new, it's a perk of the business!

And now....for my big announcement! We are putting our charming house on the market! We have decided to try to sell and move on to a new house-project. Or perhaps just rent for a while and see what comes along. I think my new furnishings will help give an elegant yet not too busy look to the room. And of course they are all for sale too! What do you think?

I want to thank all my new readers for passing by! Thanks to Joni at Cote de Texas for posting a link to my previous post, I surpassed 1000 viewers! And I now have 50 subscribers! (This is nothing to BIG, famous bloggers like her but it's very exciting for amateurs like me!)