Let's Talk about Moments in Design

Now that we’ve talked about focal points you can read about that here. I thought it might be good to talk about the moments that create the whole package. In refreshing the lower level for spring I really didn’t do much. I gave it a good cleaning, rearranged a few things and added a new wreath for the barn door that I made. I’m pleased with the way this space looks at the moment.

I’m in love with this Tree of Life area rug that I spotted at a local estate sale. I have wanted this rug for 25 years and it was so worth the wait. It has absolutely no wear to it. Does this say Spring!!!

A quick trip to the Restore Store yielded up this cherry tavern table, above. It had an ugly orange stain on it, so I painted the base with chalk paint sanded down the top and just waxed it with a clear wax. An Early American 1960’s table now looks like it was meant to look. Like an 18th Century Tavern Table.

A PB brass lantern sits on top of the table with a few pieces of Transferware and a vintage pewter pomegranate inside. The little girl is me as a toddler, in an old embossed leather frame. Vintage Royal Doulton Character Jug. I think he’s handsome!!!

In the corner cupboard I have more Transferware. I am doing a report for my Questers group this month, and I figured I might as well do it on something I love. The pots on top are Pottery Barn that you see in every home, with a green bottle that has a Tax Stamp on it that I picked up in Savanah.

Don’t know what to do with those figurines you inherited? Use them for book ends. They work great. They can direct the eye, as well as hold up your books! The wicker tray gives the corner cupboard some needed texture and corals some of the stuff!

On the trunk my writing slope is closed for now. Under it is a vintage Iranian table square, that ties in all the colors in the room and softens the rusticity from the trunk. The goose was carved by my dad, and directs the eye to the other part of the room. He sits in a “nest” of twigs and cotton bolls. A pewter mug of turkey feathers, draws the eye up to the painting. A French Postal Scale sits on top of the writing slope. I feel that if you collect, it is more impactful to collect the right accoutrements for the item. Writing Slope/Traveling Desk has ink wells, turkey feathers, a wax stamp, and the postal scale. They are talking, and telling a story.

This lowboy is a piece I’ve always loved. The sconces are hand made, tin with gilding and an antique painting that had a hole the size of my fist, that I badly repaired, balances the space.

More Transferware in the built-ins. My newest platter with the Giraffe, that I bought for a song at the antique mall. On the base I helped to isolate the space with a collection of antique books, and an Iranian placemat, that grounds the vegetable dish, tea caddy, and 4 wooden strawberries, that say it’s SPRING! A small book with a piece of Florida Coral balances the vignette. Antique sugar bowls make great vases for flowers, and without their lid they can be bought for much less.

My crazy painted chest gets a simple vignette with a hair on hide small trunk or “casket” and a primitive tin lamp. Adding a tassel to this lamp softened it up and made it more interesting.

On the Tennessee reproduction pie safe an old antique wooden bowl frames the first bottle I ever bought in Philadelphia. Resting on a book with a vintage brass candlestick to the side. An old picture of my granddaughter always makes me smile. She will be getting married in September! Old leather trunk was my Moms. It now houses some of the faux floral.