It's Finally Happened...

Before I was born my parents had an antiques booth which they reluctantly gave up after the birth of my little brother two years later. Although they didn't have a retail outlet, they both still collected (my mother bought rugs, and my father bought coin silver). By their example I began collecting at a very young age as well and developed an interest in all things 19th century. At 15 I began working at a local antiques mall and a year later was given a small space in the mall which I still maintain. My father recently moved to Greenville, South Carolina where we opened a booth together at Antiques on Augusta (a superb antiques mall that is a must if you're ever there). Meanwhile in Charleston, I've managed a top designer's antiques booth at 17 South Antiques, and currently consult with another antiques dealer on her space. I've always wanted a space in Charleston and recently found out one was opening at Antiques of South Windermere (the owner of this mall also owns 17 South). I jumped at the opportunity. After a quick three day trip back to Greenville and Columbia to pull from my existing inventory, my booth is now installed. Not wanting to complete devastate my other spaces, this booth is a little lacking in furniture... but it will get there. Here's a view of the transformation and my current inventory.

The space before...

It felt like a suburban mom's garage hoard. Not to mention that back wall either needed to be covered with plywood or fabric.

 

I had the owner cover the studs with plywood and I then painted the walls a dusty plum that I previously used in a former apartment. It cleaned the space up and really set it apart from the rest of the booths.

 

The next day after the installation...

 

A fantastic Empire table top mirror...

 

Three mid-19th century trunks that came out of an amazing Charleston home... they have period labels and one is even stamped "J. Ravenel Charleston SC" on the side...

 

A vignette of items on top of an Art Deco side table with a blue mirrored top...

 

A 19th century document box on a custom stand I had made... now it's the perfect height to rest a cocktail on...

 Check back as the booth and inventory changes!

I hoping to reinvent it with a Hollywood Regency twist in the coming months... just purchased a vintage brass arm chair yesterday...

Click HERE for a map of Antiques of South Windermere in Charleston

Obsession: Papier Mache

I'm currently in love with the complete exuberance and ridiculousness of Victorian papier mache decorative arts and furniture. Black lacquer, gilt, and mother of pearl... could it get any more sybaritic? I don't think so. 

 

I love everything about this papier mache desk blotter... particularly the gilt tendrils of foliage.  I don't do too much blotting... but I have a feeling I'd do a little bit more if I owned this...

 

 A papier mache sarcophagus shaped tea caddy, English, circa 1860, from 1stDibs...

 

An English lacquered, gilt, papier mache, and mother-of-pearl side chair from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art... 

I recently saw a chair extremely similar to this at an antiques store... I may have to make a trip back to bring her home...  

 

A more typical example of a Victorian papier mache chair via 1stDibs...

I'm dying over the simplicity of the back... I'd love a set of dining room chairs that were just like this, except with a plain black front and this spectacular back.

 

 A pair of Victorian papier mache pole screens with Chinoiserie scenes, sold at Christie's...

I'm not sure how these were initially used, but I think they're beautiful just as sculptures...

 

An English Victorian papier mache tray which illustrates a more restrained aesthetic...

 

A fantastically sculptural English etagere from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art...

and finally perhaps the most exuberant of all papier mache creations...

 

a ridiculous Napoleon III salon suite, circa 1850. This set, which sold for almost 16,000 at Christie's, contained a center table, canape, a pair of bergeres, four side chairs, and a pair of footstools. 

Although I would NEVER want more two or three pieces of papier mache furniture in one room, I would love to have seen this in its original setting...

like a tacky, lacquered, gilt, and mother-of-pearl-ed train wreck, I know I wouldn't have been able to look away.

Madame Bovary and Curtain Tiebacks

 

  

The other evening I watched Vincente Minelli's 1949 Madame Bovary... 

Although it wasn't the best film I've ever seen, I did love these arrow curtain tiebacks featured in Madame Bovary's newly redecorated parlor.

Call the exterminator...

because unless they're metal, stone, painted, embroidered, or taxidermy, I don't want them. 

However, these insects can make themselves right at home...

 

Silver praying mantis from Blackman Cruz...

 

Pair of domed butterflies and bees from 1stDibs...

 

A manipulated insect by artist Mike Libby

To Die For

 

Pair of fantastic carved drapes... via 1stDibs

Unitarian Church

This is one of my favorite sites in Charleston... the cemetery reads more like a garden with vines, flowers, and palmetto trees dripping over the marble tomb stones...

 

This church was organized in 1772 and this building was dedicated in 1787.  It was enlarged and remodeled in 1852 in a high Gothic Revival style. The building was badly damaged in the Charleston earthquake of 1886. The exterior was stripped of most of its elaborate decoration, while the interior was restored to its original 1852 appearance. 

My favorite details are the metal flags on top of each of the four spires... if they ever go missing, it'll be because I've found away to climb atop the church and dislodge them.

 

The interior following the earthquake of 1886...

  

The interior in the 1970s...

 

The elaborate Gothic vaults and ceiling bosses are especially fantastic and are said to have been based on the ceiling of the Lady Chapel in Westminster Abbey constructed by Henry VII...

Muffie Faith on One Kings Lane

One of my favorite Charleston interior designers and style purveyor is currently featured on One Kings Lane with a Taste-maker Tag Sale... her interiors are sophisticated, eclectic, and somewhat whimsical...

 

The dining room of her Mt. Pleasant Old Village home...

 

The living room of her home... I saved this image when her home was published a few years back and am still completely obsessed the art deco bergeres, the caned sofa, and those unreal porcelain phoenix lamps and their fringed shades...

 

Dying for this chair...

and now on to my top three pics from the sale...

 

I need these.

Plain and simple.

 

Oh this table...

We lusted after this one a few months back at a warehouse sale a few designers put together, and here it is again... if only our antebellum kitchen house would sprout an extra room...

 

I marveled at this brass and glass coffee table at a friend's art show that was at Muffie's fantastic boutique home store ESD a few weeks ago...

My Future Home: Gaineswood

After a long trip through rural Georgia, my love for antebellum Greek Revival homes is back at an all time high. Although not one we saw on the trip, Gaineswood in Demopolis, Alabama, is one of the most amazing Greek Revival homes ever built. All photos come from the HABS website and are available here.

 

Gaineswood, circa 1910.

 

Gaineswood, 1935.

 

The facades of the house are extraordinarily complex.

 

Niches dot the exterior of the home and contain classical statues.

 

Love this photograph of the roof that reveals stained glass windows and a skylight, slightly reminiscent of the view of the roof-line of Sir John Soane's house from the second floor in London.

 

The ballroom contains a spectacular plaster ceiling. The Colonial Revival furniture couldn't be more inappropriate for a room of this grandeur.

 

I'm not sure the chandelier could be more disappointing... that amazing ceiling requires an even more incredible fixture.

 

This would most definitely be my bedroom. Those Tower of the Winds columns are phenomenal... yet again the bizarre usage of Colonial Revival furniture and the lackluster lighting would have to go...

 

The summer house... I can just imagine the purple silk waistcoat I would wear in this faux Temple of Vesta while I watched my peacocks strut across the lawn...

Dying for...

David Skinner Antiques

 I'd like to acquaint everyone with one of my favorite local antiques stores, David Skinner Antiques. Located in the Antique District on King Street here in Charleston, this store is filled with spectacular pieces of furniture and exceptional chandeliers and sconces. They also sell online via 1stDibs...

 

An absolutely unbelievable 18th Century French Regency chandelier... this spectacular piece is what David Skinner Antiques is known for...

 

A pair of 18th century Italian side chairs... I've been dying for these chairs for a few months now... I'm able to stare at them each time I walk by the shop and am dreading the day they find their new home, which unfortunately won't be with me...

 

This is my current obsession...  an Italian Empire Chandelier...

The photograph doesn't do it justice... it's the perfect size, unusually small for a fixture of such high quality.

 

Love the exuberance of this papier-mache stenciled and gilt tilt-top table by the London firm of J. Ennens and Bettridge...

 

This Italian bronze fixture with a Capo di Monte cockatoo is definitely one of the most unusual chandeliers I've ever come across... the high quality of the materials keeps it from being overtly kitschy, but it definitely maintains a sense of humor... 

 

One of a pair of New York Empire pier tables... love the black marble columns and gilt paw feet...

Visit David Skinner Antiques here.