Damn calculated drapery!
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
A day trip to Middle-of-Nowhere, SC
After hearing some good reviews of the antiques and junk stores in Walterboro, South Carolina (located an hour away from Charleston), we decided to embark on a day trip to visit this little town and pillage it, antiques wise. I was really surprised at the quantity of stores and the quality of the items. You had to dig, but I definitely made out with a couple of real finds such as a gilt faux bamboo Hollywood Regency coffee table, gilt tole electric sconce, and a fantastic portrait (amongst a few other purchases).
In addition to antiques, the town has some beautiful homes. Nothing particularly noteworthy or extraordinary, but I loved these two matching Greek Revival cottages with Greek Key friezes. If only they weren't in this particular town...
I searched the HABS website hoping there might be an archive of images of this small Southern town... unfortunately there were only three photographs, one of them being the first image. This is perhaps one of my favorite HABS photographs I've ever found. I love the sleeping dog in the foreground and that relatively simple cottage with its octagonal additions is so wonderful.
Monday, August 1, 2011
"... what the eye demands."
"It matters not if the connection between base and cornice be maintained by actual pilasters or moldings, or by their painted or woven imitations. The line, and not the substance, is what the eye demands."
The Decoration of Houses, 1897
Edith Wharton & Ogden Codman, Jr
The iconic Institut Guerlain, Paris, decorated by Christian Berard
Fromental's Berard wallcovering... I love the fractured baseboard
Villa Barbaro, trompe l'oeil frescoes by Paolo Verenese... my favorite details are the ceremonial flags in the corners
The Opera Garnier's curtain... this building is one of the most sybaritic works of architecture ever created
The trompe l'oeil dome of Sant'Ignazio di Loyola in Rome... the first time I saw this I couldn't actually believe it wasn't real until I walked around the church
I'm not sure Wharton or Codman was talking about over-scaled bird cages...
or mid-century bars...
but my eye demands both.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
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...
Thursday, July 28, 2011
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.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
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.
Monday, July 25, 2011
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
Thursday, July 21, 2011
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...
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