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!

French Antique Louis XV Bench

My bedroom is in need of a bench.  I've wanted a Louis XV bench for years because I love the stretcher bars "x'd" look.

I found this bench at an estate sale last spring.  It was a disaster, but I saw that the frame was good and sturdy. My husband thought I was crazy, it was raining and the things was a complete mess.  I don't have a "before" shot for you because we went directly to the upholsterer from the sale.

Louis XV Bench

The grey linen fabric was a remnant, already backed for upholstery.  I almost put a white linen on it, but thought the grey would work better in the room.

It works perfectly in the room.   The bare room, because I "uncluttered" it.

Stretcher bars add strength, and more surface to dust.

The whole project cost me $350.   Given the cost of antiques, I'm sure it would have been more expensive than that in a shop!

I have another bench that isn't in the best spot at the foot of this bed, however I like having it at the foot of this bed to catch the blanket.  It is the only other bench I have with the stretcher bars, but it is far more ornate.  The problem is I think a bench at the foot of a bed should be rectangular, this one is a rectangle, but it is not long enough to me.

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See what I mean?    I will eventually find the perfect spot for it, probably in front of a fireplace.  Til next time, stay cool!

Benches, Footstools and other Landmines

I found another cute stool last weekend. When I find a piano stool, I use it as a stool because they are sturdier than others. While Rod calls footstools landmines, I actually like using them as...footstools. They work good under the desk, and I have one right now as I am typing on the sofa, staying comfy. A lot of the stools are too high for modern sofas to use as a stool. Then I use them to stack books as I love reading everything and have piles of books everywhere.

Here's a picture of the new stool. The needlepoint is original, and the trim looks original even though it looks bright. It seems to have some wear to it making it shabby enough to be vintage. I can hear the crunchy horsehair underneath the needlepoint. It was especially appealing to me as I thought the base looks like a flower. It no longer swivels, but I think it originally did. I picked it up in Seattle at an antique shop. I think I'll keep it in the living room, it goes really well with the rug in there.
Here's another piano stool that we use at the desk. It's a swivel, making it easy to use at the desk. The needlepoint is not vintage, it is an Elizabeth Bradley needlepoint kit, which is a copy of a Victorian design. It has the original horsehair stuffing, and is very sturdy.
The last music stool, below, came from England. It was an Ebay purchase. I really loved the needlepoint that it came with. Unfortunately it was completely threadbare and I had to redo the needlepoint. My dear friend Beverly had great fun helping me design the needlework (she had cancer at the time and the project was one she seemed to really enjoy directing).

I was pretty torn about getting rid of the old design, but my friend was so enamored with doing the animals, it was worth changing it. She was going through radiation, and would look forward to my progress every week. (I took close photo's of the old piece, threw it back on Ebay, and wound up shipping it back to England.) I'm still thinking of replacing with the needlepoint design below.

Another weakness is a stool with "animal feet". This stool has a cane top, so it definitely for books, not body parts... It's really adorable, it has goat feet! It is painted black.



This one has paw feet. I covered it in toile fabric. It belonged to Beverly, and I love having it.

The stool below I'm not too sure about. It's pretty wobbly, and I didn't like the fabric on the stool--it has a seam down the center. I replaced it with a piece of antique toile, but I'm not liking that cover either.
These little footstools below are what Rod called landmines. the calla lily stool had a lid that opens so you can store your needlework project in it. The entire top is beaded.

This one is really wonderful, the color is amazing. Kitty would like to claw it, so I had it tucked away.

The knobby feet are really cute, the wood is all burl. You can see a few of the wool pulls are courtesy kitty, (now in footstool heaven).

All of my posts are around needlepoint so far. I am definitely obsessed with antique textiles. Hopefully this will inspire you to hunt for works of art that someone spent hundreds of hours making. I'll try to move on to other subjects....I'm thinking mirrors next. Have a great weekend!