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!

Austrian Petit Point Purses

One of my (many) vices is hand-embroidered purses.   Once you collect them, it is hard to display them.  I found with these beauties that they sometimes work well tucked into a display cabinet or bookshelf.  However, I picked up a great 50's Chippendale style wall shelf at an estate sale for $35.  It holds a bunch of purses!

It's tucked in a corner of my bathroom, not too far from my vanity.  It's a perfect spot!   Here are a few closeups:

 Would you believe the one below has over 1600 stitches per square inch! All handmade.

 I like this one below  for a figural scene.

 I wonder what castle this is?

 The one below is actually a crewel purse.  It has nice stones in the frame.

I haven't added to the collection in years.  I don't seem to have an interest in the Victorian beaded bags, but the stitchery of these has always appealed to me.

Berlin Work: Creating Needlework Using Antique Patterns

Isn't this a wonderful piece of petitpoint?  The frame is a wonderful old birds-eye maple, the glass is wavy and has seeds in it here and there.

A closeup of the stitches shows meticulous detail.  There are 360 stitches per inch.  The work is a combination of cotton and silk on a linen background.

I love the subject--3 doves on an urn, with gilt bronze handles.  Wouldn't you love the urn too!

I do needlepoint, and can't understand why people do all these modern designs when history is loaded full of beautiful designs.    I did so many projects as a teenager and gave them all away.  After I had "the empty nest", I decided that I wanted to do needlework based on historical designs. 

At the time, all I could find was Elizabeth Bradley's work.  I've done alot of her Victorian animals.  

A kit.  I modified the colors a bit.

Another kit.  It's a really great piano stool used at a desk.

A design from one of Elizabeth's books.  I made up the border from another kit.  
I had a friend with terminal cancer who picked out the design, and looked forward to my
visit every week to see my progress.  I have to work like crazy to have some "expected" progress.
I was happy to finish it before she passed away.  I don't walk by it without thinking of her!

This Elizabeth Bradley sampler was made by my daughter.
The urge to do something while sitting  goes to another generation..

This is another sampler kit I found.  You can buy it here on Ebay for under $10

By Permin of Copenhagen
Anna Thies 1859

So you can imagine my joy when I found A BOOK that describes exactly the kind of work I like to do and collect.  It is by Rafaella Serena.  She wrote 3 books in all.  The one below is "Embroideries and Patterns From 19th Century Vienna"

Cover

Back Cover

Pattern of above doves, From "Embroideries and Patterns from 19th Century Vienna"

Rafaella goes into detail about the style of the times--covering more than just needlework.  She talks about the influence of Empire and Biedemeier on needlepoint designs.  It is fascinating and worth reading.  It helped me hone my collection and what I am looking for.

   

Yes, I made the framed needlework of the doves.  I made the decision to make the roses pink, because of project #2, pictured below.  I also changed the center of the urn color,  I had trouble finding the right color to match that in the pattern.  This was about 10 years ago, and now there are all sorts of wonderful threads, silks, etc, thanks to the internet.  Lately, I've been using alot of Trio, and Silk & Ivory by Brown Paper Packages.

The linen used was special linen for samplers, about $75/yard.  It was a colored linen, and this time I didn't mess with dying it with coffee or tea to give it a more aged or stained look.  That is popular.  I am always on the hunt for period frames and glass, as I like to use them for my projects.   Sadly, I just broke a large piece of wavy glass in a frame in my move.  So a spare picture frame is always nice!

However, I'm off on other things.  I'm in the middle of two projects, and I'm scoping out the next two projects.  I think the dove picture needs a mate:

"Someday" Project #2:  This is the mate that I plan on doing next.  From "Embroideries and Patterns from 19th Century Vienna"

If you want to find out more about Rafaella Serena, she has a website here. She sells some kits and patterns.

http://www.raffaellaserena.com/

You can find her books on Amazon, Ebay or Bookfinders, sometimes at incredible deals.  

She wrote about the Nowotny Collection.  There is a store in Vienna that sells some fine needlepoint going back in time to that original collection.  They have a website.  I'll be sure and go by the shop if I'm ever in Vienna!

http://www.nowotny.at/English/Welcome.html

My family didn't have any treasures passed down through generations.  Wars and running for your lives has a way of making that not very relevant.  After collecting other families heirlooms, I think I should make the effort to share something for future generations in a thoughtful way. 

Either that, or someone will have a great $20 buy at my estate sale someday.

Do you have a favorite designer who does antique reproduction needlework designs?