The last post was about my friend Beverly's collection. She passed away, and sadly all her wonderful collection was sold and dispersed to other collectors. I thought it would be interesting to show how many different collections she had, and in part, how she displayed them. My photographs were taken during her estate sale, so they are not the best, and don't always show how a room was decorated, but it is still interesting as it was not completely dismantled for the sales.
Previously covered were the entryway, living and dining rooms. I'll go down the hallway to the left of the entryway which leads to two sitting rooms and her bedroom.
Sitting Room #1
This room held a french sofa, a couple of chests, a center table, and a screen. The two sitting rooms were "blue rooms".
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| Sitting room #1 had a wonderful carved french sofa, and a collection of blue transferware. |
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| I never understood the wallpaper in the background. She covered it up with this blue screen. |
The needlepoint on the demilune table caught my eye. It's quite lovely.
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| Wonderful piece of needlework. I don't think I've ever seen a nicer patriotic needlepoint. |
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| English game table was used as a center table. I love the piece of old toile underneath the table. |
Some of the items on the center table were loners in her collection. I don't think I saw another piece of wedgwood-- see the lovely cheese dome.
This room held a few interesting mirrors, and my favorite chest. You can see papier mache trays tucked here and there also.
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| William & Mary chest with bun feet |
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| Intriguing mirror. I love the bellflower drops on the sides. |
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| Venetian chair had its original upholstery. Bev used tacks to cover the tattered upholstery. |
I thought it was interesting that Bev didn't recover her venetian chair. She used glass tacks to "recover" it, while leaving the original intact.
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| Beautiful french sofa had an ornate wood carved frame |
Most of the blue and white transfeware was displayed in this room. Some of the pieces are featured below.
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| Davenport Transferware |
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| Blue transferware with wonderful hunt scene border |
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| Blue transferware with a pastoral scene. Who can resist anything with cows on it! |
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| blue transferware with deer. I love the prancing deer! |
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| Transferware and a jasperware cachepot with horses on it. |
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| You see some of her Bennington (Rockingham) brown pottery mixed in with the blue and white. |
Sitting Room #2
This room was right next to her bedroom, and was entered through the previous sitting room. She had a courtyard in the center of her house, and the two sitting rooms along with her bedroom flanked it. This was the second blue sitting room. It had more of an american flavor to me with the bird fabric, where the previous room felt more english (and french) to me.
Across from the door that you entered, you had the view of this wonderful cabinet. I'm not sure of the history, it had so many little drawers in it that I thought it might be some kind of a cabinet made for a shop.
To the left of the cabinet, you can see a display shelf holding blue and white export china. The doorway you see goes to her bedroom, a tiny room built off the original bedroom. I think she did this when she was caring for her invalid husband.
The photo below shows the cabinet loaded with more blue and white export china.
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| Lovely quilt complements the blue and white export china. |
Beverly collected portraits. I love this picture of a chubby chinned royal. I'd like to have her visit my house. There is a papier mache tilt-top table set up for viewing. Lovely! In the photograph above, there is a mirror resting against the cabinet. It is wonderful!
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| Fabulous 18th century antique mirror |
To the right of the table is an old cheval mirror with a paw-foot stool in front of it.
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| Cheval mirror with attached candleholders. |
The placement of the mirror was nice. It was to the left of a sliding door, opposite from the entry door into the room. While it was a small room, it felt more expansive. A good note here is that you don't have to decorate a bedroom as such, you can use it any way you want.
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| Paw-foot stool |
Sorry about the blurry pictures. I thought you'd still enjoy seeing all the wonderful things.
To the right of the door, you see this vignette.
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| Blue and white room with collections of chinese export porcelain and staffordshire dogs. |
At one point, there were so many dogs underneath the table, you had to giggle. They were darling. Only a few remain here. I love the bird cage on the table to your right. That chair was comfortable to sit in and read. I think the drawers on the table are from a desk.
Bedroom
This was a tiny little room, almost felt like a sleeping porch. There was a single bed here. Missing is a beautiful embroidered wall hanging. Wish you could have seen it. I only show you this because it is possible to take a narrow room and make it cute. The embroidered tapestry had dominated this part of the room.
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| Quilt collection on the bed --along with a toile throw I made for her. |
I really like her blue and white quilt collection. The one in the previous room, circle around a star, is my favorite.
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| Love the star in the center of a circle quilt. I don't know what it is called, but I like it! |
Looking past the foot of the bed, you had this lovely view. You could see her courtyard beyond. Hanging in the window are wooden cherubs. The wall cabinet houses santos figurines and retablo religous paintings.
Now, this always struck me as odd, as Beverly would tell you she wasn't religious. Maybe she just liked the artwork. In front of the window is a papier mache sewing cabinet, with a Baccarat bottle set on top. I love the sewing table, adds a black item to the room. That's something that helps give a room depth.
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| Santos, retablos, cherubs, candles, baccarat, and sewing table in the bedroom. |
Close-ups of some of the collection items:
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| Darling mirror with 3 Baccarat dresser bottles |
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| Papier Mache Sewing Table is to the right of the Venetian Chair |
There were many retablo items. Beverly said she got alot of them in Mexico early in her marriage. Retablo refers to a latin america devotional painting on board. It is often on tin. They are themed catholic art, most likely.
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| retablo Mother Mary & Baby Jesus |
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| retablo from mexico |
There are a few santos sprinkled in too.
Grouped together, it made a lovely display. I don't have any photos of the cherubs, but they looked great in front of the window of her bedroom.
I will continue with some more specific collections in a future post. I hope you enjoyed this post. I wish my friend were still here, consider this a tribute to her, as her collection meant everything to her. She was very depressed one weekend posted cancer-surgery. She was supposed to be in bed. I called her up, and took her out on a Sunday to an estate sale. She had so much fun and was so excited because she purchased a period table for $45 that everyone else missed. I am so happy that I stopped by that day.
