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Bright Star, Butterfly Collections, Ebay Finds, Flea Market, scientific curiosities, small antiques
Occasionally I like to show you bits of my own home so that you can
make sense of why I’m going on about a color, or a collection, or a favorite
flea find. My home is the genesis of most of my perspective…it’s inevitably
personal. So this is the room into which a little gray must fall. The cabinet
shelves have come down, books and favorite objects are stacked about the
room awaiting their new homes. Zinc items cluster on a marble topped
Louis XV style French chest, happy to welcome more gray into the room…
A botanical grouping from Anthropologie…
I added a bit of paint to enliven those on the right…
The flower on the far left strains to catch a
bit of the waning light…
My scientific curiosities…the glass orb contains a filament that spins commensurate
with the amount of light that hits it, a jeweler’s magnifying loop on wheels. In the tiered
glass case an English c. 1810 pocket watch, engraved and hand pierced pocket watch
“verge fusee” balance bridges from late 1600’s through early 1800’s, on top of the glass
case: La Parisienne, an antique Junelle-Eclair here. Folds up in various positions to be
alternately antique binoculars, theater glasses, compass, magnifying lenses, etc…
More info and photos in my Provenance post here
A roll of feathers on a stand, magnifying lens,
a remake of an old French lantern…
I’ve been collecting butterfly’s since my kids were young…
the top one has a Victorian look to it…
More at Deyrolle here
I will probably place the five larger sets in the cabinets, possibly painting the frames black.
To Fanny Brawn here
The gorgeous cinematography of Bright Star is now out on video
This curious object is the marriage of a hanging orchid
display (pot would insert at the bottom of the wire orb)
which includes a magnifying lens and balancing ball…
and the upside down pedestal of a long gone garden fountain.
Serendipitous…I like it for its sculptural quality and
occasionally add an orchid…
The baby grand piano…our first piece of furniture for the living room…
holds a collection of Nathanial Hawthorne’s works, Byron’s
complete works, and lovely but unreadable Scandinavian books from
Big Daddy’s Antiques (at the flea market)…
My favorite Ebay win…
A 19th century Louis XV Canopy chair which I still
love being covered in its original and tattered jute underlay….
Duplicate cabinets flank a window seat, and have been
sanded, primed, and had their first coat of “Pavement”
paint…
One of a set of chairs on either side of the fireplace…
needs to be reupholstered…
love the lamp shape on the floor lamp…
bought the stone balls a decade ago
from a stone yard in Napa…
My antique French grape pickers tin “hod” or harvest basket
with attached straps and last season’s lavender…
cast stone fireplace, my 18th century settee that keeps migrating
through the house in search of a perfect spot…
The c. 1939 open beam ceiling swoops from over 9 feet at the
mantle to reach the second floor landing…
Bought the chandelier from the flea market and had it wired. Similar chandelier
at Big Daddy’s Antiques here. Love that mirror above the French desk…
bought it for $100 when I was first married and stripped and bleached it…
Ubiquitous Pottery Barn couch that withstands the cat’s claws every
morning. Really doesn’t bother me. I like a couch I don’t have to worry
about. Might redye the slip cover. More posts with photos of my home here
*
It’s exciting, messy, and disruptive to pull everything
out of the cabinets, exhausting since I’m doing the work myself…
But exhilarating to be able to put my favorite finds over the last
twenty years in new places with a new look…
to be continued!
*
Check comments below for sources for butterfly collections
Glorious! Absolutely glorious! Sea Witch
once again, wonderful. love how you have paired the anthro botanical pieces with your aged pieces. your ‘scientific curiosities’ are so cool. you have such treasures. looking forward to your ‘continued.’
My favorite post are of your home. Great treasures. I love the butterflies.
Lee
Perfectly you. I knew it! So glad you are spreading your wings and your years of collecting are coming home to roost.
I just adore your scientific curiosities and the manner in which you’re displaying and grouping them.
Just recently, I blogged about Cabinets of Curiosities …
http://tristanrobin.blogspot.com/2010/02/curiouser-and-curiouser.html
and would like to do an update with a few of your photos and link back to this posting.
Is that acceptable with you?
Thanks.
♥´¨)
¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*´¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•´♥ Tristan ♥
Mais oui, Tristan!
Everything is absolutely dreamy….. My favorite has to be the french canopy chair!! Love everything!
Isabel
Trish,
I could come to live in your house immediately! I love all of your furniture, decoration pieces,…!!!
So beautiful all together! You have a wonderful taste (I know, I said it earlier!)! And I adore your collection of butterflies, your French wing back chair,… You know I am going to look for a second time, and after that for a third time, and after…….
Woouuwww! Thank you so much for sharing us your beautiful house decorations!
xx
Greet
Wow! just love the warmth of your home. Especially love the canopy chair in its pure state. Also really love the butterfly collection. You have quite an eye. Chris
You are so fortunate to live in this beautiful home and your home is fortunate to have someone with your extraordinary taste to style it so attractively! Love all that you have shown…and I agree with one of your other commenters… my favorite posts are those of your home and your collections! Looking forward to your progress….perfect grays….
absolutely lovely
I love your house. I will feel so good if I would live there.
I love butterflies and I have a collection that I sell in my shop but there are too dificult to send so I didn’t put them to my online shop. ou have such good eyes to find the best piece, the Louis XV canopy is fantastic
I’m allways gasping when I read your blog..but this post was making me look like a fish strugglig to survive- gasp after gasp! I have just resently started to collect butterflies and they ar so hard to find- you have a beautifull collection! that canopy chair-wow! oh everything-wow! looking forward to seeing the continuation of the post. Colx
Trish, with your ‘cabinet of curiosities’, I suspect you were interested in nature even as a child. Oh, the wonders to be found when turning over a stone or peering into a flower! And the old leather on the chair, slowly shedding its skin to make way for the new.
Spring, a time – as you say – of metamorphosis. And we respond in kind. Up come the heavy rugs. Down come the winter curtains. We wash the windows, open them to the passing breeze and deeply inhale. We refresh and renew ourselves as we refresh and renew our homes. A ritual as old as time…
Trish- I was perusing ebay (an addiction) and I came across an item you might like which looks like a steal….it reminded me of your china…its Herend but resembles your Limoges. I hope this link works:
http://cgi.ebay.com/HEREND-Rothschild-Bird-MINI-TUREEN-Green-Handles-No-Lid_W0QQitemZ370344457623QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item563a3ff597
If not, search “herend rothschild tureen”…..auction ends March 11. thanks for your beautiful blog!! always exquisite!
-Marybeth
Hi Marybeth…sweet of you to think of me. Merci. I do have a bit of Rothschild Bird. Probably just the right amount! The price might stay low because of the missing lid. Any readers interested?
Fabulous, fabulous post as per normal. Trish I love the grape harvest basket and I also am a lover of butterfly collections and it is thanks to your beautiful post that I have just sold the antique collection of butterflies that I had in my online shop to the lovely Colette so merci a toi.
Bon weekend,
Leeann x
Thanks for telling me, Leeann! I’ve also seen (non antique) sets at the Antiques by the Bay flea market here (those of us who live in or visit the SF bay area). Also for locals, I bought most of mine at a fantastic toy store in San Anselmo, California called “Susan’s Store Room” here. In San Francisco there’s Paxton Gate here
Hi Trish!
I wanted to comment on your last post which I loved…….But we got busy at the shop and I forgot. I have been remiss. I love the glimpses into your home….The harvest basket with the lavender is wonderfully placed on that wall. I also love the little rolling magnifying glass and the butterflies!!!!!Yes you do have a Petit Cabinet of curiosities of your own!!!!!!!! I just ordered some for the shop in white, not real of course…Coincidence????
Maryanne xo
have I ever told you that I love you? seriously – this may be just the prettiest blog post I have ever had the pleasure of reading and watching. ordering the movie now from amazon.
So very beautiful. Everything… I’m always stunned.
Have I asked you about the Anthropologie flowers before? Are they a recent purchase?
And the zinc pieces in the first picture (finials?), especially the one with the bird — are they old?
Have been searching for quite some time, but don’t know where to look. Any ideas?
Thank you for the glimpse into your gorgeous home and amazing collections.
Thank you for the sweet comment — there is a designer label to look for — jacques’ Fath his works are in the MOMA or the Metropolitan Museum of Art — and he was the designer for all the clothes in “The Red Shoes” His label is often overlooked — for other more popular labels – so they are affordable — but probably not for long with the Red Shoes released.
He also designed beautiful cloths for the average woman in mind — classic designs you could wear forever
I hope you come across some interesting pieces — would love to buy a few well chosen ones from your 1st dibs– it is hard to find them here in the North West —
Joanny
gorgeous! And that canopy chair – what a find!
Your blog is so lovely and this post took my breath away! I must ask, where did you find the beautiful butterfly in the Victorian setting?
This piece speaks to my heart.
Thank you!
Nancy
Oh Trish!!!!!!!!!! I’ve just spent the most heavenly lunch break looking at your DIVINE home!!!!! The pieces you have chosen and colour schemes are beyond delicious, I adore you taste and I am in complete awe of the loveliness you have created. Hugs from an old farmhouse in England – Glenda xxxxx