October 27, 2005 By: Sue Lyn Category: Design No Comments →
My husband, Mark, has been the single biggest influence on my decorating style. In fact I don’t know if I can even call it my style as much as our style. He’s always been as much a part of any decisions about furniture or colors as I have. Before I met him I liked many things, but I don’t know if I could have said I had a real style that I gravitated towards. I always liked bright colors and simple domestic items. I collected vintage tablecloths and antique kitchen tools, but didn’t have the money for very much more. Plus, how much can one really indulge oneself when living in a series of short-term apartment leases? Serendipitously, Mark and I met and got engaged at the time Mark was moving into the first house he’d ever bought. It was a blank slate, and we worked our way through the decorating process together.
You can see one result of the merging of our tastes in the photograph of our living room above, which was taken on a sunny day. The walls are painted a strong red. Furniture is mostly black with accents of red and gold. I like to think the effect is dramatic, but also warm and comfortable. There are lots of pillows, afghans and throws to keep things cozy. Plants add a contrasting touch of green that really stands out against all that red.
For the first several years we lived in the house, the walls were an unremarkable off-white. We talked about painting the room red for years before we actually did it. Once we finally started the painting process, I was the one who nearly chickened out. We got the first coat of tinted primer up and I freaked. It looked so, well…red. When I voiced my doubts Mark just shook his head. “Luke. Luuuuuke,” he intoned in the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi. “Don’t fear the color, Luke.”
And he was right. When we finished the painting and moved our furniture back into the room, we were delighted. Whereas our pieces had floated in isolation on the white wall previously, now the warm red pulled it all together, and made it look like a collection instead of a random assortment of stuff. The black and white photography now popped off the wall, yet the contents of each frame were clearly linked to the others in the room. Our pale wooden floors looked bold instead of washed-out. In dimmer light after the sun set, the room virtually glowed in the light of our lamps. What I learned from the process was to trust our own taste. Before we painted, we thought we knew what we wanted, but were uncertain. Now we feel like we’ve proven ourselves.
I think lots of other people are in the same position we were during the years we debated whether we had the nerve to paint the room bright red. We worried about whether it would be too much. We had a lot of trepidation about breaking the rules that say “dark colors make a room look smaller.” But who makes all those decorating rules anyway? Who else should decide what’s “tasteful”? We happen to like bright colors and strong effects. And after all, we’re the ones who live here every day. Why should we decorate for anyone else’s taste? I say, go for it. Forget the rules. Paint your kitchen purple if that’s what you like. Nobody wins if you wind up living for years in a dull anonymous box instead of a home that truly reflects your own likes and dislikes.
October 06, 2005 By: Sue Lyn Category: Design, Things I Love No Comments →
For the most part, I’m not much of a collector. Outside of books and my vast assortment of kitchenware, I tend to be more of a ruthless pitcher than an accumulator. A holdover from the tough discipline of living in shared houses and studio apartments in my early years, I suppose. Despite that, I was bitten years ago by a fascination with vintage tablecloths. During the course of more than ten years’ looking, I’ve amassed what can only be called a collection of them, ranging from inexpensive cotton prints from the nineteen-fifties and -sixties to much more elegant embroidered and damask cloths in a wide range of colors and textures.
Like many collections, it wasn’t supposed to be anything of the kind. I bought vintage tablecloths at first because they were useful. In my twenties I had an old kitchen table bought at a rummage sale with a surface I wanted to cover up, and I found that flea markets and junk shops often had bright tablecloths for sale cheap. My first purchase cost twenty dollars, a printed design of bright red cherries with green leaves and stems on a white cotton ground. Somehow it made my dingy kitchen look bright and cheerful, even stylish. Such a great effect for so little money! I began to look around for others, and quickly realized that many of the cloths I found had barely been used. I’m not sure whether even decades ago women were more inclined to use placemats, or whether everyday cloths were likely to be oilcloth, both cheaper and easier to clean. Often I have the feeling I’m buying items that were secreted away with the good china and brought out only for guests and special occasions. Even linen damask cloths are easy to find and usually much cheaper than they would be new. Linen wears like iron. Provided it doesn’t have any impossible stains, the cloth I buy now may last for decades more.
The patterns and prints were what sealed my newfound fascination. Color combinations are bold, even obnoxious. Designs are fanciful and often kitschy. Many from my collection have printed leaves and fruit in colors completely unknown to nature. There are bright yellow grapes with brilliant red leaves, cabbage roses in deep blue, flower carts and trees in shades of olive and purple. While some of these are undeniably jarring to the eye, others have a sophistication that’s encouraged my own color sense to be bolder. I’m particularly fond of a design of bluish-purple wisteria with light brown leaves on a yellow background. The color combination is both unexpected and harmonious.
Unlike their previous owners, I am using my tablecloths. I’ve resigned myself to the fact that they will be spilled on and that their bright colors will eventually fade with washing and use. I don’t really mind, and maybe this is where it shows that I’m not much of a collector at heart. I think beautiful things are meant to be used, not hidden away for some future occasion that may never arrive. Each morning when I have breakfast and put my teacup down onto a blue cow or a yellow bunch of grapes, I get pleasure from the exuberance of the colors and the whimsy of the design.
During the past two years my secret passion has become somewhat harder to feed. Like with everything else in the antiques and collectibles business, eBay and the Internet have rationalized pricing so that it’s a bit harder to find those $20 damask linen tablecloths than it used to be. But treasures are still out there, if you look. If you think your own kitchen table could use some jazzing up, just take a look next time you’re in a likely thrift shop or flea market. In addition to antique shows and flea markets, be sure to check out vintage clothing shops and local antique co-ops, where the deals are sometimes even better.
I'm a writer, healthcare consultant and yoga teacher. My hobbies are cooking, gardening, blogging and books.
I'm a writer, healthcare consultant and yoga teacher. My hobbies are cooking, gardening, blogging and books.
For the most part, I’m not much of a collector. Outside of books and my vast assortment of kitchenware, I tend to be more of a ruthless pitcher than an accumulator. A holdover from the tough discipline of living in shared houses and studio apartments in my early years, I suppose. Despite that, I was bitten years ago by a fascination with vintage tablecloths. During the course of more than ten years’ looking, I’ve amassed what can only be called a collection of them, ranging from inexpensive cotton prints from the nineteen-fifties and -sixties to much more elegant embroidered and damask cloths in a wide range of colors and textures.
