This one is short and sweet - just cracked open the latest issue of Country Living and can't believe my eyes! Sandwiched in between the exquisite photos and articles about country furnishings and decorating, are two very notable features.
The first is on a woman whose business is built completely around repurposing. Yup.
But the second - dare I believe my eyes - is something like "country meets mid century modern"! The lines of the furniture, the mod globular lamps, the mirrored dressing table (!!! in Country Living???!!!) - it is just too chic! And look at the lines on those chairs - straight out of Kelly Wearstler's "Modern Glamour". And they are positioned next to a red painted twig table - quintessential country decor. Wow!
It all speaks to a transition that's taking place and lines that are being mixed and crossed to create a personal style that's hip, chic, sophisticated and homey.
I'm off to do an antique show this weekend, the Mid Atlantic Antiques Market at the Howard County Fairgrounds in West Friendship, Maryland. Can't wait to "get out among it" and see who's showing what. If you're out and about, come see us!
Here's to luxuriating in the bounty of Autumn -
marilyn
Friday, October 26, 2007
Saturday, October 20, 2007
the joys of repurposing
Straight off the bat, I’m going to come clean. I am an HGTV junkie. Give me a room to redecorate, a house to makeover, a choice between the urban loft and the ranch in the suburbs, a floor to tile and I’m loving life!
And I have to admit, it’s a real rush to see one of those celebrity decorators use something in a room that’s identical to something I’ve just brought into Antiques on Cannon. It happened just this week when I bought in a little Formica bistro table (paired with two turquoise [!!!] swivel chairs) and then saw its twin being used in a pricey kitchen makeover.
So when “repurposing” got “discovered” in TV land, well, I was one happy girl. Just so we’re all on the same wave length, repurposing is taking an object originally made for one purpose and extending its life by converting it to use as something new. Like using vintage furnishings, it’s the ultimate recycling.
There’s a natural division, in my mind, to repurposed things. There are the very straightforward: this used to be a machine mold. I put a piece of mirror in it and now it is my bathroom mirror. Easy. Then we have the gentleman I wrote about a few weeks ago who gathered up all the lampshade forms from a factory that was closing, and started welding them together to make table bases. Oh the creative mind!
Once you get in that mindset, it just starts to flow. I picked up a terrific old leather steamer trunk last week. With the addition of some legs it will make a great coffee table (and your friends will be so envious!). Then there’s the fantastic bar we have in the shop; look closely and you’ll see it was a sewing machine cabinet that someone lovingly re-outfitted. And now that I think about it, we have another bar – perfect for a rec room – the countertop is a salvaged ship’s hatch. Bottoms up!
A cart from a textile mill becomes a kitchen island. A stack of suitcases is transformed into an end table. Mount a ship’s wheel on a base, top it with glass, and a coffee table is revealed. A large painted oriental wooden screen is reborn as a headboard, as is a fabulous three part etched and gilded mirror.
Back in the days when I was working as a psychotherapist, I used to think my work with people was like peeling back the layers of an onion; the deeper you went, the more compelling the story. I find the same intrigue with repurposed found objects; they all have a story, you just have to get under a few layers to find it. Last week I met someone who was selling out the contents of a factory. Lots of low carts and high carts and desks make of steel grid, painted different colors. By the time I got there he only had one left in the size I wanted and it was covered in contact paper, but I was willing to chance it that I could clean it up.
As I was peeling off the layers I was thinking “Wouldn’t this be great painted high gloss black, fitted with glass shelves and decked out with chrome cocktail shakers and barware?” Yes, it would. But underneath all the layers, written on the grey paint on the top surface is “Annie’s Cart – Carding Room”. A story. A piece of American history. A person, who worked in a mill, in the carding room, who everyday sat down with her cart and did her job, carding the wool that made the clothes that our grandparents proudly wore, looking so serious, in that picture we have on our dresser. Annie’s story. The cart’s story. Our story.
So I’m holding off on the painting. I’ll leave that decision to the next person. Meanwhile, a woman named Annie who will always be unknown to us, has a place in the present here on Cannon Street.
marilyn
And I have to admit, it’s a real rush to see one of those celebrity decorators use something in a room that’s identical to something I’ve just brought into Antiques on Cannon. It happened just this week when I bought in a little Formica bistro table (paired with two turquoise [!!!] swivel chairs) and then saw its twin being used in a pricey kitchen makeover.
So when “repurposing” got “discovered” in TV land, well, I was one happy girl. Just so we’re all on the same wave length, repurposing is taking an object originally made for one purpose and extending its life by converting it to use as something new. Like using vintage furnishings, it’s the ultimate recycling.
There’s a natural division, in my mind, to repurposed things. There are the very straightforward: this used to be a machine mold. I put a piece of mirror in it and now it is my bathroom mirror. Easy. Then we have the gentleman I wrote about a few weeks ago who gathered up all the lampshade forms from a factory that was closing, and started welding them together to make table bases. Oh the creative mind!
Once you get in that mindset, it just starts to flow. I picked up a terrific old leather steamer trunk last week. With the addition of some legs it will make a great coffee table (and your friends will be so envious!). Then there’s the fantastic bar we have in the shop; look closely and you’ll see it was a sewing machine cabinet that someone lovingly re-outfitted. And now that I think about it, we have another bar – perfect for a rec room – the countertop is a salvaged ship’s hatch. Bottoms up!
A cart from a textile mill becomes a kitchen island. A stack of suitcases is transformed into an end table. Mount a ship’s wheel on a base, top it with glass, and a coffee table is revealed. A large painted oriental wooden screen is reborn as a headboard, as is a fabulous three part etched and gilded mirror.
Back in the days when I was working as a psychotherapist, I used to think my work with people was like peeling back the layers of an onion; the deeper you went, the more compelling the story. I find the same intrigue with repurposed found objects; they all have a story, you just have to get under a few layers to find it. Last week I met someone who was selling out the contents of a factory. Lots of low carts and high carts and desks make of steel grid, painted different colors. By the time I got there he only had one left in the size I wanted and it was covered in contact paper, but I was willing to chance it that I could clean it up.
As I was peeling off the layers I was thinking “Wouldn’t this be great painted high gloss black, fitted with glass shelves and decked out with chrome cocktail shakers and barware?” Yes, it would. But underneath all the layers, written on the grey paint on the top surface is “Annie’s Cart – Carding Room”. A story. A piece of American history. A person, who worked in a mill, in the carding room, who everyday sat down with her cart and did her job, carding the wool that made the clothes that our grandparents proudly wore, looking so serious, in that picture we have on our dresser. Annie’s story. The cart’s story. Our story.
So I’m holding off on the painting. I’ll leave that decision to the next person. Meanwhile, a woman named Annie who will always be unknown to us, has a place in the present here on Cannon Street.
marilyn
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Grrrrrrrr! Animal prints are hot!
Seems like everywhere we look we see animal prints – decorator magazines, designer websites, high end home furnishings catalogs and department stores. Leopard, zebra, cheetah, giraffe, alligator, snakeskin – it’s all hot!
And even better, it’s classic. Throughout the 20th century, fashion and design turned again and again to animal prints; many of us personally recall the leopard collars and cuffs of the 1960s. Weren’t we sophisticated?
Here at Antiques on Cannon we’re pretty inspired; it’s got our decorator juices flowing! In fact, it must be contagious – I no sooner started writing this blog than our great animal print finds started flying out of the shop. No matter, we’re always on the prowl. For now, we are pleased to offer vintage belts in leopard and snakeskin, faux alligator travel cases, reptile purses – even our signature zebra print hide rug (not old, but classic!).
We updated some great retro pieces, like a 1950s blonde dining room set and a rattan daybed, with a fabulous cheetah print and they were a big hit – all the way out the door! So next up we’ll recover a Lucite stool, some little benches, and see what other treasures we can find. The hunt is on again!
Let your wild-ness run free –
marilyn
And even better, it’s classic. Throughout the 20th century, fashion and design turned again and again to animal prints; many of us personally recall the leopard collars and cuffs of the 1960s. Weren’t we sophisticated?
Here at Antiques on Cannon we’re pretty inspired; it’s got our decorator juices flowing! In fact, it must be contagious – I no sooner started writing this blog than our great animal print finds started flying out of the shop. No matter, we’re always on the prowl. For now, we are pleased to offer vintage belts in leopard and snakeskin, faux alligator travel cases, reptile purses – even our signature zebra print hide rug (not old, but classic!).
We updated some great retro pieces, like a 1950s blonde dining room set and a rattan daybed, with a fabulous cheetah print and they were a big hit – all the way out the door! So next up we’ll recover a Lucite stool, some little benches, and see what other treasures we can find. The hunt is on again!
Let your wild-ness run free –
marilyn
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
What's "Emerging"?
This is an exciting week at Antiques on Cannon – it’s the debut of our new radio interview show “Emerging” on WCTR AM 1530. Now what’s an antiques shop doing on hosting a radio show, you might ask. Good question.
My interest in antiques is deeply rooted in my love of folk art; objects made by everyday people, untrained in any form of art, but whose drive for self expression and fundamental need to create compels them to make objects that are often thought-provoking, whimsical, sentimental – and always created with passion.
It is the spirit of the folk artist that intrigues me. It is true that in the days when people made their own entertainment, much time was spent whittling, sewing, making baskets, carving and so on. The folk artist took that task one step further by making functional objects and then embellishing or crafting them in such a way as to become works of art. They couldn’t just make a pitcher, for example. They had to give it eyes and ears and a snout so that it took on a character of its own. In contemporary vernacular they were proclaiming “I gotta be me!”.
I see this same spirit in today’s entrepreneurs. Here in Kent County we are fortunate to have a significant number of hugely talented young people who have struck their own path – as retailers, in the service industry, as artists, artisans and authors, as restaurateurs. They have chosen the road less traveled over what others would perceive as a safer, more secure path. Their work is their art.
And frankly, I think that’s fabulous. It is that spirit that turns the wheels of this country. And just as our antiques shop preserves the creations of folk artists of generations past so that their attempts at self expression continue to bring joy to others, so do we wish to recognize those who are doing just that today.
Emerging will air at 10:00 a.m. every Friday. Each week we’ll interview someone who has set their own course or whose passion has led to something extraordinary, and we’ll find out what makes them tick.
This Friday, as a preview of our First Friday festivities, we’ll interview Bonnie K. Connelly, artist/author of Everything’s Coming Up Sock Monkeys, and Philadelphia sock monkey collector Elaine Golak whose collection of vintage sock monkeys has taken on a life of its own, inspiring paintings, greeting cards, calendars, photographs and gallery showings.
I hope you’ll join us – on the air and at Antique on Cannon. Did I remember to say we just got in some wonderful furniture and decorative accessories?
Here’s to seeing the world from the eyes of a spirit unleashed –
marilyn
My interest in antiques is deeply rooted in my love of folk art; objects made by everyday people, untrained in any form of art, but whose drive for self expression and fundamental need to create compels them to make objects that are often thought-provoking, whimsical, sentimental – and always created with passion.
It is the spirit of the folk artist that intrigues me. It is true that in the days when people made their own entertainment, much time was spent whittling, sewing, making baskets, carving and so on. The folk artist took that task one step further by making functional objects and then embellishing or crafting them in such a way as to become works of art. They couldn’t just make a pitcher, for example. They had to give it eyes and ears and a snout so that it took on a character of its own. In contemporary vernacular they were proclaiming “I gotta be me!”.
I see this same spirit in today’s entrepreneurs. Here in Kent County we are fortunate to have a significant number of hugely talented young people who have struck their own path – as retailers, in the service industry, as artists, artisans and authors, as restaurateurs. They have chosen the road less traveled over what others would perceive as a safer, more secure path. Their work is their art.
And frankly, I think that’s fabulous. It is that spirit that turns the wheels of this country. And just as our antiques shop preserves the creations of folk artists of generations past so that their attempts at self expression continue to bring joy to others, so do we wish to recognize those who are doing just that today.
Emerging will air at 10:00 a.m. every Friday. Each week we’ll interview someone who has set their own course or whose passion has led to something extraordinary, and we’ll find out what makes them tick.
This Friday, as a preview of our First Friday festivities, we’ll interview Bonnie K. Connelly, artist/author of Everything’s Coming Up Sock Monkeys, and Philadelphia sock monkey collector Elaine Golak whose collection of vintage sock monkeys has taken on a life of its own, inspiring paintings, greeting cards, calendars, photographs and gallery showings.
I hope you’ll join us – on the air and at Antique on Cannon. Did I remember to say we just got in some wonderful furniture and decorative accessories?
Here’s to seeing the world from the eyes of a spirit unleashed –
marilyn
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)