In my article Chinese Art Deco Rugs I explore the impact the Deco style had on hand woven carpets made in China between 1920-1935 — specifically, the striking (and unusual) color combinations and graphic imagery that defined it. There are so many luscious designs from that era, I wanted to post a few more [...]

Ever heard of woad (rhymes with road) blue? I had no idea there was any natural blue colorant approaching indigo — the blue color I so admire in old carpets and on fine Chinese blue and white porcelain – until I read about woad in The Statement, a newsletter published by Wilsonart laminate.

Woad (isatis tictoria) [...]

Mixing cabinet and island colors is a popular way to bring variety into a kitchen. Dark brown on the island with white stone on top, plus teal perimeter cabinets covered by black counters (inset with a white farm sink) has a nice country feeling (which means it’s warm) while the crisp white woodwork and horizontal [...]

Once I met an antique dealer who specialized in chairs. Just chairs. For me, it would be tables, perhaps a hangover from my days as a restaurant critic. Leave me alone with furniture and I’ll inevitably find a table I like. Recently, tables with metal bases have been calling to me.
One of my favorite [...]

Here are more photos of what we saw at Brimfield.
More Brimfield Antiques

It’s 7 a.m. and we are already three hours late arriving at the first of three yearly Antiques & Collectibles expos that converts a mile-long stretch of Route 20 West into a open-air bazaar that envelops this rural New England, Mass. town. Throughout this week more than 4000 dealers in vans, campers and wagons stuffed [...]

Blue and white Chinese porcelain is abundant and popular. Its importance spanned several centuries. Dealer Ita J. Howe specializes in K’ang Hsi blue and white, made from about 1680 to 1722, which takes its name from the emperor. As she explains at the NY Ceramics Fair, the quality of the pigment and detail is what [...]

Take a peek at a fashion-forward bath from the Alternative Plans, the English arm of the Italian manufacturer Boffi. Essentially, it’s a bathroom deconstructed: fixtures float. Water connections come through the floor and a mirror (look carefully) is suspended above each solid pedestal sink. Storage is low, along the left wall with cubbies for towels [...]

What draws me back to online auction catalogs is the chance of discovering something new. Early in October, I came upon a highly decorative and amusing George Jones orange majolica punch bowl with a recumbent figure of Punch — the puppet character from Punch and Judy fame — in a sale in Philadelphia.
An example [...]

I became intrigued with an antique tile stove I noticed in an auction. Another one turned up three months later.  Then, recently, I received an email from Bruce M with the story of his green Belgian tile stove! Bruce had recently listed his stove on Craig’s List, which may be one we also had discovered, [...]

View of the back facade of Olana, the Eastern-style mansion constructed by artist Frederic Edwin Church from 1872 to 1891 on a hilltop overlooking the Hudson River, near Hudson New York. Church was a leading painter of the Hudson River School, the first art movement devoted American landscape paintings. Church and his wife Isabel were [...]

There’s an explosion of colors at these Moroccan rug markets. Carpet colors vary from intense, saturated bright reds and oranges to more subdued shades of gray and brown. Morocco’s trademark flat woven rugs are constructed on colored warp strings, creating colorful fringe. Be forewarned though, as Moroccan dyes are very unstable and rugs will [...]