As I ironed, I discovered that I go for damask with floral patterns.
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Over the years, I purchased vintage white linen napkins and hand towels as I encountered them at antique shows. Some are monogrammed; some are not but I’ve been [...]

As I was digging through the far back corner of a local antique shop, I spotted not one, but two!
Several years ago, our oldest daughter (DD1), purchased a small vintage Lloyd Loom hamper from the Shabby Chic store in Malibu.  Her dream of working for Rachel Ashwell was fulfilled after graduation but the hope [...]

There’s a soft spot in my heart for Heath Ceramics. Their stoneware was incredibly popular in California, where I grew up, and I came to appreciate the early concept of their “wiped rims” — that expose the color of the clay — after I took pottery classes in college at UCLA during my art studies.
Apart [...]

Looking for a unique way to display your vintage finds?  Grouped together, vintage objects transition from interesting to attention-grabbing.  Whether your collections are quirky, sentimental, textural or simply color-driven, here’s a few display (and mounting) ideas that are easy to replicate.

Vintage 1940’s children’s wooden blocks [top and close-up above] are mounted on a custom steel [...]

A refinished antique ladies writing desk proves to be just the right size for displaying the homeowner’s dainty Limoges collection, giving those who round the corner an unsuspecting stop-in-your-tracks reason to study this charming array of French porcelain boxes.  Add in the re-upholstered chair in a lush fabric complimenting an exquisitely made and equally lush [...]

Last week, I met designer Jeffrey Bilhuber at a Doyle New York auction gallery exhibition where a signing for his second book, Defining Luxury, the Qualities of Life at Home (Rizzoli, $65) also was taking place.
While we were talking – more about why in a minute – he asked if I planned to bid on [...]

First moored off the coast of Nantucket in 1854 in an area known as the South Shoals, lightships (essentially floating lighthouses) were strategically placed around the rocky shores to aid passing ships in navigating around the perilous area.  Crewmen on board would raise whale-oil lanterns at night to guide these vessels.
Spending several months at sea, [...]

To my mind, having a lot of dishes in the house means I’m always ready for the holidays. And since I’m an out-of-sight-out-of-mind type, I love to have them easy to reach and on display.  I’m not much for closed cabinets, which always seem forbidding.
That makes me an old-fashioned dish-dresser person. Nothing shows off dishes [...]

Perhaps more than any other type of arrangement, picture walls are highly individual expressions of taste and style. Each time I see a photo of a wall composed of images or objects it’s like putting one more piece of a life-long décor jig-saw puzzle into place. I always learn something (even if it’s what not [...]

Decorating with a vintage bus scroll.  Photo via Country Living

Vintage graphics are one my favorite forms of art.  Advertising, postcards, labels, I’ve collected, framed and decorated with them for years.  It wasn’t until I was browsing through one of my favorite blogs that I discovered bus scrolls.

Antique dealer and fellow San Francisco Bay Area [...]

After a long summer in the country, I had a terrific GDO (girl’s day out) with a friend visiting from Chicago. After lunch, we headed to the Bergdorf-Goodman, my favorite department store on the planet and the much-publicized object of haute-fashionista obsession.
Bergs is that it’s like a walking, talking fashion magazine. Seeing what the ladies [...]

One of my early jobs after grad school landed me in the Old Master Painting department of an auction house. I had just left a marquee contemporary New York art gallery with live artists and a vibrant scene and suddenly was thrust into the world of paintings by long-dead Europeans based on historical, allegorical, classical [...]