Funny how afternoon sun can spotlight a certain point in a room, drawing the eye to it.
Tag Archives: home
lamp light
I like the ambiance of a well-placed table lamp ~ with warm, textured lampshades they’re the next best thing to candlelight.
wood stove
A hearth really is the heart of a home ~ the crackling sound and pine-y scent from a wood stove is nothing short of magical.
glass cream bottles
As winter approaches I start feeling the urge to nest and generally get cozy. That means baking sweets and sipping warm creamy drinks. This time of year I love picking up a few chubby pint bottles of cream ~ there’s something so homey about them.
firewood
Autumn is about a lot of cozy things for me: baking pies, getting out the cardigans and boots… and the first fire of the season.
buffalo plates by williams-sonoma
It might be obvious by now that my usual dishes of choice ~ for eating on as well as photographing ~ are by Fiestaware. I love all the colors and how the grooves catch the light in a photo.
That said, it seemed like a nice ivory colored plate would lend itself well to food photography. Rather than going for more Fiestaware I decided to check out the Buffalo plates by Williams-Sonoma.
Here’s a quote on the history of this classic dinnerware, from their website:
These plates are an authentic bit of Americana. They were originally made by the Buffalo China Co., which was founded in New York in 1901 to produce the plates offered as premiums by a soap manufacturer. That sturdy dinnerware went on to become popular at roadside diners along the new U.S. highways and today it’s a classic. Replicating a style from the 1940s, our dinnerware is creamy white – the natural color of the clay – with a durable, clear glaze.
Such a nostalgic feeling, the great American diner ~ and the lovely creamy tone for me is preferable to bright white, while still making the food “pop” in a photo.
So far I’ve purchased the set of 4 salad plates and will post some food shots soon. I’m thinking about getting the 5-piece setting with the cup and saucer ~ the cups are so cute and chubby and the saucers will come in handy for all sorts of little things.
Adorable! Obviously the photographers over at Williams-Sonoma did a fantastic job with what you see here ~ hopefully I will do these plates justice and their creamy colored cuteness will shine through my photos as well.
trying to get the blues
All my life, if someone asked me what my favorite color is, never would I say “blue”. As a child my room was done up in pale yellow {not my choice but it was okay} and as I became an adolescent I loved red. Nowadays I have no favorite color but other than a few select shades I’ve never been a big blue fan.
Recently I was talking to a painter and she said she’s perpetually on a quest for the perfect robin’s egg blue. Since I do like certain glacier blues and other pale aquas, I was intrigued. She said mixing paints was one of her favorite pastimes and robin’s egg was particularly elusive. It contains brown, the secret ingredient to make the aqua more warm and muted.
As a photographer this really got me interested, and as a lover of home decor it got me thinking about wall colors. I’d never had a blue wall before, what about a really dusty aqua shade of robin’s egg?
Leave it to Benjamin Moore to have a few decent options: “antiguan sky”, above, looks kind of nice. Pale, soft and would look great with cream colored furniture.
Another color that has caught my eye by Benjamin is “stratton blue”, which is the color in the first photo, and below appearing on design*sponge and was said to be the favorite wall color in the house ~ I love it with the barn red:
I’m sure other companies are making some great shades of this complex color. And now that I’ve started collecting photos like these on pinterest, I might just have to make an entire board dedicated to wall colors and see what turns up.
vintage home accents
When I was younger and got into decorating, I had little knowledge of things vintage. My style had always been eclectic ~ juxtaposing different styles together ~ but a lot has changed.
Back then I chose teak wood furniture from Denmark and mixed it with Native American rugs and Georgia O’Keefe prints. Then Rachel Ashwell’s shabby chic exploded onto the scene and I was greatly influenced ~ soft, feminine with weathered wood and washed ivory linen. Being more of a minimalist than Rachel, I looked and learned and kept some ideas for future use.
My taste has since morphed into a blend of American farmhouse, English cottage and French country. One thing I love are vintage illustrations like the fairy shown above. Dating from the 1930s to ’50s ~ flowers, trees and herbs were drawn with their particular fairy. This and many other beautiful prints can be found at Collectors Prints, out of London.
I also love this antique pen drawing of a deer {complete with “real pen-work” stated in the background} available as clip art at The Graphics Fairy.
The image on my About page is part of this series ~ apparently they are from an early calligraphy book. Some of them, like the one above, are large enough to print out and frame.
She also offers wonderful vintage botanicals like this adorable pear.
Again the link contains a large image that can be printed out. Thank you Graphics Fairy! She has loads of great stuff ~ highly recommended.
Besides illustrations, another type of vintage decor I became fond of is carnival glass.
The above photo is from an Etsy shop with a large selection of depression glassware. I discovered orange carnival glass not long ago while photographing inventory for a second hand store. Here are a couple of my favorites.
Usually described as “marigold” orange, I love how the iridescence doesn’t overwhelm the softness of the peach and pink tones. Most of this type of glassware was made by Anchor Hocking, a name well known in the vintage collectible world. Here’s one that’s a bit more bold.
Not my style for drinking out of but they’d be fun accents, maybe holding teaspoons or wooden utensils.
I could really imagine these style elements working together in a kitchen ~ functional pieces in fun off-beat colors alongside old world prints of nature. Tres eclectic!
