Part of our salon/dining area - blending modern design classics with antique and vintage treasures - at our canal house in the Netherlands. Click images to enlarge. Stay tuned for more glimpses of our home, coming soon.
Details, details! Early 19th-century child's mannequin pinned with antique French and Italian prayer ornaments and milagros; Napoleon III glass-fronted cabinet de curiosités; Carl Hansen CH25 chair; Isamu Noguchi coffee table; Beni Ourain vintage Berber rug adorned with "magical" talismans; vintage Moroccan sequinned wedding blanket; custom-made sofa and hand-embroidered cushions from Jordan. Spanish wrought iron candlelabra, made into a lamp; 1940s French office cabinet; custom-made bookcase; dining table and chairs from Bali, via London and Tolix chairs (set of 6) marked VA (Villa Autun, the private residence of the French family who created Tolix chairs).
Crystal and beaded pendant lights from Italy; antique French and Dutch baskets; French pottery/water jugs from a vineyard in Bourgogne; framed Lehnert & Landrock photograph of a bookseller in Cairo and antique Spanish lithographs and azuelos from Sevilla. Mirrors from Spain and Jordan; sculpture from Sevilla: an ode to Velasquez's portraits; British cannonballs; iron rattes from a Bourgogne wine cellar; hand-turned wood pieces from Devon, England and San Francisco and French and American wooden pins.
Mirror image - French mercury glass giltwood mirror circa 1830.
Thanks, Jeanie. We didn't have the rug, coffee table, custom-made sofa or chair when you were visiting. I gave those Napoleon III chairs to a friend.
Posted by: Tara Bradford | 17 January 2013 at 13:26
I love how you rearranged the furniture. It's a combination of warmth and light and cool, clean elegance. I know it's filled with love, and really, that tops all the treasures (although you do have some mighty special treasures!) Love the table! And your rug is just perfect!
Posted by: jeanie | 17 January 2013 at 01:43
Tara, you're a gem. That's a very zen and fabulous rule, such discipline! As for travel, thank you for asking; my husband is doing a lot of travel in S America. The next big project and one in which the scuttlebutt says they want my hubby to play a major role, is Guatemala and neither of us are excited about that. Travel in a place that the US State Dept calls the "most violent in Central America"...not so much. We've had good luck so far, but one of our engineers was kidnapped and murdered 9 months later in Guatemala last year. So we shall see. Another job is in Poland, which we could definitely get into, and the third one, which I REALLY would like, is New Zealand, but thus far they aren't looking to send him there. We shall see, we shall see.
Posted by: Natalie | 14 January 2013 at 16:52
Insert Claps! Oh, I love it! You always outdo yourself in every way, and your treasures are vast and marvelous!
Loved the peek to pieces!
xoxox
Posted by: Vanessa {a fanciful twist} | 13 January 2013 at 22:01
it is a feast for the senses. i love so much about it, but i think those lamps hanging from the ceiling are my favorite. *sigh*
Posted by: julochka | 11 January 2013 at 12:11
Natalie, thank you! I change things around a lot, but my one rule is that when something comes in, something else goes out.
Posted by: Tara Bradford | 10 January 2013 at 10:43
Thank you, Marilyn! It's quite different to our Paris apartment, isn't it? Like the ones you saw in Thailand, the French pottery jugs were filled with water and kept in the vineyard fields during the day, for the workers. Originally, two of them were kept in a wooden stand, but it was lost in Paris.
Posted by: Tara Bradford | 10 January 2013 at 10:40
Tara, Everything is just beautiful! Just as I would expect you to have. The jugs under the television reminded me of some jugs we saw in Taiwan sitting in the tea fields. They were very old and just be left there. Oh how we wanted to bring one home. I just love every little detail in this room including the mannequin with ornaments.
Posted by: Marilyn | 10 January 2013 at 05:23
Oh, Tara. I am drooling. This is gorgeous! You really must come decorate my home. I have lovely things but they never quite work together. You have so many gifts! Can't wait to see more.
Posted by: Natalie | 09 January 2013 at 20:28