My Designs: French Design - Before and After

This beautiful living room is located in a client's house that has undergone a total design transformation. Originally I was called to this house to finish up details my client's previous designer had left undone. She and her husband had recently "downsized" to this townhome and tried to use all their furnishings from their previous, much larger, home. They wanted an area rug - that was their first request. At that time, this room was gray and contained a large, gray velvet sectional - I kid you not!! As I listened to the wife and husband bicker back and forth, I realized the wife was toying with the thought of changing directions from soft contemporary to French design with an emphasis on antiques. She knew that in order to realize her dream, all the previous designer's work would have to be changed and everything else would have to be replaced, all at a considerable expense. To her it seemed an insurmountable task.



At the second meeting I was honest how I felt about their current decor. This honesty gave the wife the courage to change it. She convinced her husband to let me redo the house once again. We spent the next two years hand selecting every antique, fabric, wall color, accessory, and vibe necessary to achieve the total French design that she truly wanted.




Today, the room is a mellow yellow, with French gray trim. The curtains are a flowing pinstripe silk. The upholstery fabrics are linens and silks. The furniture is antique. It's been a long strange trip, but wow - it was worth it!

Blue and White and Transferware

I collect transferware in many different colors: blue and white, brown, lilac, black, and red. For reasons that I can't explain, it just attracts me like the proverbial moth to a flame. I'm also partial to toiles, so I suspect it's something in the patterns that appeals to me. I started out with blue and white, then moved on to black and white, red and white, and on and on. I love to see all different colors of transferware mixed together on a breakfront, but for some reasons I don't personally display my collection like that. I keep my colors separate.

I never buy new transferware, such as the blue and white reissues from Spode. I only buy antiques. When I started collecting about 15 years ago, you could buy a plate for around $50. Today, that same plate is over $100. Once in Austin at Whit Hanks, an antique mall, a dealer was selling a set of brown and white plates for an insanely cheap price. I purchased it and now it hangs on the wall around a vaisellier that holds blue and white transferware.

I like to collect different pieces besides plates: vegetable dishes, pitchers, meat platters and others. Once in a hurry I put a valuable and gorgeous fruit compote dish in the dishwasher - it disintegrated. I was so furious at myself! To date, my most valuable plate is a yellow and brown color. There's only one though, their price is too high.





Besides transferware I also collect blue and white oriental exportware. I'm no snob about this collection, though. If a new piece is somewhat muted in tone, I'll buy it even if it was produced yesterday. The top picture shows my collection of mulberry transferware on a antique French wine tasting table in my entryhall. I've mixed in some blue and white and a gorgeous lilac hydrangea. You can also see an amethyst crystal next to the transferware. A large selection of design books are stacked all around the table: on chairs, the floor, and in an antique French basket. Dividing the table is a large, old, wooden birdcage. Recently, with the help of Ebay, I've amassed a new collection of Masonware which I'll save for another post. The more the merrier I like to tell myself.