I have promiscuous decorating taste. I like a little bit of everything good. But I find that my own house is getting a bit more "Hazlitt's" every year and I think it's because I really only like to shop at Pacific Galleries, a local vintage/antique mall here in Seattle. I don't have the discipline or patience to map out a room or house all at once and then go buy it all new. Now, I don't hate that look. Show me a Brian Paquette room installed yesterday, with (nearly) all-new things and I will say: "YES. I am into that." But I think my hunter-gatherer instincts will continue to mean I come home with bamboo nested tables and old tufted mohair Edwardian chairs, and blue & white cachepots and the like.
And because of the Brians of the design world, and everyone's obsession with minimalism, brown furniture is, well, a steal. And so I kinda wish it would have a moment. I wish all the kids would trade in their air ferns and West Elm chairs and whatnot and maybe throw in some seriously old-school bits. Because it's all cheap and it can be so good and fun. I want to see all the kids in old tufted chairs, reading Jacobin and plotting campaigns for single-payer healthcare in their old-timey apartments with their fine old brown furniture. Or something like that.
And lastly, speaking of both politics and British decorating, here's a quick essay about how Karl Max kept house that should make you feel much better about your own place.
Q: Has your style become more modern or more traditional as you've gotten older?
3 comments
What lovely rooms and photos to find here today, thanks.
So far, so British here as well, and my style is getting only more confirmed with age. Probably because of ready access via blogs, IG, and books from Ben Pentreath, Susan Deliss, Ros Byam Shaw, Bible of British Taste, Robert Kime, etc. That said, I appreciate how Ben Pentreath especially has livened up the style.
Who needs an air fern when you can have a great big gorgeous Kimberly Queen fern, especially in a blue and white fishbowl planter?
I need for brown furniture to be cheap, so don't go ruining that for me. I'm still resisting tyranny on an IKEA table.
But more importantly--where is a good place to find blue and white cachepots? I'm on the hunt.
Mamacita, Williams Sonoma has a nice smallish one for about $40.
Also try: https://www.pearlriver.com/collections/vases-jars-1
A range of prices (some high, but some very reasonable).
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