DESIGNER-INSPIRED YEA OR NAY?

 I haven't decided how I feel about "designer-inspired" fashion and decor.  I tend to shy away from inspired bags, can be talked into inspired jewelry, and recently I caved and purchased some "Chanel" and "Hermes" designer-inspired cutting boards of all things.  I found a seller on Instagram (@plateandplaid) who sells a mix of vintage and new home decor.  I love pretty much everything on her site.  She has weekly sales on Instagram and also sells from her website.  When I saw these cutting boards, I couldn't wait to purchase them.  There were several styles.  You know I'm not the kind of person who just has one of anything, so I purchased three. 

Can you find the one in my kitchen.  Hint: Chanel.

"CHANEL" CUTTING BOARD

I like it tucked under my hydrangeas.

TUCKED UNDER THE HYDRANGEAS

The second one I purchased was "Hermes".  I placed this one on my kitchen island.  The cutting boards have the art painted onto the underside of the glass so the image is protected.  I use this as a large coaster, a place for serving cheese, or just a pretty on the island.  I also purchased the tortoise shell coasters from the same site.  The container is the bottom half of a demijohn wine bottle.  The copper rim was added.

HERMES CUTTING BOARD

Yes, I bought a second Hermes.  I like the orange in this one better.  It fits well in my family room where I have green and orange.  For now I just plopped it on the mantel next to my large seed pod.  I'm not sure if it will stay there or go onto the bookshelf.   It matches my stack of Hermes scarf boxes perfectly.

HERMES CUTTING BOARD IN MY FAMILY ROOM

SEED POD AND CUTTING BOARD

Did I get carried away?  Maybe.  But it felt so good to go shopping even if it was online.  Covid has really taken away one of my guilty pleasures.  How about you?

FYI, there was a Tiffany blue cutting board too.   I didn't buy it.  This wasn't related to any kind of restraint.  I didn't know where I'd put something that was that color.

How do you feel about designer-inspired?  

LAMP SHADES WITH FRINGE

I've always been drawn to fringe.  I've added it to pillows, to the edges of draperies, around chair seats, and even to my shower curtain. 

I love fringe best though when it's around the base of lamp shades.  I will admit that initially I added the fringe because my favorite shade was ever so slightly too short for the vintage lamp.  I hand-stitched this fringe to this fabulous shade so it would work for this equally fabulous lamp in my foyer.   I know I could have changed the harp, but what's the fun in that?

MY LAMP WITH ITS FRINGED SHADE

I have a floor lamp in my family room.  This velvet shade came with its fringe.  I don't know if I bought it for the fringe or the green velvet, but it's perfect in this corner.  It's the perfect green too.  It looks good lighted.

GREEN VELVET FRINGED SHADE

A CLOSER LOOK WITH THE LIGHT ON

It's just as pretty during the day.

LIGHT OFF

I gave you a sneak peek of the lamp on my desk before.  It's also vintage.  I purchased this shade  because it had fringe.  FYI, my sweet husband always re-wires my vintage lamps.

MY DESK LAMP WITH ITS FRINGED SHADE

I admit that I'm addicted to jewelry too.  I thought that the charm on this 1970's bracelet mimicked a fringed lamp shade. What else could I do but dangle it on the lamp.

 VINTAGE BRACELET WITH A LAMP SHADE CHARM

Do you like fringe?

LE BILLET DOUX

I just had to share this.  I've realized that the title of this vintage framed print, Le Billet Doux, means Love letter.  Happy Valentine's Day to everyone.  Enjoy your chocolate.

LE BILLET DOUX

SNEAK PEEKS AROUND THE HOUSE

I'm often accused of having too much stuff.  My response is always guilty as charged.  Sometimes I'm inspired to take advantage of my collected objects.  I just walk around the house and snap sneak peeks of my treasures.  Hope you like my spur of-the-moment post. 

I have no explanation for having a fencing foil on top of my bookcase.  

FENCING FOIL

This is a sneak peek of some shells in a shell.

SHELLS IN A SHELL

I always love my Santos.  This one is on the mantel in my sun room.  You can see some of the room reflected in the Greek Key mirror.

SANTOS ON MY MANTEL

My family has switched to cloth napkins.  We love using these bee napkin rings with them.

BEE NAPKIN RINGS

Sometimes  my husband adds some of his stuff to my decor.  This is the top of a bookshelf with one of his vintage car trophies used as a bookend.

VINTAGE CAR TROPHY BOOKEND

I thought that my leopard flatware was too pretty to hide in a drawer.  I jammed it into a large vintage apothecary jar, then layered it in front of a stenciled bread board in my kitchen. 

LEOPARD FLATWARE

My new file box is a magazine container.  It's the perfect size for my folders.

MAGAZINE CONTAINER AS FILE HOLDER ON MY DESK

This art is waiting for a spot.  It's been lounging on the chaise for a while.  I may just leave it there.

ART WAITING FOR A PERMANENT HOME

I have many vintage wooden bowls.  This one is chestnut.  The copper repair makes me like it even more.  Where else would I put some lemons and a vintage oil?

LEMONS IN A LARGE VINTAGE BOWL

This is one corner of the shelf in my dining room.

A CORNER IN A CORNER CUPBOARD

Do you have "collections"  you love in your home?

HOW I ADDED OLD WORLD STYLE TO A VINTAGE CUPBOARD

My grey cupboard has always been a part of my kitchen.  When we renovated the kitchen I thought about selling it, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  There really wasn't a good spot for it in another room.  For now it's in our family room until I come up with another solution.  Here's what it looked like in the kitchen before we renovated.

I wanted to change it up a bit.  My inspiration was this bookshelf designed by Tara Shaw.  I like the look of wonderful books packed in to a space and going in all directions.   If you don't follow Tara, you should.  She's one of my favorite designers.  Here's the link to her Instagram account: 

@tarashawdesign.

TARA SHAW DESIGN

You can see that I did pack in the books and have them going every which way like the inspiration.  Once I got started though, my old world bookshelves took a different route.  I wanted to mix objects and art in with the books and show the pages as well as the spines and covers.  

 

Do you find the wavy rippled edges of old books just as interesting as the spines?  I do.  Many of the books were multiples so I was able to show them from every angle ----the marbleized covers, the spines, and of course the irregular pages.  Don't miss the sphere I used as a bookend.  It's a heavy ball covered in nails.  I purchased it from a friend who found it in Paris.  I have three and they're  definitely favorites.

WAVY EDGE PAGES AND FRENCH NAIL SPHERE

Even better are the books with marbleized pages.  I just had to display the pages instead of the spines.  I tucked a wooden bowl in to the corner.  It's filled with strands of glass beads that pick up the colors in the books.

BOOKS WITH MARBLEIZED PAGES

I also frequently add architectural pieces when I'm styling bookshelves. 

 These plaster corbels are perfect bookends.  

PLASTER CORBEL BOOKENDS

I couldn't forget to add some art.  I've had this vintage oil for many years.  I think I shared this before, but I found it at an auction hidden in the bottom of a box lot.  

VINTAGE OIL IN THE STYLING MIX

There's more art in another corner.  I placed these mini french scenes on to bamboo easels and mixed them in with some books with paper labels.

MINI FRENCH ART ON BAMBOO EASELS

What can be better than bird art on a nest easel?

BIRD ART ON NEST EASEL

These natural wood turned candleholders blended perfectly with all the other warm browns on the shelves.

CANDLEHOLDERS IN WARM TONES

To add a little color, I repeated the glass bead garland.

CANDLEHOLDER WITH GLASS BEAD GARLAND

The large architectural fragment on the leather book repeats the corbel bookends.

ARCHITECTURAL FRAGMENT ON A SHABBY LEATHER BOOK

How do you style your bookshelves?  Just books? A mix?  Do you have a theme?

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