How to incorporate a little "light & freshness" in your home when you love formal antique pieces?
So this is what the dining room space looked like before. My client (and good girlfriend) Dona really wanted a "fresh" and elegant look, and although this china display is lovely, it was not giving her the freshness she desired. So we moved that to a Study, and shopped in her house for a new piece.
In the same room, between two windows there was a lovely mahogany inlay cabinet with ormolu mounts and a green marble top. We moved it to where the china cabinet was, along with the antique brass altar candlestick lamps. I found some shades from other lamps in her house and replaced the existing ones on the candlestick lamps -- and the new drum paper shades made it look "fresh" and new. But still, the furniture was a little heavy and serious looking. She emailed me to tell me that her husband had "boxes & boxes" of coral from an old aquarium. I was at her house PRONTO. We unpacked them, and it was like we struck gold. Gorgeous, Giant coral -- big and bright. I suggested we group it together, and added "why don't we make a specimen display on your dining room cabinet?" She was a little hesitant, but then she saw one at a local antique store, Nick Brock Antiques, shown here, and she was instantly sold.
After we unpacked the coral pieces, I put them on the marble top to see how they looked. Just lovely! We both loved it. Then I figured out which ones could use risers and bases, and went on-line to my lucite sources I mentioned in a post earlier and told her which bases to order. But in the meantime, she was worried her two active boys might knock these off the cabinet. So my friend, who is genius WITH a sense of humor, put up caution tape. I think it lasted for 2 weeks until the bases came in.
But it worked! The kiddos stayed OUTTA there!
So my assistant Lisa and I came over one afternoon, set up shop on the dining room table -- armed with some Gorilla Glue and some patience -- we glued them down on the bases. All but 1 or 2 took -- and, well, that's just the way it rolls sometimes.
So here is the finished product! I think it looks spectacular. Even prettier in person too. Fresh, elegant and sophisticated. Just like the homeowner!
Another almost "next-to-nothing/cost" fix-up we did in this shared room is re-vamp some gorgeous new crystal sconces she purchased. These are the sconces below.
What bothered Dona most about these was the brightness of the gold. She has exquisite taste, and she felt like the gold was glaring. I had my painter come over and dab a little black enamel, and wipe it off right away to "antique" it a tiny bit. This is the result below:
I think it turned out marvelous! I had suggested to put antiqued mirror tiles on the back of the fireplace mantel, and we mounted the sconces on top. I love the look. If you buy the mirror tiles as opposed to a big sheet of mirror, you get the same look but it makes more sense economically (read= cheaper). And more often that not, I personally think it looks better, because it has more interest (with the added rosettes at the joints).
Here are some more great ideas for displaying coral:
ID Collection
Why not glue some sea-fan coral to an antique and make it like a "flower" arrangement? Could this example above from the ID Collection Showroom be any more gorgeous? Also, shown from the George Cameron Nash Showroom below, are some incredible barnacles and Poca coral that have been mounted on zinc risers. It doesn't have to be acrylic, you can mount it on anything that you choose: books, wooden boxes, fragments, stone, use your imagination!
George Cameron Nash
George Cameron Nash
We found that we had one extra lucite base left over from the shell collection in my client's dining room. She had this incredible quartz crystal cluster sitting already on a small table in her living room. (She found it when she was a child in the alley behind her house and has had it all these years!) I mounted it on the leftover base and it gave it an instant sculptural quality.
Although if you do have some crystal laying around, you don't have to mount it for it too look awesome. This is one I have in my home on a small table in a bathroom, just as is. Plucked from the earth and sitting on a table in my house.
