Decorating with Antique Delft Tiles and Florentine Pumpkins

Delft tiles have been catching my eye when I have been antiquing this summer.  

They never did before, but this is why.

After receiving this pair of blue and white club chairs from my parents,

with our lake house build looming I thought they would be a good fit for that home.  

And because they are this bright cornflower blue

it has steered my decorating path in that direction as well.  

Our current home has become the test ground for the lake house!

Delft tiles are still made in Holland but I have been collecting some of the older tiles I find in  

antique shops.  As a child my parents took us to Amsterdam and we boarded

 a tour bus to visit a factory in Rotterdam.  This factory and others existed from the 17th century!

My parents bought a few souvenirs from the visit, which I have now and they are over 50 years old. 

The little clog is one of their souvenirs, while the Heineken mug

 and the pitcher are two of my finds while antiquing. 

 I love finding the older pieces and tiles are at the top of my list. 

It is fun to be collecting again, with a new perspective on blue and white.

This is a pretty castle scene, much like Cinderella's home!  

You can see the age of the tile, literally, on the back of the signed tile.

The little holes at the top are for wall hanging.

Delft Pottery, also known as Delft Blue, is a general term now used for Dutch tin-glazed 

earthenware. The city of Delft was the major production center, but it can be made elsewhere,

included England.  In the 17th and 18th century, Delft was in it's heyday, exporting all over Europe.

It is amazing to me to find so many pieces in the antique shops in America, but I see it as a 

result of the popularity of blue and white porcelain that many favor today in home decorating.

On another note, I did a crafting project yesterday.  I was inspired by some fancy pumpkins

a friend of mine posted on her blog, Edith and Evelyn.  It involved making clay molds of 

medallions and painting them. I added some gilded Dresden paper trim to mine as well as

did one with decoupage calling to mind a Cinderella castle with an internet image I printed.

It was a fun and fairly easy project and gave me some 

Florentine style pumpkins that go with my decor.

I am not an orange person, and avoid all the spooky stuff that goes

with Halloween decorating.  These are pretty, and that works for me!

Check out Cindy's blog to see the basics on how 

to do the molds and where to buy the products.

Edith and Evelyn's Fancy DIY pumpkins tutorial 

Happy Decorating!!

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Blue Fairy Tale Table

Once upon a time, I had a little French shop called Maison Decor. It was in a town outside of Boston and inside of it were treasures to be found.  One of the most special treasures was a hand painted set of furniture that was more than a hundred years old. I was told it was from the late 17th century and was either French or Italian, by the auction house expert. The set comprised a daybed, a chest of drawers, a chair and a tea table. It was painted in the prettiest of all blues, by an accomplished artist who rendered scenes in cameos and decorated every inch with special care.

There were sea faring scenes of fancy wigged men and lovely ladies in formal gowns.  Roses and flourishes adorned the bed, and the furniture seemed to tell a story.  But what it was remains to be interpreted by anyone's imagination.  I was so enchanted by the set, I quickly decided to keep the tea table for myself.  The dresser, was kept by my designer friend, Betsy Speert, who purchased this set at auction, with the intention of keeping just the dresser, and I would sell the rest of the lot in my little shop.  In the end, the entire ensemble was parceled out~ the dresser to Betsy, the table to me, the day bed for a woman who wanted it for her home office, and the chair to a man from Boston who was searching for just that kind of antique chair.  Kind of sad in a way, isn't it?  I adored that set.  And it was really one of the first blue pieces I ever owned, and perhaps was the turning point when I began my love affair with blue.

So the pretty tea table came home with me, and became the 

focal point of our living room.

Its fun to think of where it might have stood all those other years before.

It's gotten hundreds of compliments and I never tired of it.  In retrospect, I wish

I kept the rest of the set....but I didn't. In the meantime, after adding a set of

French doors in the dining room, I had to find a spot for the huge chippy chest we

had, along the window that was now a door.

And there was really only one place for it...

The trunk/chest would go smack dab in the middle of the living room.

And as you can see, I have added more blue to my home with the 

newly painted walls in a Woodlawn Blue by Ben Moore. 

But where did that leave my Fairy Tale tea table?

Many have asked in hopes that I still own the table. 

Do not fear, as I will never let her go.

It is no longer in a spot where it catches the eye of my camera very often.

She sits in the corner of the living room now. 

Not the best spot for her, but for now it works. 

 Each morning when I have my coffee in the morning on the sofa I look across and admire her.

And Mr. Maison Decor sits in the green chair and has his coffee next to her. It is our routine,

and routines and things have a way of making moments or spaces especially "ours", 

as I am sure you all do as well. 

And sometimes I think of what special girl or woman this set was made for.  

Did she live by the oceanside in France or Italy?  

Was she a fancy girl or one not so fancy, but her parents wanted her to feel 

as special as Marie Antoinette may have...

Whoever she was, I am sure she loved it as much as I do.

I'm linking up today with a few talented designer friends dedicated to the color blue! 
Please visit each of them linked below for a dose of inspiration!

 French Country Cottage

Housepitality Designs

 Maison Decor

Savvy Southern Style

Shabbyfufu

Stone Gable

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