Gustavian is Swedish with a French influence, which began when
King Gustav III started hanging out in France with King Louis XIV.
Gustav went home and copied Louis but put the Swedish spin on things.
Hence "Gustvian" style was born.
I gravitate towards the Gustavian color palette of pale blue, white, grey
and cream and decided to paint some landscape scenes on the panels of the
small secretary desk, that would capture the essence of Gustavian style.
Pastoral scenery is so serene and pretty and I have been
doing a series of pieces with these types of landscapes,
the secretary is the latest in my "Gustavian phase".
Each drawer has raised borders and I painted landscapes inside
each one, followed by gilding the raised part.
I painted a French Maison on the drop leaf as a nod to
my Petite French Maison Dollhouse.
I used the gold color wax by Jolie Paint, and it highlighted the scenes nicely. The scenes were painted with many of the colors from Jolie Paint's serenity collection.
This is before gilding. I was torn about whether or not
to add the gilding, because this looked more like a simple
country look which was pretty too.
It came out beautifully and adds to the room.
Oh, and did you notice the lilac colored sofa with fringe?
It is a Scalamandre sofa. I lucked out at an estate sale and I love this thing!
These sofas run in the thousands, and that is out of my budget,
so thank heavens for estate sales and other people with great taste!
It looks pretty with all of my purple transfer ware,
including the lamps that I have in this room.
Off in the dining room you can see some of the other pieces in the
Gustavian series that I have created. And there will be more to come,
because that is how it goes when I get obsessed by something.
I first learned about Swedish style maven Sandra Kelly at Brimfield, last May,
when my son and I set up our own booth at the Brimfield Antique Fair.
Sandy's style was unmistakable and never did I think in just a few months
I would be visiting her home with Matthew Mead for a photo shoot.
Sandy styled her booth with a sense of beauty and order.
Sandy had some art panels done by a favorite artist, Jennifer Lanne of New York,
who also had a booth at the May Brimfield show. You will see some of these pieces
in the interview video at Sandy's home, so keep your eyes open.
I fell head over heels for the painted french chairs, and the overall atmosphere of her magical booth.
Fast forward to our visit in a few months. Her home would be just as enchanting! After the shoot, we set up our video cam and shot a Q and A with Sandy about her signature Swedish style. We hope you enjoy this interview at Sandy's beautiful country home. Her home is also featured in Matthew's current issue of Upstyled Home, the winter edition, on newsstands now. Enjoy!
I love pretty decorating. I always have~since I was a young girl I favored
this style of decor and adored my french provincial bedroom set as a young teen.
French and Swedish styles are my favorite now that I am all grown up,
and currently at auction houses these kinds of chairs will go for a song,
mostly because the decorating rave is all mid century modern right now.
Above is a wonderful french provincial tufted back chair with some elaborate
details. The fabric is old and worn but has silver threads woven in an ivory
background and faded aqua can be seen here and there. I love it!
It is not in the best shape as far as the upholstery goes, so that may need
to be addressed, but for now its a nice looking piece of French sculpture.
Another fun french provincial chair I got was this one in purple velvet!
This was the big thing I was hoping to get at the auction! Can you tell what it is? The rounded head.....its a mora clock case with a Boston clock works inside. The yellow stickers show that there were left bids, and one was a phone bidder too. So I knew there would be stiff competition for this clock. It was a miniature mora clock standing about 4 feet tall, and it had everyone oohing and ahhing all over it! There aren't too many times at auction that I am determined to get something regardless of price, and this was one of those times. You all know I have an obsession with mora clocks and that we sell mora clock reproductions at our shop, Maison Decor. I had never seen a mora clock like this one, its quite rare I believe. There was interest from a reputable Boston auction house on this piece as well as all the left bids. Would I be able to get my mora? How much would I have to pay? Would someone push me out of the bidding?
Find out by watching the actual video of me bidding on the clock!
There were a pair of Waterford crystal lamps
with their original price stickers on the bottom
priced at $455! How much would they get at auction?
This wedding cake chandelier was another item
I really wanted as this style is one I love.
I don't see good vintage chandeliers very often,
so this one was on my wish list in addition
to the clock and the fun french tufted chairs.
Well you can see I prevailed at auction!
My mini mora clock was headed to its forever home.
Upon close inspection I could tell that the original paint
had been stripped. I could see remnants of white paint
and aqua paint on the edges of the backside.
I am pretty sure I will be painting this clock,
but for now was just over the moon about having this wonderful little clock.
Mr. Maison Decor offered to get the clock running.
Mora clocks have simple mechanisms inside and
with a bit of thinking you can usually figure them out.
I will post more on this part later.
I was victorious on the wedding cake chandy too!
It was filthy rotten dirty, as my nana used to say
when looking at us kids after we played in the yard all day.
Each crystal was taken off its tiered mount
and bathed in white vinegar and hot water.
What a splendid looking chandelier!
It is going to be installed for me
by Mr. Maison Decor when we have a chance~
perhaps on our anniversary next weekend!
This was another item I brought home from auction.
I have always wanted a fainting couch and this one
is in rough shape, so it could be my initial attempt at reupholstering.
Then it might get loaded into Mr. Maison Decor's truck and
brought to a professional. But first I want to see if I can figure it out.
Maybe my friend Betsy Speert will give me a few pointers,
as she has taken classes and knows how to do
a lot of this kind of stuff!!! (heheh hi Betsy)
I rounded out my Sunday reading some of my new magazines.
What a treat~I never get much time to do this kind of
thing anymore as I am always in the shop.
Or playing catch up at the house. But I am just excited to see
Pretty Decor coming back into favor.
Check out the French and Swedish influences on this cover.
I think its fabulous!
Oh...and that Waterford crystal lamp came home with me too.
At one tenth the MSRP sticker. Now that's a good deal.
Note to Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint shoppers~ I restocked the store, after selling out of several colors, so please try again if you were unable to get the color you wanted. Shop here for Milk Paint
I thought I'd get your attention with these Swedish clocks~
I visited a Swedish antiques shop
while vacationing in New Hampshire, and I was excited
to see if there were any Mora clocks.
Look at that pretty face~under the beautiful metal hand
you can just see the name Mora~
Handpainted on a metal clock face are the numbers and the words~
the paint is all crackled up and chipping off a bit,
a testament to the passage of time.
But lets start at the beginning~this is Annika's Attic~!
Just opened this spring in Northwood, New Hampshire.
The shop is in the barn and the owners live in the rest
of the house which is attached to the barn on the left.
The first thing I saw was a lineup on the back wall~do you see them?
Like pretty soldiers, they are all lined up awaiting my inspection.
I normally think of Swedish clocks and antiques being all washed
out and pale colored. Here I found out
that the Swedes do use a lot of bolder colors like
the Scandanavian Reds and pinks and blues.
The clocks have doors on their tummys that you can open to see the pendulums.
The owner of the shop, Laurie and her husband are repairing the
clocks so they will all be in working order, so the guts of the
clocks are not seen when the door is opened.
Interesting to see the dark blue inside with a painted date of 1836.
All of the clock faces appear to have this very cool handwritten font~
I think Laurie said the faces of the clocks are made by one
family while the cases may be made by another family.
Wealthy families buy the clocks and then hire a carpenter to build the case!
Handpainted decoration in red and green~
Mora
Mora~I asked Laurie to hold the hand aside from my favorite clock~the one below.
Its pale blue paint was discovered and unearthed by Laurie and she is still restoring it.
Pretty blue baby!!
Darling country clock from Sweden
This shop has many antiques shipped over from Sweden
like this dining room table and chairs
and the Gustavian cabinet in the background.
Pretty pretty pretty!~original upholstery too~
And a darn good price!
Really old furniture like this painted chair was so neat to see.
Its a child with an angel and the little troll~I can't remember what
Laurie called him, but he is part of the Swedish folklore.
And there I am in all my vacationing glory~!
With the big hat and the camera~I loved this dresser,
even though Laurie said it wasn't Swedish. I just loved it~
Such a charming folksy paintjob in my favorite pastels.
Pretty isn't it? And priced to sell at $175~
A knockout piece was this slant top desk!
She had a few handpainted antique trunks too~
And benches with Swedish pillows~
The corner cabinet in Gustavian Grey~
Yes, this is a shop that rang my bells~be sure to
look for it on Route 4 in Northwood NH.
And tell Laurie that Amy sent you!
Laurie will be getting a website very soon~
I will link this post to it when its up and running!
