Some Odd Pieces Might Find a Life in the Living Room
There’s hidden treasure in many a china closet and silver drawer where fine tableware and small collectibles languish.
Take some of them out, put them on display and add life to the living room, says New York decorator Ronald Bricke.
The most insignificant items can be visually interesting when taken out of context and displayed, he says. He even espouses using jewelry. Several strands of beads--crystal, black or coral--could be visually compelling on a coffee table.
“An inexpensive rhinestone necklace in a black lacquer box could look like a bowl of shaved ice,” Bricke says.
Among accessories with decorative potential most often overlooked are small containers such as tea canisters and food tins, jewelry boxes and folksy colored straw boxes.
Bricke recently liberated seven unmatched silver candlesticks from a client’s closet and created an attractive coffee table arrangement.
“Most people aren’t using the silver serving pieces which may have been handed down in their family,” says Bricke, who raids his clients’ cupboards for interesting accessories. “Two unmatched silver candlesticks look odd together, but when seven are grouped, they become a single visual experience.”
That many candles, when lit for a party, create a special glow. Candles also substitute for a floral arrangement, and they cast guests in a flattering light, Bricke says.
Bricke’s ability to create interest in small objects led him to cluster 250 antique thimbles on a round lamp table. The thimbles, which had been stored in a cabinet, make a glinting hobnail pattern on the tabletop when the lamp is lit. He got similar results by clustering a collection of antique glass paperweights on a triangular lamp table.
Reserving tabletops for displays is rarely a problem, Bricke says, because most lamp tables do little more than prop up the lamp. Rather, turning the tabletop into a vitrine is a good way to get more use of furniture.
But what to do with a potpourri of objects--say, boxes of many materials and sizes? For a display of unmatched items to work, they have to be a family, Bricke says. Painted boxes could be one group, straw in another. Silver and crystal boxes could be used together because they are both white and shiny.
Never group items of like size. Generally put taller things in back and shorter ones in front when arranging shelves. Working in the round, place the tallest item more or less in the center and group the others in descending heights around it. Placing items just a little off-center creates more visual interest.
“I try not to make it so obvious that the biggest is exactly in the middle,” Bricke says. “I would set it off a little to the side or move the tallest items slightly to the right or left and perhaps place the second tallest piece exactly on center. The purpose is interest for the eye. So as you arrange objects, step back and take a look to see if the display looks interesting and comfortable.”
Since people stop noticing decorative objects after a while, he recommends keeping some in reserve and rearranging the displays every few months.
“The Japanese have taught us that you can refresh an arrangement by changing just one small element, and any display will become stagnant in a few months,” he says. “This is the reason why everyone loves flowers. They last a week and then you have to change them.”
