Picking for Decorating: My Current DIY/Repurpose Must-Have

I have come to realize that I have dedicated most of my previous posts to the unfortunate aspects of the antique/vintage trade.  While I know many customers are incredulous upon hearing these tales and enjoy hearing the gossip, I try to keep my tales as concise as possible – a perpetual challenge, you may have noticed - as I know firsthand how destructive obsessing over the drama can be.   With that being said, I would like to redirect the energy of the blog - however temporarily - to the positive and imaginative.

One of the privileges of working surrounded by antiques and vintage pieces day and night is the endless stream of decorating ideas and possibilities. In The Trent Collection spaces and in the retail spaces of fellow dealers, I always manage to stumble upon a novel piece or cleverly repurposed find.  Even in twenty years in the trade, though I admit to being focused on a different level of crafting for the first ten or so, I still hear and see new ideas that inspire my own decor.

My most recent must-have: a globe.  

Vermeer's "The Astronomer," in the collection of Le Louvre, Paris.   Despite what you may hear at a hotel art show or in an antique mall, he just painted this once.

One would think this must be a quick and easy find for someone like me who spends so much time at flea markets, yard sales, estate sales, and thrift stores.  Whether it is the classic case of being unable to find the one thing I am looking for or there is a world-wide globe shortage, I have yet to find one for the growing list of repurposing possibilities. 

Why, when everyone can teach a child geography with a satellite map and eerily close views via Google Earth, do I so desperately want a globe?  (Yes, I am not currently in search of a mercury glass gazing ball or round art glass creation, but the classroom relic – a tabletop, spinning Earth.)  I have come across at least two decorating ideas that I would love to try.

Idea Number 1

The first makes use of the item on the top of my Michaels’ wish list – chalkboard paint.  I want to make a chalkboard globe.  With my work for The Trent Collection and my other endeavors, I have a to-do list that defies hierarchy.  What better way to track and defy the chaos then jot it down on a sphere that can be spun wildly to obscure all tasks (when one reaches the inevitable state of to-panic)?

Photo by: The Well-Appointed House.  Globe pictured available there for purchase.  I am not affiliated in any way with The Well-Appointed House, nor am I receiving anything for showing this "repurposed" reproduction.

Apparently Oprah listed this as one of her favorite things in her June 2012 issue and it debuted back in 2010, but I have apparently been out of touch with magazine’s finds these last few years.  I have only had the opportunity to even contemplate repurposing and crafting within the last few months and one of the first blogs I stumbled upon was a do-it-youself (DIY) chalkboard globe.

I actually only learned there was a mass-produced chalkboard globe as I wrote this post.  Working in resale, I know that I can obtain the same look for less than the Oprah favorite’s $342 price tag (at the Well Appointed House)...and that I will stumble upon that very piece at an estate sale eventually. I must say though that I prefer the base of the $342 version where it belongs – on the base of my antique cast-iron and walnut music stand. 

For an extra twist, these painted globes are an interesting take on word art and they show pride in their origins as actual globes:

Idea and Image From aestheticoutburst.com

Idea Number Two

While channel surfing to put off the mindless monotony of uploading photos to eBay, I stumbled upon Junk Gypsies (http://gypsyville.com/) on HGTV.  It appeared to be yet another reality show about antique pickers/dealers/decorators, but it provided at least one novel idea: repurposing old globes into hanging lights.  Take a jigsaw along the equator (using a bucket as a globe stand), then smooth the edges with sandpaper and fit a light cord (literally a socket on a cord) through the hole (at the North Pole on one and the South Pole of the other half).  

Disclaimer: Globes are made out of a variety of materials, often plastic and paper, so I recommend a low wattage bulb or a CFL or LED that will not get too hot if left unattended.  

One of only two known celestial globes by Johannes Schöner (Museum of the History of Science, Oxford)

Regardless of how inspiring these ideas may be, if you stumble upon a globe that looks like the globe above, do not approach it with paint or power tools.  Madame Trent would be most displeased if I endorsed the repurposing of an antique globe...as would the Royal Astronomical Society were anything to happen to a historically significant globe in a crafting frenzy.

  

Photo by Real Simple.  Where are the people deaccessioning their globe collections when I need them?

While I continue my search for the inexplicably scarce tabletop globe, tell me, what items are you always on the lookout for?  Do you find that some items are much harder to find than you thought they would be?

The Dumb Dealer, or The Importance of Education and Common Sense

This post focuses on the Dumb Dealer; look for an upcoming post on the Deceitful Dealer. 

Over the years, I have heard dealers say many odd and disturbing things.  One of the most disconcerting was a dealer insisting he had an original of a famous painting.  This occurred as a result of his dismissive attitude towards a print of the same scene being sold.  This dealer was insistent his was the original as it was on canvas.  Madame Trent was familiar with the scene and remarked evenly, without judgment, that the painting was in a museum in Vienna.  The dealer took this observation in stride, however, remarking, “He must have painted more than one” and ended the discussion.

"I don't see what's so special, I've had one of the originals over my mantel for years.   Leo loved Lisa so much he just sat around painting the same scene over and over."  Of course he did, because forgeries are made by the same artist as the original.  Louis Comfort Tiffany definitely made some lamps out of plastic and composite and outsourced the wiring to China.  Do you want to buy my ski chalet in Texas?  I can give you a great deal if you pay the deposit today.  Photo by Nell (and captured by countless others).

Dealers are usually not so forthright with their ignorance, or so willing to continue to make comments that only further demonstrate the extent of their cluelessness.  The typical uneducated dealer will do everything in his power to convince you he knows what he is talking about.  He will declare, as the above did, a statement to be true with complete confidence and leave no room for dissension.  Madame Trent and I experienced such a discussion first hand, where upon asking an innocent question of the proprietor of an upscale consignment shop (without any preface of our own knowledge level), we were told that a work of art on the wall was a print.  A quick examination showed it to be an original pen and ink drawing.  We proceeded to inquire about the consignment process and were told there was no input accepted from clients with regards to the piece’s history or acceptable sales price.  Madame Trent bought the original she had examined, and I bought a signed and numbered original print (priced as an original watercolor, albeit a framed and matted original watercolor that cost less than $30) of roses that I enjoyed.  The last sale price of this print at a New York gallery was just under $300 almost thirty years ago, as indicated on the back of the frame.

Whether you enter a store for the first time or are a long-time customer, rely first and foremost on your own experience and knowledge.  Make your own assessment of a piece before even checking the price tag.  You may be pleasantly surprised with a deal…or you may laugh out loud.