As mentioned, we are very lacking in the decorative arts. We have no style. We openly admit this as a fundamental flaw, then we wear plaid trousers and polka-dot shirts and get on with things.
I was looking around the other day, though, and realized that it’s not that we don’t have style, we just don’t have the usual style.
Living here you really get a sense of just how old things are. Even after being in England for 7 years (and in the EU for 12) I am still staggered by how long things can stick around. It’s fairly startling when the house around the corner dates back to the 1400′s (which it does) and the church that Alastair attended as a youngster dates back to 900AD and has condemned witches buried in the church graveyard (none of them, ironically, are his ex-wife. Funny that.)
We are both very keen on things old and previously loved, but in a country with impeccable style, age and panache (Chippendale and Wedgwood, anyone?) one things is immediately clear: we love old things, but not that old. Specifically we’re both interested in more industrial items, things that in recent history have been hitting the bottom of the skip as people modernize and move onwards and upwards. I think we both eschew fragile, delicate antiques in favor of robust industrial 20th century items. I feel like the recent history (recent in this case being from the 1910′s onwards) isn’t as interesting to most people as Georgian, Victorian, or even Edwardian artefacts. But robust technology won’t always be robust, and at the rate that people are chucking them out it certainly won’t be around anymore.
Just doing a quick glance around the house (and many more items are in this photostream) illustrates just how eclectic and frankly random our tastes are. I’m fairly sure that most people would be put off by the things we acquire, and certainly wouldn’t want them in their house. We just seem to stumble across things that more often than not need restoring (which is fine because we both like that kind of thing) and which people don’t really want anymore, or if they do want them they aren’t interested in renovating them.
A quick jog through our house shows a wiring cabinet I bought for Alastair from a defunct ribbon manufacturer from Ascot, our British phone from the 1960′s and the enamel phone sign that goes with them both. A restored petrol station air pump in the garden, more lights from various eras that most (including me) can identify, and some of the below.
For Christmas 2009 I got my hands on a butler’s bell box, which is on the restoration list for this year and will go in the hallway.
I bought this card catalog from a library that closed in Oxford, and seeing the rate that public libraries are closing (and those that are generally aren’t in the card catalog business any longer) I love that I saved something I remember from childhood. I used to love flicking through the card catalogs looking for books, the smell emanating from those thick pieces of paper with their mimeographed numbers. We’re going to incorporate this into a built-in cupboard that is going to be constructed in the dining room.
I’ve shown what we call Wandsworth a few times now, but I continue to love that piece to death (although it is easily 200 years old and not of our usually “we are proud of bricks and boards!” type mentality). Bought from a company that collects furniture from de-consecrated churches, it cost us almost nothing to buy or to restore. I am so proud of this you wouldn’t believe it.
I bought Alastair his first Tilley lamp two years ago, and we now have perhaps half a dozen of them, including these two beautiful permanent indoor ones. They give off the loveliest glow and I love the look of them which the lamps – like our 60 year old concrete mixer which Nick calls “The Cranky Mister” – make me think of Tik-Tok.
English shops used to have all the merchandise behind the cabinet, and clothing shops had all their wares in cabinets called haberdashery cabinets. I have wanted one for absolutely ages, and my wedding present from Alastair was such a lovely creature.
We got one spotlight and then we bought another (non-tripod mounted). Both are from theatres that closed their doors, and both of them are from the 40′s.
Melissa found this ancient Swedish circuit board in a dumpster in Sweden, and knowing how much her father loved electrics, she brought it back for him. It hangs (not connected) beneath our real circuit board.
Alastair rigged up an old school bell in the hallway, which serves as our doorbell. It looks like something MacGyver would work with to foil the evil villain. I even like the massive, obvious battery.
And of course, my beloved 1980′s American payphone (which works). Someone imported it to the UK from Utah (ergo the Qwest signage) and which they sold off here.
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In our hallway are three of six mining lights that we got our hands on. They’re definitely not to everyone’s taste but I love the feeling of them – industrial, heavy, almost like the inside of a submarine.
Alastair’s main Christmas present was an exit light from the 1920′s that I bought. It came from a theatre in Minnesota that closed its doors, and it will go by the door in the hallway (also on the renovation list).
This one is a poster for a French railway, and it dates back to the 60′s. The Chemins de Fer (horses of fire) sign hangs in our downstairs bathroom.
But our recent acquisition came home yesterday. We managed to get an authentic punch card time clock from about the 1930′s. It’s heavy as hell and a fairly random thing to buy, but once again these things are going in the skips and we like the idea of knowing that the industrial past – not as romantic as chintz and delicate furniture – is not being lost. I love it.
We have no style. People come into our house and are often really surprised, amused, and in some cases disapproving of the things we have hanging on the walls. Our things aren’t worth much but that’s not why we have them (although some parts of me remembers the Mark Hamill/goblin Amazing Stories in which he sells his Mickey Mouse mug for a fortune while buying petrol. I’m such a dork. Also, I have romantic notions of Nick and Nora in 60 years’ time showing them off at Antiques Roadshow and being told that the £20 their father spent on some mining lamps has increased to £50,000, at which point my kids had better show some freaking out at the profit instead of the “Ah yes. I see. Thank you.” calm bullshit that we see over here.) We have these things because in some cases (like our various telephones) it’s because we remember the items. In other cases, it’s because we don’t want history to let some of these things be forgotten. Mostly, though, I think it’s because we’re strange and unusual and our house and its decorations reflect that.
-S.
I grew up in a house that still had a working butlers bell box. When we first moved in, it was a source of great fascination for us – because there were some of the bell flag thingys (they sway back and forth in the window – so you can see which room ‘buzzed’) that we couldn’t find switches for. So as kids – my brother and I made it our mission to find every switch in the house and test it – eventually out of the three we couldn’t find – by two years later – we’d located all but one. I remained convinced throughout the 10 years we lived in that house that we had to find a hidden room, in order to find the switch that operated that last flag. My dad just said that “oh well it’s just broken” but it didn’t stop me from prodding and poking every crevice and nobule on the mantle piece just in case!
Wow. So you’re turning your house into a regular historical art gallery. Nothing wrong with that.
And looking at that payphone brought to mind a completely random question: where would Clark Kent go today to change into Superman? The last stall in the men’s room?
Shannon –
Your house looks like YOU (and Alistair and N&N) — that’s what makes it YOUR HOME. Interesting is far, far better than “designed,” in my book. (But what do you want from someone who is decorating her den with photos of 1940s GIs in Hawaii? I think the urge is the same — to preserve the everyday history that our culture wants to push aside.) Anyway, I think your stuff is cool-thanks for sharing it. Hugs from a fellow collector.
I’m sure some designer could come in and put it all together in a way that was more palatable to visitors, but isn’t it more fun to live with the things you like where you like them? I think so. Also, my daughter likes the exit sign and the poster and the clock, but is not fond of your lights…she’s quite the connisseur for 4 years old, I guess.
I want a punch card time clock! I want one with every fibre of my being!
I love your house, by the way. The pay-phone tickles me pink. The quirky steam-punk vibe is very much wonderful. Also, you rescued a card catalogue, making you a candidate for canonisation as far as I am concerned.
I am so so envious of yout Habidahers cabinet. What wonderful items yoou have filling your home
I love the things that you have collected. There is a name for your design style and many people in the US embrace it, it is called industrial chic. There are even designers who specialize in just this esthetic.
I would love to have your card catalogue and your haberdashery cabinet. It would fit in with my old thread desk. I love your stuff. And the important thing is that you do, too!
I think it is all wonderfully fun. I love that you are self-proclaimed dorks, and that you embrace that part of you. Quirky, interesting, clever–yep, suits you to a tee!
I love your eclectic collection, I think it shows depth of personality and a wonderful sense of style. I feel like I have been constrained by desperate budget restrictions in my quest to furnish my house with anything other than Ikea! But slowly but surely I will fill my home with beautiful photographs and things that matter to me, just like you have!
I love the card catalog and I have something similar, also love the haberdashery cabinet and would love to have one of those!!
I adore the card catalog cabinet. Since it’s always been my dream to be a libriarian, that cabinet calls to my soul.
I think your style is fantastic. You are such a gem.
OMG, you are adorable. I want to keep you in my pocket and have you entertain me all day and bombard me with thoughts and opinions. I swear, I mean that in the most non-freaky way I can, lol.
I love love love the Wandsworth dresser. If you should ever want to recycle it, I can provide a loving home for it!
Your house sounds like a lot of fun, with interesting things to play with and to look at in every room.
I think your home is positively beautiful, and positively you. That’s what it’s supposed to be, right? Sure, I managed to pick up a Wedgwood service for 18 for a song on Craigslist (people rarely entertain like that anymore and many are looking to sell off what they have), but one of my favorite items in our house is the dilapidated paintchipped apartment mailbox that resides in our library. I got it for $15 from a salvager, and I adore it.
What I’d love to get my hands on (aside from the gorgeous habadasher’s cabinet you have!) is one of the old post office boxes with the glass windows and twirly locks. Someday, I’ll find one. I have no idea what I’ll do with it, but I’ve always wanted one.
That makes me want to find something old and renovate it. : ) I’m very much a “function over form” guy, so if something doesn’t have a necessary function, I don’t consider buying it.
The Super Model Mrs. Solomon, however, has an eye for nice stuff that makes our house OUR house.
It is a style, it’s your style, and honestly, I’m so wildly jealous of your cool finds. Obviously you know, living in the States, doesn’t afford us the types of older relics that you find.
I didn’t know that Tilley lamps came in any other style than functional/camping/army issue. Needless to say ours are the functional/army type and hang out in the garden in the summer. The thing I covet most is the doorbell, mostly because mine doesn’t work and I have to rely on the dog barking.
You have a wonderful sense of style, one that is unique to you all. I too, am immensely y envious of the haberdashery cabinet and the card catalogue. I only have an old teacher’s table (C1960) from my first school which I rescued from being chopped up for firewood when the Education Department sent us the lovely new laminated ones. The thing I love most is the prison arrow stamp on the underside – in those days the prisoners were put to work making furniture for the government of the day.
Keep on collecting…you grossly underestimate yourself. You have style in spades.
So, what exactly do you shine the spotlight(s) on? See, I’d shine one on the toilet and randomly turn it on when I had guests… but then I’m evil.
That’s definitely the archeologist in you, preserving things that might be long forgotten. And I love you for it. Your home has some major character, and I would just spend a day looking at all your ‘stuff’.
You have style. In bucketloads!!
You have some outstanding finds there – I’m especially in love with the little theatre spotlight and the brass lamps. Yet another thing I would love about living in England – much richer pickings at the antiques stores!
The battery on the doorbell is so “Batman” – labeled quite obviously. I love it!
I love your stuff!. I was able to visit Europe a twice, (Germany mostly) and was struck by the fact that there , buildings from centuries ago are still in use. Here we rope them off and charge admission. And more modern buildings have chunks of the facade falling off. I have a penchant for things with small drawers. Like your library card catalog and your haberdashery cabinet. I have a Japanese medicine chest that was Sarcasmo’s. She bought it on a trip to Japan. She had a few things in the drawers but I hace not yet added to them. It has to be just the right stuff. Someday i may use it as a jewelry chest.