Les Détails

When I was a small girl, my mother would take me "junking." Our favorite place was Sweet Georgia Brown's--a sagging, white clapboard house with a deep porch. Scattered on the weedy lawn were old washing machines, bathtubs, and an odd, concrete menagerie. This was way back in the early 1960s, when you could find huge Limoges platters for a dollar, when a dusty painting could turn out to be signed by Grandma Moses.

My mother had a passion for silver, and she set beautiful, detailed tables. In my neck of the woods, it's getting harder to find silver. I treasure the pieces I inherited from my grandmother.



Little dressmaker details--like these frogs--turned a frumpy coverlet into something interesting. Here's the "before" picture:



I use egg cups for little vases



And I put egg cups atop books


I inherited my grandmother's teacups--here's my favorite



I also have a passion for dog vases.


Here, a punch bowl becomes a vase


I've been collecting salt and pepper shakers since I was a child. I still haven't found a mate for my one lobster claw shaker. lol


I have several glass candlesticks, and one Christmas I put them all together on the dining room table and added silver ornaments (with museum putty) and candles. When the afternoon sun hit the glass, the arrangement glowed.


I love glass bunnies--anything glass, actually.


I also love crosses, old and new.


Odd dishes add up to an interesting tablescape


Pitchers and more salt and pepper shakers


An old covered dish and red transferware


Vases, and a pretty pink and green bowl



What's your passion? What details make you happy? And what do you collect, or want to collect?