Collections

Despite my passion for interior design and vintage treasures, I've somehow never given in to collecting groups of one item. I suspect that once I began, I wouldn't know when to stop. Exactly how many straw bags or enamel signs or cooking molds is enough? For me, it's safer to stick to individual items that I respond to and group them together as though they are a family.

Collections seem to spring from a desire to honor a gift that was made by someone we love (grandma's cameo or dad's fishing creel) or from a genuine passion for the pieces themselves and what they represent. A collection that can be displayed in one place, without spilling into every room of the house, is often beautiful and visually arresting. And having something specific in mind when browsing flea markets and antique shops makes the hunt that much more exciting. A collector also makes life much easier on their friends and family when gift-giving season arrives.

Images: Aged to Perfection: Adding Rustic Charm to Your Modern Home Inside & Out by Leslie Linsley, published by Hearst Books 2010. The Way we Live with the Things we Love by Stafford Cliff, photographs by Gilles de Chabaneix, published by Rizzoli 2009. Marie Claire Idees magazine, July 2010 issue. Red magazine, July 2010 issue. Inside Out magazine, March-April 2010 issue.

Going Global with Maps

Despite a constantly changing global landscape, with boundary lines moving and nations renaming themselves, globes are a classroom staple that have changed very little over the years. Even when barely legible from the effects of time (such as the one above that I sold on Etsy), they are a reminder of where we've been and where we're going. Grouped together, they beckon like toys and few can resist setting them spinning.

Old maps or pages from atlases are a graphic way to remember a favorite place or to earmark a destination yet to be visited. Considering the effort required of the cartographers who charted them, they are works of art worthy of framing and hanging in a prominent location. Yellowed pages from atlases are a subtle way of adding interest to everything from furniture to lighting.

One large map is all that's needed to bring color to this white dining room.

Atlas pages paper the panes of a soft blue wardrobe.

Neighboring atlases form a base to this modern coffee table from Family of Sam.

Taking a page from globe lamps, maps are made translucent as lampshades.

A vintage globe is upcycled into a light pendant from Anecdote Design.

Silk Aviatop Map Cushions from Atelier 688.

Decorative letters from Little White Dog.

Images: Inside Out Magazine Jan-Feb 2009 issue, Christmas 2007 issue, Jan-Feb 2008 issue, May-June 2009 issue; Apartment: Stylish Solutions for Apartment Living by Alan Powers, photography by Chris Everard, published by Ryland Peters & Small, 2001.