Let your favorite books inspire your design story.
You’ll see vintage pieces through new eyes.
Wondering what to do with that glass decanter you found in the back of the cupboard and the martini glasses you never use? Why not create a cocktail tray a la Gatsby. I picked up the martini shaker at TJ Maxx years ago, back when I resolved to learn how to mix classic drinks. There’s still time to try my hand at that sherry martini. Meanwhile, I can enjoy a scene that draws me into the world Fitzgerald brought alive.
Looking for design ideas that help you find new lives for the antiques you love? Take inspiration from your favorite books and use vintage items to create scenes that tell a story. It might be the rough-hewn wooden table that takes you back to D.H. Lawrence’s ode to simple living in Women in Love. Or the leather ottoman that could have come from Isak Dinesen’s farmhouse in Out of Africa. Or the ticking Victorian mantel clock that could punctuate another stilted exchange in Mrs. Welland’s The Age of Innocence drawing room. Loving books means entering the worlds the author creates and living in them for a while. Bringing elements of those books into our homes is a reminder to stretch ourselves, to let ourselves be transported beyond four walls and explore more of what life offers.
But be prepared to feel some ambivalence as you re-enter those worlds. Great authors have something to say, about excess, about vanity, about societal conventions and expectations, and about the dark side of the worlds they depict. And they use the physical details of those worlds to reveal clues about the foibles of human beings and the cultures they inhabit, illustrating, as Edith Wharton put it, “the relationship between character and scenic detail.” Evoking the world of Gatsby doesn’t mean I want to take a ride with Daisy Buchanan. But it helps me remember what Fitzgerald had to say, about yearning, loss, and the cost of choices.
