While I admit to being skeptical until almost the very end I really love the way it all finally turned out. It plays up the handmade rustic feel that I loved about the piece, while looking bright, clean, and refreshed at the same time. The soft faded graining of the beadboard also makes a perfect neutral backdrop for photographing items featured in our online shop.
The unusual arched glass front display cabinet shown here with a piece of Chinese porcelain looks wonderful against the new finish. Sharing the top shelf is a wonderful hand carved bust depicting a stylized American Indian maiden along with a selection of pitchers including a lavishly hand painted one from Sicily, a beautifully detailed little one from France, and a handmade rustic one holding hydrangea dried last summer. Finishing off the tableau is an old handcrafted wrought iron candlestick, an elegant art glass bell, and a charming antique carved wooden elephant.
The middle shelf is still a symmetrical display of Italian art pottery including hand painted plates, nautical candlesticks, and a pair of cruets. The centerpiece is a lavish majolica bowl featuring monkeys supporting a giant seashell. Fanning out behind the bowl is the intricately detailed rim of a platter by Lomonosov, porcelain supplier to the Tsars of Russia. Finally the collection of heavy art and design books and the old carved chest fill out the bottom with warmth and texture.
Photos and styling by Knickerbocker.