My interior design firm, Holly Holden & Company, Ltd. www.hollyholden.com, specializes in classic and traditional design. I believe in designing once… for a lifetime! Who wouldn’t want to hear those words? Designing with decorative accessories and techniques that stand the test of time and enhance your home with little effort, translates to a good investment for your design dollars. And, you’ll have fun implementing them along the way, too!
Brass Stair Rods:
Something as simple as adding brass stair rods to your carpet runner on a staircase is a timeless decorative detail and a finishing touch on any staircase. Stair rods are appropriate in cottages and castles… and everything in between! You can order the brass with a clear lacquer finish so they do not require polishing. When I filmed my public television series, You Are Cordially Invited, I discussed brass stair rods at Highclere Castle, aka Downton Abbey, because they are featured on the main staircase in the castle.
Here I am standing in front of a Sir Joshua Reynolds painting (c.1785) on the first landing of the grand oak staircase at Highclere Castle, aka Downton Abbey. In my public television series filmed there, I discussed the use of brass stair rods. We can all learn from masterpiece houses.
Picture Lights:
Adding picture lights to your artwork, no matter what the genre of art, adds an inviting glow to your walls, especially in the evening light when you entertain. I prefer a matte brass finish for a classically styled picture light. Picture lights work best on framed artwork that does not have glass covering it. Stuart and I attended a dinner at Buckingham Palace, which was held in the stupendously handsome Picture Gallery. The main light source for the evening was the picture lights atop each painting. (Oh my, what a stellar collection of art!) The artwork lined the walls salon-style, one on top of another, on the elegant coral damask wall upholstery... a magical and majestic evening!
Paint the interior of your fireplace black:
For new bricks inside a fireplace, I specify that they are painted black because I think it is imperative to have the illusion that the fireplace has been used. There is specialized paint for this endeavor. I specify a flat black. Our historic house, Fox Hall c.1803, has seven fireplaces naturally blackened from the 221 years of wood fires burning within them. Many fireplace examples are featured in my book, The Pretty and Proper Living Room.
The Hunt Room at Fox Hall has wood fires burning quite often during the cold months of New England. Miss Zsa Zsa loves to sit near the warmth in “her” chair!
Darling Wastebaskets:
A decorative detail often overlooked in ANY room is a darling wastebasket. My new interior design book, Pearls of Palm Beach, features many adorable wastebaskets in the ‘Darling Details’ section for each of the eight featured private houses. Lining the bottom of a wastebasket with a paper doily is another little detail in many guest bedrooms in the United States and Europe. Charming wastebaskets can be rawwwther expensive, but well worth it.
Repurpose decorative items that you already own:
Shopping in your house for decorative items to repurpose can be such fun! We were hosting a Chinese-themed dinner party, and I discovered a box of unused crystal perfume bottles with cut crystal pagoda stoppers. Mummy had collected them to give as gifts but never did. I decided to use them as soy sauce holders!
Look closely and you can spy one of the pagoda perfume bottles repurposed for soy sauce at our Chinese themed dinner party.
Another idea that never ceases to garner a smile is to repurpose a crystal decanter, customarily used for wine or spirits, to pour mouthwash into and display in a bathroom. For the amusement of your houseguests, fill the decanter with a gold-colored mouthwash, such as Listerine, and then place a silver decanter label engraved with either “scotch” or “bourbon” to hang over the decanter neck!
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Xx
Holly
PS: I cannot wait to share more about the luncheons I hosted this past Friday and Saturday at Fox Hall. The guests came from Texas, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Florida, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Missouri, Georgia, Virginia and Connecticut! I am in awe of each guest and ever so grateful for their charming company… we had such a splendid time together! More to come.