As Promised

In my last post, I said I would talk about how to choose vintage and antique pieces that aren’t from the same maker or pattern and maybe not even from the same era but that you can display together.  To illustrate this, I’m going to refer to items which are currently for sale on Etsy.  Again, in the interest of disclosure, I am an Etsy seller.

In fact, I want to begin with a tole tray that I’m presently offering in my shop.  The tray will serve as the centerpiece of the display that I want to put together.  It’s a lovely piece and offers lots of scope for choosing other pieces for the display since it has several colors in the flowers and leaves.



SYMMETRY

I personally like symmetry in my arrangements, whether it be a wall display or some other kind of display.  So, if I put something on one side of the tray, I will want to find something of equal size and color to balance it out on the other side.  I like to use different patterns in the pieces I select.  Since the tray is floral, I don’t necessarily want to select other pieces with a floral pattern.  I use the word “necessarily” because I don’t think it’s wrong to eliminate floral altogether.

AN ETSY TREASURY

On Etsy, you can create “Treasuries” which showcase up to 16 items from sellers.   The treasuries you create can be a particular theme or just random items you like.  I find them very helpful for decorating purposes.  It’s easy to see if the items in which you’re interested will look good together.  I’ve made the mistake many a time of buying something only to find it won’t work when I get it home.  What’s especially nice about creating a treasury is that you can always edit them – if something sells, you can add another item or you can move items around to see if something looks better.

So, I’ve created a treasury which shows 16 items, but think of it as four rows of four items.  Each row represents items that I plan to display with my tole tray.  You will see that while many of the items are round, there is some variation.  There is also variation in size.  Just as I want different colors and patterns, I also want different shapes and sizes.  So in the first row, the dominant color is yellow; in the second row, the dominant color is green; red is dominant in the third row; and blue and yellow are dominant in the fourth row.  What you choose is very dependent on personal taste as well as existing room colors.   My favorite combination is the first row but because the wall on which I am planning to hang the display is yellow, I will more than likely not choose the first or last row.  I don’t want anything that will blend into the wall color – I want everything to pop.

'Vintage items for a wall display' by TouchingThePast

Chintz Nut Bowls, Rosal... MothersVintage $28.00	2 Aqua Blue Butter Pats... LyndasLoft $12.50	Delft Germany Saucers B... AppelJar $14.50	Original Yellow Fiesta ... PomDecors $9.50
4 Majolica Green Tree P... twinspruceanti... $15.95	Pair of James Kent Chin... PigeonsAttic $12.50	Vintage Chintz Blue and... KlassyKlassics $35.00	TREASURY ITEM Vintage T... krmvintage $14.00
Antique Bone Dishes fro... WillowsVintage $8.00	Vintage butter pats, Ro... cristinasroom $16.00	4 Depression Era Ruby R... LyndasLoft $18.50	Flower Basket Plates Ne... AppelJar $9.95
Set of Two Johnson & Br... PrettyOldFinds $8.00	Brilliant Hazel-Atlas M... julesgraphix0 $30.00	TREASURY ITEM Shabby Ur... stgabrielsgard... $26.00	A set of two chipped pl... floatyparty $12.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

BUILDING THE ARRANGEMENT

Let’s say that I decide on the third row of items for my display. What I would do at this point is to begin laying the display out on my floor. This gives me an opportunity to play around with the arrangement to see what will look the best. Fortunately, I have an obvious way to start – the tole tray will be in the middle. The remaining items I have to use include:

4 6 1/8” ruby red plates
3 6.5” flower basket plates
8 4.5” blue flower butter pats – 5 are maple leaf, 3 are long leaf
2 green-trimmed bone dishes

As I’m building the arrangement, I need to keep in mind where on my wall I will be putting this. Do I want a more vertical arrangement or a more horizontal arrangement? I don’t want the flower basket plates next to the floral tray. So, assuming I want a horizontal arrangement, I am going to put two of the red plates vertically on either side of the tray. Then I’ll center one of the flower basket plates on each side of the red plates. I’ll put bone dishes centered above and below the tray. Because of the fact that there are two shapes of the butter pats, I want to use one of the maple leaves on each side of the bone dishes since there are five and I need four. The handle could face out on the side away from the bone dish. I will use two of the long leaf butter pats either on each side of the flower basket plate with the handle facing away from the plate or between the vertical red plates.

SO WHAT WORKS AND WHAT DOESN’T

As I was working through this on paper, I discovered some problems with my selections. I actually had chosen two large red plates but decided I didn’t want two single plates beside each other (the red and the flower basket). So, I found a larger quantity – four - of smaller red plates. I’m also finding that the handles on the butter pats are problematic and that having different shapes of the butter pats limits what I can do. I do love the butter pats especially when used with the bone dishes above and below the tray, so maybe I need to think about adding in something else with the red plates and the flower basket plates on the side. Could I also bring in the blue and white chintz plates pictured in the second row of my treasury or the delft saucers in the first row?

CONFESSIONS OF A SERIAL RE-ARRANGER

I’d love to hear your suggestions and ideas about this display. And if you’d like to come up with display arrangements for the items from the remaining three rows, I’d love to know those too. Pictures of your own arrangements are also welcome. When I first started trying to arrange my vintage and antique items, I was unable to find much help on the Internet. Pictures were especially hard to come by. And even though I’m not looking for display ideas at the moment, I know I will be looking for ideas again at some point in the future. I’m a serial re-arranger.