Collections

I love collecting things. Boxes, furniture, accessories, and a great deal of these I get from traveling. I love organizing and 'curating' my collection, filling it with interesting objets and arranging them to keep things exciting. I'll forgo the little Trevi Fountain model or the double-decker bus-shaped teapot, and instead wander around on Via Condotti or Portobello Road for beautiful things that I can see and reflect upon.

I love grouping like colors together. Above, a Peruvian vase, Argentinean silver box, and little bronze horse bust sit on a colorful tray from Lima.

And here, a trio of Harvard Classics rest on a silver tray from Paris, topped by an interesting marble bookend from Rome.

Dishes and tableware are two of my favorite things to collect. Glasses from Paris are the best, so interesting and elaborate yet simple at the same time. Linens from France are also a failsafe, and they tend to get softer every time they're washed. The plates are from Italy, and the bone-handled knife is from Argentina, where they eat a lot of steak.

The red box from Mexico is made out of a beautiful, scented wood, and the horn cup and egg are from Argentina. They look lovely with a watercolor behind them, which I picked up at a local market in Peru.

An ashtray from Cusco is topped with an antique comedy book and an inlaid turtle from Mexico that I bargained for (from $30 to five). You can get anything for any price in countries like Mexico or anywhere in South America... even some places in Europe!

I love Venetian masks, and this handmade one came straight from where it all started. Another one of those scented boxes! From boxes to crystal to antiques, you can get what you want when traveling, you just have to look for it.

Restoration

I bought this box three years ago on Portobello Road in London, for close to $20. I was walking by it the other day when I thought: you know what? This box really isn't great.

The inside was dull orange paper, and there was a brass crest with bits of brass peeling off!

So, I rushed to my closet, and pulled out some pretty, inexpensive papers I'd bought last year at an art shop in Toronto. I originally was going to use these papers to wrap things, but they don't hold tape very well. These are only four styles, but I have about a million.

I settled on this happy paper, with blue, purple, and green circles.
I used a paper cutter, ruler, and glue stick...
To transform this box into:

Nothing like a pretty place to keep random odds and ends. I also spray-painted the crest black, and dabbed the paint off so that some gold shines through.

Beautiful Boxes

I love boxes! Whether they be crystal, leather, wood, or silver, they are beautiful things that can be functional, too!

My four favorite boxes include:

A cut-crystal Tiffany and Co box with their signature Roman Numeral motif was a party favor at a Bill Clinton fundraiser held in Toronto last year.

A leather box that I purchased on Portobello road, embellished with a so-far unidentified crest.

A tiny, pretty one, inlaid with mother of pearl and six varieties of woods that I picked up at a Christmas marketplace.

An antique embossed with the logo of the 'Wheeler and Wilson' sewing machine company. Can you imagine a time where beautiful carved boxes were simply used to hold sewing machine parts?