We're a HUGE fan of vintage everything.From Victorian to Deco, Art-Nouveau to Modernist Mid-Century, we're hooked. But the key to really making your vintage collections chic and not shabby, cool and not cluttered, is to use it sparingly, or put a collection together so it works as one large statement element.
Case-in-point: our xmas tree.
Though I'm positively a FOOL for holiday magic, I abhore holiday clutter. Too much red and green will make my teeth ache and suck the joy right out of Christmas. So I do a very soft, minimalist christmas, full of fresh clean natural pine and wood, and white lights. This feels very zen, and allows the sweet magic of the season to grow, rather than shrivel from the overstimulation of too many Santas, inflatable candy canes, and neon purple blinking lights! (When did neon purple become a xmas color, anyway?)
My grandmother lived in Santa Monica, Ca. all her life, but she loved to travel. Wherever she went she purchased xmas ornaments and brought them home for her own, massive flocked tree. I remember as a child lying under that tree, while it actually revolved above me playing christmas tunes, and watching the beautiful, perfect christmas ornaments she collected sparkle over my head. Wooden ornaments from Germany, porcelaine from Swizterland, shells from Spain. It was really a wonder, lying there, smelling the pine and enjoying a perspective none of the adults ever saw. (unless they also lay under the tree, after I had gone to bed. Which I doubt.)
Now, I hang some of those same ornaments on my tree, though I skip the flocking, and my tree stand does not revolve. The beautiful old things still glint magically next to the little white lights every year, and still cheerfully bring the christmas spirit to life.
"O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum,You give us so much pleasure!
How oft at Christmas tide the sight,
O green fir tree, gives us delight!
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
You give us so much pleasure! "
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