Train Your Eye

" All it takes is one object to inspire romance... Lorrie S. LeBeaux"

There is a wonderful feeling you get in your spirit,  when you find treasures that speak to your soul. I immediately feel they belong "home" with me. Treasures do not have to be costly; they are valuable to you. Like the wonderful designer Bunny Williams says all the time, " train your eye..."

My new girl, "Duchess Lorrie Jane" arrived today from way "across the pond."  I had to give her a name that was befitting to her. She came from England, so she is a Duchess and she belongs to this African American woman who has endured and survived just as she has. The difference is she is about 177 years old, circa 1842 to 1850 and I am not telling my age!

 I have cleaned, sanitized and sanitized again to ensure she is able to serve coffee, her intended job. My heart could not be still when I finally saw her, and I actually "peeped" at her throughout the evening. She looks like she is a million bucks, but she is not, she is just "regal" and "classy" and ready to serve.

 I need to do a trial run of having a cup of coffee from her full bodied beautiful 177 year old self!  You just have to know in your spirit and in your pocketbook if something is meant for you. It just has to be that "match" that is meant to be. She is not "priceless" but she is worth everything to me.

I had to rest her on a cheese board, because she was "too hot" from the cleaning process. But she cooled down and now she is just being her regal and classy self! I speak of her as a human, because I believe antiques have a life of their own. And if "cared for" they have a longer life than most human beings...

Her "pedigree" which is her mark.

James Dixon and Sons

I just sit and marvel about how something can be so beautiful,  and have served people for 177 years... I think that is why she is soo special to me.

 I have served people all of my life, and I continue to care for my son Evan. Evan just smiled to see me have soo much joy in my heart. Autism does not mean that a person does not understand "the world around them." And it warmed my heart that my big boy loved seeing me happy. Love is a "universal language."

 I think a cup of coffee and a banana walnut bread will "mingle" with the " duchess."

This sauce tureen is circa 1880's to 1896 Limoges. It seems to have been made for a store in New York prior to the turn of the century. I just love how antiques can "survive" may decades, and remain beautiful. And even though, I am not a big antique floral kind of chick, I really do love this sauce tureen. I lay in bed at night thinking of different sauces that will find a home in this tureen. 

And for some reason, whether it be something new, vintage or an antique, they all just seem to 

marry. They just seem to be able to get along,  despite their age differences, patterns and pedigrees. 

And in closing, an objects value is only as valuable as it is to you! For me it can come from any place, as long as it is beautiful and useful. 

I would love for you to leave a comment. 

XOXO

Lorrie