Art & Antiques by Dr. Lori : Sensational Centerpieces featuring heirlooms

We live in a time when interior decorating has become a most popular career avocation and pastime. Many people are trying their skill at interior decorating, craft projects, re-upholstery, and other related tasks.

One of the most popular home décor past times are flower arranging and centerpiece crafting.  As we redecorate, redesign, and reconsider the objects with which we live, we also are looking at making something special out of virtually nothing special.

Based on my museum background, I will share some tips on how museum exhibition designers feature art and antiques and unusual objects within a design scheme to make it most interesting.

Centerpieces are expected to be impressive, festive, and seasonal. Some of the most popular centerpieces are those which take into consideration the time of year and recognizable objects that have a history with the residents of a home.

For instance, at holiday time, many decorating aficionados will take a nice clean
crystal punchbowl and place shiny ornaments in it to make an attractive
centerpiece. Simple objects that you can find around the house like potpourri
or a display comprised of an antique coffee grinder and related coffee tins or
a grouping of cookie jars or ceramic teapots can make a nice dining room table
centerpiece. Candies, wrappers, and other seasonal pieces can be arranged with
flowers as an accent as they are in this Just Born Peeps candy for springtime display.

If you have an object that has been handed down in the family over decades or even centuries, consider designing an area within a room around it. If you have your grandmother’s coveted canister set dating back to the early 1900s, feature the set proudly on the kitchen table as a centerpiece or atop a shelf where
everyone can admire it at holiday time. Is that antique parlor chair from the
Victorian period looking for a new space to shine? Take it out of the living
room where it may get lost in the array of other furnishings and make it the
featured antique object in a guest room or foyer entryway. Talk with your
friends and family about its origin and let the history live on.

Ph.D. antiques appraiser, author, and award-winning TV personality, Dr. Lori presents antique appraisal events worldwide. Dr. Lori is the expert appraiser on the hit TV show, Auction Kings on Discovery channel.  Visit DrLoriV.com, @DrLoriV on Twitter, Facebook.com/DoctorLori or call
(888) 431-1010.