Edges and ledges: Small displays have big impact
Q: I just found some darling decorative pieces at an estate sale, and I'd like some new ideas for how to show them off. What do you suggest?
A: Go out on a ledge! I'm crazy about decorating the edges and ledges in my home, filling these little spots with powerful displays that have a huge impact on the overall look of a room. Why not showcase your estate sale finds on one of these small but mighty stages?
Wall brackets
These timeless decorating tools add beautiful architectural detail to your walls and provide a royal throne for anything placed on them. If you want to knock people's socks off, hang a series of brackets across your wall, then top each with a piece of fine porcelain. Or spotlight an especially fine vase on a bracket, then surround it with some fabulous pieces of art. You can also flank a window, hutch or chair with matching wall brackets topped with plates resting on easels.
While most people hang wall brackets at eye level and use them for display only, I like to put them in unusual spots and use them in uncommon ways. For instance, I have a wall bracket hung about waist high in my home's entry. This little ledge acts like a table, holding my car keys. Try the same thing in a bedroom, using a wall bracket in place of a bedside table. A friend of mine hung a large wall bracket over the toilet in her powder room, then topped it with beautiful bottles filled with toiletries.
Once you've positioned your bracket, dress it up right. I often hang a piece of artwork just above the bracket to anchor it. Then, I put a vase on top of the bracket, in front of the art. If you'd rather not cover the art, put a glass hurricane on top of the bracket instead.
Shelves
Try displaying your estate-sale finds on wall-mounted shelves. That's what I've done in my guest bathroom. I hung a three-shelf bookcase on the wall and filled it with an assortment of treasures, like a silver trophy cup, small prints and glass containers holding toiletries.
Where else could you hang a small shelf for a display? Above a doorway? Under a window? By your back door? In the hallway? When you decorate these little ledges, make a tight cluster of accents in different sizes and shapes, leaving plenty of empty space between each item and on each side.
When I planned the built-in cabinets in my kitchen, I installed ample shelves to hold lots of cookbooks. I'm not sure why, since I hate to cook. Needless to say, I don't buy many cookbooks, and now I use the top shelf to display serving pieces too big to fit into my cabinets and too beautiful to hide away.
The deep windowsill above my kitchen sink is one of my favorite ledges to decorate. I love to fill this little spot with understated seasonal displays. This spring, I've put an ivy topiary there to add color and disguise the fact that my windows desperately need to be cleaned. You could group a few of your new treasures in this highly visible space, giving your kitchen one more spark of beauty.
Plate rails
If your estate-sale finds include gorgeous dishes, take a few tips from my friend Merrillee. No one lives life on the edge better than Merrillee, who installed a mammoth plate rack on her kitchen wall to display her fabulous collection of plates. Last time I visited, I melted on the spot when I saw row after row of the rack filled with black and cream transferware.
Although Merrillee and her husband, Mike, redid much of their darling antebellum home when they moved in, they didn't touch the original plate rail that rimmed the top of the dining room wall. This amazing rail encircles the entire room and provides the perfect spot to showcase Merrillee's china.
Remember that plate rails aren't just for plates. You could just as easily fill them with sensational art or special collectibles.
Mary Carol Garrity owns three home furnishings stores in Atchison, Kan., and wrote several books on home decorating. Write to Mary Carol at nellhills@mail.lvnworth.com. Her column is syndicated by Scripps Howard News Service.
