(SH) - Mary Carol Garrity offers tips on home furnishings:
Q: I love old furniture, but I'm intimidated when buying antiques because I don't know how to judge whether I'm getting a good piece at the right price. Can you give me some pointers?
A: Like you, I am a sucker for old furniture. Whether it's a valuable antique or a vintage piece, these aged beauties, with their graceful lines and imperfections, lend warmth and character to their surroundings. I think furniture with a past adds oodles of interest to a space and gives a home a lived-in look.
If you want to become a serious collector of antiques and invest in pieces of great value, you'll want to do your homework first. There are reams of books and a host of Web sites that can help you discover what makes some pieces more valuable than others and what you should look for when selecting different kinds of antiques.
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But if you're like me, when you look for furniture for your home, you are less concerned with scouting out fine antiques that could win awards and more interested in finding timeless treasures that will win your heart.
My goal is to fill my home with furniture I love, that delights me, that looks like it has a story to tell. In my book, pedigrees and perfection are not nearly as important as personality. I'm more interested in character than in credentials. If that wasn't true, I wouldn't have half the things in my home that I cherish most, including my cat, Boots.
One summer evening, Dan and I were relaxing on our screened porch when we noticed a set of eyes peering at us from under the leaves of a large hosta in our garden. Turns out, the eyes belonged to one of the scrawniest kittens I've ever seen. Believe me, this bony beast, with his scruffy coat and frayed right ear, was not the sort you'd see at a cat show. People who prize fine felines with notable bloodlines would have run in the other direction. But this retched waif stole my heart.
Over the next few weeks, he visited our garden nearly every day, gradually getting used to us. The day he finally let us pet him, Dan and I were elated. By September, we filled a bowl with kitty chow and invited Boots into the kitchen and into our lives. Today, Boots is the world's fattest cat and has a heart that's as big as his girth. Every morning, as Dan and I drink our coffee, Boots lumbers into our laps, then pats each of us on the cheek with his paw, like a mother kissing her children as she sends them off to school. Despite his lack of pedigree, he's one of the most valuable things in our home.
When I first laid eyes on the scarred French bookcase that now stands in our study, my heart did the same flip it did when we first met Boots. Dan and I unearthed the bookcase in a dusty old antique shop when we were on a trip. Bruised and battered, its glass doors didn't open properly, and it seemed a bit unsteady.
I'm sure a serious collector would have walked right by this towering, tottering treasure, but I was smitten. I lost my heart to the bookcase, not despite its flaws but because of them. Had it come with papers proving it had been built in 1878 by a famous French cabinet maker or that it stood in a salon at Versailles to witness the signing of a famous treaty, it could not be any more special to me.
My philosophy when selecting home furnishings of any age is very simple. Find pieces that are beautiful, comfortable and that are in keeping with your home, design style and daily lifestyle. Spend only what you're comfortable spending, because you don't have to invest a fortune to get lovely pieces that will be an asset to your home. And, by all means, remember that the only expert you have to please when selecting furniture is yourself.
Mary Carol Garrity is the proprietor of three successful home furnishings stores in Atchison, Kan. She is the author of several best-selling books on home decorating. Write to Mary Carol at nellhills@mail.lvnworth.com.
