My thrifted elephant and the myth of the upturned trunk

I am pretty sure I first read that Elephant figurines must have upturned trunks in order to bring good luck to the home from a Rachel Ashwell/Shabby Chic book. Over time I saw that advice repeated elsewhere. Bad news for me, because:

This elephant was a thrift store half-off day find. Determined to redeem my own little elephant, and downturned-trunk-elephants the world over, I poked around on the Internet hoping to find the original source of the trunk myth.

What I found were pages celebrating all things elephant, the Indian god, Ganesha, and Thai and American sites that debunk the trunk-up thing. The lucky elephant motif has its roots in British colonialism and American's love of anything "exotic". The white elephant was rumored in the early 20th century to be the mark of Indian royalty. From Lucky Mojo:

"This "trunk up" belief has no apparent origin in Africa, India, or South East Asia where elephants are native, but is widespread in the USA, and many Asian and African amulet and statuary makers now produce trunk-up elephant statues for American buyers. It may have originated in the west-British and Irish belief that a lucky horseshoe must face upward or "the luck will run out.")"

In spite of elephant figures having their roots in colonialism and cultural appropriation, elephants can still symbolize all sorts of good things. The endangered elephant certainly deserves our love and respect. After all: "That’s because it’s not the trunk, but the elephant’s size and its ability to use its immense strength with gentleness and intelligence that has endeared the creature to man for centuries." (source)

Fall vignettes

With grad school starting I've failed to post in months, but I have still been devouring all my favorite blogs. And of course I decorated for the season. Here are a couple of the decorated nooks in the little Victorian:

The dining room/library mantel with the recycled felt leaf garland that I made one crafternoon in October to keep company with other seasonal elements-- a little harvest figure and a bundle of red leaves tucked into a vintage mason jar.

The peninsula between the kitchen and (what we use as) the living room: The wooden box, now piled high with farmers' market goodies, and the cast iron hand were $1 finds from two different yard sales! In the background is a vintage postcard garland collected over the years and a little fall garland made of fabric scraps and hemp twine.

Patchwork Rugs

Patchworked rugs combine something that is normally unapproachably expensive (vintage Persian rugs) with something practical, make-do and homey-- patchwork. A delicious mash-up. My great grandmothers left behind quilts made of clothes that could no longer be mended into wearability and I love the look of patched together rugs made of old rugs too damaged to be used intact.

I like to haunt various ebay sellers for approachably-priced combinations of patches that I like.

Antique mirror, Moroccan tables and General Awesome

I saved this photo ages ago and don't know where it came from except that the room was designed by Kristen Panitch. I love the mirror. What a find! I also appreciate the use of the simplified Moroccan tables in a way that transcends any cheesiness like having a a Moroccan themed space. In general this design does something I really admire-- it mixes classic and the contemporary pieces in a way that looks timeless and on-purpose rather than garage-sale-meets-target (which, I am afraid, is how I have been known to roll).

The Little Victorian is so not even close to being unpacked. Not even close.

Carrying on now.

Velvet, Cream and Grey-Teal

This is one of my favorite inspirational photos of an interior. Maybe it is nothing extraordinary to others but I just want to melt into that chaise. Simple but not cold. Accent walls normally annoy me (commit or don't!), but I love the deep grey-teal wall with the cream. The fireplace. The hydrangeas. The multiple mirrors. The storage. The basket. The floor lamp. The wee mercury glass tables. The glowing velvet of the pillows. Even the candelabra reflected in the mirror. This please. In the Little Victorian. Now.

Most of the furnishings come from Ochre, which is of interest since their products are contemporary but also lush and likable.

Source

Pillow Shams, a love letter

I am totally repulsed by the ugly ends of nekkid bed pillows wriggling out of the confines of an open ended pillow case. Ikea pillowcases (like other European cases) generally have a Wee Flap to prevent that problem, but the nearest Ikea is five hours away.

So: shams. Shams are a delightful solution for my too-busy-to-sew-right-now self. It is easier to put a pillow into a sham case than a regular pillow slip. Also, since The Chef has banned decorative pillows from our bed, the shams serve a dual function of keeping the pillows fully enclosed and looking neater and more "made" without using pillows that are (gasp) solely decorative.

Of course the kind of sham one wants to use for this purpose is the simplest kind-- just made of regular cotton sheeting (or linen or hemp or bamboo or whatever your fancypants self sleeps on). As an added bonus both standard sized pillows and king sized pillows can be smushed into a standard sham case. This is such a simple solution that I wonder why it isn't more common. Everyone should start doing this Now. Go forth and gird up your naked pillow ends!

Paint & Suffering

Dead Celery Yellow-Green was the original color of our dining room. Or at least that is what The Chef (/Bob/my spouse) called it. So we painted it the color at the top of this pyramid:

Restoration Hardware Glacier. The result was Not Swell. Lessons learned:

RH’s Glacier is a cool, clear, white-blue. I think it might reflect light sweetly in a bathroom with no windows or a gloomy room that needs cheer. Sadly, we used Glacier in the brightest room in our house. Also sadly, all the other paint colors in the house are more mid-toned and muddy. Glacier looked like it was literally Glowing On The Walls. Scary. No photo. We repainted before the brightness could sear my retinas.

It is also basically identical to Benjamin Moore’s Harbour Haze. Swanky designer, Jeffrey Bilhuber, once listed Harbour Haze as one of his favorite paint colors. I want to ask him where he uses it successfully, but I rather doubt he’ll post a comment on my blog to answer ;).

Alsoalso, the quality of RH’s paint struck me as so-so. It is a bit thin-ish and coverage is not its strong suit. But the Subtle Velvet finish is nice. And Restoration Hardware has some nice colors and a small enough deck to keep the anxious homwownwer from overwhelm. If you choose to use RH paint and not have it color matched elsewhere, don’t forget to stirstirstir because RH paint is pre-mixed and has been hanging out on a shelf for ages.