Telling stories

I might be preaching to the choir, but if you are among those that don't know this, your favorite design magazines have really beefed up their online presence. While coasting through House Beautiful online, I ran across a series about their style director, Newell Turner, and his country house in the Catskills. There are room by room slide shows and videos taped by him as he explains his design process, and the choices he made building his home. I paid particular note to his dining area (duh!). He made note of his grandmother's fish plates that are displayed on the back wall, and how he constructed a narrative with these old plates and some new ones he added in. I love when people tell their stories with the things they love and live with. It makes rooms come alive, and while it may not be "your style" you can certainly respond to the stories being told. By the way, I zeroed in on the new John Derian decoupage lemon plates he used. For those that know me, I have a slight obsession with lemons and limes (more on this later...) Of course, I would use them as dessert plates rather than hang them, but they do add a fresh twist (pun intended) to the antique fish plates.