Early autumn re-runs: How do I decorate my Tuscany dining room
This post ran originally on 27 February 2009. I used to be a lot more blunt in my reader question posts then I am these days but I think if I were asked this same question tomorrow I'd respond the same way.
Help! I am within the system of gutting my first ground and I'm going to get a Tuscany eating room. I want to beautify the room with bunches of dried roses however I'm concerned that they may be now not right for a Tuscany topic.
Oh man, there is so much wrong here I don't know in which to start. Before you spend a dime, forestall what you're doing. Stop after which take $1500 out of your budget and fly to Florence for multiple days. Well, perhaps $2000. Whatever it prices, it will have a fee that transcends its charge. You see, even as you are there you may stare upon what the actual Tuscany looks like and with a bit of luck you may forget all approximately this dining room you have in thoughts. Oh, and as a factor of order, Tuscany is a noun and Tuscan is an adjective. What you have in mind is a Tuscan dining room, now not a Tuscany eating room. If I have whatever to mention approximately it you might not have either, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
This Tuscan issue which you see for your thoughts is an entirely American invention. It's now not even an homage, it's a caricature. Here's what a dining room in the actual Tuscany seems like.
Note the dearth of bunches of dried roses. There are not any faux sunflowers or clots of plastic grapes either. There are not any framed posters with nonsensical Italian phrases hanging on the wall, nor is there any fake painted brick. It's a primary, small desk jammed into the gap no longer already taken up via a tiny kitchen. It's neat as a pin, it's easy and it's orderly. But real Tuscan style isn't always approximately decor or themed eating rooms. It's approximately perspectives like this.
Or views like this.
Views like that beget a worldview it is entirely Tuscan and how matters appearance over there are a made from that worldview. The real Tuscany is set making the exceptional use of a small space. The real Tuscany is about embracing lifestyles, it's approximately authenticity, it's approximately great over quantity in everything. There's no subject matter here, there may be no try and recreate a mag unfold or a dream house from some Developer's unimaginative thoughts. The truth of the matter is that until you could see the Arno river bypass under your eating room window, no quantity of muddle will provide you with a "Tuscany dining room."
Man! That room up there burns my eyes. Please do not do some thing like that during your house. Sorry to be so brutal however what you are asking is for some sort of permission to show your own home into a miniature Las Vegas and that's some thing I refuse to go along with.
Listen, your dining room and indeed your whole home should tell your story, not somebody else's. The things you decorate with should be your things and if you're going to buy a dining table, buy one that's classic enough and made well enough that you can pass it on to your kids. Then in 50 years when it's in your daughter's home that same table will tell your story as it passes into her story. I suspect that's the feeling you're after. A feeling of permanence and a feeling of knowing you belong somewhere. That sort of thing isn't a theme, it's a way of life.
So in case you need to bring some Tuscan sensibilities on your dining room, by means of all approach accomplish that. But study the real location, no longer The Venetian or the Bellagio. While you are taking part in the quick jaunt over to Florence I so strongly propose, have your photo considering the Duomo in the historical past then get it blown up and framed. Hang it in your eating room. I don't think it is viable to get more Tuscan than Florence, and it is going to be yours. Authentically.
If you like bunches of dried roses, pass for it. Just make sure that you want them and that you're no longer just including them to advance some form of ill-cautioned subject matter. So as opposed to asking me if they're appropriate, the man or woman to ask is you. What do bunches of dried roses say approximately you? If you're glad with the answer than cling them through the bushel. If you're no longer satisfied with the solution then do not. If you're no longer certain then do not do something. It's pretty easy simply.