Patina
The design trick to giving a space a sense of place and decorating with little ones
We moved apartments about two and a half years ago when I was pregnant with my second child. Finding an apartment is no easy feat in Paris and often comes with stress and tears, so I was over the moon when we landed in our current place only weeks out from having a baby. With the due date looming, I didn’t have much time to really think about decorating as my time was committed to unpacking and organizing so we could welcome our baby to a somewhat orderly home.
Several months after the initial postpartum fog begin to lift, I looked around our apartment and started taking inventory of what we still needed. Thankfully most of our furniture worked well from our last apartment, but I immediately knew our living room needed that perfect, leather armchair. A chair where I could languish and read the Sunday paper, spend afternoons reading with my kids curled up in my lap, or offer a comfortable seat to a friend who has stopped by for a quick visit. I also knew I wanted a vintage chair, specifically a French chair from the 1930s or 1940s. So I started the hunt and after several months found one via Selency, a resale site selling European antique and vintage furniture.
When the chair was delivered, it was love at first sight. It had the perfect patina - like a pair of broken-in Levi’s. There was a small mark on the arm that the seller apologetically explained was from his daughter who had sat on the arm of the chair in a wet bathing suit when she was young. I was charmed by the story and found it to be proof this chair had been well-loved.
The perfectly-worn chair added that soulful element to our living room. It brought a warmth and invitation to come sit and put your feet up. I’ve always designed with the philosophy that you should never be the oldest thing in your room. Every space, regardless if it’s a contemporary design, traditional or somewhere in between, needs to have a piece or two (or three) that has a history. Maybe it’s not a piece of furiture but a painting found at a flea market or passed down from family, bookcases filled with old books or rugs that have traveled far and wide. Whatever it is, these patinaed pieces are what brings depth to a space.
I find in our current age, everything and everyone seems to lean toward perfectionism. From new, box store furniture to botox and veneers, the charming imperfections and signs of life have been erased. I personally find that this trend flattens a space and face. Year after year, Paris is voted the most beautiful city in the world largely because of it’s architecture which is hundreds of years old. What if we had a Baron Hausmann 2.0 who came and razed the city only to rebuild it with sleek skyscrapers and no signs of history? Then it would be called Dubai.
I love this clip from an interview with Ralph Lauren:
Patinaed furniture is also a savvy design trick not just for adding soul to a place but to be able to live with beautiful things with small children. Back to my leather chair, I was still in my honeymoon period with said chair and the unthinkable happened. My three-old found an ink pen and took to the chair stabbing holes into one side and scribbling on the seat. I’m embarrassed to say but I shed a few tears after assessing the “damage.” However, after I had a few days to reasses the ink marks and holes (and make it a teachable moment for my son), I realized that I needed to embrace this as added patina. How was his “penmanship” any different than the wet bathing suit mark? I rationalized the incident by belieiving my son had just added his story to the chair, and then I breathed a sigh of relief. My chair was still beautiful, even with a few extra marks, and I now had my own story to tell when its passed down, hopefully, to one of my kids.
If you are looking to add a bit of patina to your space, I would focus on items upholstered in leather and accent tables, rugs, mirrors, art or lamps. These smaller pieces can bring a visual weight and interest to a space especially if the rest of your larger upholstered pieces are new. Below are a few favorite finds that would add a touch of history to any room:
À la prochaine,
Kathryn
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Love love love this. ✨
I love your philosophy to never be the oldest thing in a room! Pieces with a bit of history are so much more interesting than anything assembled from a box.