4th July ’17: The Treasure Shelf

Happy Friday, instapeeps.

Yesterday, after reading an article in a collectors’ magazine (I need to get out more), I came to the conclusion that I should have been born a Victorian. Victorians loved nothing more than collecting curios and ephemera (and, it seems, lovely words) and putting them on display, splicing aesthetic styles and not giving two hoots about whether things were ‘meant’ to go together. As for minimalism, that was considered in bad taste (quite right too). As a child, our front room had an original Victorian glass-fronted built-in cabinet that we called the ‘Treasure Cupboard.’ Shells and feathers gathered on holidays near and far, fossils collected by my dad near his childhood home in Kent, flamenco dolls bought for us by holidaying relatives: all of these and more ended up in the Treasure Cupboard. I can still remember the seasidy smell of it to this day (I swear I could even hear the sea when I opened those doors) and the joy of peering through the glass at its assorted treasures. One of them was this Algarve cockerel, bought on a holiday to Portugal when I was three and who now lives on my own ‘Treasure Shelf.’ I’m of the opinion that every house needs a treasure shelf where functionality takes second place to beauty and memories. Do you have one?

Martha,  The Colour File x

One thought on “4th July ’17: The Treasure Shelf

Leave a Reply