I decorate, therefore, I am. I was at an estate sale in Stockbridge, Mass., recently and found the most wonderful vintage wall hanging for my hallway. It is perfect — absolutely perfect — against the passionate peach walls, which coordinate with the passionate peach streaks of color in the resilient tile in the hall, original to the house. And the wall hanging itself — beautifully rendered!
The artistry in this wall hanging is a marvel, a delight. It seems basically to be a “weaving”. The long strings were tied vertically, high to low… then the vase full of flowers was woven in with chunkier yarn.
Above: The artist was Primm ffrench — that’s her woven signature, above. This house was full of all manner of wonderful treasures.
Above: This hall has always been an interesting space — the vintage vinyl composite tiles are just 6″ x 6″ square — an odd size. The wall hanging is sized perfectly — that’s a lot of blank wall in a kind of tight space — and while the wall hanging is large, it’s also quite “airy” because of its peek-a-boo design. It’s like — it was designed just for this spot!
This is the kinda crafty artistry that we could all try our hand at. But, I bet it is wicked difficult to pull off well. Primm ffrench had it goin’ on.
Part of the story is that I almost didn’t get this. I noticed it on the wall shortly after I came in. There was no price tag, so I asked about it. The helper said if the tag was gone, that meant someone had claimed it. I was at the sale for quite a while, though… and maybe an hour later, finally checking out, the wall hanging was still there. I asked the leader of the sale what was up. He helped me go take a closer look — and sure enough, the price tag had fallen behind a piece of furniture in front of the wall hanging.
NABBED!
I’m so happy this lovely work found its way into my house. It gives me a zing of happiness every time I approach it.
I work at a thrift store, and its amazing how much embroidery, hand knitted, and crocheted items are donated. They are very dated, and you wonder about the ladies that put sooo much time and love into these projects. Its dis-heartening when they get tossed due to the age of the item. I have retrieved many items from the dumpster, and sold them on eBay. I currently am restoring a 1961 trailer home entirely with eBay proceeds. (:
Charming! It seems to have the perfect spot, your hallway. I love your streaky floor tile. It looks original. The colors are great. Sigh.
Well said!