Friday, April 13, 2012

Another fun and fabulous event!!

Everyone is back from spring break and the weather is getting better and better.  Driving through the neighborhoods around the Main Line I see everyone getting a spring cleanup, with lots of pruning and new mulch going in.  Warm weather entertaining is just around the corner!  Are you prepared?



Join us for a fun party and help support such a worthy cause.

Tuesday April 24 6-9pm

Many shops in Eagle Village will be open and featuring special items, pricing, and guest vendors for the First Annual Spring Fling to benefit JDRF.



Interiors has a fabulous selection of warm weather entertaining items and great hostess gifts.  Shopping, cocktails, and girlfriends - yes please!

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Blue & White - just a touch

One of our favorite decorative accessories is blue and white ceramic.  Plates, jars, vases - it's all good.  Sometimes people love the look, but don't want to go to far.  This photo is a great example of how and a few plates on the mantle can have a great effect.


Friday, January 27, 2012

Why we LOVE Sea Grass Baskets





 Flip through any shelter magazine and you guaranteed to see at least one sea grass basket.




Why? Because they are the perfect compliment to any room and any style of decor. That added little something that is functional and beautiful.





If your style is contemporary, traditional, or transitional - the sea grass basket is a work horse.




The good ones are like a piece of furniture and worth every penny. The cheap knock-offs will fall apart in a year - don't be temped.


The good news is we finally have sea grass baskets back in stock at Interiors.We have several different shapes and sizes and plenty more on the way.




Once you have one you'll wonder how you managed before!



 Love...



 Love....


 Love....




Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Christmas Stroll

We are so excited about our upcoming Christmas event this year. We are expecting a huge turn out. There will be carolers, decorations, food and drink in all the participating stores. A portion of the proceeds from the sales that evening will go straight to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Such a worthy cause!

The following Eagle Village stores will be participating:

Interiors for the Home
J. McLaughlin
Gramercy Boutique
Skirtin Around
Silver Moon Studio
Christa's
Menegerie

Vanessa Fox herself will be at Gramercy with her clothing line.

The fabulous Lisi Lerch will be at Interiors.

Lighted luminaries will lead you from store to store.


For more information please call the store (610-989-9665) or take a look at the postcard below.










Hope to see you there!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

The Gravy Boat




In many American homes the Thanksgiving table setting would not be complete without one unusual serving piece: The Gravy Boat.

Gravy boats came into fashion in the late seventeenth century with the arrival of French sauces. The vessel's rise in popularity may have been aided by the introduction of the fork, which made it possible for members of the upper class to eat meat with sauce without sullying their hands. The gravy boat was part of every formal dinner setting and a commonplace item at everyday meals well into the twentieth century. They were made in England, France and Germany, countries known for their fine china and silver - and were exported to America shortly after they began appearing in Europe.

Sauces and gravies were once the most anticipated part of a meal, but they fell out of favor in the late twentieth century, as health conscious Americans spurned the fatty, the creamy, and the caloric. Along with their contents, gravy boats have all but disappeared from the American table, although collectors still find them in thrift shops and on the Internet.


We are thrilled to have in-stock at Interiors for the Home and fine selection of vintage and antique gravy boats for sale. Perfect for the Thanksgiving and holiday table and a fabulous gift for the collector.

We are open 10:00-5:00 pm in Eagle Village Shops in Wayne, PA.


Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Tavern Signs



Before streets had names and houses had numbers, and when few people could read, painted and carved sign-boards and figures were used to identify a place of business.

Not only innkeepers, but men of all trades sought signs that either for quaintness, appropriateness, or costliness would attract the eyes of customers. Signs were painted and carved in wood, modeled in plaster, painted on tiles, wrought of various metals, and even were made of stuffed animal heads.







As education progressed, signs were less needed, and when thoroughfares were named with sing-posts set up and houses numbered, the use of business signs vanished. They lingered sometimes on account of their humor, sometimes because they were a guarantee of an established business, but chiefly because people were used to them.







Many people collect signs and sayings as a way to add character to their home. We love the idea of a beautiful vintage carved sign in a casual or eclectic space and were thrilled when we came across these:

What a great way to add interest and a new dimension to your kitchen or family room! The carved signs are interchangeable so you can decorate with the seasons or holiday. Best of all the arrow bracket hangs with only one nail or screw.






The wheat can be left up all year.




The turkey is perfect for autumn.




The candy canes have working bells on them.





Love the reindeer!




A happy Santa.




The bee hive is one of the most popular in spring.


For more information on tavern signs read on!

Many of the apparently meaningless names on tavern signs come through the familiar corruptions of generations of use, through alterations both by the dialect of speakers and by the successive mistakes of ignorant sign-painters. Thus "The Bag o' Nails," a favorite sign, was originally "The Bacchanalians." The familiar "Cat and Wheel" was the "Catherine Wheel," and still earlier "St. Catherine's Wheel," in allusion to the saint and her martyrdom. The "Goat and Compass" was the motto "God encompasseth us." "The Pig and Carrot" was the "Pique et Carreau" (the spade and diamond in playing cards).

"The Bull and Mouth" celebrates in corrupt wording the victory of Henry VIII. in "Boulougne Mouth" or Harbor. In London the Bull and Mouth Inn was a famous coach office, and the signboard bore these lines:--

"Milo the Cretonian
An ox slew with his fist,
And ate it up at one meal,
Ye Gods! what a glorious twist."

Twist was the old cant term for appetite.

Benjamin West painted many tavern signs in the vicinity of Philadelphia, among them in 1771 that of the Three Crowns, a noted hostelry that stood on the King's High-way in Salisbury Township, Lancaster County. This neighborhood was partly settled by English emigrants, and the old tavern was kept by a Tory of the deepest dye. The sign-board still bears the marks of the hostile bullets of the Continental Army, and the proprietor came near sharing the bullets with the sign. This Three Crowns was removed in 1816 to the Waterloo Tavern, kept by a relative of the old landlord. The Waterloo Tavern was originally the Bull's Head, and was kept by a Revolutionary officer.

The Bull's Head Inn of Philadelphia had a sign suited to its title; it was sold in the middle of this century to an Englishman as the work of Benjamin West. The inn stood in Strawberry Alley, and West once lived in the alley; and so also did Bernard Wilton, a painter and glazier, in the days when the inn was young and had no sign-board. And as the glazier sat one day in the taproom, a bull ran foaming into the yard and thrust his head with a roar in the tavern window. The glazier had a ready wit, and quoth he: "This means something. This bull thrust his head in as a sign, so it shall be the sign of the inn, and bring luck and custom forever." I think those were his words; at any rate, those were the deeds.

The Revolutionary War developed originality in American tavern signs. The "King's Arms," "King's Head," "St. George and the Dragon," and other British symbols gave place to rampant American eagles and portraits of George Washington. Every town had a Washington Tavern, with varied Washington sign-boards.

The landlord of the Washington Inn at Holmesburg, Pennsylvania, one James Carson, issued this address in 1816:--

"Ye good and virtuous Americans--come! whether business or pleasure be your object--call and be refreshed at the sign of Washington. Here money and merit will secure you respect and honor, and a hearty welcome to choice liquors and to sumptuous fare. Is it cold? You shall find a comfortable fire. Is it warm? Sweet repose under a cool and grassy shade. In short, every exertion shall be made to grace the sign of the hero and statesman who was first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen."

About 1840 one Washington Tavern in Philadelphia, on Second and Lombard streets, displayed a sign which was a novelty at that time. It was what was known as a "slat-sign"; perpendicular strips or slats were so set on the sign that one view or picture was shown upon taking a full front view, a second by looking at it from one side, a third from the other. The portrait of Washington and other appropriate pictures were thus shown.