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| How I applied vintage to my decorating for the holidays: vintage postcards and a little table topper tree filled with simple ornaments. |
I came across this book completely by chance and decided to take it home and study its pages after my sister sweetly found a 50% off coupon making the book priced too good not to take home. Inside of this book are colorful pages and detailed photographs of Christmas ornaments, lights, and assorted decorating goods from Christmases past.
For the most part, I was pleasantly surprised that the bulk of this book covers 1940s Christmas items with some Victorian, Edwardian, and other mid- century holiday goods. The author, Bob Richter, also offers his best advice on creating a vintage Christmas look for your own home with ideas on gifts, how to creatively use vintage ornaments, and simply how to bring back nostalgia and charm of the past to make your Christmas beautifully vintage. A Very Vintage Christmas is more than a reference book, it is a history of Christmas ornaments book, a decorating book, an easy to read mini identification guide and much more.
For the most part, I was pleasantly surprised that the bulk of this book covers 1940s Christmas items with some Victorian, Edwardian, and other mid- century holiday goods. The author, Bob Richter, also offers his best advice on creating a vintage Christmas look for your own home with ideas on gifts, how to creatively use vintage ornaments, and simply how to bring back nostalgia and charm of the past to make your Christmas beautifully vintage. A Very Vintage Christmas is more than a reference book, it is a history of Christmas ornaments book, a decorating book, an easy to read mini identification guide and much more.
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| A Look at my Own Collection of Vintage Christmas and New Years Post Cards. |
I think what makes this book so special is that the author uses his own find holiday memories and ornaments as the basis for this book. For the bulk of the book, the ornaments and images are from his own collection of Christmas ornaments which was began when his father suggested he begin to collect something. Throughout this work, there are numerous colorful and joyous images of ornaments dating from the 20s to the 40s and beyond to the 60s that detail how ornaments have changed over time and how decorating has evolved as well. This book is not a traditional text book or even decorating book. In fact, I think that this book is a friendly balance of both.
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| Turn of the century Christmas postcard from my own collection |
From 1940s magazines with glamorous ladies gracing their covers to 1920s ornaments fashioned from cardboard can covered in pink glitter, Richter discusses briefly how to date ornaments and what to look for. One thing I thought was interesting was how to date ornaments from the 40s. Using Mercury glass balls as the primary example, Richter points out that the pre- war and early war ones have that beautiful solid colored shimmer to them courtesy of the mercury coating inside of the balls. As the war continued, manufactures omitted the mercury and other metallic interior finishes to reserve resources for the war effort. Other 40s ornaments included those with patriotic shapes and colors. Besides how to determine if mercury balls, and others, are from the early or late years, Righter takes a look too at how to separate original ornaments from reproductions.
Knowing your ornaments is only half the battle (if you want to be authentic) and putting it all together is another. I found it really fun to read Richter’s ideas on how to put it all together and how to bring vintage into Christmas regardless of how far you want to go. A small way to bring vintage to your Christmas was to add a simple vintage ornament to the tree or else have a bowl of shimmering ornaments sitting on a table. Another way to bring vintage to your holiday flair was to have period holiday movie posters or magazines framed here or there. How much vintage you choose to add is entirely up to you but the best part of it suggests Richter is that it is a great way to connect to the past and bring nostalgia back to Christmas.
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| Turn of the century Christmas postcard form my own collection |
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised how good this book really was. I thought it offered a really interesting platform for education on vintage ornaments from finding, buying, identifying, and storing as well as ideas on displaying them to bring this age old glamour to your own home. If you don’t want a full on reference book but still want to know ornaments, I would highly recommend this book for sure because it is a reference book with a spin. It is easy to read, fun to page through, and bursting with great ideas. Want an interesting decorating book? Again, I would recommend this book because it shows you a little history of each ornament or décor item and what is better than knowing a little history about what you are using for decorating?
After owning this book and pouring over its pages, I have to say that I will no longer be a simple admirer of ornaments but a buyer. I am excited to get to looking for some ornaments for myself and for my own future Christmas tree. I suppose if a book can inspire you to start to collect something else, then it much be a good book, yes? Besides ornaments, Richter's use of vintage in decoration actually inspired me to buy bits and pieces of vintage holiday postcards. Right now I have them at the base of my little dresser tree and I love the look they give off.
