Kathryn Greeley is definitely not a stranger around here! She is a true expert on entertaining and using collections. I’ve learned so much about antiques and vintage pieces from her. Today, she’s sharing her top tips for starting, building and enjoying a collection. Enjoy!
It’s a bit tricky to narrow down my best advice for collecting. However, years ago I purchased a lot of lovely antiques from Byerly’s Antiques in Greensboro, NC. A delightful woman who I just loved, Emaline Britton, worked at Byerly and I purchased so many pieces in my blue and white collection (like the ones shown below) from her.
She always recommended these three tips:
- Buy the best quality you can afford.
- Don’t wait if you really love it, because it will be gone.
- Above all use your collections!!
I truly believe that Emaline greatly influenced my “Collected , Not Decorated” design philosophy. Sadly she is now deceased, but her advice and passion for collecting lives on in me every day!
I now buy so many special antiques from the third generation of Byerlys, my wonderful young friend David Byerly, who owns Black Sheep Antiques in High Point, NC. He was trained from childhood by Emaline and shares her same advice on collecting with his customers today.
~Kathryn
P.S. For more advice on starting or using a collection, be sure to check out Kathryn’s book The Collected Tabletop. xoxo, Tobi
Collections have such great memories as well! One of the things I love best in my collections, are all the places I have visited and added to the collections!