Garden mementos on the windowsill
I have a nice view of the back patio through my office window, where I spend most of my time when I’m at home. But I’d never thought to decorate the windowsill until I visited designer/author Rebecca Sweet’s garden last summer. In her “chick shack,” a charming shed-to-office conversion, Rebecca displays sentimental collections and mementos, and I loved the personal touch these objects added to the room and to the view.
When I got home I took a new look at my office windowsill, which was blocked by haphazard furniture placement, and realized I could open up the view by shoving over my drafting table and placing a storage ottoman under the window instead. Now I was free to place a few meaningful objects on the sill.
I’m not a natural stylist like Rebecca, but no matter. The fun of it, for me, is making a collection that is meaningful: reminders of vacations, family, and friends, objects that connect to the garden on the other side of the glass. It’s easy to change around on a whim or as you acquire something new.
My current windowsill arrangement includes, from left to right, a zebra plant in an Esther pot that I bought at Flora Grubb in San Francisco last summer; a wooden wren made in New England that was a gift from my in-laws in honor of my daughter, whose middle name is Wren; a metal starfish just because; a succulent candle in a terracotta pot; a Keep Austin Weird tile from South Austin Gallery; a sweet, little pot from the Wildflower Center that my friend Dee Nash gave me when she visited recently, into which I popped a tillandsia; and a pot I bought at Spruce to hold a collection of Oklahoma rose rocks, another gift from Dee six years ago when she came to Austin for the first Garden Bloggers Fling. I was born in Oklahoma, and although I only lived there as a baby before my parents moved us to South Carolina, where I grew up, we used to drive “home” to Oklahoma every summer to visit family. So these rocks speak to me of family and barefoot childhood summers on red-dirt roads.
So do you keep any mementos or garden decor on your office windowsill? If so, I hope you’ll share a description or a link to a photo!
All material © 2006-2014 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
Sweet. I don’t have those wide sills but I do have a couple of things on my window ledge. A brass roadrunner,a brass mouse plus a necklace with a glass pendant and a window stained glass hanging. Maybe I can get a picture and put a story line together for those items.
I hope you will, Lisa. I’d love to hear the stories behind your windowsill objects. —Pam
I am not lucky enough to have the same deep sills that you do, however I have small collections of meaningful objects through put the house, can’t imagine living without them!
Loree, you and Rebecca are the masters of arranging. Your mantle displays are always stunning, and I enjoy when you post about them, especially around Christmas. —Pam
My windowsills are quite narrow so no tchotckes for me. Besides my window spaces are reserved for the cats and the houseplants (which are vital to my sanity during the long New England Winters)!
I’m sure you are wise to reserve space for the cats at the windows. What memento could be more meaningful than a pet anyway? —Pam
What an inspiring post! Your rose rocks sent me scrambling to remember where were my rose rocks? For years my rose rocks were in a box, safe. They finally ended up in a stepping stone made of remains of MIL’s broken vase. Tiny pieces of coral from somebody’s vacation and the rose rocks made flowers for the piece.
I think that’s a wonderful use for a collection of rocks — making it into garden decor. I bet your artful stepping stone holds a lot of memories for you. —Pam
Oh Pam…I’ll have to take a photo of my windowsill at work. I’ve got magpie tendencies and if I find something I like whilst doing field work, or on trip, I’ll just pick it up and put it on the windowsill. So right now I’ve got 9 pots of plants, 5 metal things found around railroads, 3 knickknacks from coworkers’ vacations, a few bottle caps, some marbles, pieces of broken plates and bottles, various rocks, a few deer rib bones, a deer antler, a few small bone pieces, a christmas tree ornament from one of the 360 christmas trees, a wooden dinosaur, a wooden tea box, 3 fossils, and a red-tail hawk feather. Yep. Magpie tendencies.
Katina, you have quite a collection! My husband’s grandmother collected similar natural objects from the canyon behind her house. Whenever we visited there were always new treasures to investigate. —Pam
I love this concept and I think your collection is fab! I love the story behind each object. Unfortunately our windowsills are only a few inches wide so I couldn’t swing this but we do have shelves where I place such objects.
Everyone except the minimalists finds a place to display a few meaningful objects, don’t they? —Pam
Like some of the others offering comments, my windowsills aren’t deep enough to hold much but I do have mementos of various kinds strewn about my own home office – an orchid that had belonged to my mother-in-law, rescued from her house after she passed away last year; a dish created by my sister-in-law; a small quilted wall-hanging created by a friend as a b-day present; a tray my father bought for my mother when he was in military service…They all create a warm sense of place, even if it is used for work. Thanks for the post.
Yes, a warm sense of place — exactly, Kris. —Pam
The windowsills here belong to our cats but many other spaces in our house are used to display cherished items. My daughter once commented my fondness for what I call “vignettes” reminded her of the Ya-Ya book title “Little Altars Everywhere”.
Your little altar is a wonderful liminal space, and I hope you’ll share it with us time and time again as your collections shift and grow.
I love your phrase “liminal space,” Deb. That’s exactly what I was going for — bridging the gap between inside and out. —Pam
Very nice! I only have a small windowsill above my kitchen sink. I have a collections of unique rocks from places I’ve been. Not sure why I am so drawn to rocks, but I noticed that my granddaughter also enjoys a “good rock”
Brenda
Rocks speak to us, I think, because they represent earth’s history and are so tactile. Plus they are simply beautiful. —Pam