Ribbon: Versatile Textile

Being creative is not so much the desire to do something as the listening to that which wants to be done: the dictation of the materials. ~ Anni Albers

Happy mid-summer!

There have been some ups and downs so far at my "summer serenity cottage," the house I'm renting for three months of contemplation, rejuvenation, and decoration!

You've seen some of these ups and downs if you've been reading this blog. And you also know that my regular beloved place in downtown Chicago is nearing year two of a roofing job gone wrong, and is currently being subjected to intolerable noise and vibration almost twenty-four hours a day due to improper placement of neighbors' air conditioning condenser lines inside the wrongly de-soundproofed roof. 

Instead of only saying no to something intolerable -- which is absolutely a good idea! -- I decided also to say yes to something soothing, meaningful, and creative: contemplation, rejuvenation, and decoration at a summer house! 

The house, a "fixer" built in 1906, is in Chicago, not the countryside, though in a secluded and secret area of Chicago that used to be countryside and in places still feels like the country. Of course, the entire Great Lakes region used to be post-glacier Nature, but you understand what I mean: this house inside Chicago city limits feels like a cottage in Michigan or Wisconsin! 

Here is a view from the beautiful prairie restoration area a few steps from the cottage.

And so, now at the mid-point of summer, with all of the transformations -- painful or cheerful -- happening in the cottage and in the world as I decorate this vintage cottage new and we dream a Golden Age of empathy and equality anew, why not take a moment to remember: summer is fun!

From there, we can hop to: ribbons are fun!

What do ribbons have to do with the Great Lakes decorating theme I've chosen for my summer interior decorating project, you may ask?

Plenty!

Ribbons in Europe were traditionally seen as decorative textiles for the rich. Ribbons came to the Great Lakes region with the French in the late 1700s. Fancy clothes were no longer the trend in France after the French Revolution, but Indians knew style when they saw it. They traded for silk ribbons, and created their own local style of ribbonwork applique. 

I have always loved textiles, and I have always loved the elegance, femininity, and carefree attitude that can be evoked with ribbons. Ribbons can be practical as well as decorative, and I have used them, mostly grosgrain, in a number of ways in decorating the cottage.

Let's face it: ribbons are fun! 

Summer is fun! 

("Women's art" including textile art has been undervalued!)

Unplug from the fake gloom, fake tv, fake world, and you see that Life is fun! Life is light and lightheartedness, bliss and beauty, and don't let those who would profit from terror tell you otherwise!

Ribbon in the guest room

I'm still planning to do a post on the guest room, in which I've kept my Great Lakes / nautical theme and blue-and-white color scheme, while adding touches of sunny yellow. 

Here is an advance peek into the room, showcasing ribbon as inexpensive decor element and curtain tie-back.

Ribbon in the dining room

The cottage came with an organ in the dining room. I don't know why, and that's ok; I think a former tenant played. I keep rearranging the dining room a tiny bit here and a tiny bit there, and am still planning a dining room blog post. 

The organ is non-rearrangeable in terms of moving it, which is fine: it has character, I play a few chords from time to time, and it makes a nice book stand.

Plus, a ribbon makes a nice bookmark. 

(Cheerful yellow ribbon + stabbingly dark yet funny, and fully fabulous, Flannery O'Connor stories + an unexplained electric organ = a happily absurd sunny day in O'Connor-style modern American Gothic ;)

Ribbon in the walk-in closet 

I created an upstairs walk-in closet / dressing room out of a spare room adjacent to my bathroom upstairs -- post to come!

My Ecuador hat came with a black ribbon, as Ecuador hats do.

This pouf that I ordered for the cottage living room now enjoys its new spot in the walk-in closet / dressing room. It has a ribbon-esque design that I like and that fits the themes.

Ribbon in the home office

Who designed the world to fit 6-foot men, whether placing cabinets up high, situating seat belts so that they cut your throat if you're petite, or making so many other little items non-accessible or non-adjustable, causing big aggravation? You say a 6-foot man did? I see! Well, it's time for a new world, isn't it, a Golden Age of empathy and equality in matters small and large!

I couldn't reach the short little chains hanging from the ceiling fixture to turn the light and fan on and off, so I stood tiptoe on a chair (I should have brought a stepstool from my regular place; oh well) and tied ribbons to the chains -- white for fan, yellow for light -- so that now I can stand comfortably and securely on the floor and pull the ribbons to work the controls!

There's another ceiling fan outside the home office, in a space that leads to my bedroom; same treatment!

Ribbon in the main bedroom

Some decorative fun: the burlap-and-lace ribbon wrapped a parcel of vintage Spode dishes I ordered for the cottage from the BeVintageTreasure Etsy shop and now rests in a bedroom book nook. 

Baker's string adds a little zing to the nightstand, which I brought from my regular place -- both nightstand and baker's string.

Jorji the cat likes playing with ribbon -- who doesn't! She also likes sleeping on crunchy paper atop a cacao sack that I was going to hang on the wall in the home office until she claimed it as a cat bed. 

Everything Jorji wants to be her bed is her bed, including my bed, and the cacao sack "bed" happens to be in the space outside the home office leading to my bedroom.

Ribbon on the front door

The ribbons I tied onto the doorknob of the storm door on the front porch announce the blue-and-white color scheme before you even set foot inside! 

(Oh, the porch. The porch and I have reached a detente. Don't panic when you see the porch.)

Ribbon on (or as) keychain

Why not! Fun!

Ribbon how-to

By the way, cutting ribbon so that you get that nice little notch or V shape is easy: just pinch the end of the ribbon into an inward fold, and snip diagonally outward with scissors. 

You could make confetti with the little notch snip-outs! : )

Here's to imagination and practicality, light and lightheartedness, Great Lakes heritage and homage, and decorating with rippling ribbons and Golden Age attitude!

Your friend in decorating (wearing a ribbon as a bracelet!),

Valerie

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Thank you!