I’d been wanting to find a set of floral prints for my living room ever since I saw a gorgeous pair in Florida, similar to these but with pink fabric matting. I didn’t buy them because they seemed like such a hassle to get back to California at the time. I regretted it ever since. So when I spotted these elegant rose prints at Roundtop Antique Week in Texas back in March I knew they were mine. I loved the textured cream fabric matte and the thin color frames even more than the pair I saw in Florida. Obviously the rose prints are so pretty too, they’re really delicate which is calming to my soul. 

Due to their large size, I had to ship them back to San Francisco and it took about six weeks until they arrived. I found them just a few hours before I had to catch my flight so I didn’t even realize until I got home that I never even researched the history of the prints! As soon as they arrived, I looked up the artist to learn that they’re by a french artist named Pierre-Jospeh Redouté. Apparently he was one of the first and most famous botanists artists from the early 1800s, Marie Antoinette had hired him to record the floral collection in her garden. These are obviously reprints; the story is that the Bombay Company purchased a few originals in the 1980s and made these special enlarged reproductions. I looked them up and they’re going for a decent price on Chairish, 1st Dibs and eBay, here is a similar pair that I also like. 

I plan to enjoy them for many years to come! I originally thought I’d stack them side by side or on top of one another but they’re just too big for my apartment walls, which is saying a lot since I have pretty high ceilings. I settled on framing my french doors and I like the way it turned out. The size of them really helps to balance and elevate the room! 

My living room is feeling so fresh and airy lately but it’s still always a work in progress, I would like to taper down some of the gold and anchor the room with a wood coffee table and some sort of storage cabinet. I’d like both of these pieces to be vintage so I’m being patient while I hunt! A few of the pieces in my apartment I inherited from the close of our SF and LA stores and since we used to use my living room for our headquarter offices I needed some furniture when we closed! It’s been bittersweet saying goodbye to them but also such a sign of growth and evolution. And don’t worry, I am keeping the few, like the rose bar cart that we found at the Alameda Flea!