I tried to give appropriate photo credit to "mad plumerian" in the link I listed, but it seems using quotes doesn't work.

Hi Blessedbe. I used to live in an incredible Streamlined Deco apartment building built in 1940, with terrazzo floors, glass block walls & steel casement windows with metal Venetian blinds 12 feet wide--the widest made--and although it's been 25 years since I lived there, I still love that sleek look. OK, so you don't mention whether your whole place is, like mine was, actually of the period, or if it's newer construction, and you also don't say whether you're going for an authentic period look--as though your bath might have been decorated during the era & somehow survived intact till now, or whether you're making a room that's about the era & the style. They're two totally different things. Either way, forget Maxfield Parrish & Alphonse Mucha. Both were wonderful artists, but they're both way earlier, and their lush colors & lavishly ornamental style have nothing to do with the slick, high-contrast style typical of late Art Deco that you're after. In fact, when Bette Davis' elegant movie characters were swooning about in sleek penthouses & nightclubs, both Mucha's & Parrish's artwork would have been considered hopelessly old-fashioned, and all that adding them into the mix would do is muddy the concept. Paris & San Francisco, on the other hand, were both sophisticated & up-to-date, with plenty of shops & theatres & apartments & hotels executed in just the glamourous style you're after. In fact, Paris' exhibition in 1937 & San Francsco's in 1939 represent the pinnacle of the style's development just before the dark days of WWII put a sudden end to the party. But watch out if you're thinking about using photos: there are a lot of classic photos of both cities that, like the Mucha & Parrish posters, would only confuse your decor. The Eiffel Tower is too old by half a century to say anything about the Art Deco era, and while the Golden Gate bridge is an icon of 1930s design, neither image would have been used to decorate a bathroom of the period. Nor would a picture of Bette Davis, talented though she was. No, those things--movie star portraits, photos of landmarks of the period, vintage magazine ads for, say, Evening in Paris perfume or Packard automobiles, covers from Fortune magazine or Vogue, colorful fruit crate labels, vintage travel posters featuring the Pan-American Clipper or the 2oth Century Limited--while perfect for a room that's ABOUT the period/style, are all wrong for a bathroom that's meant to look as though it's FROM the same period. OK, maybe a struggling actress or a shopgirl living on the cheap in an efficiency apartment might hang a picture of Bette Davis in her tiny bathroom, but only becasue she could tear it out of a magazine for free and hang it in a ten-cnt frame from Woolworth's. But a wall full of ads & commerical art wasn't likely to appeal to most people, even if they wanted to hang artwork in their baths, which generally, they didn't. For the upper classes--the target audience, after all, for the styles that we call (thanks to Kelly Werstler & Bevis Hiller) Hollywood Regency & Art Deco--the whole point of 1930s baths was Glamour Without Fussiness. That's why they went for rich or striking new materials on the walls--marble, Vitrolite, colored or engraved mirror--and often, strong color in the fixtures: by making beauty inherent in the materials themselves, they could eliminate superfluous ornamental touches. You wouldn't have found pretty crocheted doilies or dainty flower arrangements or frilly curtains in any high-style bathroom of the period. As Belle Watling said in 1939, "It wouldn't be fittin'." So, if you want a true period look but you still want a bit of decoration, you might try adding a stenciled (or taped) border (a zigzag, or a Greek key, or a very-authentic angel-fish-&-bubbles motif in black & one other color--there are lots of possibilities) just above the tiles or just below the ceiling. Stenciled & painted designs are an authentic look, because a border is actually part of the room rather than something in the room. And, on the other hand, if you're doing a room that's not intended in any way to be authentic but one that's, rahter, ABOUT the period, you have a lot more possiblities beyond the obvious cliches. If it's photos you want, look at the striking black-&-white images that Hedrich-Blesing took for the 1933 World's Fair here in Chicago. Their lustrous shot of the Chrysler building at night has gotta be the most drop-dead glamorous photo of the whole century. I think you can buy a reproduction from the Library of Congress. Or check out Ewdard Weston's work, if you don't know it. Once you've seen his voluptuous, suggestive photgraphs of produce, you'll never look at a green pepper the same way again. For Art Deco drawings, look up Hugh Ferris' work. His renderings of Hoover Dam are awesome. For posters, look at the work of A.M. Cassandre, or Joseph Binder, whose graphic work between the wars is some of the most powerful ever. And since this approach is not really authentic for the period, anyway, there's one more image that would fit in just fine with the style & also with the black-&-white scheme you've already got going on: Richard Estes' iconic painting "Drugs" from the Art Institute of Chicago. It's a 196Os piece, but the subject is a classsic late-1930s facade in curved black Vitrolite & bent glass, and I bet the AIC has it in reproduction. I hope this suggests the two different approaches you can take as you finish your room. Be sure to post some pics when you get your room the way you want. Regards, Magnaverde.

I have thoroughly enjoyed browsing all the photos and reading the stories of your collections here. Such beautiful pieces and wonderful, touching stories. To see most of mine, you'd think my home was full of antiques, which is far from the real deal, but these seem to be most of my most interesting non-art things. However, some of you have given me some ideas for things I could do in the future with things I have stored! This is a small collection of silver vases, albeit in need of some polish right now. My collection of miniature tea sets. This started with my aunt giving me her much-used Mickey Mouse set she had used back in the 30's as a child and a then-new set when I was about 8-years old (the blue and white delft set). The rest is a mix of old and new I picked up along the way as an adult. I also have a lot of old hankies that belonged to my grandmother and great-grandmother, and yes I use them at weddings and funerals. They made some of them, including the tatting on the edges. Gallery hallway of family photos (old and new) To honor our home states (Alabama and Ohio) I started looking for old maps of our states and regions. This is one of Alabama and of the Eastern US in our breakfast room. The next one is an Agricultural map of Ohio. I think I've posted enough. Thanks for viewing. BTW, those clocks are awesome! And I adore that mirror, and I can't say enough about that belly cast!

Image by: Yukon_Gold Yukon_Gold's Wire Art Wire & Copper Art - Adornments, Embellishments and Tools Adornments and Embellishments A variety of objects can be used to decorate your wire art piece such as: * Large or small marbles * Prisms/Crystals (from chandeliers) * Bells, whistles, and baubles * Buttons * Beads * Stones * Charms * Stained glass pieces and/or Beach glass * Broken or unwanted jewelry that still sparkles * Junk from your junk drawer * Doodads from your toolbox * Plastic marbles off the elastic hair tiebacks * Seashells from your last vacation * Suitcase padlocks that lost the key * Childrens metal toy jacks Use what you have and items that will withstand the weather for a time .... It's your art - design it however you'd like and make it personal! What tools to use * Wire cutters, light, medium and heavy duty * Pliers: needle nose, round nosed, and "everyday" (heavy wire cutters come as plier/cutter combo) * Dowels of various sizes -- cheap chopsticks, broom handles, wooden closet bar (check store for scrap ends of closet poles cut for other customers) * Rubber/latex gloves for better grip and less smelly, less green hands The diameter of the rod you use will determine the tightness of the spiral you are after. You can twist the wire by hand but it may help to have a pair of pliers handy. Notes from our members: Yukon_Gold tell us: I bought basket of larger seashells at dollar store for a buck, got other jewelry odds & ends, shiny buttons, brass jingle bells all for a donation at a Humane Society yard sale. The wooden heart was lettered "Bless This Home" by a child's hand, and I loved it. I used a combination of wooden spoon handle, old thread spool, pliers to make the bends in the wire ...... Not a lot of flourish, but I look at this art as having items of interest and something unusual to look at out in the garden areas. The fish copper art could go near a pool or hot tub. Mush adds this about her embellishments: The white thing is a little shell on top of a heart-shaped bead. The glass is beach glass that I have collected on trips to Barbados. And, YES, I am hooked! sonicsink says: I used wire that I got at the hardware store, marbles from the dollar store and crystals from an old chandelier that my parents were throwing out last year. And in another one - a super jumbo marble, one of many my dog found in a field about 5 years ago..even my dog is a junker LOL! ~~~ TIP: To get nice even 3D coils, use wooden dowels: chopsticks, 1/4", 1/2", 3/4" dowels, broomsticks and wooden closet bars. Wrap the wire close but not tightly around the dowel a few turns in one direction, then do a kind of twist to add a kink before continuing with a spiral in the opposite direction; this makes it much more visually interesting, good for a vine-like effect. Don't wrap the wire too tightly around the dowel or you might not get the wire off of the dowel. Once you've removed a 3D wire coil from a dowel, you can tighten or loosen it holding one or both ends of the wire and twisting your hand/hands. Wrap a couple turns of wire around a dowel that's about the diameter of a marble to make a starter socket for the marble; it's easier than trying to wrap the marble free-hand.