We just returned from the “2012 Antiques and Garden Show of Nashville”, apparently the largest in the South. Even though we’re interior designers, we get asked a lot of garden furnishing, decorative element and container questions. It also helps that we share offices with a landscape architecture firm, Sitework Studios.

The show has everything from landscape garden displays to amazing antique statuary, urns, fountains, topiaries, trellises, and outside tables and seating. Pieces ranged from eighteenth century to mid twentieth. They were priced from hundreds of dollars to tens of thousands. There were local dealers and ones who had traveled from as far as Michigan, Maine and the United Kingdom. We were happy to start the Thursday evening preview party being greeted at the door with an icy glass of sunshine from the local favorite son, Jack Daniels. There we found garden containers in interesting combinations of copper, zinc, steel, galvanized metals and rusty wrought iron. Other pieces were made of terra cotta, marble, hand carved stone, limestone and concrete. Some pieces were chipped, dinged, rusted and cracked, with all levels of lichen, moss and algae. Other pieces were in amazingly beautiful condition, with only a slight patina considering their age and travels. They were priced accordingly. Most architectural pieces came from nineteenth century buildings in large American cities or Europe, predominantly France or England. Amazing iron gates, railings and doorways were from Argentina. In outside design, we consistently appreciate architectural fragments selectively placed throughout a garden or yard. And consider the fun and interest of doing that also inside your home. One thing to keep in mind when discovering these treasures is to be aware of their size. The scale of a piece will seem very different in a shop or display than it will in a much larger space. Small pieces can be tucked into little corners or recesses outside, but expansive areas call for bigger finds. And when shopping, be aware of actual antique pieces versus reproductions. A lot of shops today mix them both in. Some reproductions are pretty and well done. Their finishes can often be their most challenging aspect. Just don’t be fooled into paying real antique prices for them.

Hopefully Spring is coming, so happy shopping and happy gardening.
Jean and Richard