INTERIOR DESIGN: THE ART OF THE VERSAILLES WINDOW SILL

Interior design claims to have six modern styles.

Six?

I’ve got more than six styles in my garage before going in the house.

But stepping through that door starts the real interior design challenge. Where to start?

Since I live in a house with windows there’s only one question, and it’s not who didn’t washed them.

It’s, “What goes on wide window sills?”

I found fifteen answers, but nothing definitive.

Besides, why not let the windows speak for themselves instead of:

Unfortunately, too many times we forget the details of our house. Small nooks and crannies don’t get paid any attention to and parts of the home go bare. Window sills are one of those places. This is a shame since there are so many wonderful, adorable ways to decorate them!!

More Stuff Than Window Sill Space?

Has anyone ever moved to a new place and wondered what to put on window sills?

Or why a window sill needs decorating when it gets in the way of opening a functioning window and things could break?

This is one of the long-game keys to interior design: if you break things, you replace things. Call it the Circle Of Glass.

The main rule is break one, buy two.

Or, if you’re more of a seasonal designer, dip into the collection for two more. Why waste good space, you minimalist.

Small nooks and crannies don’t get paid any attention to and parts of the home go bare. Window sills are one of those places.

Are window sills really one of those places? Not if you ask yourself why nooks or crannies need ‘things’ to bring out its hidden beauty.

The problem is wide, showcase-looking, window sills report their bareness more than any nook or cranny.

Keep this in mind while you plan:

An empty window sill is not confessing to an empty life. The same principle applies to a crowded window sill.

You’ll know the sweet spot when you see it.

Trophy Window Sills Block The View

What doesn’t belong on a window sill?

A documented hunk of the Berlin Wall? A 10,000 bill of Iraq currency? A Lewis and Clark compass?

Those things are waiting for their chance on the big stage. Until then they hide in fear of the Goodwill bag instead of living the trophy case life.

If you have bonafide treasures of value, remember the window sill rule for breaking things.

An interesting object deserves continual speculation, inspection, and cleaning, which leads to handling, which may turn into an accident.

Planned Accidents For Interior Design?

If you’re a married man with a few years on that ring, you know better than to plan an accident.

I wore glasses as a youngster. I liked some better than others.

If I wanted new glasses before it was time for a checkup, I had a replacement plan.

I would needle one of my brothers into a fight. In the middle of the action I’d break my own glasses and blame them.

“Where are your glasses?”

“Broken. I need new glasses.”

“Yes, you do.”

If you’re married to a wife who had brothers, planned accidents never work.

If you don’t like something it can’t just disappear.

Don’t do it.

Interior Design Appreciation For Whiny Men

Who are those Whiny Men?

They are the men who complain about clutter, junk store junk, and “why won’t my wife let me put my stuff on a window sill. What about MY freedoms?”

If that’s you, here’s the answer from Château de Versailles:

Hameau de la Reine: Marie Antoinette’s Pretend Village

Marie Antoinette and her friends would dress up as young shepherdess or milkmaids and wander around the hamlet pretending to be peasants, while still surrounded by the comforts of a royal lifestyle. A team of real farmers appointed by the Queen looked after the farm and the animals, and produced fruits and vegetables consumed at the royal table.

Marie Antoinette would sometimes milk the cows and the sheep herself to get a taste of village life. Before the Queen was expected, the story goes, the “villagers” would wash the goats and dress them in ribbons.

Like curating a window sill, the Queen of France did all of this to “escape from the drudgery of royalty.”

I Think It Was More

Her husband was Louis XVI, not The Sun King, XIV.

XIV had a hunting lodge built outside of Paris that morphed into a world renowned palace of excess and ego on the interior design side, in my opinion.

Also an OB/GYN clinic for queens.

That’s the lavishly appointed environment the last Queen of France gave birth in, four times, and did it in front of big audiences.

If she wants a little privacy and quiet after that sort of exposure, it’s a problem? Would it be a problem for you?

All men standing by their wives in the birthing room know the answer. There’s a lot of people doing modern birth stuff in there. Maybe not a Versailles audience, but it’s the opposite of privacy.

If your Queen embraces whimsical interior design as an escape from the drudgery of life, it’s a problem for you?

Go ahead and check your inner-Louis, brother, and you’ll love those window sill art installations.

Just keep your crap out of there.