How much fun was Top Design last night? I’m still recovering from the premiere party I had, so be sure to check back tomorrow for all the party pics! In the meantime, what did you think of the shadow box challenge? When I was packing for the show, I’d been told to bring a bag of things that inspired me or that I couldn’t live without. As a collector, I’m always inspired by my trips to the flea market, so most of the things I packed were finds from a trip to the one in New York City the day before I left! For one of the boxes on the show, I used a Sheffield silver plate vegetable dish, sterling silver spoon and antique toast rack. I really was a traveling butler’s pantry! Here’s another one I did at home with one of my favorite collections—hotel silverware.

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Ever since I found a single hotel silver dinner fork from the old Waldorf Astoria in New York at a junk shop up in Connecticut, I’ve been obsessed with finding more of it. Years ago, good hotel silver was considered coveted memorabilia. I just love thinking of all those white-gloved little old ladies who lunched, stuffing their purses with silver. Eventually, as the older hotels started to close, they’d either auction or sell off their silver as well. I’m always picking up onsies or twosies here and there and love to display them all together like this. For me, tabletop objects and silverware really are like art, so I think they look beautiful framed or shadowboxed.

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From the left: a cocktail fork from the Commodore Hotel, a dinner fork from the Waldorf, a fish knife from the Hotel Astor and, my absolute favorite, a dinner knife from Dorothy Draper’s The Greenbrier. Above the shadowbox, I hung a beautiful old hotel silver bar tray from the Indian Harbor Yacht Club.

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Finally, I hope everyone enjoyed the first episode! It’s going to be a super fun season, so keep watching, come back tomorow for party pics and be sure to leave me a comment!