DECLOR Ai TkINGe Mother,
Martha Butterfield
Co-founder and owner, Butterfield & Robinson travel company
When we moved here in 1968, we wanted to modernize the house and bring in
more light but funds dictated otherwise. Over the years we’ve acquired things
from around the world, and everything speaks to my soul. We recently bought
that fish on the table in Cambodia — it looks so vital, like it just flipped out
of the water! I paid 50 cents for one of my favourite pieces — a rustic clay pot
— and I carried it home on my lap from Egypt. We bought a tin mirror on our
honeymoon in Mexico and removed the glass. My husband, George, wore the
frame around his neck on the plane. We call ourselves luggers! It’s hard to be
spare when you’ve been accumulating stuff for so long, and everything reminds
you of some faraway place and of a great experience. Things came together bit by
bit for me. Nathalie didn’t hire a designer or an architect; she just knew what she
wanted and she made it happen. That’s one way in which we’re similar: we both
like our own stamp. Throw pillows, floor cushions, Fluf Design; painting over mantel, K.M. Graham.
