The Egyptian Bed Room
148-160 Spring Street
Newport Rhode Island
Photos on these pages are of one of the bed rooms in the Newport Rhode Island Home of John and Rico
This is my bed room (Rico's). I like the Egyptian look; I always have and think I always will. I really don't want to go to Egypt. I have met one of two Egyptians: they seemed very nice. It is easy to theme a room and I think that one's bed room is the most important room in one's life. Make it the room of your dreams for you will spend most of your life in that room. I go to sleep with lights on in my room, not because I am afraid of the dark, but because it is the last thing I want to see before I close my eyes and the first thing I want to see when I wake. The lights are not bright but very mystical: colored leaded glass, massed crystals lit from within: images of ancient times. This bed room is on the third floor of our home in the Mansard section so the outer wall is canted out. The size of the room is app. 12' x 23' and my bed faces East. Two windows, two exit doors and two built in closets. The ceiling is about 8'4" tall. There is a 20' long pool in our garden I view from my windows with fountains which I hear from my bed. The sound of the fountains put me to sleep at night. I want to die in my bed room, in my bed, looking, dreaming and letting go of everything.
Very little of my bed room acquisitions are from Egypt: much of it is from China: where else! The wood (baseboard, doors,etc.) are painted turquoise color.
The lower box was made in the 1920's, part of the Tut craze and the vignette was created by a young friend Adam Occasoas a grammar school project in the 1990's.
I lay in bed and to the right I see a Sphinx sitting atop a gold draped silver box.
Pyramid lamps effectively light with form and illumination.
The pair of cabinets are from Pier 1: faux finished to look like stone; the fabric between the cabinets is a shower curtain; atop in the middle is a table cloth draped television.
My bed sits on the floor: I like it there, so much easier to get in and out of. The oil painting is of an undersea merman protecting me while I sleep. A suspended fringed shade for reading hangs over my head. Wall to wall grass carpeting covers with floor with wool zebra area carpets on top.
Detail of a 1920's Tut revival tapestry and one of the leaded colors glass lamps. Small watt bulbs at night create the mystic view I love looking at before I fall asleep. The tapestry is assembled from hundreds of hand stitched pieces.
The wall paper looks like sand colored stone; an Egyptian frieze 'runs' around the room at head height.
For my birthday a number of years ago, we had this cabinet created. Michael Trapp built it and Brian Tuck decorated it. About 5.5' tall and 20" deep, it holds the necessary items. Brian said that he would never decorate another one: too many hieroglyphics. Brian is an older English Gentleman who will do anything if you ask him nicely. He does all the antiques restoration for our gallery.
I just found these wonderful Red/Sateen sheets made in Florence; my bed is surrounded by curtains which I can close if I am feeling introspective.
The jeweled brooch in the form of a breast star (upper middle of the photo) was my grandmothers (Nancy Lane King); it was her favorite piece of jewelry. Every time I see it I think of her. She was a farmers wife who lived on a dirt road in rural South West Georgia. We called her Memaw.
I made this lamp during the blizzard of '78. Composed of hundreds of cut glass prisms wired onto a copper electric heater frame. I love this lamp and want to take it with me when I die. The switch is touch activated with three settings of illumination. Touch the lamp anywhere and it will go on. I leave it on the low setting when I go to bed.
Gilt Fiber Glass Sphinx: such good junk available today!
I made this lamp also, I don't like it as much as the other one. I made it to copy an Austrian Secession lamp.
In bed, looking to the left, this is the last thing I see when I close my eyes. It's enough.
I have a friend who is studying to be a biochemical researcher: he promises to create a pygmy elephant for me about the size of the Italian ceramic one pictured here. I really want one and he says he can do it!
Another one of those Pier 1 cabinets from their Pyramid Series.
The tapestry behind my lamp is yet another Tut revival era item.
A couple of years ago I walked into The Fabric Place and found Egyptian theme dress fabric and bought several yards of each example and use is in my bedroom.
This is the view outside one of my bed room windows; we bought the obelisk about 20 years ago; it is made of Fall River granite and weighs about 2000 lbs. The carving on the side facing my room says: "Federico Santi / We are the stuff of stars" ( on the opposite side it says: "John Gacher / Reality is what you can get away with"
Self Portrait
All images within this gallery are © by Federico Santi
Federico Santi is a partner in The Drawing Room Antiques is located in Newport, Rhode Island. He studied photography with Evon Streetman in the School of Art at Florida State University.
HOME PAGE FOR THE DRAWING ROOM OF NEWPORT
The Drawing Room is located at 152-154 Spring Street, Newport, Rhode Island 02840.We are open daily from 11 am to 5 pm and by appointment. Our phone number in Newport is 1-401-841-5060 Our email address is: drawrm@hotmail.com All images copyright by F. Santi, 2004