Antique Door Knobs and Other Conversational Talk Pieces for Your Home

There should be at least a conversational talk piece in your home. This is the item that guests will ask and for which you have a story for. For some, paintings are the talk pieces. Depending on which artists or movements influence you, you can have several pieces which can be something to talk about in the living room. These painting pieces, if they are worth lots of money, should be kept in a room that has a constant temperature and must not be exposed to sunlight or otherwise, the paint fades and it loses its value.

Other conversational pieces are jars and vases. If you have a penchant for Chinese porcelain pieces from the Ming Dynasty, this should make an interesting conversation. The Chinese were the inventors of making porcelain and the secret and technology were kept by them for the longest time. Porcelain became a great trading item between Chinese and Western Traders in the 15th century onwards and they kept this secret with them for almost 400 years. If you can't get a real Ming dynasty pieces, then replicas will do. For as long as it is something worth talking about, perhaps the authenticity should not be talked about. But when asked if it is genuine, be truthful.

One interesting talk piece that is gaining ground is antique door knobs. Just recently, this type of accessory has been used not just as a functional door knob, but as a talk piece in itself being visibly displayed in the living or study room. Depending on your preference, you could have a number of bronze and heavy metal door knobs that are a few hundred years old. You could also have door knobs made of glass and crystal and other semi precious materials coming from Italy. Finding such original pieces, you have to research on its history as some of them may have come from well known guilds in Florence or Venice. It is also not surprising that there may be other antique door knobs that were from noble houses. Actually, tracing the history of the door knob may be a challenge but one that can be done through the use of the Internet as there are more information about the history of the different kinds of door knobs online these days.

Lighting pieces such as chandeliers and lamps are also good conversational pieces. The best thing to do when choosing which accent pieces to talk is to go with your gut and with your preferences. That way, it is still something you have in the home that you wouldn't mind having it for some time.