Some might think a dressing table is an unnecessary indulgence. Yet, if you consider it a contemplative place you have created for yourself where you can gather your thoughts before beginning the day, a place to rest and refresh, or possibly a place where you can take a moment to be thankful, a dressing table might be a meaningful addition to your life.
On my own dressing table there are silver baby cups filled with Iceberg roses from the garden, an inkwell capped with a slightly dented top monogrammed with an unknown person’s initials, a silver cup from a trip with my sister fastened to a vintage candlestick and a Barrett and Riley tobacco flower botanical candle.
My dressing table, a vintage library table with a drawer, was originally purchased and used in the small breakfast area of a past home. Sitting in wing chairs, we ate most of our meals there, looking out at our garden. When we moved to a loft in the city we had a tiny bathroom where only one person could get ready at a time. The kitchen table became my dressing table and has now traveled with me to the Texas Hill Country.
Dressing tables usually include a mirror. My mirror is a lighted magnifying mirror hidden behind the wooden box when not in use. Instead of a mirror there are multiple antique bird prints collected over the years and, on the left and right, prints of bird nests with eggs purchased at a high-ceilinged shop in New Orleans where prints covered the walls and stood in long bins placed in the center of the shop.
The chairs on either side were a gift to me from my husband. Purchased at a shop in Georgetown they remind me of many happy trips to visit the museums in Washington, D.C.
From my dressing table you can look out the bedroom windows to the garden below and the surrounding hills.
My makeup is kept in this lidded basket.
These Victorian clothes brushes collected over the years are a favorite of mine and always put in a prominent place. Here, they rest inside a glass topped jewelry box with my initials etched in the glass.
This silver-plated inkwell bears the initials MLP and has a date, May ’96. The owner of the vintage shop in Galveston who sold it to me said it was monogrammed in 1896. I bought it as a surprise for my husband, and think he must like seeing how much I enjoy it on my dressing table.
In an article written by Fiona McKenzie Johnston for House and Garden (‘Why did we fall out of love with dressing tables? And is it time to fall back in love with them?’ February, 2025) she shares an historical reference for dressing tables. Apparently, Madame de Pompadour was frustrated with the amount of time it took to get ready to go out. You might imagine it would take a considerable amount of time to style the piled up, powdered hair filled with ornaments and sometimes even live birds! As noted by Johnston, Madame de Pompadour “… commissioned furniture designer Jean Francois Oeben to make her a table where she could write letters, entertain guests, and effectively rule court during the process.” She was so fond of the resultant dressing table she had her portrait painted with it more than once! In one of the portraits it looks as if she is powdering her face with a tiny brush. There appears to be a gold hand mirror, flowers, jewelry, and a ribbon on the top of the dressing table.
Interior designer Charlotte Moss (Charlotte Moss: A Flare for Living) writes about her first of many dressing tables, “There were little compartments where I could stash things. It was like having s diary and a safe combined. It was for displaying things – a beautiful porcelain bowl my grandmother gave me full of seashells collected at the beach, pictures of family, and a jewelry box, of course.” A dressing table can be a repository for objects recalling fond memories.
Designer Isabel Lopez-Quesada (Isabel Lopez-Quesada AT HOME) writes of her dressing table as a very personal space. Her table holds fascinating objects; semi-precious stones and minerals, an antique silver topped dresser jar, and letters and papers held in place with a smooth curved object. She notes her dressing room is the favorite room in the house for her daughters and we can imagine them gathering there to laugh and talk while trying on clothes or borrowing her jewelry and perfume.
This is a photo from Deeda Blair: Food, Flowers and Fantasy. Her apartment in New York was decorated by Billy Baldwin and this table in front of a window with several drawers as well as lidded baskets may have served as her dressing table.
This is designer Windsor Smith’s dressing table from Windsor Smith Homefront: Design for Modern Living. If you look closely, you can see framed family photos, bangle bracelets stacked on a plexiglass stand, makeup brushes, perfumes, shoes, boots, and a collection of handbags surrounding the gold framed mirror on this demilune table topped with shelves. These are probably some of her favorite objects and things she wants to see every day as she pulls herself together.
These two dressing tables are further examples of how a dressing table can complete a well-appointed bedroom. They are featured in homes created by interior designer Suzanne Rheinstein (At Home: A Style for Today With Things From the Past).
Interior designer Beth Webb has arranged a dressing table that is serene and tactile. The coolness of the marble top is compounded by glass and silver objects. The antique mirror and bowl of pink roses add softness and warmth. This room is featured in Beth Webb: An Eye for Beauty Rooms That Speak to the Senses. A dressing table can certainly be a place to energize our senses and ourselves.
Photo credit: Vogue Australia, ‘A quaint inner-west Sydney cottage shielded by a majestic jacaranda tree’ by Rebecc Tay, April 22, 2025
This table in a bedroom is placed inside the windowsill with nothing on the surface other than flowers and nothing underneath. The chair is a valet chair by Hans J. Wegner. You might imagine this as a serene place where, if you wanted, you could get ready in the diffused light of this linen shade, or perhaps simply meditate or write in your journal peacefully.
This table featured in The Residential Architecture of D. Stanley Dixon Home is quite lovely. It is not specifically designed as a dressing table, but it could certainly function as both a desk and a dressing table. It is located in front of a window and has a lamp. The relics, tortoise shell, and photo are thought provoking..
Imagine my surprise at seeing this dressing table at the Dallas Museum of Art! The table and chair were designed by William C. Codman and made by hand from a solid piece of silver by craftsman from the Gorham Manufacturing Company. The objects were made of hammered silver and featured in the 1900 Paris World’s Fair. Gorham was then the world’s largest silver manufacturer. It is written it took 2,300 hours to create these custom pieces.
Perhaps after reading this post you are considering creating a dressing table of your own. You may have things already in your possession which might be transformed or repurposed. The closet of my guest room was large enough to incorporate a dressing table. The chest is one we bought many years ago repainted in Benjamin Moore Pelham Gray and wiped with Briwax liming paste. The large mirror is a picture frame we already had, painted and stained to coordinate with the chest. We took it to a frame shop and had them cut a piece of mirror and mount it in the frame. The smaller mirror we made with wooden picture molding, again painted to coordinate with the chest and the other mirror. The globe de mariee is one I made filled with a collection of paper flowers from a vintage hat, mirrored dress buttons, and rhinestone pins. (Written about in a previous post). The dressing table chair and lamp were purchased for the guest room. This dressing table is a place where guests can prepare for the day, write in a journal, or answer emails and texts.
What collection of objects would give you an emotional lift into the day!
Discover more from from deep in the heart
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
