In praise of windowsills

The weekly micro-decorating newsletter * Issue 10 of 13, W25 *
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Windowsills are the unsung heroes of interior space. Under the guise of holding windows in place, they offer a surface for displaying objects that's both unobtrusive and remarkable.

During a recent visit with my favourite aunt, I spotted this artfully constructed scene in her living room window:

I enjoy the way she takes a view that's a given and enhances it with her own creativity, going so far as to add colourful greeting-card birds to the winter sky. It shows what makes windowsills unique – they invite you to be a collage artist, layering inside over outside, until you wind up with a vista that's yours alone.

A bird figurine is an effortless fit. In my own living room window, a glass robin by Rachel Wareham – a recent find from Studio 1484 – perches on wooden blocks from Kroft. When I look out from my comfy armchair, it feels like I'm giving spring a nudge:

Another windowsill natural is lighting. Some candles or a compact table lamp give you a stage designer's power, making mood-altering magic when the sun goes down.

Like so many Torontonians, I'm a proud owner of a neon showpiece by Our Glowing Hearts, a company that emerged during the pandemic as a way of spreading compassion. Here's a summer view of my windowsill sculpture:

When I ordered the piece, I had only seen it in other people's windows while walking around outside. The inside perspective surprised me because the heart gets reflected in the window pane, and again in the pane below my balcony railing. It's a vivid rendition of love being amplified.

The neon heart illustrates the doubleness of windowsills. They're almost outside, yet still inside. You can start with a display for yourself and end up entertaining strangers, or begin with an exterior composition and wind up pleasing those under your own roof.

Last summer, when I gathered design lessons from Montreal entrances, I was especially amused by this windowsill lineup:

Whether our first thought is the inside impression or the outside one, the slender strip of real estate below our windows is an outsized opportunity. Let's seize it boldly and add more joy to our homes!

From the archives

In-between spaces like windowsills have a way of teasing us with their ambiguities. Two years ago, we praised the theatrics of condo lobbies, dubbing them "mystery living rooms."

Praising the ordinary wonders of life is a guy with an eye tradition. Think of it as a coping strategy when the world seems a bit off-kilter. Check out the full "in praise of" article list, and open your heart to what around you might be waiting for praise of your own.

Thank you for reading.