Penelope Bianchi loves to tell stories especially about her family and her animals, but also about the Hungarian artist Marcel Vertès, how to coax outside vines to creep indoors, or how to lay a wavy-tiled roof (tell the installers to pretend they are drunk).

She is always excited about something or someone–whether it’s an exquisite antique tapestry pillow, a newly discovered trove of vintage trims, or the ducklings that just hatched in her pond.

Although she is a shamelessly proud grandmother, she has never outgrown her child-like enthusiasm and is still highly prone to superlatives.