A New Painting

A few months ago I came across this very large (40" x 23 1/2") antique landscape oil painting in one of my favorite antique stores in Portland. I was looking for a table for the guest house, and of course, found a painting instead. 

I love antique paintings, especially landscapes, and thought that its antique frame (another passion of mine) was in fairly good condition considering its age. 

The painting was extremely dirty however. A heavy layer of black dust (or most likely soot) covered the canvas, so I knew it would require a good professional cleaning. 

Although I've considered having some of my other paintings cleaned, it is something I have yet to do. So I was actually quite excited to go through that process. I was extremely curious to see just how much of a transformation would result. 

Here is the painting after the cleaning. The process involved removing the many layers of dirt down to and including the old varnish...and then re-varnishing. This is a process best left for professionals, particularly if the piece is of value (sentimental or otherwise). 

The Cultured Pearl in downtown Portland cleaned this piece for me. Their gallery makes my heart flutter. Not only do they do painting and frame restorations, but they specialize in antique art from around the world and have a collection that will make you wish you had a special art 'fund' set aside (I need one of those). 

Steve was able to tell me that this landscape was most likely from New Hampshire. He explained that the deer are a regional detail typical to certain parts of the country, which often reflect where the artist is from (this piece of art work is not signed). When combined with the canoe and the scale of the mountain range, the scene was narrowed even more specifically to the New Hampshire region. 

Their wealth of knowledge at The Cultured Pearl is extensive. I could stand in their beautiful gallery all day listening to their every word. 

It's just so fascinating. 

Wicker furniture...

...for wee ones. 

I saw this little wicker love seat a while ago in one of my favorite antique stores. In a quiet moment several days later, I thought the babies would have so much fun with that.  

Recently, we were back in that neck of the woods and I decided that if the little wicker love seat still happened to be there, we should get it for the babies. And when I say 'we' I mean myself and my other self who supports such ideas. 

The love seat was indeed still there but as I looked more closely, I saw that there was also a matching rocking chair and table to go with it. 

So the little love seat ended up becoming a set.  

After setting up the tiny wicker furniture on our porch, we showed it to the babies. Margaret immediately began re-arranging everything, which made me laugh. And Graham, well he glanced at it for a half second, and then he was off and running (with Mike at his heels). 

xo

Old and New

Our home is filled with a mixed collection of old and new. Perhaps one 

of the most frequent reminders of this is found in our kitchen drawers.  

Our everyday cutlery consists of two mismatched but complimentary sets found several years ago 

at Home Goods. They reside in front of my Grandmother's every day silver plate cutlery that is 

kept in the wicker basket at the back of the drawer. Next to the collection of antique bottle openers 

I've collected are hardware store clothespins used to fasten bags. 

The wood cutlery box was my Grandmothers. 

This old wicker paper basket holds our knives and some of our serving utensils. 

The other kitchen drawer holds mostly new utensils with a few old things mixed in. 

This twenty-piece set of cutlery is from Martha Stewart's old line 

at K-Mart, which I found on sale for $9.99. The wire basket that holds this set 

was found at an antique store. 

My Grandmother's old ice cream scoops co-habitate with the modern metal can opener, scissors 

and peeler. I love the mix between the cool metals and the warmth of the wood and wicker. 

It's amazing to think of the different time periods in which these items were made and originally 

used, yet how compatible they are today. 

Here are the latest additions to our drawers. My mom sent my old baby spoons to us when 

Graham and Margaret started eating solid foods. Each has its own subtle design. These are the 

only baby spoons we use so they're used several times a day. 

xo

Hydrangea and An Old Desk

I think this may be our last clipping of Endless Summer hydrangea blossoms for the summer. 

Last year, the blossoms were more pink as the plants were still adapting to the soil in their new home. 

I put the vase of hydrangea on top of an old desk in the corner of our living room. It's an old family piece that my dad grew up using as a child. It originally belonged to my Great Great Grandparents. 

I recently moved this marble lamp from my office upstairs. I don't use the office much these days as it's not conducive to the activity that occupies most of my days... playing on the floor with Graham and Margaret. 

I love that hydrangeas last so long after cutting. The last bouquet I made lasted several weeks. As long as you keep trimming their ends, they stay happy. 

I also made a small cutting of roses. 

This old clock was the first antique Mike and I bought together. 

Note to self: remember to wind the old clock. 

I love the fluted legs of the desk. 

I also like the shelf underneath. 

And, if you pan out just a tad...

xo

A Portrait

What I find fascinating about anonymous portraits is the imaginary life we create for those captured for but a moment in time. I've often wondered about the woman in this portrait. 

I imagined her to be the eldest daughter of three, living on a grand estate and wearing beautiful dresses. I wondered if she was happy and if she lived a long life. I hoped so.

Romona, a library acquisitions assistant, wrote me recently after coming across a familiar face. She traced the familiarity back to the post I did on the woman in the portrait...it was, indeed, the same woman.  Her name was Enrica Soma, the mother of actress Angelica Huston.

On June 9, 1947 she was featured on the cover of Life magazine, identified only as "Young Ballerina." She was the fourth wife of famed director John Huston. Shortly thereafter, she became the mother to three children. A son named Tony, a daughter Angelica and her sister, Allegra. 

Many years later in Italy, while driving to her father's house for the holiday, she died in a car accident. She was just 39 years old. 

Her youngest daughter Allegra, who was four years old at the time of her mother's death, has written a memoir called Lovechild. 

Of course, I see the portrait differently now. Knowing more about the woman behind the face is bittersweet. She did not live a long life as I imagined, or hoped. In fact, she died at my age. 

But despite the tragedy that greeted her in her young life, I find myself with an even deeper respect and appreciation for her grace, her beauty and her mystery. And in this portrait, it is the life she lived passionately as a ballerina, and her beauty and presence as a mother, that endures. 

Spindle Bench

Our spindle bench has been relocated to our bedroom. It had been in the living room but was quickly replaced by the baby swing and bouncy chairs.

I love the combined textures of the wood spindles, the crochet quilt and the rush seat. The pillow is made of burlap and cotton.

!

Art

When I was a Music/Art major in college, I visited a home with the most amazing collection of original art work. The home inspired me because the people who lived there were not wealthy by any means. In fact, you could probably call them 'starving artists.'

Nevertheless, they had an amazing collection that included paintings by well-known regional artists as well as unsigned paintings found at tag sales.

It was a collection that they had been working on for many years and it was a collection they acquired passionately. And it showed. Their house breathed a wonderful sense of vitality because of it.

My collection of paintings has been greatly inspired by them. Here are a few of my favorites.

18 x 14

I bought this Eric Jacobsen painting, unframed, at a fundraiser for our local art gallery. Months later, I happened to find an antique frame that fit it perfectly (see this post). The painting in the first photo was also purchased at the same fundraiser, and is by the same artist. I found an antique frame ($15) that happened to fit it as well.

15 x 18

This still life was purchased at Matthews Gallery in Portland. I had taken the owner a few paintings for him to appraise, and ended up trading them for this piece.

18 x 23

This piece is a reproduction of the The Torn Hat by Thomas Sully. It's signed by a well-known Seattle artist. I purchased it for $60. I found an old wood frame for $20 and had it cut down to fit the piece for another $20.

28 x 15

This is one of my favorite pieces. I love the companionship of the horses. It was a rare find in that the original frame was in pristine condition. I paid $120. Margaret and Graham have taken a liking to this one too!

9 x 13

13 x 9

A few years ago, an artist friend of mine allowed me to raid her seconds bin in her art studio. This pair of landscapes paired nicely with these antique Victorian frames ($45 each).

26 x 19

This piece is one of the largest pieces I've acquired. The frame drew me in as it's a beautiful chunky gold frame with clean lines and a wide profile. I knew the frame alone was worth the cost of the painting - $225.

17 x 22

I did a post on her here. I found this portrait unframed for $44. When I got home, I was thrilled that she happened to fit into this antique floral frame I had picked up several months prior ($20). My friend Steve described the frame poignantly as a beautiful 'dress' for her.

13 x 11

This is done by a local artist, Cathleen Rehfeld. Cathleen's work lovingly captures the essence of the landscape in our region. I bought it unframed and paired it with an antique frame I had cut down to size by a frame restorationist for $100.

16 x 13

This lone oak is by the same artist. I had this frame cut down as well.

As you can see, I'm especially drawn to landscapes and portraits. And I love finding beautiful antique paintings, but I also collect new art that offers that classic Hudson Valley School aesthetic.

I look forward to continuing to grow our collection. The vibrancy of the art is one of the reasons I'm so drawn to having white walls in our home. I love the way the neutral wall contrasts with the brilliance of the gold frames and the lovely imagery of the paintings.

Country Baby Quilts

Shortly after Hubby and I were married, I began thinking about babies. I always dreamed of having babies, but once we were married it was a dream I could finally wholeheartedly embrace.

Antique quilts were the first items I began to purchase in anticipation of becoming a Mom. I came across them in antique stores, sometimes referred to as 'doll quilts' due to their small size, and loved imagining our babies snuggled up inside them.

Of course, time passed without babies, so I stopped buying quilts, and put the others away for safe keeping. Now, five years later, I'm pregnant with two sweet little ones, and the quilts have found their home in the nursery.

This lavender trimmed quilt is 19" x 23". I just love the vintage fabrics and the sweet hand-stitched detail.

This quilt is 27" x 33". It's much more simply stated with a baby blue and red patch pattern. I love the little 'hand made' tag that is stitched inside.

I love thinking of the women who made these quilts. I have no doubt that they were made with great love and warmth for their children or grandchildren...or even just as an expression of the creative warmth inside them. It's a wonderful thought that makes them all the more beautiful to me.

A Nursery Project

I thought I'd do a quick post on one of our nursery projects.

Here is the inside of the antique French armoire we purchased for the nursery. The piece was missing shelves so Hubby made these using pine tongue and groove planks. We are striving to make our nursery as green as possible, and didn't want to use any wood products such as plywood that contained glues and adhesives.

My Mom came up with the brilliant idea to cover the shelves in cloth - so we used 100% cotton duck cloth. After washing and ironing it, my Mom made slipcovers, which she was able to slide over the wood shelves as shown above.

Years ago I saw a photo of a linen closet that had a nice lace detail running along the edge of the shelves. We decided to add a similar detail to the armoire. Here is my Mom pinning the lace to one of the shelves before hand-sewing it.

And here's the result.

The cloth covers add a nice freshness to this piece that's been around for well over a hundred years.

I've received a lot of inquiries into when I'll be posting photographs of the nursery and honestly, I thought I would have been able to do so by now. But as it is, I am still waiting for a few items to arrive in the mail - one of the those items being the rug!

I'm typically not an on-line shopper but it's been helpful as I'm no longer making trips into the city. The downside of course is that sometimes things aren't always what they seem online, returns have to be made, and items reordered...for example our cribs.

However, things are coming together and we're really close to having everything completed. So photos to hopefully follow soon!

Dining Room - After

Here's a little sneak peek before I show a few before photos.

BEFORE #1

This was our original dining room (also referred to as the toll booth). It was long and narrow with a single homemade bay window. Unfortunately, this is the only before picture I have of the original room. It measured about 6 feet by 10 feet.

BEFORE #2

This is before picture #2. The new structure was reconfigured to 12 ' x 16' and french doors were added at the transition between the kitchen and new dining room. Shortly after completing this round of renovations (which was two years ago now), we knew that we should have put windows on the east wall instead of the dining cabinet (there wasn't room for both). Luckily, we had the foresight to have the contractors put a header in that wall so that we could opt for windows down the road......good thing.

And here are the afters...

We recently added those two new windows on the east wall, which lends a whole new feeling to the room. As you can see, the dining cabinet no longer fit, so instead we hung a nice long mirror.

The antique table is a family piece from my Grandmother's house that I grew up with. It isn't what I would have typically chosen for this room but it has sentimental value and it really is a beautiful piece. We added two leaves to create a farmhouse style feel rather than the square we originally set up.

To create a less cluttered and more open feel, I decided to place chairs on two sides rather than all four. And to lighten the weight of the table, and because I really love the look of Parson chairs, I found slipcovers to fit over the armless dining chairs we had up in the guest house. This was the cheapest way I could attain the Parson chair look without the $500 plus price tag.

We also added a sea grass rug (relocated from the living room as it was too small for that space). I also decided to add curtain sheers to frame the french doors going out to the dining patio.

Because most of the wall space in this room is either windows or french doors, there isn't much space to hang art work. So I decided to lean a piece up against the mirror as I love art in rooms that isn't expected. To learn more about the portrait, go here.

I kept the walls white because I really wanted the room to feel light and fresh. I also wanted the outside to come in so I didn't want colors to distract from that. I'll accent with different things to transition through the seasons (fall decorating is so close!).

Total expense of decorating, not including the two new Marvin windows: $334.98

JC Penny sheers were on sale for $69.99 a pair (I bought two pairs)

Allen and Roth curtain rod and hardware from Lowe's ($95)

Shabby Chic slipcovers from Target ($24.99 each)

Everything else we repurposed from other rooms.

I've included our expenses because an important part of my design philosophy has always been to decorate within a reasonable budget. In this case, we had already spent a lot of money on the new windows, so my goal was to be as creative as possible for the least cost.

I hope that you like our 'new' dining room!