Take a bath.

I saved some photos of bathrooms while working on a couple of renovations. 

I love old radiators.  Is that floor linoleum?  I didn't use anything from this design but saved it because it is an interesting mix of old and new.  Sort of Moroccan which is "new" in design but with a look of maturity.  Did you notice, the legs on the sink table are not matched? 

Lounge!  Tub or sofa.  We worked on a room in which one wall was a sloping ceiling and the client wanted to put a pair of sinks in front of it.  This was an alternative we hoped would sway her.  She was persistent and we were adamant.  A design conundrum. 

We haven't encountered any antlers or rafters but here in the mountains we think we probably will.  Look at those floors!  Both my daughter and I have long dreamed of having a loft. 

A chandelier?  How mah-ve-lous! 

Maybe a little too much "cold" surface for my taste. 

I've posted this one previously and it has turned up on a couple of other blogs recently.  A totally eclectic mix but it sets me wondering where and why.  There has to be a story. 

Add:  Google doesn't recognize me today so I am replying to a Comment here.  I noticed the strangeness of the towel bars also.  I think it is so there would be no holes in the marble or whatever that wall treatment is.  It looks a bit rigged for the formality of the rest of the room.  Thanks for the comment.  10.21.11

Lost in a sea of fluff and white!

I am so lost!  Lost in an overabundance of throw pillows and fluff and white! 

This morning I took at look an article titled 'Living Rooms You Will Love' on the Country Living site.  I didn't.  Take this, for example.  Or just take it away.  The late Victorians did take it away with the Arts & Crafts and Art Deco movements.  I really hope it isn't coming back.   

Fluff.

White. 

I know it is a trend but I hope it ends soon.  I've seen far too many pieces of good old wood furniture indiscriminately painted white and lost forever to their proper place among antiquity.  What is the purpose of the washbasin in the floor?  I do like the weathered column standing to the side.  In the article this one was called Carpenter Gothic.  It fits.  Why stop now when you have one more piece of gingerbread to put somewhere?

Tolerable White.

 Better, but I wanted to see more.  The room all had descriptive tags and I forgot to notice the one for this one.  I wish I had since I had trouble defining this room.  Country French Traditional?  In addition to my other 'plaints, I'm a bit resistant to drum shades.  I've noticed this before in other design pages - the oversized look of the drum shade.  The originally appeared on taller lamps.  That may be what seems wrong to me.  Size and proportion.  Basic elements of style. 

White Out!

This pleasant country room displays a handsome pottery collection but does not appear cluttered.   This time of the year seasonal touches seem most appropriate in country rooms.

Maybe I can compromise.

Country and white and a minimum of throw pillows. 

Denoument?  I don't have one.  I disliked more of the rooms I was supposed to like than I liked.  That could be the fault of Country Living or my resistance to current trends.  

 If by these words I have offended 

I hope next time we meet

It will be mended.

Happy Monday.  It is another gorgeous day here in my little corner of North Carolina.  

Do you remember these?

I was reminded recently of how much I like these screen printed stuffed animals.  For a while I found them at flea markets and antique shows but I never saw one in a shop.  I once had a cat similar to the one shown and wanted, for years, to make a basket full of them.  I never found enough in good condition.  I have a dog with a blue ribbon and two Santas and continue to search for more Santas.  I tried for a long time to locate the source without success.  The printed-on label on the bottom of the animals says "Toy Works" and although I have searched through the years and looked on eBay, I've found few of them.

Today, after I mentioned the little dog in reply to a comment on another post I took off on a search and this time I found the source.  The company is Toy Works and it is located in Middle Falls New York in the Adirondacks.  The division of the company that makes the silk screen animals is now called Fiddler's Elbow.  For collectors that might be a clue as to age if you find one. 
 
I copied this information from the website: 
'More than three decades ago, John Gunther started the silk-screening company with a handful of workers in an old barn that once housed 10,000 chickens. Now we are celebrating our 38th year in business.  John conceived the idea in 1973 after a visit to the Museum of the City of New York, where he viewed an exhibition of 19th century cloth toys intricately printed using an antiquated process of hand engraved copper rollers. John's mission was to revive this art form using modern silk-screening techniques. This proved to be challenging, as there was no one experienced in full color textile printing, no school to consult. Fiddler's Elbow developed the process the hard way, through constant experimentation and soon became the best reproduction silk-screen printer in the country.' 

This little Yorkie pillow is another example of current work.  These animals are called "doorstops" by the company. 

I like one tucked into a chair or nestled among the pillows on a bed just where a real pet might be.  They look good on a stairway, too.  My Santas, when they come out for the season, become part of a group that stand all together in a chair.  I so want more!

The only way to purchase from the Toy Works is wholesale but I found a retail site.  They also have great looking doormats with pet photos.  I think these were doormats. 

The site is http://www.mallcarts.com/.  

"Too much of a good thing can be wonderful."...Mae West

Pull up a chair!

This time of  year I begin to think warm.  Not warm-ly which would seem to be grammatically correct in the sentence, but warm.  Warm, as in secure, comfortable and not cold.  The kind of warm that our forebears had in mind when they invented the wing chair.  I love 'em.  Perhaps proving, once again, that I am a traditionalist. 

Wing chairs, according to those who speculate on derivatives, were originally designed as fireside chairs.  One who sat enjoyed the warmth of the fire with back and sides protected from drafts in the unheated homes of the 17th century.  Those early ones did not have the comfort of upholstery and feathers that we appreciate today.  It is a principle of my design work that no wing chair gets anything but a feathered seat cushion. 

A settle.

The individual wing or wingback chair was created based on the design of the high backed settle which had the same principle but seated at least two people.  Settles and the first wing chairs were just wood since the design preceded upholstery.  I don't have a date on when upholstered furniture came to be but I've heard that it was about the time ladies began wearing fewer petticoats and demanded softer seats.  Historically, we know it existed in the 1700's because Betsy Ross was in the business.  She took over her husband's upholstery shop after his death.  Did you know that she was a Quaker and John Ross was an Episcopalian?  She was banished from Quakerhood.   A little more history tells that she probably did not make the first American flag.  Oh well.  She might have upholstered a wingback chair similar to this one since she was also known for her decorative needlework.

For many years it was en vogue to cover a wing chair in crewel work.   

It is amusing that the chair's side pieces were called by different names in different countries.  In England they were known as cheeks or lugs.  Hepplewhite called them saddle cheeks.  In France, they were known as ears.  Whatever one calls them, they are comfortable and warm if placed near the fire on a winter's day. 

I yearn to spend a late afternoon by the fire in this French beauty. 



Paint your own picture.  A fire, a book, a dog, a drink and perhaps a pleasant companion.  For myself, I might play a little Diana Krall.  I find her wonderfully soothing.  With or without.  Any or all.  What's your pleasure in your chair with wings?