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.

So far, there haven't been any stubbed toes in the night!

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.

This one is 22" x 31". Every time I look at it, I think summer picnic!

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!

Living With What You Love

The talented photographer, designer and author Monica Rich Kosann recently shared her newly published book with me. As with any house design book, I was ever so delighted to sit down for a thorough read.

Living With What You Love is beautiful and completely captures all that make a house a home. Whether it is a special collection of seashells, fine art or a menagerie of family photos, Monica expresses how these endearing items offer our homes warmth, character and most of all, soul.

The book's celebration of photographs especially inspired me. I was moved to dust off those antique photo frames I've been collecting through the years, and finally fill them with the people and family I love.

I needed a large space so I decided to display them on our bedroom dresser. Joan of Arc is surrounded by the generations of family that have known her (my Great Great Grandmother originally purchased her).

Older generations are mixed in with the new. Pictures of Hubby, as both a little boy and a man, stand next to a picture of my Grandmother on the patio of her California hills home.

The photographs span four generations...my brother and I, my parents, my Grandmother and Great Grandmother.

I've picked up these frames as bargains over the past several years, ranging from $5 to $40. The sweet old pearl frame is one I came across for $5.

This is one of my favorite photos of my mom holding me as a baby.

I love this sweet little miniature Rococo frame holding a picture of my Grandmother as a child.

Here are my brother and I as children in Sequoia National Park, California.

In order to fit the photographs in non-standard size frames, I scanned them onto my computer and then re-sized them to fit each frame.

I want to thank Monica for sharing her beautiful book with me. My framing project would not have come about if it weren't for the inspiration I found through her examples that celebrate those items which lend soul to home...in collections, in heirlooms, and in photographs. It's truly nurturing to see the faces of my life, past and present, standing close to each other in heart and home.

Go here to read Acanthus and Acorn's review. Also, visit Monica's website to learn more about her, her passionate work and her new book, Living With What You Love.

Wicker and Wood

I love wicker and I love wood. Either together or separate. I have always been drawn to their warmth. My trip into the big city (Portland, Oregon) last week allowed me to indulge in these affections, as I found a couple of new antique wicker and wood pieces that I adore.

The piece shown above is what I would call art. To me, it's no different than a painting on the wall as it represents a unique expression of creativity and fine craftsmanship. I fell in love with this piece when I saw it, with its beautiful bobbin turned spindles, legs and arms, and pristine rush seat.

It's actually two pieces...called corner chairs. But according to the antique dealer, the chairs were often kept together and used as a bench. I'll keep them together as well.

Since I get a lot of inquiries about pricing of antiques, I will start listing what I've paid for the antiques I buy. This piece was originally priced at $130 for the pair and it was 50% off - so I paid $65. As I said to Hubby, 'that's a great deal.'

I also happened across this antique wicker trunk. I've always loved the look of trunks like these. This one is in pristine condition, so I knew I couldn't pass it up at $40. I love that it's on old, squeaky wheels.

Even the handles are still intact.

The top is in great condition too. By the way...this happens to be the first piece of furniture I've purchased for our growing family.

We'll use it as a toy box. xoxo

The other item I found on my excursion into the big city was an antique French armoire...also for the nursery! We just brought it home over the weekend so it's in several pieces right now - photos will have to follow.

Hubby is still working hard on finishing the dining room (after work and on the weekends). He's hung the drywall and is in the process of finishing up the mud (which takes three coats with a twenty-four hour drying period in between).

As for me, I've been trying to stay off my feet. My ankles, calves and feet have started to swell significantly and the only way to keep the swelling down is to lie down with my feet up (which somehow makes my eyes close).

And as you can see, I'm growing! Everywhere! In fact, soon I will surpass dear six foot four tall Hubby on the scale - ouch.

I'm feeling quite well overall, suffering mostly from pure lack of motivation...hence the lack of posts last week. But I am getting really excited to decorate the nursery. I haven't been running around much the last several months so my trip into Portland last week was a big day for me.

I have a strong vision of what the nursery will look like (I've drawn it out on paper about a dozen times now). The armoire was the major, potentially most challenging, item to acquire so now that we've found that, the rest should come together quite easily.

I'm very excited to share my vision for the nursery with you - and will do so in the coming months!

Joan of Arc

Meet Joan. I've known her since I was a little girl. This Italian bust of marble and alabaster used to sit on a table in my Grandmother's foyer in California. Before that, she came from my Great Great Grandmother's house in Chicago.

Growing up, I didn't know her as the tragic and heroic figure Joan of Arc. She was just the pretty lady that greeted us in my Grandmother's entry.

For now, she's on our bedroom dresser. Eventually, I would like to relocate her to the living room downstairs, but will need to find a table strong enough to support her.

Hubby wasn't all that crazy about Joan when she first came to live with us. She reminds him of his parochial school days.

But I think she's growing on him.