Antique Corner Cupboard and New Years

Right before New Years Eve hubs and I went to an auction and bought a cupboard.

Not that we were planning to or even going for anything in particular.

It was a spur of the moment decision.

 I did mention to him that this auction had antique firearms.  

Hehe, I knew that would catch his interest and sure enough he wanted to go! 

But what surprised me most was how much other stuff caught his interest.  

 While I had quickly looked around and settled into my seat to listen to the auctioneer,

hubs was walking around checking everything out in great detail, 

 then coming back to me to ask did I see this thing or that?  

 He was on a hunt and it turned out he was interested in anything bronze.

 Statues that is. See him looking down over there??

 He was checking out these cute Corgi dogs, a bronze statue by artist 

Elizabeth Leary Strazzulla of Orleans, Massachusetts.

And then he asked if I had noticed the enormous life size Indian and eagle statue.

WHAT?? Why in the world do we want or need that I wondered?

  Where is that going to go?

In New Hampshire at the lake, he replied....

ok... well I guess I could try to imagine it....

and that was only the beginning.  

We would have to wait for it to come up and then bid on it,

and hope it wouldn't be too high.  

I had noticed things like this old tin weathervane which I could imagine

going on the top of our not yet built barn/garage. 

I guess one gets attracted to things for whatever reason....I was 

still processing his attraction to all the statues.

Then I rounded the corner and saw it. 

 The enormous and old corner cupboard. 

 The listing said it was "an important early 18th century 

cabinet" and it certainly was important looking to me.

It looked very old, with lots of carvings and the interior 

was painted with a turquoise color that was appealing.

I can bet Martha has cabinets like this in her homes!

I thought to myself, no one will want this thing.  Its too big!!

We will get it for the lake house!

 So I sat and waited for a few of our items to come up on the auction block.

Finally the big cupboard was up!!

Hubs whispered... Oh please. Don't.

 I continued to lift my paddle until I won.

Oh yes!! I won!! 

And that was that. It was coming home. 

 We went home with all the big things, 

like the Indian statue (bronze but painted white).

And some French barstools, and an antique fish service, 

some big blue and white transferware platters.... 

 And the enormous cabinet!!

 When we checked the measurement of the cupboard I was nervous to see that the cupboard 

was the same height as our ceiling. But it fit like a glove, with the help of our son Justin.

It was meant to be...for now. It belongs at the lake, and in that house our ceilings will be 

a foot higher, so it will fit without any worry at all.

 We bought a few tables, a game table, a dresser, the corgis, 
and another crazy big statue too....

This pretty demilune table with gorgeous carvings came home with us.

Y,a we bought a lot of antique stuff!! And it was sooo much fun!!

These are full size bronze statues out of a Malibu CA estate that someone painted.  

Why my husband wanted these is something I can't answer, but I can tell you it was

very funny when he was bidding on them.  At least I thought it was funny! 

I whispered to him, we are going to be known as "those people" when our neighbors

at the lake see these things on our property.  Haha. I will do my best to hide

them in the shrubbery or behind trees. 

 For now our auction treasures are in our Massachusetts home, waiting for the lake.

Its been so much fun to fill the cabinet with my antique collections

of majolica and transfer ware into the cabinet.

 It was all part of what turned out to be a very fun way to ring in the New Year. 

Before we headed out, I learned how to saber the champagne,
which means cut the neck off the bottle with a "saber" or knife.
You use the back of the knife blade, not the sharp part.

It cuts it clean off!!
 There are a few secrets, and one is to put the champagne
bottle upside down in the ice bucket to freeze the neck first. Then reposition the
casket around the cork to above the bottle ridge neckline, and as you cut it off,
to move the saber up the bottle along the molded glass line of the bottle. 
 It was thrilling!

We had reservations to enjoy dinner

in Boston's historic North End with our youngest and a good friend,
 then headed to Ciao Bella in North Square next to the Paul Revere house
to meet Justin who was working to celebrate some more.

 We capped the night off with more champagne and oysters.
What a treat!

In closing I hope you all had a nice New Years Eve.

We usually spend NYE low key, so this was especially fun and memorable.

 Wishing all a great 2020!! 

 Our family looks forward to many changes this year. 

Building a new home and then moving to the lake 

as our youngest (who, might I brag, just got straight A's in his first senior term)

graduates from Boston Latin School and then heads off to college,

leaving us as empty nesters for the first time. 

The next phase of life has arrived for us Chalmers!

Cheers!!

Read more »

The Lake Cottage, Garden and the 4th of July

The middle of the year is upon us! How fast winter turns to summer it seems.

Winter drags on and somehow summer seems to be in a rush, for us in New England.

The fourth of July is always a favorite holiday, centered around relaxing and cookouts

and easy celebrations. Decorating for the 4th is all about the flag, and I was excited to 

find this nostalgic and festive looking fabric that had both flags and roses.  The fabric is called Americana Summer Roses and can be found here at LilyOak's Spoonflower account.

I bought three yards to use as a tablecloth and can see this piece of fabric becoming a family

heirloom in the way that it will grace our tables on the 4th, Labor Day and Memorial Day for

years to come!  

Its so pretty with the rose wreaths and swirling flags, dotted by unexpected yellow roses.

I can even throw it over my wicker daybed in front of the cottage windows

to add holiday flair instead of using it as a tablecloth at the lake cottage.

Last weekend we all went up and did some cleaning and site work at the cottage

that suffered a lot of damage from last year's microburst storm.

Over the winter the critters find their way inside and its deflating to come back

and see the damage and filth that awaits....but I got a lot of work done inside while hubs

and son worked on the outside with the excavator clearing the trees and stumps and 

making the lot more pedestrian friendly.  The big logs are all gone now!

It will be at least one more year before we can build here, so we are preparing

to enjoy it as much as we can for these two short summer months.

Our son got his boat license and its going to be really fun having

 two boat operators at the ready for lake cruises and waterski adventures.

We even hung a flag down by the dock, anchoring it on a tree.

 Back at home our gardens are coming to full bloom, and that is 

another pleasure of our short summer season that I savor.

 Three years ago we installed this white picket fence with both privacy panels

and open pickets and its one of my favorite upgrades we have done to the house.

The inner area contains the dogs when they need to go in and out, and I've always felt

that a gate is an enchanting way to enter a property.

Along the outer fence there are some roses that are 

in their second year, and the star of the show is 

this abundant Fairy Rose.  I also have a few David Austin rose bushes,

but they are high maintenance compared to the hearty Fairy.

The clematis is in its third year and putting on quite a show right now!

Summer has Reeve enjoying the outdoor activities with me, and that includes

teaching her how to pull weeds (haha) and take little breaks in her kiddy pool.

She turned two last month and with that comes a lot more fun with her

being able to be a big girl helping her grammy.

Piper and Sylvia are ever present at our heels as we walk about the yard

doing our watering and weeding and planting. 

Life is the way it should be,

with the simple pleasures of family connections and 

always being mindful of our abundance.

Wishing you all a safe and happy 4th!

Read more »

Our Florida trip: the tale of the Venetian Mirror and saving our dog and phone from the pool.

Getting through a New England winter is easier if you can escape to a warm and 

sunny destination.  So hubs and I planned ahead last fall, and scheduled a trip to Florida.

Since we travel with Colby, we always look for rental homes or hotels that accommodate

dogs.  We weren't too picky about the area, just that it would be nice to be near the airport

at Fort Meyers, because my parents live in Naples, and we wanted to be able to see them on our trip.

Dave drove down with the dog and met me, my mother in law and our 15 year old son at the airport as we flew.  He stayed in dog friendly hotels along the trip down the eastern seaboard. 

A main requirement on our house list was that the rental needed to have a pool inside an enclosed lanai.  Colby is very good about not going through screens.  Dillon, our last dog, would barge right through them.  I imagined that all of us would recreate around the pool and the dog would be able to have free reign, without being tethered.  And that is exactly how it played out.  We had a marvelous time in the lanai, and Colby loved looking across the lawn to the water way. 

 We picked up my mom and dad from their home in Naples and brought them back to our rental home in Coral Gables for an overnight visit.  They are officially "snowbirds", as they leave the winters behind and head to Florida every year.  In their 80s now, they haven't skipped a beat.

 The enclosed pool got a lot of use.  Colby swam with his flotation vest on a few occasions, although he was wary of getting into the pool because of his first frightening experience. The first night we arrived at the house,  Colby walked out onto the pool cover, not realizing it was a body of water and he started to sink!  The pool cover started to swallow him up.  Luckily, hubs was able to grab ahold of him by the scruff of his neck and pull him out. Phew! 

Right after that, I dropped my iPhone into the pool, and watched it sink to the bottom.  

OMG

My 15 year old jumped into the pool to get it, then hubs turned it off and shook the heck out of it, water droplets spewing. Next, we put it in the oven (which I had preheated to 170 degrees for a few minutes) to dry it out. We googled advice of what to do, but we kind of came up with our own plan.  And it worked!! After leaving it in the oven for a few hours, we put the phone inside a container full of oats (you could use rice but we didn't have any).  The oats would absorb the moisture we figured.  Then we didn't turn it on for 2 days. That is key to recovery. Let it dry out. 

 Happy to say that my iphone 6 completely recovered!  

( The iPhone 7 is waterproof, but not earlier models.) 

 For the most part, our vacation was all about family time hanging around the house and the pool. However, the thought of those awesome consignment shops scattered about Florida kept lurking in my mind.  We don't have these kind of shops up North.  And when one rainy day came along, I asked hubs to take me out to look at a couple of shops for a treasure hunt.  Not looking for anything in particular, but hoping I would find something that I couldn't resist.  As I turned a corner in the shop, I spotted it.  Oh boy, look at this old Venetian mirror!!! It was beautiful and old and had gold etching in a neoclassical motif.  Tiny glass rosettes covered the screws.  The mirror had mild foxing (the term for aging and wear on the mirror which makes it cloudy or blackish), which I happen to LOVE.  Meanwhile, hubs was quickly roaming through the rooms of the shops, and I waited in front of the mirror to beckon him for a look.

 Hahahh!  I love this shot I took of him as he approached. 

 Look at his face!!! Hahahha!!

He was likely thinking, "you have to be kidding me! Another mirror?"

 Oh Dave, look at this mirror.  Its old, and its Venetian and I love it!! I told him the price was a steal and we had to get it.  No, he told me it would most likely break on the ride home (he drove down with the dog, while our son and mother in law flew with me).  Having a car meant I could bring it home!! But he was saying it might break.  "But you are the expert packer of all things"..... he was trying to suggest I find anything else but a mirror.  But I had my heart set on it.  I asked the girl in the shop  if the price was solid or discounted?  
She looked it up in a book and then said the magic words:

"THAT MIRROR IS HALF OFF". 
 What??? "Honey, its half off, that is the second sign from the Universe 
that it is meant to come home with us!!"  

And so it came off the wall and out to the car!  I loved the back of the mirror

almost as much as the front!! Squealing with joy inside, I was a very happy girl.

The first sign from the Universe about the mirror was this:

Just that morning I was looking at my phone and saw this amazing Venetian

mirror photo posted on Fifi O'Neill's instagram account.  This set me to thinking about

how beautiful old Venetian mirrors are...and I had one reproduction mirror several years

back that I sold in my shop, Maison Decor.  Other than seeing some for big money

at the Brimfield Fair, I had not run across any antique Venetians.  How do you

explain this turn of events?  I say it is the "law of attraction" or a "sign from the Universe".

This kind of thing happens to me a lot, where I think of something and then POW, it presents itself.

Does this ever happen to you?  

Anyway it does to me and now hubs is driving home as we speak 

with Colby and the Venetian Mirror.

Our beautiful home on the Cape Coral waterway, 

with the heated enclosed pool is now a fond memory in our family scrapbook.  

And where will the new mirror go?

The dining room is where I imagined it to hang, but until it arrives I 

can't be sure.  What I am sure of, is that it is going to look great where ever

it ends up.  And that every time I look at this old mirror, I will see a memorable

family vacation, with an incredible husband, son and parents.

Oh, and before I go, I saw this yesterday at Lowes.  My home on the cover!!

If you read my blog, you know I had a photo shoot with Fifi O'Neill and she chose

my home to be the covershot for Romantic Country.  Well it is still on news stands but

not for long.  I was amazed to see it at the Lowes Home Improvement magazine section.

Just a heads up in case you might want to grab a copy before its too late. 

Read more »