Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Christmas Cookies

I was really tempted to try baking a different Christmas Cookie every day in December and blogging about it, but then I realized that making that many messes in the kitchen would surely result in an eviction notice.

Maybe next year.

In the meantime, here are some cookies that would have made their way into my bake-off.












HAVE to include these meringue stars 














Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Relevant Art

I love having art in my home, but I find I have a hard time finding art that is relevant to home life.  I'm a fan of images that calm and that idealize domesticity.... seems appropriate for a domestic setting to me.  More appropriate than war heroes or even still lives.  While my ideal is always to have an original, here are a  few I wouldn't mind a high quality print or reproduction of.  (I think I must have been hungry when choosing these.... most of these people are eating.)

Sharing a Meal, by Henry Jules Jean Geoffroy


The Breakfast Table, John Singer Sargent

The Honeymoon Breakfast, Daniel Knight

The Dinner Party, Jules Grun

One of the Family, Fredrick George Cotman

Fisherman's Family, George Bellows

The Hulsenbeck Children, Runge

The Happy Family, Ferdinand Georg Waldmuller

The Gilchrist Family Breakfast, William Wallace Gilchrist Jr

Ruspoli family from Italy (1806 or 1807), ?

Le Centre de la Famille, Paul Cesar Helleu

A Family at Table, 1938, Ivan Kulikov
A Peasant Family at the Table, 1882, Jozef Israels

Monday, September 27, 2010

Fall Floral Roundup

While I did throw together a roadside wreath with my preschooler in an hour and a half recently (including the time spent driving down the road and cutting our supplies together), I'm wishing I could invest a little bit more time and money and make something like one of these:



















(lots of ideas at Organic Bouquet


Maybe someday when I have a front door of my own......

Friday, September 24, 2010

Dining Room drama

My husband is out of town picking up a family heirloom dining set for us to restore.  While I wish he was home (I'm going into labor any minute now), I'm really excited about our new furniture, and I've got dining rooms on the brain.

This is not necessarily a good thing.

But instead of actually buying anything I shouldn't - I'll just share where my brain is taking me.

The dining table is large enough to seat 8-10 with leaves in, but only has 4 chairs. The seats are currently covered in century-old black leather that's beginning to show it's age.  I'd like to stick with something easy to clean, maybe a faux ostrich leather?  Maybe in Navy?


  I found this loveseat on KSL classifieds for $75.  I can't tell if it's real leather or not, but I think it'd make a great banquette along one side of the table, and be an easy-to clean surface.  All it appears to need is a few upholstery nailheads where they've gone missing.


Add a long colorful (more coordinated than the one shown below) bolster pillow and it's just about perfect.


I have become completely smitten with this rug on ebay.  $375 is steep for me right now, but for a persian rug this size in this condition, it's a steal.  And the colors are insanely gorgeous.












 Add a Buffet/Server with a limed finish, with white and silver serving ware, plus a spattering of colorful pieces, possibly a collection of mosser cake stands: 




Either side of the buffet will have perfect little lamps trimmed in blue grosgrain instead of the olive green,  and green slag candlesticks with pink tapers: 



Wall Color - a pale blue-gray like Farrow and Ball's Borrowed Light



Art - I've got this floral painting rolled up under my bed, waiting to be stretched and framed:


Plus an image or two (or some ephemera if I can find any) reminiscent of turn-of-the-century dining halls... 



Curtains in a bold navy horizontal stripe, with red or yellow trim on the leading edge.  
(image via Jenny Komenda)

(via etsy)


And someday I need a dining room just so I can start collecting and displaying Aynsley China....

in a hutch like this:

(Jenny Komenda.... again)

And if this dining room is set for guests, I'll need a Saipua-esque centerpiece

delivery_august19

in the midst of a toned-down Eddie Ross-esque table setting


Just brainstorming...... and swooning over the rug........

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