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You are here: Home / Archives for antiques

Art: Living Room

January 27, 2020 at 9:58 am by Claudia

Monday morning – a cloudy one, at that. Most of the snow has melted because of a combination of warmer temperatures and rain. That’s good and bad. Good because the young deer can eat our grass on the front lawn again. They like to feed there during the winter. Bad because it looks gray and blah out there again. The snow was pretty!

I know, be careful what you wish for, Claudia!

More artwork, this time we’re back in the living room.

You know all about our vintage lithograph on the left. We purchased it on our first Paris trip and finally had it framed this year. We are completely besotted by it. It’s an ad for a coffee that was made by monks and this particular illustrator loved to use children in his work. It’s delightful, it makes us smile, it’s a tangible memory of Paris, it’s in French…what more could we want?

Next to it, one of my two vintage Maxfield Parrish prints. These are not modern reproductions, they’re vintage prints that were sold soon after Parrish painted them for publication. I have loved his work for years, dreamed of owning one of his creations, and it was only in the past 8 years or so that I was able to acquire two. This was the second of the two. It’s called Dinky Bird  and it was part of a commissioned set of illustrations for a volume of Eugene Field’s poems. The original oil painting was purchased by multimillionaire Henry Russell Sage, was put in storage and disappeared for  years until one of his grandchildren discovered it. It was painted in 1904.

I love the colors in this one. Parrish’s blues were rich and unlike those of any other artist.

My first Parrish, found at a local antique store and part of the collection of a longtime Parrish lover, is next.

Pierrot’s Serenade, one of Parrish’s illustrations for The Golden Treasury of Songs and Lyrics.

Trying to capture the golds in this print and the blues in the other print is impossible via the camera. They are gorgeous. The original was painted in 1908.

It’s funny. I wanted some of Parrish’s work for so long. Now that I have these two, I don’t feel the need to collect any more.

Well, let me correct that. If I found a vintage print of The Lantern Bearers, my favorite Parrish, I’d snap it up in a second. It is simply gorgeous. So far, I have never seen one.

Okay. Business: The winner of a copy of The Overstory  is Leanne Shawler. Leanne, I’m going to send an email your way, but if you see this in the meantime, send me your mailing address and I’ll pass it on to Barbara. Congratulations!

Happy Monday.

 

Filed Under: antiques, Maxfield Parrish, Paris 16 Comments

A Tour of the Folk Art Dollhouse

December 15, 2019 at 10:36 am by Claudia

If you follow either the comments on this post or my Instagram account, you already know that Don bought the vintage dollhouse for me. We went to the shop and as soon as Don saw it, he was in. I tried out some furniture – it’s not quite to scale, but it will do. In the end, it was an easy decision.

And now it’s home.

As far as it being on the kitchen table, we eat dinner on trays in the den. We sometimes grab lunch at the table and there’s still plenty of room on either side of the house for a plate. We make all decisions like this one together, carefully considering all the options, and we talk the whole thing over until we’re sure in our choice. This truly is a partnership.

This is the other side that I neglected to photograph in the shop. This is very much a folk art house. The bricks are drawn on. The window panes are drawn on, as is the siding. But isn’t it charming?

The windows are made of glass (some are missing) and sometimes there is a scrap of lace on a window.

The porch.

The sides come off in sections. I’ll try to show you this as we go.

Upper floor exterior section off.

Lower section off.

And the center of the roof comes off.

And the other sides removed. I believe the room with the fireplace is meant to be the dining room. There’s another fireplace in the adjoining room, but it’s impossible to get a picture of it. That room is the living room. Although I might change that since I can get a photo of this side.

At the front of the house – a sun porch.

Sun porch and staircase. And the only thing left that is hanging on a wall – a mirror.

There are scraps of fabric in the doorways, meant to be curtains. For some reason, the builder didn’t make front or back doors. I see no evidence of there having been any in the past.

Kitchen, I believe, at the back of the house.

The dining room fireplace. Hand drawn bricks.

He/she put these half dowels in and the floors fit around them.

The sides, when inserted, are hooked into place with these little hooks. Pretty ingenious!

It’s very funky. One side on the upper floor is wonky and light shows through from the outside. It’s sort of impossible to get in some rooms, especially in what most likely the bathroom, and the stairway. It’s clearly handmade, though in the best possible way. I’m in awe of this craftsman and so wish I could talk to him and hear his story. Or her story. Did he model it after a real house? Was it his house? Did he make it for his children?

As I said to Don this morning, it fits together like a giant puzzle. It’s so cool!

I’m going to vacuum it out today and do some interior cleaning as best I can.

Hope you enjoyed the tour!

Don is under the weather again, so we’re going to hang out at home today.

Filed Under: antiques, Christmas, dollhouse 52 Comments

My Quandary

December 14, 2019 at 11:03 am by Claudia

Quick post. We’ve spent most of the morning measuring, talking, debating…about this:

I went to look for one more putz house at the Clinton Shops (where we were earlier this week) and when I walked in the door and saw Sydney’s booth (Fox Run Antiques) I saw this.

I was stunned and had to catch my breath. I then proceeded to spend over an hour there, taking pictures, texting my sister, talking to two of the guys who work there – basically trying to figure out if I could swing this in our small house. It’s big – 23 inches wide and 31″ long. It’s handmade. The sides come off in sections in order to see the rooms. Part of the roof lifts off. The front and back are permanent. I’m not even sure if it’s to scale – probably not.

But my heavens, look at it! I’ll never see anything like it again. Don thinks it’s folk art, and I agree. He’d like to display it permanently – as a piece of folk art – on the kitchen table. Remember, my first dollhouse sat on that table for months while I worked on it. There are a few other places we would stash it; my work table upstairs, a cabinet in the bedroom. But Don thinks it should be downstairs where we can see it.

He wants to buy it for me for Christmas.

We’re going to go to the shop so he can see it and so I can stick a piece of furniture in it to determine the scale. It might need smaller furniture. I have no idea.

So that’s where we are. Maybe I shouldn’t have gone to that shop yesterday!

I’m in a quandary.

Happy Saturday.

 

Filed Under: antiques, dollhouse, miniatures 76 Comments

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Welcome!

Welcome!

I live in a little cottage in the country with my husband. It's a sweet place, sheltered by old trees and surrounded by gardens. The inside is full of the things we love. I love to write, I love my camera, I love creating, I love gardening. My decorating style is eclectic; full of vintage and a bit of whimsy.

I've worked in the theater for more years than I can count. I'm currently a voice, speech, dialect and text coach freelancing on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater.

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