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You are here: Home / Archives for Christmas

Up On the Rooftop

December 23, 2019 at 10:11 am by Claudia

Is everyone calm? Or are you feeling frazzled? Or somewhere in between?

I’m fairly calm, though a teeny bit of frazzled has appeared as I have to go out today to get one more thing for Don. I’m feeling better, but still not tip-top (neither is Don.) This thing hangs on a while, but I think the worst is over. So I have to get one more present and that should be it.

We had our usual wrangle this morning over how many presents we’re giving each other. I keep saying that the vintage dollhouse is my present – it is!-and he doesn’t have to give me anything else. He wants to make sure he’s giving me the same amount of presents that I’m giving him. Then I reiterate that this year is different. I have my present and it came early. Finally, I said if he wants to give me three little things from the dollar store, that would be fine. Sigh.

Yesterday was sunny and much warmer and today it’s going to hit 50. Crazy. But I’m not complaining!

We watched It’s a Wonderful Life  last night. My favorite Christmas movie – no question. Cried my eyes out, of course – that never changes. I’m not a fan of Hallmark Christmas movies, nor of modern movies like Elf, though I saw it once and can appreciate it. They just don’t make our list of Must-See Christmas Classics. I think the only more recent movie that we love is A Christmas Story. We also watched Miracle on 34th Street  the other night. The black and white version, of course. Same goes for It’s a Wonderful Life. I don’t think any movies should be colorized if they were originally shot in black and white. Everything; the sets, the lighting, the camera work, costumes, was executed with the highlights and shadows of black and white in mind.

I love TCM and I’m grateful to Ted Turner for that wonderful channel, but not for his mission to colorize movies that were part of that great era of filmmaking.

I have to get going. I always forget that it gets dark so early, so I want to get out there and take care of my errands soon.

Added: If any of you follow Susan of the blog Ash Tree Cottage, please say a prayer for her. She has been in the hospital fighting an infection and in the course of her treatment, doctors found a renal mass that might have spread to her liver. Susan is a longtime blogging friend. She and her husband David need our prayers. Thank you.

Happy Monday.

 

 

Filed Under: Christmas, Don, movies, vintage, Vintage by Crystal 40 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

Reindeer & Putz

December 13, 2019 at 10:53 am by Claudia

My visit to two different antique shops yesterday was disappointing. One, which is one of my favorites, didn’t have what I wanted. This shop has recently opened a new ‘warehouse’ so I stopped there, as well. SO disappointing! Yes, it’s a huge warehouse, but except for a couple of booths, it’s pretty junky. Like walking into Goodwill or the Salvation Army (at least the ones around here) but arranged with a bit more style. Sigh.

Anyway, I returned home feeling as if I’d wasted three hours. My reaction to all of this seemed to be a bit too strong and sure enough, come the evening, I started to feel under the weather. So that might explain it. Today, I’m also feeling crappy, but I’m not ‘have to stay in bed crappy.’ Hopefully, this will fade away quickly.

These are my vintage celluloid deer that I found several years ago and rediscovered when I pulled out the bins in the shed to decorate the real Christmas tree. I really love them. I’m guessing they were hung from a tree at one point.

I was rearranging the putz sheep yesterday and looked a bit more closely at this one:

Do you remember my saying that this girl had everything; the bow, the cloth/wool ears, the bell?

Well, she also has Germany stamped on her leg. She’s got it all, that girl!

I did stop at Michael’s yesterday and added this little picket fence to the scene on my shelf.

It’s a gray day today but I’ll try to take a photo of the entire scene as it is…so far. Because you know I’m going to putz a bit with my putz sheep.

Happy Friday.

 

Filed Under: Christmas, decorating, putz sheep, vintage 24 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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