living room — Page 5

Cleaning and Fluffing

April 17, 2018 at 9:50 am by Claudia

I often find myself marveling at why I don’t do something more often. There are things I just don’t think of very often. Like this:

For some reason, I decided it was time to clean this coffee table and I looked around to see what I had on hand. I found some Pledge furniture oil, so I took everything off the table and went to work. Such a simple thing and it made such a big difference! Why don’t I do it more often? Now, of course, I want to clean every non-painted piece of furniture, including the sideboard and the piano.

I had to amuse myself indoors as it rained quite heavily for most of the day yesterday. And I probably won’t get to do much, if anything, outside today because the ground is really soggy and more rain is expected. So it’s furniture polishing!

Here’s a closeup of the pillow. It’s sort of wonky, isn’t it? But I don’t mind. It is appliquéd and embroidered – by machine, I’m sure. It makes me smile; a little spring garden on the sofa.

That sofa, by the way, is a remnant of my Boston University days. I bought it for $500 – which, considering the fact that I was grossly underpaid at the time – was a lot of money. It’s still a lot of money! But it fit perfectly in the niche created by the bay window in my Cambridge apartment. I’ve considered getting rid of it; the springs are a bit troublesome, but then again, the same thing holds true for the sofa in the den. We really need two new sofas, but as we flop around on these a great deal and do not have a showplace kind of house, they’re fine for now.

Here it is in my old apartment approximately 28 or so years ago.

Heavens, I loved those windows! It was a beautifully sunny apartment.

Don informed me that he now has a rehearsal and filming on Thursday afternoon – something for NBC news. So I won’t be going in on Thursday. Maybe Friday? Maybe Sunday? We’ll have to see.

Two words: Sean Hannity. (I laughed out loud. I might have cackled.)

I leave you with that.

Happy Tuesday.

Sun and Color

November 30, 2017 at 9:50 am by Claudia

I don’t think I’m going to get around to painting that wall in the kitchen this week. Don’s one-day-earlier arrival is throwing a spanner in the works, plus, to be honest, I don’t want the hassle of moving everything around and besides, I can start in on all of this in January when he’s back in the city for Margaritaville. (That was a long run-on sentence!)

Speaking of Margaritaville, my cousin and her husband were in the audience last night. They drove down to Chicago from their home in Northern Michigan to see it. Hopefully, though I haven’t spoken to him yet, Don met up with them at the Stage Door after the show. Actually, Don and I haven’t ‘spoken’ very much at all as he’s babying his voice this week. We speak in texts. Thank goodness for technology. When I had vocal problems as an actress, I didn’t have that option.

Forgot to show you these Rae Dunn pots that I picked up a few months back. I wasn’t sure what to put in them until I saw little sansevierias at Terrain (they’re marketed for terrariums) that I thought would do nicely. I need to do a little more excess soil removal!

Sunny pictures from the kitchen and living room:

I like color. I like sunny, bright, and welcoming rooms.

I like my house.

Though we could use a lot more storage and a mudroom (still dreaming about that possibility) the truth is, we’re fine. (Oh yes, and a garage!) If we never get those things we’ll be okay. We’ve been okay for the 12 years we’ve lived here, so all indications are that we can handle it indefinitely. That doesn’t stop me from dreaming, however.

I won’t even go into yesterday’s news. I had to talk myself down last night in order to fall asleep.

Happy Thursday.

A Foggy Saturday Morning

September 16, 2017 at 9:20 am by Claudia

Good morning!

It’s another deliciously foggy morning. I love the mystery of fog, the soft edges. I guess it’s not at all surprising that I love mysteries, is it?

Taken just a couple of minutes ago: the living room in the early morning light. I love the different wood finishes, the textures, the color of that blue table and chartreuse piece of Russel Wright pottery, the Roseville and the Guy Wolff pottery, and a splash of green in the shefflera. Oh, and the dried hydrangea in the corner.

Shadows and light.

I finished totaling and sorting through all our receipts, typed up the deductions, and sent them off to our accountant in Los Angeles. Sigh of relief.

Today I will study the script for Shadowlands. I’m doing some dialect coaching on a production in New York and that starts (for me) on Monday. As soon as this post is finished, I plan to make my second cup of coffee and sit on the porch. I must take advantage of it while I can!

Don smelled gas in his apartment yesterday and sure enough, there is a leak. So they turned off the gas. It will take a couple of days to fix – luckily he’s coming home for a day. The furniture was temporarily rented by the management company and, except for the bed, it’s ridiculously uncomfortable. The sofa is the kind you might find in a dorm room – in fact, only someone 18 or younger could lounge on it without his/her back going out. Don had a discussion with management and they agreed to find replacements. Yesterday, they brought a different chair which is definitely more comfortable (update: Nope. It’s not, per Don), but for some reason, they attempted to replace the sofa with a sofa bed (???) and it was so awkward and big that they couldn’t get it up the stairs. Why a sofa bed when he has a bed already, I don’t know. There’s been a lot of traffic in and out of his apartment this week – I know he’s looking forward to some peace and quiet.

Thought for the day – As a baked potato lover – truly, it’s one of my favorite foods – I’m going to say it: A potato baked in Stella’s oven puts all others to shame. It’s changed my potato-eating-life.

I’ve reached nirvana.

Happy Saturday.

Cleaning and Fluffing

Sun and Color

A Foggy Saturday Morning

claudiahillsparks

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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