Search Results for: how the light gets in

Mini Gifts for Caroline (I’m Not Jealous. I’m Not.)

April 16, 2016 at 9:10 am by Claudia

I guess it’s no secret that Caroline has a boyfriend. This is rather a big deal because she likes to stay unattached. She has a busy schedule. She’s fiercely independent. She earns a good salary and bought her house a few years ago. She travels. She likes her own company.

She’s kept the whole thing fairly quiet (she’s very private.) I respect that, having been through much the same thing when I first met Don.

However, yesterday she called out to me and asked me to drop by Hummingbird Cottage. She wanted to show me something. She was clearly excited. I’d venture to say she was almost giddy.

He had given her a present, seemingly out of the blue. “Look!” she said. “He gets me!”

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Oh my goodness! Bravo! He definitely gets her.

I can see why she was so excited. Two beautiful pieces of Roseville in the White Rose pattern. I have one piece in White Rose. Caroline now has three!

They’re beautiful.

I watched as she walked around the living room, searching for the best place to display each piece. The shelf that holds four pieces of Roseville is rather crowded, so she needed to branch out.

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She moved some things off that little blue table and replaced them with the salmon colored jardiniere. She thought, and rightly so, that it worked with the rug and the Aubusson pillow on the sofa. Beautiful, Caroline. (She does have good taste, doesn’t she?)

Now for the vase.

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Ah. The mantel. It looks lovely there. (We won’t go into my jealousy over Caroline’s mantel. It doesn’t speak well of me.)

A closer look:

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I love it. In fact, (yes, the green-eyed monster is rearing its ugly head again) I’m rather coveting that vase. Note to self: must check out White Rose patterns on eBay. STAT.

I tried to get a good photo of the living room this morning so I could show you how the Roseville is placed throughout the living room, but the light is lacking. I’ll get one this afternoon. I have to say that the Roseville adds a lovely, warm, vintage touch to the room.

This guy sounds like a keeper.

Happy Saturday.

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My Favorite Vase

February 26, 2016 at 9:02 am by Claudia

As I hobbled around this morning, moving carefully (my back seems to be at its worst when I first get up) the morning light was shining on my vase of flowers. It was if they were under a spotlight. So I grabbed my iPhone and took a picture.

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And then it occurred to me: Have I ever talked about this – my very favorite vase – before? If I have, it was only in passing.

As a collector of pottery, you must surely know that I have a LOT of vases. (A quick count of what I can see from my blogging chair results in at least 15 – and there are a lot more of them in various cabinets and on various surfaces. Maybe I’ll count them someday.) So, when I say this one is my favorite, that’s saying something.

I found it years ago, when I was living in Cambridge, in a little shop I used to frequent. It was run by two ladies who often had vintage Fiesta on hand and I used to collect Fiesta. They were so helpful and would call me when they found pieces of Fiesta they thought I would like. (I often wonder what happened to that shop.) This was in the late eighties – early nineties, so we’re talking at least 25 years ago. I saw this vase and was immediately taken by its form and function.

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It was made by Red Wing Pottery. The outside is a matte white glaze and the inside is an apple green glaze. I looked it up on eBay and I didn’t see any pieces like this one, though I saw other designs in this white/green combination.

What makes it work is the simplicity of the design. It’s geometric in design; a four-point star. Those four corners formed by the star are the key. When I take a bouquet of, say, alstroemeria, and put it inside the vase, the stems automatically fall into the corners while some remain in the center and the bouquet looks beautiful. No arranging required. It looks utterly natural.

Genius.

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I have a feeling I was initially drawn to this by the white/green combination, which I find striking.

It’s the perfect vase. It’s the one I always go to. I don’t know what I’d do without it.

I have no idea what I paid for it at the time, but I was on the strictest – and I mean strictest – of budgets, so it can’t have been much.

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I just looked at the marking on the bottom: Red Wing USA 412. (Made in about 1952. We share the same birth year.) In searching for that particular number, I see that it was also made with a pale blue exterior and a coral interior. That would be pretty, too. (Hmmm. I’d have two of them! I’m filing this thought away for future eBay searches.)

Yesterday: I realized that vacuuming is entirely different now that Scout is not with us. There was hardly anything to vacuum. I stood there looking at the rugs and the floor which used to be a treasure trove of her beautiful hair and sadness overwhelmed me.

We still don’t know what to do with ourselves.

Happy Friday.

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Mystery Solved

January 29, 2016 at 9:25 am by Claudia

As to the mystery item….where did we leave off?

Ah yes. I ordered it online and drove to another Target location to pick it up. But first, some back story. Last week, when I was back home, I read a post on a favorite blog, Call of the Small, about a child’s dollhouse she had picked up at Target. Call of the Small is one of several miniaturists who love the midcentury modern look in miniatures and dollhouses, and it’s hard to find dollhouses that have that look because most of them are more traditional in design.

This particular dollhouse was $49, and it was part of a line called Our Generation, the Lori 6″ dollhouse – Loft to Love. The 6″ notation refers to the doll size. Dolls for dollhouses are not something I am into. But the house itself looked to me like a great roombox (which just got auto corrected to rhumba!) and a fun way to play with the midcentury modern look – a look I’m not at all interested in for my real home, but one I’ve really come to love in miniatures.

I was going to stop at our local Target on my way back to Hartford, but I didn’t. Thus began my Hartford-area search. And now I have it.

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Here’s a glimpse of the outside. The door is plastic and huge (probably for the dolls) but it can work. Green felt top for a roof garden.

Here’s the inside:

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You can see the loft and a battery operated yellow light, which I’ll probably remove at some point. I’m in love with the tall windows. Since this was designed as a kid’s toy, plastic furniture sets are available for the rooms, though there were none available at the Target store I went to. It comes with a kitchen.

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It’s okay, but it’s plastic. It takes up too much of the main space. And it’s a little bigger than 1:12 – maybe 1:10? I’m not sure. I think I’ll be ‘redesigning’ the kitchen.

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I think it’s really cool.

I brought a couple of pieces back with me, just to play a bit. But not enough to truly play, darn it!

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Such a neat space and so full of possibilities. After all, though I have midcentury modern in the Top Secret Project, it is for Don. So I can’t really play with it after it’s finished. I have to be a good girl and leave it alone.

Reader Bridget solved the mystery and I was shocked and delighted that she did! Good for you, Bridget. I left one clue in yesterday’s comments and replies: miniatures. That, coupled with the fact that I was looking for the item at Target, was apparently enough for Bridget. Bravo!

It’s available online here, if you’re at all interested. Target: once again I am referring readers to your site.

Ahem. Hint: Loveseat.

The Target I went to yesterday had about three of these left. I think they’re quickly going out of stock because the one I visited the other day had none on the shelves. And none of the Targets had the accessories, but since I wasn’t interested in them, it was fine. In other words, they’re pretty picked over, due, I’m sure, to it being post-Christmas.

So I have added a little dollhouse to the temporary digs. I wish there was a miniatures shop nearby but there isn’t. Sigh.

And I do have to work. Right?

Happy Friday.

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Mini Gifts for Caroline (I’m Not Jealous. I’m Not.)

My Favorite Vase

Mystery Solved

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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