Thank you for finding That Old House amidst the chaos of the Internet. We are delighted that you are here.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

A Sunday Favorite -- Tea in the Parlor!

Here it is, newly Sunday, and the few stragglers from my daughter's graduation party are still sleepily chatting in the sunroom. I'm pooped -- houseguests, the graduation on Friday, the party on Saturday ... so now I am very grateful to Chari of Happy To Design for hosting the Sunday Favorites meme.

Click
here for more blasts from the past; I'm re-posting an old post from March. I hope you enjoy it. It is silly, but I had fun with it!


************************************************
I am going to have tea in front of the fireplace, and have a slice of Grandma Cake! Come with me, as I walk you through the recipe for Tea in the Parlor. . . .



Start with a parlor, a blank slate:



Paint it to your liking, and add ... well, stuff. Furniture is a good place to start.

Drive 200-plus miles to Sturbridge, Massachusetts, to order period-style furniture from Angel House.
Stir in some blood-curdling "we don't have that fabric anymore"
moments, dash to Calico Corners and order fabric to go!

Then,
wait ... wait ... wait for the call that the furniture is ready. Pester Angel House.

Pester Angel House again, till patient lady in the office begins to sound testy on phone. Rejoice when furniture is ready!

Send husband Howard and his ex-wife (00ps, ex-roommate) Mitchel on a 400-plus mile round trip in a rented truck to fetch new parlor furniture in Massachusetts to save whopping delivery charges. Offer to pay for their lunch en route. At Burger King.


Fall in love with the furniture.
Ask it to marry you, then remember you are already married.
And that furniture would make a poor husband,
as it has no means of taking out the trash.


Ruthlessly shove furniture around over and over again because
you can't find an arrangement that works.

Realize that for Tablescape Thursday, you can fudge it
and just use one wee bit of the room. Move appropriate furniture into place:

An Angel House (very comfy) wing chair, and the old
barley twist table your sister-in-law was donating to charity
and you snatched from her garage.Discover, too late, that the bottom side of the wing chair bears evidence of the
passage of a cheeky little white and brown spaniel who left a bit of himself behind,
on the upholstery fabric. Clean off for future pictures.

Add a bit of old table linen that doesn't need ironing, realize you don't have anything that doesn't need ironing,
so resort to last week's bit of old lace.


Add Johnson Brothers "Indies Blue" china, an old "Blenheim" pattern silver spoon (it hasn't been polished so just claim to like that vintage look), the cobalt and gold Meissen teapot, change your mind about the Meissen teapot as you don't have any cup & saucer to measure up to it, realize you don't have enough nice china and hear your husband scream all the way from midtown Manhattan, replace Meissen with unknown maker blue and white teapot, and, finally,
a slice of Grandma Cake to make it all worthwhile.



And there we have it....
Tea in the Parlor, or:
How To Get The Most Posts Out Of One Homemade Cake.


I'd light the fire, but it's a gas gizmo and I am mortally terrified of it.

And I still don't have a satisfactory arrangement of furniture in this room.
Someday.


Happy Sunday to all! After church, we are heading to a yard sale hosted by a local historical society. I have high hopes! -- Cass

22 comments:

  1. That was a funny post. I really enjoyed it. I love the china. And the furniture looks fabulous!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I remember this post - probably one of my first visits to your blog, and I was hooked. I chuckled again over your commentary and I ooooed and ahhhhed again over your tea set. laurie

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh I REMEMBER this one!!! You were sitting in the PARLOR, enjoying all that tea and Grandma's Cake, and your poor GHOSTS were starving in the basement!!!


    Hehehehehehehehehe

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your sofa is gorgeous! I like your tea party for one. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I enjoyed this post; I don't think I read it before...and I LOVE your sofa! you are so funny. Loved my visit today!

    Suzanne

    ReplyDelete
  6. I loved this post! AND, I WOULD marry the furniture and take the darn trash out myself!! (really, it's that beautiful!)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love the parlor in its Spartan state best. I am Ms Anticlutter, to the extreme. Not that I don't love a home that I see beautifully furnished, just that when I see it bare, it entices me more.
    The Indies Blue china is lovely. Ha, on the cheeky Spaniel.~Mary

    ReplyDelete
  8. I remember this one - lovely.
    I also remember the cake....and I made it too. It kept very well, and we ate every last crumb.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love this post. It is perfect and so describes how many times we have moved and I have been in your shoes. Love it.. Hugs, Marty

    ReplyDelete
  10. Cass

    I now know every corner of your livingroom--it's a great homey place to be!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Every time I find a delightful blog, I forget how I got there. I enjoyed the post and like your format. Join me one day, as I am new to this and learning. My house is eclectic as my kiddo say. Like a nest, well you know generation gaps are the spice of life.I will return.
    Peggy

    ReplyDelete
  12. Meant to ask you if you know Loree Jon Jones, women's world billiards champion? She is my sister-in-law.Nee Ogonowski, from New Jersey.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Well...if furniture COULD take out the trash, we would have it made. Thanks for sharing your home. Laura @ the mansion

    ReplyDelete
  14. Enjoyed your post! Funny :) Love how you got mileage from the cake! Found your blog from Chari's Sunday Favorites!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I remember it too! Love the blue dishes, and those floors are wonderful..lots of character!

    ReplyDelete
  16. That's a great post. Love the china and the story!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Cass, tea has never looked so tempting, not to mentions the cake. I see there is only one chair. What's up with that? One piece of cake? Where is mine?
    Hmmm. Does not share or play nice with others!

    ReplyDelete
  18. The things we bloggers do to try to put together a post! You did great. :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Too funny! I love your furniture :)

    Hugs,
    Dena

    ReplyDelete
  20. Oh Cass - I'm laughing hysterically over this post! Poor Howard, almost playing second fiddle to the sofa.

    I so enjoy seeing photos of your house - you've done a fantastic job :)

    Lisa

    ReplyDelete
  21. Hi Cass...

    My friend, what a lovely post to share with all of us for Sunday Favorites...loved your humor! Every time I come to your place for a visit...I just Ooooh and Aaaah all over the place! Hehe! Your home is so beautiful and I love this parlor...Ohhh, and all of your fabulous furniture!!! I think the style and color of it is just perfect for this room!!! Your fireplace area look so cozy with the big comfy chair and my friend, you set a beautiful tea table! I just love your pretty blue & white dishes!!! So glad that you posted this!!!

    I do apologize for being so late to come by your place...I was away for the weekend and I'm just now getting to the computer! So happy that you joined in with Sunday Favorites and that in doing so...it gave you a chance to rest up a bit from that Graduation party!!! Hehe!!!

    Have a great week, my friend!
    Warmest wishes,
    Chari
    PS...Thanks for the sweet comments that you left on my frenchy Christmas post!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting That Old House; it's always exciting to find new comments -- they are treasured! Because of increasing spam, I have reluctantly eliminated "Anonymous" commenting. Legitimate anonymous commenters, please forgive me! You might try using "Open ID" instead. Blogger's spam software worked for a good long time, but, sadly, no longer.