Last week, I lost a friend unexpectedly, and far too soon. I had blogged about her home last August,
here, and I also wrote about visiting her, and coming home with a couple of gifts for
That Old House. I'm sharing that post, today, from June '09, about a minor metamorphosis, courtesy of my friend Barbara. Links to blog parties are below.
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(June 29, 2009) -- Have you ever visited a house that just seemed perfect? I don't mean that it was grand or spectacular, but that it was perfect for what it was -- someone's very special home -- and a true reflection of its owner.I was lucky enough to visit such a home on Saturday.
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Today I'm double-dipping in Blog Party Land ...
Metamorphosis Monday (click here!) and
Today's Thrifty Treasures (
click here!).![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCOetYOwZoa98XKs6ChmR67xbN0wZZZ0MjPL4SzoZS4v4dd5PqPuNaCgepT6kh_Oaoexj1scQwhZwiUFzhEMluCAQRfcXs1YUE4D9hydcG0vFD6pZzH7lpjCvk8dYx_vUT5GbHmcn7iLw7/s400/IMG_3154.JPG)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUo1WJfB7hXl4l-ESXXHhrAVF9Qe8iYSxRxdthTi-4SdZB4zLxlpAw_HKmW5CBvL6a_GmlUUtDHaCzs79HaPP12rVMjVhSWXRQuxQCyAbXtwWJzjAc4pDEue5bann86SCRHdZmyWSfM05t/s400/Met+Monday.jpg)
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I have a new friend -- Barbara -- whom I met last month at the home of an old friend.
Barbara invited our family (including Dion) for a barbecue on Saturday. If I had been bolder, I would have begged to take pictures of her house (and
her pups, too!), to share with you.
Barbara's house is a 1930's era Sears kit house, and it is perfection. It nestles cozily into a beautiful established garden, crazy with bloom, with a tall hedge that I've already forgotten the name of, but that I
need here at
That Old House to screen out a new house next door. I would love to
hire Barbara to give me garden design advice!
Inside, the house has been beautifully and carefully updated, and a wonderful room added across the rear, with built ins and big chunky rows of windows. . . but what makes this house so special is that it could only belong to
Barbara; it is that personal.
I just loved it. Maybe I'll be invited back, and this time,
work up the courage to say, "May I invade your privacy, please?"
As we were leaving, Barbara told us she had something
she thought That Old House could use; she was right.
She gave us two of these:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnyDvfmQUnUmjMzPs1t7bRAez7F_PyWQL4GHm_i0tKd80z57tnhFv63tL_-UmdLqCewhK9PkPt62oWTaIw67cKGK-d6iAdwFdEe-WyxqnAnDGTXBl674c8dY9cz9JWYYUo2-oknPI1nt3d/s400/IMG_3157.JPG)
I asked my daughter Anne if they could qualify as Thrifty Treasures,
and she said, "What is more thrifty than free?" She has a point.
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So . . . on to the Metamorphosis, using our Thrifty Treasures. . . .
Here, $8 worth of supermarket flowers, beginning to lose their oomph!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDI658LAnaQsiypAB_1M3fiPIg8h0QCmxok3S_aracYv_6Fe0teU7dk6WTsm5xLCfglF0x9uBpEkP7YpwRV022YYz8NLLX85WJesMR6GAtcHKlYOgxTdegsbOotxoO23V0gaQTM19IqqWv/s400/IMG_3136.JPG)
Time to bring in a shorter vessel:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrJWRSgNjvi3r9RX586m3gOmHfWFxdrRV8Qdy3odwL28Gs_pm3s_OLcCy4qp5PSByPDA0iDZU-OMp689CjbivqdCqDkVjUaKxJlrkWcNXSkT4eA72PI7jgqknK2VbEO23OfFel_ApjksMR/s400/IMG_3137.JPG)
A pair of clippers, a steely resolve to toss the past-their-pull-date blooms,
and voila! A new look.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzCBH4ufL_WK9AixtEyUTd4jjjOMxTjw-BTTxMAna8s8exTfyNpgHkA-OjtsxN07duW8_xggrcSevIOB7NRFMNLBQHAyWehub4SCgtVFtQAkhybIG7mp2h3DsGjRdf7cDFy3CDePRSEhG-/s800/IMG_3140.JPG)
The dining room, meanwhile, looks a bit austere -- a big dark leafy philodendron
on the table, and two side windows looking rather bare, square and plain:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZcapSbVOwK7WPX7n3OfiPFSOPuZY88sdjlMPG-ZiMf0bgvjGWfL5x72rz_aYK0ugnbp9-rWOZLabZQvSVpq7aAwnlvuQeKhyphenhyphen9tx4qwB5WeW6ZgN9PLrNdfAs_DF0YPZp_eI9tE6jLw5_D/s800/IMG_3143.JPG)
So. . . let's put a little color on the table:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyjvr1kqY5orENUhZAmm_R5o3h34B58HzitbTG03We87Q9e8ds_H2WCo6BkkYwXiJmk-nv69SYY-YPYBqgo-4HddsKB7BP4CNb5K0rxRrgLUQFBeStuinjRHNqTpeRN-9R8_NPjOodE3BP/s800/IMG_3150.JPG)
And take the philodendron and put it in one of the plant stands from Barbara:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKG2sBAhG9XX7G-plr66cKcC-rC2EqbrI0HvmDzBYh80LexYkqHQSqsl3V4cbuj2gPbRcM3-TrfetTwaCdsJG7UdowNbk_z_obXXghM_QsCORWz0W2qX2Kk4efyjIwd9okf8MPGXwvnNhE/s800/IMG_3159.JPG)
Take a pothos, swiped from the parlor, and pop into the other
plant stand, and in front of the other window:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRNZgI0680uJpRoEOFNEJKmotUzKcALhkB2C_ySSYy_JqC4xFZbbrakZ6xpPzKKh0llmTMxo1ydhFSKW-0EimjmSp6smVtI5qzLCaNZJ-Cvrd8xT-0mqx2MJza1FIRsndR0INhpbuosK7N/s800/IMG_3155.JPG)
And we have our metamorphosis --- a softened look,
with colorful flowers, healthy plants, and two lovely old iron stands!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvIzfhrlaMehSo2wHZnzHvpojSkm6kssjNX2lymXZiFASldH4ZH6fwEIxEHPg-tyvBiZJPsfCnKwJe4rZHEu_EOwbE4VAWLoauRPGs786rQuCGPxAyJW04w0QsYdcRS6OcAfZtmnmDl1uK/s800/IMG_3148.JPG)
From another perspective:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYPzbAUGZ0QuoywFzgFza2PdPl_Lm2Q-q7_SU0aQu8tT3kUWB5vdP90AzK54C9MnX8EV7ZiGoXi30lkcH3k6bL2tuN0anxxUvtOPX6VtPG79rL0Mg_CiWdEo4Ha61lsrQqnqSeyuGYi3Gd/s800/IMG_3147.JPG)
So it's a simple change today, or, as Anne put it, "Not much of a Metamorphosis, Mom."
But it's a change for the better -- albeit a small one -- and that's what counts. Right?
I am looking for a place for these plant stands in the sunroom, too, for the colder weather. Stay tuned; I have a feeling they will turn up again, and again.
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A week ago, I took pictures of problem spots in our yard, to email to Barbara for her advice. I never got the chance to do so. Life is so unpredictable. I am grateful to have known this funny, smart, quirky, generous, talented woman even for so short a time.
Tell your friends and family how you feel. -- Cass