Why You Don't Marry Furniture

A busy Tuesday at That Old House.

My Dad is still in the hospital with pneumonia -- thank goodness the hospital is only ten minutes away. And I'm expecting overnight house guests -- my brother Kirby and his wife Doris, although they are family so they are easy guests.

They have to love me even if there are dust bunnies under their bed.

Yes, they'll stay in the pink room; this is a year-old picture, but I still don't have the draperies sewn for it!
The neighbors are quite scandalized. . . . but the dust bunnies don't care.

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Computer time is limited this week for me, but I wanted to post today,
and I decided to reach back almost a year ago, to a post that was great fun
to write, and I hope will be great fun for you to read.
Highlighted words lead to other posts or websites.
So -- from March 5, 2009:

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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 (oops, 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 the purposes of a blog post, 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, claiming, "Charity begins at home. My home!"

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.
(Enlarge to see Dion's contribution to the wing chair.)

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 a 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.

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So I'm jumping in to three blog parties today . . . go visit them! I am afraid I'll have to owe visits for awhile; I hope you understand.

While the sofa and chairs in the parlor were new, just about everything else in this post, from pink bedroom to parlor, is old -- bought used, or handed down in the family. Even our house is a 2nd Time Around-er . . . so thanks to Diane at A Picture Is Worth 1000 Words for Second Time Around Tuesday.

Tabletop Tuesday was going to be about our hall bath, but instead . . . it's the little table by the fireplace, with all the blue and white dishes and old linen. Thanks to Marty at A Stroll Thru Life for hosting! Marty's got gorgeous blue and white in her own post today.

And Tam -- thanks for one of my first-ever favorite blog parties -- Three Or More Tuesday. My 3 or more today are the three Angel House pieces -- the sofa and two chairs in the parlor. Go visit The Gypsy's Corner for more things in threes. Or more!

Now . . . I am leaving soon for the hospital; I wish I could stay and read and read and read blogs all day today. Thanks for the many kind wishes you've expressed for my Dad; he's doing fine. -- Cass