This IS Hallowe'en!

That Old House is noisy today.
Earlier, I heard what sounded just like a door slamming upstairs.

But I'm sure it was just some snow sliding off the roof.  Yes, of course it was.

What else could it be?  In an old house?  On Hallowe'en?

So far, no trick or treaters, but we are prepared with a big bowl of candy.

Unlike the U.S. Government, Dion and I do negotiate with terrorists.

But now for something completely different.
Fabrics.
"Hello, my name is Cass, and I am a fabric-aholic."


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Upstairs at That Old House there is a bedroom, painted Benjamin Moore's Soft Shell, a lovely pink.
Honestly, I never thought I'd ever paint a room pink.  Never say "never."

There's a big high rice-carved 4-poster bed; unless you are quite tall, or you are quite young
and can fling yourself upwards, you need a stool to climb into it.
My daughters say it's like sleeping on a cloud.

 This room still has the remnants of our daughter Alida's brief tenancy here,

before she moved to California in the summer of 2008 for graduate school.

 Bit by bit, her things are being boxed and stored in the attic.
Or sold, but don't tell her that.  Just kidding.  Pretty much.

I'm collecting rose-themed decor for the room.

Like this painting, found at a charity sale on eastern Long Island in 2010.

I think it was $5.

One of my mother's old slop jars serves as a wastebasket;

she used these beautiful old china oddities as wastebaskets in all her baths and bedrooms.

On the slop jar -- Roses.  Natch.

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Why am I telling you all this?

Because today I  wasted  spent a lot of time cruising my favorite fabric website, Fabric Guru.com.

Because our pink room, which my sister in law Doris has dubbed The Rose Room,

needs curtains.  And a dust ruffle (the old fashioned term for a bed skirt!).

Also a skirt on the vanity dressing table, and a little bit of slipcover magic.

Meaning:  Fabric.

I was going to use a fabric originally ordered for another room, but it's just not right.

I'm thinking that one of these, below, may be The One.

I have ordered samples of all of them, because computer monitors are never totally accurate as to color.

So . . . whatcha think?

#1 

#2

#3

#4

#5

(Yes, same as above, but different colorway.)

#6

(Okay, this is wild, but I love it; just don't know about a whole room with it!)

#7

(Probably not as dull as it looks, in person.)

#8

(This is a tapestry, may be good for rocking chair seat covers.)

#9

(Hope this might be a good accent fabric, or a lining.)

#10

(Yes, I have two pictures of this pattern, as I am hoping that I

can really, really love it.  It is only $3.95 a yard, and from a good maker.)

Hmmm . . . may not be pink-y enough.  Too much red?

Well, in 3 days or so I should have my samples.  Fabric Guru ships fast, and cheap.

It's hard to get the right tone of the pink walls in pictures of that room,

as the pink changes with the light, and often hovers close to peachy pink, almost pale salmon.

My last picture today was as the light was really fading, and the chandelier was off.

Well, what do you know?  That's probably the most accurate of all the wall colors!

Still no trick or treaters.

I think they've been told to stay home, because so many neighborhoods are without power.

We are so, so lucky -- we never lost power, despite our town being in what one of the

New Jersey newspapers called "the epicenter of the storm."  Who knew? 

Some parts of our town got 17 inches of snow; we didn't get that much, but we got . . . enough.

Happy Halloween,

from Cass and Howard and Dion and whomever else lives here at That Old House.

BOO!

Guess what?  An old picture from when the house
was being painted, before we moved in, shows the Soft Shell paint color best.

When we bought the house, the room was painted sort of white.

I'm not real big on white walls, and there were some (!) wall repairs to be made.
So the painters got to work -- this is the room with primer and plaster repairs.

That's all, folks!