Bum's Rush

Sometimes Mother Nature gives you a day
of such splendid beauty that it paralyzes you;
all you can do is look in awe at her handiwork.

Well, okay.  Full disclosure:

that's my excuse for not ticking off the "to-do" items on my list today.

I was too busy being awe-ful.  :-)

But I did tackle this little problem: 

 "Just washed my chair, and can't do a thing with it!"

Back around Memorial Day, Howard and I went to a 

country auction, and scored some old rush-seated chairs.

For $4 apiece.

Well, wouldn't you?

They are all maple, all slightly different in their turnings,

all 19th century, and all very sturdy, and in decent shape.

If you don't count the woven rush.

What to do?

Like many women, I do what works, not necessarily what should be done.

So I got hold of some brown duct tape.

What would we do without duct tape?

(We once rebuilt a closet with it. Really. Ask our daughter Alida.)

3 of the 4 chairs had relatively minor rush damage.  

Like this.

Easy-peasy.

But one of them was crazy-wild damaged.

It looked like Albert Einstein's hair.

Even Gilda had her doubts.

"Nice tiger maple, Mom, but that rush?  Really?"

I started with the less-damaged seats, and duct-taped

the rush back on.  Then I tackled Einstein.

He took a lot of tape.

Bottom AND top.

(Yes, Gilda, we see you napping.)

What am I going to do with these chairs now that the rush is no

longer blowing in the wind?  The duct tape ain't a good look.

Easy.  I'll sew some seat cushions for the chairs,

little slipcovers that will come down over all 4 sides

of the seats, covering the incriminating duct tape.

What about fabric?

Plain linen?  Canvas?  Buffalo check?  Ticking stripe?

Toile?  Plaid?  Floral?  Leopard or Zebra?

Smiley face print?  :-)

Dylan says he doesn't care.

Isn't that just like a man?

See you tomorrow! -- Cass

I Love The Smell of Spray Paint In The Morning

Pssstt. . . Wanna buy a beach house?

Yes, we are selling the family beach house
on eastern Long Island's North Fork.  

And you know what that means: it's all hands on deck to make 
a family-friendly house look as if no one lives there, or ever did.

Weekend before last, we 4 siblings and our spouses 

gathered and cleared out any remaining stuff.

We eight are rarely all in one place at the same time, as we are 

scattered along the East Coast, and it was great to be together.

Selling this property, which our parents bought in 1969, isn't easy.

But sometimes you have to do what's practical and logical.

That's just how things are.

This past holiday weekend, Howard and I were joined by

my sister Peggy and her husband Bill, as we set the stage for selling.  

Goodbye old porcelain knobs, hello brushed nickel.  A new look for the kitchen cabinets.

Staging a house for sale is a strange process.

You erase most of what made that house a real home.

Gone are the photographs, the mementos, the little cards tucked

into picture frames, the worn or threadbare towels and bedding,

the mismatched china and gas station drinking glasses,

and all the quirky, bizarre stuff that every family acquires over time.

Enter, Pottery Barn.

You get as close as you can to a generic, pared-down, 

won't-offend-anyone style. This is just good common sense; 

the house looks fresh, and pretty, and anonymous.

 Prospective buyers can visualize their own worn out junk in the rooms.

Now, what is Howard doing on the floor with sharp pointy things?

This heron knows what's going on.

 "Look Ma!  I'm a padded headboard!"

Having neither artwork nor a headboard for the master bedroom,

we brought out plywood, spray adhesive, batting,

fabric, and (of course) staple guns.  Ta-da!

It bothers me that the heads of the upper birds are "cut off"
because I had to wrap the fabric to the back, and their little
birdy heads were too close to the selvedge.  Gotta fix this.

I added a heavy white cotton matelasse bed cover, extra pillows,

and silky-smooth high thread count sheets in a deep sandy tan.

I need to add lamps, and tweak this room, but it's getting there.

(All bedding borrowed from guest rooms at That Old House,

so don't come visit us till the beach house is sold!)

Up until Monday morning, the bedside tables were dark mahogany.  

2-1/2 coats of Rustoleum's 2X spray paint in semi-gloss white,

much of which is lining my lungs, and they are transformed.

The nightstands that had been there were in fine condition, but very dated in that old 60s colonial

style.  These now-white tables are less of a dark solid presence, more airy and light.

I did not get pictures of all the rooms.  (You're welcome.)

Two twin beds, both wearing vintage cotton matelasse coverlets 

that I got at auctions; one from eBay, one at a house auction.

Simple and sweet.

Can't you see two little kids cozying in to sleep in this room?

Across the hall, what used to be called the crib room 

no longer has a crib, but it has a new bed, and like all the guest rooms

at the beach house it has an empty chest of drawers, an empty closet,

and a chair so you don't have to sit on the bed to tug on your socks!

The cotton cover on that fresh-washed comforter is
too wrinkly, so I'll replace it with another one
from TOH next weekend.  Hey, it's a process.

This room, the former sewing room, is looking a bit sad.

I brought a king size coverlet by mistake.

Have you ever put a king size spread on a twin size bed?

It is hi-larry-us.  And, it does not work.

This room has a fabulous view across Corey Creek

and Laughing Waters, out to Peconic Bay..

No shabby bedding can take that away from it!

At the front of the house, on the second floor, there's a family room.

We cleared out any extra furniture, hung a big vintage nautical chart,

my comedian husband "staged" 3 decoys having a pow-wow

on the coffee table . . .

and we arranged a simple tablescape in the corner

by the stairs to the loft, 

and hung a small painting as part of the vignette.

Very simple and plain, no frills up here!

The view is the star on this level of the house.

Well, that's enough for today's tour!

Anne and I will be out to Southold this coming weekend,

to finish the last of the prep, and get this show on the road.

Thank you, Mom and Pop, for providing this wonderful refuge

for our family for so many years.  I'm especially grateful that our

daughters got to know what it's like to live at the shore, tuned in

to nature's rhythms and magic; there's no place more wondrous.

-- Cass

Link Parties!
Yes, it is not Monday, but I didn't have computer access yesterday, so I get a Do-Over!
Susan at Between Naps on the Porch is the brains behind Metamorphosis Monday.  Here!
. . . and because it is actually Tuesday . . .
Marty at A Stroll Thru Life has Inspire Me Tuesday to motivate us!  Here.

Summertime Suppertime

Sometimes I cheat.
Not on taxes or anything trivial like that, 
but on important stuff like blog posts.

In wanting to share a summertime table setting with you,

I dove back into the Time Machine and pulled pictures

from a hundred years ago.  Or July 2009, if that's more believable.

Last night, my daughter Anne and I watched the 2003 movie

Something's Gotta Give on television.  I'd never seen it before.

Cute film, but honestly?

I watched it because the kitchen in the film's Hamptons house is a decorating icon; 

people are still asking for kitchens that look like the one in that ten-year old film.

Do you ever watch a movie or television show because you want

to see the architecture or the interiors?  I do.  All the time.

The shingled exterior of Diane Keaton's house is a real Hamptons house,

but the interiors are all soundstage sets.

And pretty gorgeous ones, at that.

All the colors in the movie house are taken from sea, sky, shells, and sand.

Beiges, whites, and blues.

Those are the colors I used for this tablescape, four years ago,

in our sunroom here in New Jersey.  Nowhere near the shore!

What I used:

Old hotel silverplate flatware

Dollar Tree wineglasses

Dollar Tree dinner plates and bowls in blue and aqua

Dollar Tree votive candleholders

Clearance table sand-colored heavy cotton tablecloth

Old Syracuse restaurant china salad plates, from my Mom's collections

Vintage linen luncheon napkins in pale aqua, eBay

A wee little sugar and creamer and little plates, with shells, a gift from my friend Betsy

And this fellow:

Probably nearly 40 years ago, my girlfriend-since-Kindergarten Mardi and I found 

this ceramic fish at an arts show on the dock in Greenport Village, on eastern Long Island.

We bought it for my parents to keep at their beach house, which now belongs to me and my siblings.

Be careful what you buy your parents, young'uns.  You never know when it will end up in your house!

Wow!  These pictures are so old, the walls in the sunroom were still

painted in that gold color; now they are a lovely creamy biscuit color.

Kind of like . . . sand!

Happy Summer!  Don't throw in the (beach) towel on the season just yet.

There's lots of beautiful days ahead, lots of corn and tomatoes

still to eat, lots of swimming or boating still to do . . . .

even though the trees at That Old House began losing a few leaves today.

What a revoltin' development.  -- Cass

Link Parties

At Cuisine Kathleen, it's Let's Dish!  Click here.

It's Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps On The Porch.  CLICK!

Join the Thursday Favorite Things blog party at

Katherine's Corner.  Click here!

Picture Postcard Perfect

Okay, I know it's not Spring.
But the Summer flowers are slumping,
and since nothing makes me happier than seeing
flowers that look like they are wearing their
very best over-the-top party dresses . . . . 

Four gorgeous Irises, that once upon a time,

from 2009 to this past May,

bloomed merrily, if briefly, in our borders.

Do you think they'd make pretty postcards?

"Greetings from the gardens at That Old House."

Or, more accurately,

"Greetings from the scraggly borders at That Old House!"

Is any flower more gloriously party-dress pretty

than the rugged iris?  They amaze me, every year.

Buried in blizzards, doused in spring torrents,

persecuted by chipmunks and squirrels,

they still prevail.

Amazing.  What's your favorite flower?  -- Cass

Blog Parties!

A Haven For Vee, for the August Note Card Party.

A Southern Daydreamer for Outdoor Wednesday.

A Bundle of Estate Sale Bargains

I don't know about your neck of the woods,
but around these parts, estate sales are rarely
held on a Tuesday.  Today was an exception.

Ridgewood, New Jersey, is a village in Bergen County

with fabulous - and I do mean fabulous - old homes.

All eras.  All styles.  Nearly all gorgeous.

I can stalk these houses for hours.

 Street after street of beautiful homes.

So when the estatesales.net website told me that there was a 

one-day estate sale in Ridgewood . . . well, you know I was going to be there!

Especially since these were among the for-sales:

Drexel shield-back dining room chairs, 6 of them.

Howard and I had tried to win 8 Drexel shield backs at Sunday's auction, 

but got skunked.  So I thought, today's my chance!

But after I saw them, I decided no.

They were marked at $495 for all 6, but I could

have made an offer.  However, while they 

were lovely, they are not as heavy as the Drexel shield backs

we already own; I'll hold out to find their siblings, instead.

But I did get this at today's estate sale:

An old washstand, pine, nice patina and wear.
(The CD shelf does not go with it, lol.)
Heading for our antiques booth!

And also this:

A sack-back Windsor chair by S. Bent & Brothers, a Massachusetts maker
of fine furniture, especially Windsor chairs.  It's prettier in real life!
It will go to the booth, too.  It's reproduction, but really attractive.

And finally - a maple drop leaf, gateleg table.  No picture!

It will be pressed into duty at the booth to hold "smalls" and

all those things I have so much trouble finding room for.

I made an offer on all 3 pieces at once -- it's called "bundling," and if an estate sale

is amenable to bargaining (check first!), this is definitely a good way to do it.

I paid 65% of the asking prices by offering a single price for all three pieces.  It's a win-win;

I got a bargain, and the estate sale sold three pieces at once for fair prices.

And now I'm going to go wax my new old furniture, so it's all

ready for a trip down Route 287 tomorrow to Somerville Center Antiques.

I hope your Tuesday was as rewarding as mine.

Cass

And now, trot over to Coastal Charm blog, to join Linda
in her Nifty Thrifty Tuesday blog party.  Click here, now!