I really did expect to be posting by now. I got the boys back to school, did a fair amount of work in the basement, then I got a wild hair to paint the dining room. I told Mr. Blandings yesterday that next to marrying him, this project has offered more immediate satisfaction than any other. I hope to finish Tuesday and should be back on track by the end of the week. Details to follow.
I have a good little bit of painting to do, but the heat of last week did me in. Even now, with the weather displaying its decidedly split-personality (it’s 78 and not an ounce of humidity – for a day) I can’t seem to motivate.
I’ve been reading a lot. A lot. Venturing out to shop, though I need to make some kind of headway, seems so taxing. (Pathetic, I know.) But I have happened upon a few treats. I picked up two outdoor lanterns and the star light from Christopher Filley last week. Bad hardware store lighting makes my teeth hurt. I can’t help it.
There are a few other pieces that keep popping up on that mental slide show (what? you don’t have that? it’s a curse.) The top is a Venetian glass light fixture for which I have one possible spot (maybe two) but no obvious location. Think, think think. It’s at Show-Me Antiques. The next is a kilim that I think would be just right for the den, but Mr. Blandings thinks is much too small. (That grey stripe is not grey at all, but the delicious color of Farrow & Ball’s Dix Blue which my doors will someday be if I would just paint them.) It resides, on sale, at Knotty Rug Company. And the last are yes, Greek Key and chairs and a greyish metal making them completely crushable but, well, if you know me at all you know I don’t need another pair of chairs. Except maybe these. At Barbara Farmer’s Parrin & Co.
If you beat me to them it’s my own darn fault.
Sometimes the things we need seem 911 when they are really only 411. I am trying to take the emergency out of the situation by starting here first.
I have not so much as googled as I am avoiding what could be hours of clicking and checking. I was thinking my designer friends just might have a resource that could help. I bought a vintage star lantern like this a week or so ago. What I need, the emergency, is the canopy. That piece that fits against the ceiling. Anyone?
Image, Veranda, July/August 2011, design by Andrew Raquet; photography Max Kim-Bee. The fixture pictured here is Charles Edwards.
Cole & Son Georgian Trellis may be the paper for the front hall. The color looks remarkably not like this at all, but is a creamy background with a bronze design.
I’ve had Rooms to Inspire in the City open to Tamara Mellon’s London apartment, designed by Martyn Lawrence-Bullard, for about a week. This paper is Cole & Son as well, Pompeian in Beige and White, I am pretty sure. It’s such a striking room, but what caught my eye was the lovely shade on the ceiling. Nowhere near “ceiling white” and making a humongous difference to the room. Which is leading to more ceiling paint here at The House with No Name.
Image from Martyn Lawrence-Bullard’s site, used without permission – please, please forgive me.
In other dining room news, I bought more chairs.
At first I wondered if they were better than, or just different from, my current chairs. Also, there is the issue of my chair addiction. Further, I am now captivated by the idea of the bamboo dining chairs in the Reed house. Still, the long and short of it is, I am usually long on ideas and short on funds and it is likely that it would take me a while to a) find better chairs and b) afford better chairs.
