Sunday, August 30, 2015

Home office: DONE!

I'm so happy with the way this room turned out.
I've been wanting to add shelves like this in that space for almost 15 years, now it's a vision realized.
I'm still adding more stuff to the shelves as I find it throughout the house, but you get the idea.




There's plenty of space for all my arts and craft supplies, plus scads of room for CD's (yes, I still buy them, so shoot me), DVD's, books, totchkes, and board games.
The daybed is a real success. I can't wait to take a nap there once the weather turns cooler and it's too cold to sleep on the porch.


An extra nice thing is the big comfy easy chair, perfect place to curl up with a good book. I used to sit in that chair all the time when I first bought the house, it was in the dining room. But when I remodeled and extended the length of the kitchen the dining area got smaller so that chair had to go. It was relegated to the upstairs guest room, I never sat in it anymore. Now things will change, I'll use this room more often.


One funny story: if you remember, I had taken pains to choose a new set of colors for the room, all white on the trim and a buttery yellow on the walls...happy and sunny was to be the mood.
Well, "best laid plans" as they say. Somehow my contractor overlooked the email that stipulated the color choices and he re-painted the room in the exact colors I had before! That meant the shelves are a muted green and the wall are an acid yellow, "Prada green" as a friend once dubbed it.
And you know what?
I LOVE it. I mean, I DID choose those colors once upon a time, and I loved them then...and they still work. I never would have had the courage to paint the shelves all green like that, but somehow it totally fits the vibe of what I was going for: a homey, crafty place to create, write, relax. I think the green is more masculine and it feels right for the period of the house, a late '40s Cape. I had these old doorknobs stashed away in the basement, I can't remember where I salvaged them from. They're slightly worn and tarnished, the brass finish a little deckled with age. And they work like a charm, they make the shelves look like they've been there for 60 years.
I'm already plotting my next craft project...stay tuned, it's gonna be GREAT!

Saturday, August 29, 2015

Friday, August 28, 2015

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Red hydrangea

It's that time of year when the hydrangea start to turn into the colors of their autumn wardrobe. Mine turn a pretty shade of pinkish red, a pale cranberry if you will, a harbinger that cooler weather is a merely a few weeks away.
I'm reminded of that great final lyric by Marilyn and Allen Bergman to Michel Legrand's haunting music to "The Summer Knows"...

"And if you've learned your lesson well
There's little more for her to tell
One last caress...it's time to dress for fall..."









Saturday, August 22, 2015

You're doin' fine Frankoma, Okay!

I started collecting Frankoma pottery quite by accident, almost eighteen years ago when I first bought the house.
A friend had given me a set of four mugs. I liked the colors, a sage-like green mottled with whirls of cocoa brown throughout. Each mug was different, I later found out that it's due the chemicals used in the kiln process.
I wanted to know more about the pottery name that was stamped on the bottom of the mugs. Investigating further, I found out the company was started in the 1930's by an ceramics professor at the University of Oklahoma named John Frank. He combined his last name with his state's and hence the pottery's designation. While the company has made many forms of tableware, vases, and sculptures over the years that come in many colors, I am partial to green/brown color combination. I especially like the darker terra cotta red clay pieces that were made with a particular mud from a  town called Sapulpa.



I started to hunt down new pieces to add to my collection. Antique stores, junk shops, flea markets, garage sales...I would find new additions everywhere if I just kept my eyes peeled.
Just about the time I started collecting, the website Ebay was just beginning to get popular also. It was a great source for still more finds.
I keep most of the collection in a china cabinet in my dining room. I found it years ago in an antique store called 'Ruby Beets'. It used to be in Bridgehampton but has now re-located to Sag Harbor. The proprietress told me  the cabinet was from Czechoslavokia. Yeah, right. I just liked the worn texture of the mustard color paint and all the cubby holes it had.  As you can see, it holds a LOT of Frankoma!



I've got dinner plates, desert plates, coffee mugs, bowls, vases, pitchers, salt and pepper shakers, trivets, figurines...you name it. A lot of pottery collectors look down on Frankoma, it's mass produced bric-a-brac quality doesn't appeal to most, but I like it massed...and maybe I'm also drawn to it's Southwestern heritage, being a Texan.
I've got more of the stuff scattered around the house too, the pieces that don't fit in the cabinet.
A cake stand holds pieces for my coffee station; I especially love the honey pot with the bee on top!

Two pieces sit on some shelves at the top of the stairs, a little bowl... 
...and a little Grecian style bud vase 
A mid-century bowl I keep on the TV room coffee table

Still another grouping in the shelf in my home office




One last bit of Frankoma trivia: a couple of years ago I went to see the movie version of the play "August: Osage County" starring Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts. The movie takes place is Osage County, Oklahoma. There's a scene with Meryl and Julia in her bedroom, she's at her makeup vanity with a coffee mug beside her. Well, I have to hand it to the production designer, how perfect that--you guessed it--her mug was a Frankoma piece. That's attention to detail!
Here's a still from that scene, can you spot the Frankoma? ;o)

Some mornings before I've had my coffee, I look like this!



Friday, August 21, 2015

Friday, August 14, 2015

Monday, August 3, 2015