room makeover - part III

it's been awhile since i posted about the room makeover, and though we're mid-project,
i thought i'd show you where we are at the moment.

below is a shot of the room as it looked once we moved everything next door. in the corner
is some crown molding we decided to add. g. did an amazing job, especially since he's
never done this before. naturally, the walls aren't true and the miter saw we have is
dull and rusty, so we used molding blocks at the corners to connect the molding.



here is the room mid-makeover with some furniture. for the wall color, we chose a match to
farrow and ball's off-black. it looks black but is in fact a deep, dark prussian blue.
for someone who normally chooses shades of white, gray, and blue when making over rooms,
i didn't know what we were missing! if you're brave enough, you may want to give it a go.



there's still more to be done, like replacing the wood blinds with fabric shades, but next
i'll tackle the walls and hang some art. a couple months ago, i found some antique e.j. lowe
fern prints, which i  recently spotted at okl's barbara barry tastemaker sale. the few they had
sold out within the first hour. i nearly fell off my chair when i saw the tag sale price. $649!
the regular price was $1800! though i still need to frame ours, the prints i found locally cost $12.
even if i were to choose a larson-juhl frame & filet, with museum glass and fabric mat,
each framed print will cost around $100. i haven't made up my mind yet, but ours won't
come close – then again, i'm not barbara barry.


the future of my collecting (hoarding)

lately i've given thought
to the idea of simplifying;
strange for someone who
has accumulated so many
things, like these antique pins.

i can't bear to throw anything away.


i've managed to gather a gigantic
collection of beads, trims, ribbon,
paper goods, books, and textiles
that would send a minimalist
over the edge. at times it has the
same effect on me.

along with collecting (or hoarding),
comes finding an appropriate way to
catalog. i still struggle with this, and
that is the reason why i rarely find
what i'm looking for.

i'm not saying i'm organizationally
challenged. quite the opposite.
i'm a bit like margaret from little britain.
if you have no idea who
i'm talking about, little britain is a
british comedy that you must see
straight away.

to put it another way, i can tell you
the tube of alizarin crimson oil paint
is upstairs in the metal cabinet,
3rd drawer from the top, on the left-hand side,
next to the tube of williamsburg ultramarine.
all this from the living room downstairs.

if i were to sell some of these things,
i'd never make back what i spent.
but if someone is able to make
something beautiful from it...

why keep things i no longer need?
why hold onto things i've never used?

do you struggle with this? are you a
hoarder turned minimalist? if so, i'd love
to hear how you did it, and whether you'll
ever go back.

souvenirs from a morning walk


cooler weather is finally here.
a chance for longer walks
and gathering things that
catch our eye. the feathers are
what chloe found.

the souls of old things

this past weekend, i found a box of dolls
i've had since i was a little girl.
i had many more...
but now have only three.
when i went off to college,
my younger sister took over my bedroom,
and my collection of dolls.
she wrote her name on each one with marker.
even today, when i look at these dolls, i think of this
and wonder why she did it.
***



autumn's nectar feast

the sedum bed is alive with
butterflies of all different kinds
and thankfully...finally...the
honeybees.

each afternoon they all gather
on the clusters of star-like flowers
to share the nectar feast.
*********************




classical art and modern dress



"it is in the variation and manipulation of a reduced number of basic iconic styles that later artists and contemporary designers have been able to expand on their increasingly inventive interpretations of grecian dress." – harold koda



this post made me realize why
some of my favorite designers
are madeleine vionnet, madame grès,
& claire mccardell, for what i admire
about their oeuvres is the influence of
the art of ancient greece as interpreted
through manipulated and draped cloth.






{symmetrical pleats}

{liquid folds falling on the bias}

{sleeveless bodices}

{bloused}



 
 porch of the karyatids, 420 b.c.



one-shoulder dress in black velvet by vionnet photographed by hoyningen-heune



“grecian” evening dress by madame gres



claire mccardell jersey dress



isabel toledo's diamond draped bodice dresses, finished and unfinished, fall 2005

 to learn more ~
the exhibition "goddess" held by the metropolitan museum of art in autumn 2003




image credits: 1, 2, 4) madeleine vionnet by betty kirke; 3) greek museums published by ekdotike athenon s.a.; 5) the curated object; 6) metropolitan museum of art; 7) manila fashion observer

empress leilia

i found her in the neighbor's driveway
she was flying outside her range
some eight hundred miles away
i wonder how she ended up here?


ads in gmail and your personal data

according to a google help article, "ads that appear next to gmail messages are similar to the ads that appear next to google search results and on content pages throughout the web. our goal is to provide gmail users with ads that are useful and relevant to their interests."

this morning, g. and i were emailing each other links to books having to do with the subject of happiness. i'm a happy person, and can roll pretty well with the occasional setback that comes along, but there isn't any harm in being happier, right? it was then that i noticed an ad served by google in my gmail that said "beware of garbage trucks."

at first i interpreted it literally and thought it had to do with – look both ways before you cross the street, b/c if you don't you could get mowed down by a truck, which once nearly happened to me in london. then you'll realize how good you had it. right?

a little bit curious and a bona fide sucker for targeted advertising, i clicked on the link and eventually found myself at amazon. the book hasn't been released yet, but it's now in my wish list along with this one reviewed by miss b.

for those wondering (i was), the good news is that no humans read your email. if there were any reading mine, they'd be bored to tears and/or confused esp. with the emails g. and i exchange with a very witty and charming couple in seattle. as the weekend approaches, our inboxes blow up with messages having to do with soccer, beer, hamburger helper, insects, and just this morning...cocktail-slurping squirrels and mine-sniffing rats.
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