OK, so it was MY house, LOL. People always ask me "How can you bear to PART with this stuff?" and my standard answer is that It's Easy; when I get to be surrounded by everything in the shop all week, at home I'm finding I like things more stream-lined and uncluttered. Generally when I find something I HAVE to adopt, I make myself give something up so my house doesn't start to look like... Salvage Chic.
My Husband was on vacation today and mentioned the temperature's about to drop so we might want to load up on Firewood for the woodstove. I told him he could put it in this big wood box where I normally hide the Recycling Bins in our Carriage House and then while I was clearing it out realized that the whole Glorified Shed you walk through to get into our house was Gnarly with spider webs, dust and (!!!) mildew so that spurned a few hours of work with the Shop Vac and Murphy's Oil Soap.
Now, before you go thinking "Gag Me, Martha Stewart, as you unveil another wing of your sprawling estate" let me point out that Antique Homes, while they have lots of charm and lend themselves well to decorating in the Salvage Chic style, they also lack modern amenities like Closets. And Level Floors, or Level ANYTHING. And Windows That Don't Need a Stick to Prop Them Open. This c1833 House was built before Electricity; or Plumbing, so we have all sorts of weird retrofits going on. If you're still impressed, email me; my next-door-neighbor's c1808 home has been on the market for about 3 years and the price just dropped... AGAIN.
Back to the Regularly-Scheduled-Blog! If you go way-way-way back to the Beginning of the Blog you'll find the story of how Jack swindled me into storing some church pews for him and Lo-and-Behold, the Sleepy Beggar Tavern was born. So-named because we set up the pews with tables between them and a certain Hound named Izzy literally fell asleep while begging the first time we ate out there. My friend Karen who used to own My Favorite Place in Hanover was kind enough to make me this sign:
And now here it is, in all its Freshly Uncluttered Glory:
This old menu I got from Yard Sale Buddy when he cleaned out the old Hosea's Restaurant in Pembroke. Come to think of it, most of the accents in this room I got from Yard Sale Buddy... I think I was supposed to sell them for him but they kind of 'landed' here for a while (SHHHHH!)
This sign came from Brimfield, I think I paid $35 for it when I was out there in May. Notice the hours 7PM - 12PM? I think they meant 12AM.
Scored this old glass hanging lamp from a guy on the Cape that gave it to me for ONE DOLLAR just to tick off Yard Sale Buddy who was trying to haggle a little too much
One of my favorite finds ever; Kenny and I were at our Neighbor's yard sale back when we lived in West Roxbury. I said "I love that old workbench they're using as a table for the yard sale." He said I should ask if it was for sale, to which I replied "DON'T BE SILLY! No one would sell THAT!" Later that night I found it for FREE on the curb while out walking the dog.
The Wood freshly stacked in the Bin that inspired today's Project
And finally, this fun Old Mousetrap with a little Mouse made out of dough, that I got from Claudia. And WAIT, what's THAT? A giant BUG? Didn't I JUST CLEAN this place?!? SIGH...
2 comments:
Oh, how exciting! I love your home. I actually prefer the unpainted primitive stuff to the shabby chic stuff. I'm hoping to make a trip down there soon. We haven't been there in so long - probably since moving north to Salem.
You should give tours or host something at your home. It's really something! I'm dying to know the price of your neighbor's house, even though we're not really in the market.
I'm glad to hear that I'm not alone in 'snowballing' projects!! A quick clean for company ALWAYS results in framing/hanging pictures... cleaning the sock drawer...etc...etc..!
L.o.v.e. the stained glass window in your first photo!! We used to have one EXACTLY like it in our stair landing.
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