a blog post with no name

It's been a busy, busy week since I last posted. Or two weeks, I guess it's been. We got back from Asheville with a rush schedule ahead of us to get the house ready for our first family event--a double baby shower for B's sister and cousin. There was some stress, some yelling, and some making up, but we managed to get most of it done in time. Other things (like the molding in the hallway that's just propped into place) will have to wait until we can get around to them.

We did get the bathroom finished, thanks to some trim painting help from my mother-in-law, who also came over to clean before the shower since I had to work. A million thanks for that, Patrice. The shower was a huge success and the day was the most gorgeous we've had in months here, so the girls ended up opening their gifts in the front yard since all the guests had all drifted out to the porch during the morning. We had maybe 40 guests and received numerous compliments on the house. Brandon's aunts and cousins did a fantastic job with the food and decorations, but I don't have any photos because my camera was in a cabinet behind all the gifts!

We've been looking through the Craigslist ads this week for doors and furniture, and may have a lead on an old Craftsman door. We also found this loveseat for $120, and the guy agreed to deliver it for another $20. It's not old, but we like the way it looks. We might re-cover it eventually, but for now the colors match the living room. Not sure yet if we're going to use it in the living room or move it back to the den. Obviously, it won't stay where it is in the middle of the room! You can also see that Gecko has already adopted it as his new home. Ha!

More photos are under the links to the right.

Arts & Crafts Conference at the Grove Park Inn, Asheville

Wow, this sounds like a serious conference for serious Arts & Crafts folks. I never knew that the Grove Park Inn was Arts & Crafts era, just that it was expensive ;) The conference is out of our price range, but it looks like the shows (antiques, books, etc.) are just $10 for a three-day pass. I love this photo I found online, both for the fact that it is "Absolutely Fireproof" as well as the fine print at the bottom that states "We do not entertain conventions. We have found that they disturb the homelike atmosphere of the Inn and interfere with the comfort of guests." Click on the photo to see more of this brochure. Personally, I'm quite grateful to live during a time that one doesn't have to worry about the quality of "plumbing and refrigeration" when choosing a hotel. :)

In another bit of shameless plugging, I just got an email from Crate & Barrel promoting their new Bungalow collection of furniture. It's sort of a Zen Craftsman look...

Brandon's mom also brought us a brochure of Craftsman & Mission style furniture from a furniture maker in Franklin, TN. Apparently there are a lot of Amish/Mennonite furniture makers in that area, the furniture is gorgeous, and the prices are very nice, especially for the quality. Obviously, being Amish or Mennonite, they don't have a website, and I understand that many of them don't even have photos of their work, but if you bring them a photo, they can recreate a piece of furniture from it. I'll try to remember to post the info for this particular furniture maker on the blog soon; I think it's a store that sells the work of Amish craftsman, hence the fact that they have brochures with photos.

we own a sideboard

side·board (sīd'bôrd', -bōrd')
n.
1. A piece of dining room furniture having drawers and shelves for linens and tableware.
2. A board that forms a side or part of a side: the sideboards of a skating rink.
3. sideboards Chiefly British. Sideburns.

We arrived bright and early (okay, so we got there at noon, whatever) at the estate sale in Sharpsburg to discover that "our" sideboard was still there and unsold. The asking price was indeed $395 and we were indecisive. Upon closer inspection, we discovered that the piece had a lot of veneer and a lot of it was missing. The veneer was made of tiger oak and was really very pretty. The entire top of the sideboard was missing the veneer, though, and while the rest of the sideboard seemed to be in good condition, we still weren't sure if we were ready to hand over $400 of our savings for it. We checked the back in vain hopes of seeing an indication that it was a hideously valuable Stickley or something, but no such luck. After an hour of poking around through the rest of the sale and finding various odds and ends to buy (including a mission style coat rack for $25, missing one hook, of course...), we ended up back at the sideboard. The lady told us it was very old--late 1800s (highly unlikely) to early 1900s--and that was about all she knew. She told us that a couple of dealers had expressed interest in the piece and she was reluctant to bargain on the first day of the sale, and finally said she would take $345. An hour later we were in the P'tree City Home Depot renting a truck for two hours. Half an hour from P'tree City to Sharpsburg, half an hour to load it in securely, half an hour back to the house, half an hour back to P'tree City...easy, huh? Not quite. We also had to stop and fill the truck back up with gas, get the thing unloaded and in the house, and navigate traffic. Two hours and 13 minutes later, we were back at Home Depot. Still, it only cost $34 for the rental, so we still came out under the original asking price of $395 in the end, I guess.

After much cleaning and oiling and waxing, the sideboard is gorgeous. The top is pretty rustic looking, the mirror has been replaced, and it looks like it might have originally been a dark brown, more mission typical, stain. Appears as if someone took some steel wool to it in places, but luckily they are all hidden (inside doors, under the shelf, etc.) from view. The color is now a reddish brown, but it's very pretty. Looks like all the "repair" that was done to it happened a long time ago, though. We think it's not a great specimen of Craftsman work, but more of the mass market variety. Not sure who made it, but it's got numbers stencilled in white on the back of the mirror/shelf and the sideboard itself.