Monday, August 26, 2013

Impossible To Resist

I just couldn't help myself. I have another beautiful tiger oak antique in my dining room. It's a triple curved glass china/curio cabinet from the early 1900's, manufactured by Superior Furniture in Rockford, Illinois. 

It's not completely my fault. My husband suggested we go back to the antique mall to take another look at a little wash stand we saw last week. He spotted this cabinet tucked in a corner, called me over, and encouraged me to buy it. Another anniversary present, he says. The booth owner was there, said he'd give us a sweet deal since he'd had it for a while.  So you see it was impossible to resist and apparently meant to be. 

I haven't forgotten my clutter rule. My current china cabinet is going to move into the kitchen. The kitchen bookshelf is going downstairs to his guy room.  His old shelves will go to the barn.  I gathered up more things out of the spare room closet to donate. Something in, something out.  

As for the wash stand, it's still at the shop. I'm not going back there for at least a few weeks. But it is pretty, and would fit nicely in my mama's room...


I generally avoid temptation unless I can't resist it.” --Mae West


Monday, August 19, 2013

Rearranging Furniture

Wow, a busy week completed and another already started here at Casa Ireland. Even with normal housework, appointments, mowing two yards, and checking on my mama, I found time for a few extras.



First, for our anniversary my sweetheart bought me a fabulous tiger oak sideboard at a local antique mall. The label says Home Furniture Company, East York, PA. There's no date but I'm thinking early 1920's. They manufactured oak dining furniture from 1898 to 1928, when they changed to radio cabinets and bedroom suites. It is exactly what I was looking for and matches my other tiger oak pieces perfectly. I love the detail on the doors!



Getting a new piece of furniture means rearranging...not only the room where it will be, but overflow into other rooms. I had to unload the china cabinet to move it, which led to cleaning the glass shelves, finding forgotten treasures, and reorganizing the shelves. I dusted baseboards and chair rails, swept and swiffered, rehung pictures and wall décor. I brought in his old Philco radio to sit on the new sideboard, moved a mirror to the hallway. My dining room sparkles and looks totally redecorated.



We already have a house full of stuff, so I donated one old filing cabinet and plan to sell another piece. I have two boxes of stuff from the kitchen and dining room ready to go to Goodwill. After dealing with an estate sale, my plan is to simplify and purge our household items. This year and from now on, the one in, one out (maybe two out) rule will apply to nearly everything. My fabric and his electronics are excluded, of course.



By the way, I know that the current trend is not brown furniture. I don't follow trends, I use what I like. I decorate for my own happiness, pleasure and comfort.  


Decorating Golden Rule:  
Live with what you love

Monday, August 12, 2013

Forty Years Ago

Lots of interesting things happened in 1973. It seems like such a long time ago. The cost of a gallon of gas was about thirty-nine cents. Minimum wage was $1.60 per hour; I was working as a medical receptionist. 

In August, I walked down the aisle with a bouquet of yellow roses and daisies. Yep, my sweetheart and I have been married for forty years this week. We were two kids beginning the adventure of a lifetime, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Love ya, baby!

Other historic events of 1973
The Young & The Restless soap opera premieres
The Sting wins best motion picture at the Academy Awards
Watergate unfolds, Vietnam War ends
Pioneer 11 and Skylab space station are launched
Live and Let Die premieres with Roger Moore as Bond, James Bond
Secretariat wins the Triple Crown
Roy Clark is named CMA Entertainer of the Year
The World Trade Center opens in New York
Kojak, The Celebrity Match Game, and The Addams Family cartoon debut on TV
Billie Jean King beats Bobby Riggs in battle-of-sexes tennis match
Elvis and Priscilla Presley divorce
Benny Parsons wins the NASCAR Winston Cup Championship

Some classic songs hit number one
You're So Vain – Carly Simon
The Most Beautiful Girl and Behind Closed Doors – Charlie Rich
Angie – Rolling Stones
Time in A Bottle and Bad, Bad Leroy Brown – Jim Croce
Satin Sheets – Jeanne Pruett
Let's Get It On – Marvin Gaye
Killing Me Softly – Roberta Flack
You've Never Been This Far Before – Conway Twitty

Monday, August 5, 2013

You Cannot Save Today For Later

The days are flying by, aren't they? It's August already! There are dozens of projects to do, people to see, and places to go.

Today may be another ordinary day, but it is yours to spend. You cannot save today for later. Don't let it slip by without doing something you love.




This is the beginning of a new day.
I can waste it or use it for good.
What I do today is important because
I am exchanging a day of my life for it.
When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever,
leaving in its place something I have traded for it.
I want it to be a gain, not a loss;
good, not evil;
success, not failure —
in order that I shall not regret the price I paid for it today.
author unknown


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