For anyone interested in American Decorative Arts, especially furniture,

you must visit Yale University's Furniture Study.

It is a fabulous resource.

"Furniture Study is a working library of approximately

one thousand examples of furniture and wooden objects

- American made and made for the American market -

ranging in date from the seventeenth to the twenty-first centuries."

On Fridays the Furniture Study is open to the public.

Soon after your arrival at the Gallery,

you will walk outside to Chapel Street,

then into the depths of a non-descript building on York Street.

It was all quite exciting...as we did not know what to expect.

In the temperature controlled basement the furniture was lined up on

platforms in an orderly fashion: arranged in chronological order in groups of

chests, tables, chairs, desks, clocks, sideboards, wood turnings,

fireplace equipment and looking glasses.

My friends and I had the most amazing private tour.

The curator had placed 5 chairs on display to begin the discussion.

Starting with information on the origin of the collection:

a donation in 1930 from Mr and Mrs Francis P. Garvan, collectors from NYC,

to a quick review of periods from

colonial to federal to neo-classical to revival and finally to modern.

Photographs are not permitted to be published

so I decided just to listen and enjoy the tour.

The collection's focus is on learning.

I encourage you to travel to New Haven for your own tour.

Listen to an audio slideshow here if you cannot visit.

Did I mention that it is free. You can make a donation if you like.

And lunch afterwards - there are so many good restaurants in New Haven.

I cannot wait to go again with my sisters.

Here is an example of how the Furniture Study was helpful to one family:

AH: What’s the most interesting thing that has happened in your job since you started?
KCh: A person called up about a group of chairs that he had grown up with. The caller’s family was originally from Connecticut, and he wanted to compare one of his chairs to our side chair from Wethersfield, Connecticut, in order to ascertain if it was from the same maker, the same set. The family came en masse. Our chair still had its original upholstery, and the needlework—from the mid-1700s—was in pretty good condition. So we put them together and measured and photographed. We were able to share some information from the accession documents and our comparative files on forms and makers. It was so rewarding to share this with them—it turned out to include not only information on the chair and its provenance, but also aspects of the family’s own genealogy. They retired their own chairs once they saw the difference in condition between a chair under our care and one in active use. The caller decided to hire someone to remake his chairs so that he could give one to each family member. All this was inspired by their visit.

Read the whole interview here :

And Thanks to EB of Diligent Joy for discovering this hidden treasure trove.

I decided to enter the

All The Best bedroom contest.

The contest is for professional and non-professional decorators,

so I thought, why not.

I submitted pictures of miss is's bedroom.

Last year I featured some pictures of the redesigned bedroom.

click here

Why I think this room is great:

it is colorful, cheerful, quirky, not fussy,

and

loaded with finds from estate sales,

old family furniture,

and pulled together with vibrant Sea Cloth fabrics.

I just love these fabrics -

check out the website

It is a small room, but it feels just right.

That's me at 5 - hanging over the bookcase

Portrait done by the man who painted all the "Breck girls"

I used this very chair back in the seventies at my desk.

New fabric, but even back then it had fun fabric.

My mother had it covered in oversized pink and white houndstooth

I got my creative gene from Jean (my mother)

more on that another day

We found the desk at Brimfield for $50 and repainted it.

We removed the wallpaper border and painted the underlying wall lime green

to match the desk and provide a nice contrast to the blue walls.

Believe it or not, we were able to remove the border without repainting the whole room

yea!

Twin beds and bedside table from my father's family

Inspiration board done by me - but you can't see it with all the stuff!

Bookcase found at local estate sale and repainted.

Bureau was the "baby's room" bureau from my childhood home.

Needlepoint pillow done by moi for my dear miss is

Artwork done by my sister Betsy and miss is.

It is not perfect, not "designery", but it is just right according to

miss is.

oh i couldn't; i just ate a grape.

One of my all-time best finds

gorgeous chandelier

from the 19th century

Got it at a local country auction.

It was the 2nd to last item

on a rainy summer day

almost 16 years ago.

Miss Is was still in the stroller

most everyone had left

I had very little competition

luckily

because I didn't have a lot to spend

S O L D

to me

the winning bidder

It gets a little dusty so I rigged up this clever cleaning apparatus

much better than the last cleaning technique

when I laid the chandelier carefully on the ground

close up of the grapes and leaves

the purple glass is beautiful

Here is where it hangs

with the haying picture that I love so much.

There is a story behind everything you see

in this photo.

This may be the beginning of treasure posts.

I thought about this chandelier when I saw this on

Pigtown Design

A treasure recently spotted by PD

PD commented that this would look nice in a garden.

Yes, I agree.

I have been admiring just such a garden in my neck of the woods

at this wonderful little antique

you can see two fun chandeliers hanging in their garden

look carefully

do you see the pulley system

how ingenious for the candles

another view

The second chandelier has twigs winding all over it

I do not know the people who live here

nor have I ever driven by when the candles are burning.

It must be lovely.

Dining under the stars, with the sounds of the garden

and candles flickering overhead.

Welcome to Ambler Farm

My second favorite place in town;

the first being my cozy upside down house.

The property was left to the town

by a fifth generation Ambler family member.

We take our dog Libby there almost everyday for a good run.

 

We buy our organic vegetables at the farm stand in the summer

And in December we buy our Christmas tree and wreaths at the farm.

I am volunteering at the farm this weekend to help sell trees. 

Hope it's not too cold.

Another annual fundraising event 

at the farm is the

 Art of the Wreath.

All sorts of folks decorate and donate wreaths,

which are then sold at a silent auction.

This year, my Knit Wits group of friends 

knit mini sweaters, ponchos, mittens & stockings

and then decorated a wreath.

Here it is.

The owner of Knitting Central just had to have it

since one of the Knit Wits took a Knitting Central class

 on minutiae knitting.

mini socks - socks are hard enough, but minis!

It is now hanging in the front window of Knitting Central.

Some of the other Knit Wits couldn't help themselves 

and just kept knitting more and more minis.

Prodigious output.

The most successful wreath of the night 

pictured below

Horseshoes soldered together with a piece of metal.

It was found in the attic of the barn.

It sold for $700.

Nice piece of change for the farm.

Ideas for next year.

Photo below from Marie Claire.

Check out the faded oriental carpet

on the cover of this month's domino.

Now check out some of the carpets in my house.

Makes me feel almost stylish!

I love the faded worn look and have them all over my house.

Most of them came from my grandmother and grand aunts.

The carpet pictured above was on my Aunt Mary and Aunt Alice's sunporch,

maybe that's why it is so faded.

Now it has a new life in my living room.

The "good" rugs were scooped up by someone else.

The rug, desk, chair and picture frame all came from my

Grandmother.  She even needlepointed the chair seat.

The rug above has a big hole, 

but it is on my side of the bed so I am the only one who sees it regularly.

Remember the post about my friend Mary's tent sale

I mentioned my wedgewood-like tin with the Greek goddesses,

there it is on the bookcase.

I love my cozy house

and all the old stuff from family and my treasure hunts.

This rug came with d.h., not sure of its "provenance".

 

 I found treasures at auctions estate sales or antique stores

 that I will showcase another day.

Of course, one person's treasure is someone else's junk!