More Time Travel.

When I was a teenager I liked to refinish old furniture.  I used to love to strip off the years of old black varnish and make the piece look nice again.  My grandmother gave me a rocking chair back then because she was impressed by my skill(!) She took me over to an old storage shed behind the house and there up in the rafters was an old rocking chair.  My grandmother collected rocking chairs like there was no tomorrow.  We got the dusty old piece down(the chair I mean) and I set to work.  Et voila!  When my grandmother saw the chair all done up, she wanted it back!  The nerve!

I just dug it out of our old shed because #2 wants a rocking chair for the soon to arrive baby.  I rocked her and her sister many an hour in this old gal.

I love the carving on the back.

Doesn't she look so happy!  The end is near.

Time Travel.

This is my great grandmother:

She used to hang in our dining room.  It's a very large picture. Mr LC and the girls begged me to remove her because they said she kept staring at them and they couldn't eat dinner.  So I moved her.  I do what I'm told.  She got relegated to the upstairs hall behind an old dresser.  Sad, but true.

This is a tea set that belonged to my great grandmother.  She died when my grandmother (her daughter) was just a young girl.  My great grandfather remarried and my grandmother always said she thought her step mother wasn't very careful with this tea set and things got broken.

The cups are so thin you can practically see through them.  My grandmother never used these dishes and I only use them on birthdays.  I think if she knew I used them she would roll over in her grave.

My great grandmother made these quilt blocks.  Grandmother's half sister gave them to me many years ago and my mum made them up into this quilt for me.
So, is it time to put Great Grandmother back up on the wall?  Unfortunately, nothing discourages my appetite.

Broken Item of the Week...er Century

Why oh why did I come up with this Broken Item of the Week silliness?  I was poking fun at my husband because he is was the major breaker of things in our household.  Well, I guess he gets the last laugh.  Remember this blog post on my beloved family heirloom the Grandfather Clock?

It stood stands so majestically in our front entryway.

Notice the wonderful patina.

The clock face so lovingly restored by my husband.


Today, I decided to be Susie Homemaker and do some cleaning.  I know, it's a shocker and look what I get for my labours.

Yes, in living colour here is the damage.

Shattered glass. 

Emma surveys the destruction.

The clock came all the way from Scotland with my ancestors in 1764.  How could this happen?  I don't know.  I was just standing in front of it vacuuming the floor when all of a sudden it keeled over right behind me. 

Don't worry, Gentle Readers, I'm all right.  Just a glancing blow to the shoulder as I dived out of the way.  I'll be okay.  The clock, not so much.

The Hands of Time

Ever since I can remember, I have loved old things.  Especially old things that came from long ago ancestors.  My grandmother had lots of old things handed down to her keeping and she knew the story of every one.  Since I was the only one of her several grandchildren who showed an interest in these items, I was the lucky recipient of many of them.  News of my interest spread to her brother's family and when my great uncle died I inherited this clock:

I was only a young twentysomething when I inherited the clock and I especially remembered my one of my uncles being royally annoyed that the clock had skipped right by his generation and given to me!

It sat neglected in my family's home for years until I got married.  Now, my husband loves antiques possibly more than I do and that clock was coming with us to our small apartment.

It was covered in a type of black varnish.  Every year folks brushed this stuff on their furniture for some reason.  My husband scraped it all off with a piece of glass.

The patina on the clock is beautiful.

The clock face was a grimy mess but my hubby cleaned it up so wonderfully.

Some of the trim work is missing from the clock but we have it.  When my hubby turned the clock around as he was working on  it, he found a piece of newsprint from a Scottish newspaper dated 1754!  Can you imagine hauling this clock with you all the way from Scotland?   I remember my grandmother telling me that when she was a little girl her grandfather stored some whiskey in it!  The clock still has all it's workings but unfortunately doesn't run.  I have a friend from Scotland and when I told her my maiden name she told me of the village my family came from.  Unbelievable!  This clock moved from Scotland to New York and ended up in this little corner of the world.  If antiques could only talk what a story they could tell.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

This photo above is the mess my dining room is in because of the craft room reno. I am embarrassed to have people see this room but we all subscribe to "keepin' it real". My doggy is the only one enjoying this room as you can see. Notice the bathroom vanity at the end of the table.
This is the lovely bamboo flooring my husband surprised me with.
Above you can see the beadboard we installed along with a peek into the dining room.

This is the back view of the room with my desk covered in hardwood and my lovely old door.
Here's the sub floor we we worked on this week. See my hubby's favourite tool - the chop saw.

Some time ago I wrote on this blog about my new craft room. Some time has passed and I wanted to show you the amazing progress we have made. Pretty quick eh? We only started this last summer!

Three Strikes and I'm Out

This is just a gratuitous shot of my chair cushion that I made on the same style chair. Cute I think.
Okay, here's the problem. I have three mantels in my house. I know you're thinking wow three fireplaces with mantels to decorate, how cool is that! Well, I'm totally out of ideas on how to decorate them. I am so tired of clutter, you wouldn't believe the boxes of just stuff I've been packing up! The one above is in the living room.
This one is the dining room. I got those word things at the dollar store and I just stuck those up there to mess with my girls. "Oh Mum, that's so dumb!" So the words can go and everything else except those picture frames. They are actually on hinges and cover up two neat little hidden alcoves. The pictures are the only ones I could find to fit the openings but I'm looking for something to put in the frames.
The last one is in the kitchen. I took everything off the mantel yesterday except the clock and I immediately felt better. Unfortunately there is a plug up there behind the matchbox so I need something in that space but I'm open to options. I stacked some books up there along with my little dog because the wall ends before the bricks do and it looks weird just empty. So girls, please make my day and help me out. Please, I'm begging you! Also, as time and money allow, I'm covering up the ugly red 1950's brick in the living room and dining room so I'd also like some ideas on what colour tile to get. Cheers!