Monday, December 26, 2011

My cottage living room

Before I start today's post, I have a leetle request. As a new blogger, I would like to goose up my followers list, so if you read my blog, could you please add your name to the list? I would really appreciate it, and it would make me feel VERY  popular!!!!!!!
Thanks!!!

Today I will go back down memory lane and show you guys my
Watertown living room. Being the hound I was for getting my stuff in magazines, it was in local and national publications, so the pictures I have are from two different periods of time, which shows how the room evolved.
 Never dawning on me that I should learn how to take a good picture, (this was before digital cameras), I just worked on my rooms till I felt someone would take pity on me and send a big galoot of a camera man over and take some shots.


























This shot was in the Boston Globe in 1993. Believe it or not, I was still collecting art to add to the wall over the sofa. Ya see, the wall wasn't COMPLETELY covered yet. Don't worry!!!!! I found more pictures to hang up which will be reveled in the next shot.
The walls were a camel color I had chosen when the room was first decorated in 1979. I chose it to match the sofa I had then. It didn't go with anything in the room, but for some reason it still worked. I guess it's picking up some of the brown tones in the different fabrics.

Then I decided it would be FABULOUS to have slip covers made for a summer look, to be removed in the winter. This is how my Mom did it, when I grew up, and how HER mom did it. It enables a room to have two distinctive feels for hot and cold weather, and it doubles the life of the fabrics. There actually was a time in history when people didn't redecorate just for the hell of it.


This picture is from House Beautiful, shot by Eric Roth                                        
I pasted the two parts of the picture together to make a full shot of my living room. It was a full page spread, so it was stapled down the middle. Just like a Playboy centerfold!!
I had EVERYTHING covered in cool looking materials. (cool, as in temperature, though they were very cool, as in, swell, nifty, dandy, devine. I checked the thesauras.) The chairs are covered in a Cowtan and Tout fabric that is one of my favorites. They are in my current living room, as is the coffee table/bench and rug.
I had new lampshades made with wonderful glass beads on the trim.
Here's a blow up of the shot, sorry it's so blurry, but it's the best I could do......
This is what happens when you just have old magazines to refer back to. How did we ever get along without this digital @#$&????





























O.K. so................ here's the picture before I added it to the other one. This way it's bigger.......







































I was so excited the day I found that painting of a dog that's over the mantle. It looked just like my mutt, (who I still miss to this day, and it's been 20 years since she died). She didn't have so much brown on her. Hey, I have a picture of us!!!!!!

Oy, I was so much younger than!!!!!
Those were the days that I bothered to put on make up. And a bra. What a waste of time.
Now I get up and just start blogging.




Anyway.....
Back to the picture. The mirror over the mantle was another find that a client didn't want, SO I GOT IT FOR MEEEEEEE.......
Here's the other part of the picture.......

You can see how I reused some of these paintings in my current family room.

It's hard to see, but the walls have been wallpapered in an Osborne and Little paisley wallpaper in shades of cream and brown. It was very subtle, but added an extra degree of visual warmth to the space.
The needle point pillows of a pug, front and back view, were one of those needlepoint kits I got that is supposed to be made into a pillow the shape of a dog. HOWEVER.....I thought I would be very clever, and needle point the whole square and create a background for the dogs. This way I got two pillows out of one kit!!!!!
Oh boy!!!! Here's another blurry picture of the back of the pug.



Ya see, he's sitting looking at the ocean, with the hills at his back!!!!




I really need to find something else to occupy my mind.












Here's a shot looking in from the hall. God, I loved this room (and this house, I still miss it.) The lampshade is an old wooden lampshade frame I found with rotting fabric, so I replaced the fabric and added the criss crossing ribbons, and then stuck some old Victorian postcards that June lent me under the ribbons. I never gave the cards back to June. She finally accepted that I was a thief. I think she wrote them off on her 1995 income tax return as a lose due to theft.
O.K. I think that's everything I have on my old living room. Next up!!!! The dining room.
Betsy

23 comments:

Kim @ Savvy Southern Style said...

Betsy, I love this room. The gallery wall is wonderful and it is such a cozy space. I can see why you miss it.

Amy Chalmers said...

I would love to see more of this house~it is very cool. Really like this tour, and it is interesting to see the things that are in your current house that you had back then. I am thinking your sofa now is in a white slip, not a stripe. Who is the pretty lab sitting in the living room?

Sharon Rexroad's Bringing Creativity 2 Life said...

So enjoy this visit back in time!

Babs said...

I love the room both ways, but especially the one with the view from the hall. Gorgeous yellow color (round picute) and LOVE the Staffordshire spainels. I could have a whole kennel of them.
Hope you get lots of followers. I'm already there. :)

Holly said...

Gorgeous and classic!

Anonymous said...

Love that room!! Love the gallery wall; that's what I'm trying to create in my office right now. Wish I could find such cool artwork. Why in the world did you sell that house?

Jacki

Connie @ Connie Nikiforoff Designs said...

Always fun to see "back then" photos. Mine would make people cringe I think...but then who knows..haha!

Karen said...

Thanks for the extra pictures of these heavenly rooms! I first saw these pictures when I 'borrowed' the magazine out of my doctor's waiting room . . .but I don't recall the summer look - wish I could sew, I'd have slipcovers as well. And your little dog - how HAPPY does that pooch look?? Never easy to say goodbye to these wonderful little souls - I even lost two dogs in one week . . . . .I just thank the stars that I had them in my life at ALL! And go on to give others a wonderful life at our home:) All of our dogs have been rescued - and all get along!

Linda said...

Greetings Betsy,

I am a fan of your work - love your style sense and your sense of humour in your blog! Lol

Wishing you and yours a happy and healthy 2012,
Linda at Beautiful Ideas

Angela @ Cottage Magpie said...

Oh Betsy, you are my new favorite blogger. I love your style, I love your attitude, I just love you. I'm so glad you blog!!! I am following you now! :-)

~Angela~

Laura said...

What a excellent blog. You are amazing and I'm glad I happened onto your blog.

Janette - The2Seasons said...

It's a huge improvement, and I love her door. I almost put that kind of door in our new kitchen but felt it might be too cutesy. I went with just a plain frosted door. After seeing her door, I'm having remorse.

Barb @ The Everyday Home said...

LOVE the gallery wall. I have created several in my own home, and if I had more wall space I would create more. LOL Love the home.

Carlene @ Organized Clutter said...

Fabulous! Love your look.

laray said...

Betsy, I just discovered you today and I love your sense of humor and oh yes...your designs are so livable and lovable. Now you are on my favs and I look forward to following your work...keep up the good stuff. I am a retired teacher, designer wanna be. So glad I found your blog. Laray

Cindy @ Dwellings-The Heart of Your Home said...

Hi Betsy!
Such a beautiful room! I love everything about it, especially the two chairs to the left of your fireplace...the slip covers and fabrics are so chariming! Great idea for the pug pillows...two from one, you are clever! Love your centerfold, ha!, sooo funny!
Hope you are having a GREAT week!
Cindy

Anonymous said...

hello betsy...
been a fan for years and years... did not know u had a blog...
sorry u closed your firm... so much pleasure in the beautiful pictures of your work... wonder why u don't opt HGTV with a presentation for doing a decorated home on the cheap...i.e. 3 beds/2 baths for 15,000 or less... know u can ........... remember your shore place and that wonderful fire pit and the place where u used the bears on the 4 poster bed... there are so many to benifit and enjoy.... god bless and thanks again for the smiles and prettier homes.... oh have your last decorating mag...write more... very fast...

Donna D said...

Love it - both ways!

Anonymous said...

Love your look, and cottage pics, very livable, and cozy, and it spells home, and comfort, what everyone needs when coming home from work or whatever. All liveable, I love it. But God where do you get all your stuff, my imagination needs a boost, and looking at all of that i am slowly getting there.

The Quintessential Magpie said...

In a word? Fabulous! I adore this room, and the pug pillows are very clever. I love how you have little surprises like that in your designs.

The painting over the mantle does look like your dog. What a wonderful find. I love dog pantings, too, and have a mix of new/old. I wish they were all old, but some of the new ones I really like. Your collection is truly swoonworthy.

Susan (Between Naps On The Porch.net) said...

I'm not going to get anything done today because I can't seem to peel myself away from your site. :) Love this house and that room! You had (and have) great taste and talent, Betsy! Where were you when I was trying to decorate this house of mine. I would have hired you in a nanosecond...but noooooo, I had to do it alone! ;)

Susan (Between Naps On The Porch.net) said...

BTW, the Cowan and Tout floral fabric on the chairs is really beautiful! Wonder if it's a classic and they still make it. Those wonderful old fabrics never go out of style in my opinion. It reminds me a lot of the fabric on chairs in the sitting room of General Kemper and Leila Williams beautiful home in the French Quarter. You can see the chairs toward the end of this post: http://betweennapsontheporch.net/the-french-quarter-home-of-general-l-kemper-and-leila-williams/

Anonymous said...

Luv your decorating fearlessly----looks a lot like my living room, can't get enuf beauty and elegance, thanks for reinforcing my tastes !!

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