Old Lady Furniture

I loved my Mom-in-Law.


And I had the rare gift of a second mom who actually thought I was good enough for her son. Don’t get me wrong, we had our differences – another time I’ll tell you how I had to fire her while she lived with us.  In all, she was caring and loving. But also like me, she had her own mind.

The reason I bring it up though is that one of our differences was our taste in furnishings. She grew up Chicago White Lace Irish and loved baronial antique pieces with curls and heavy white marble tops. Yes, I know, I know: Read that- valuable, but ick. I have never wanted to live with pieces that wear me. I was just twelve when I went through my colonial and 4-poster canopy beds phase. I’m very glad I grew out of it by thirteen. Even more so because what my folks failed to mention back then was that those were overly polished pressed wood, Levitz-quality reproductions. Oooh, bigger ick.

So TJ and I are emailing back 'n' forth with pictures of furnishing pieces that create “the story." "Like this?” He asks.  Do we want a trestle? Pretty, but they get int he way of all the human legs we need to put there.

What kind of tables says country house to me?

What kind of rugs? Those oval rag rugs in dreary colors? Ooooh, more ick.

Search for farm or country and you get tons of banal, weary looking kitsch that fails to delight to my heart. I’m selling my lovely smaller dining set in glass, with wood and green metal. I grew up hoping someday to live in Manhattan and have a sleek but warm wood taste. I love lean but playful, rich colors. I adore textures and repeating lines. I love the materials of  farm- real wood substantial, but not farmhouse.

I warn you, if you’re stepping through this process as we are, and writing your story, be sure you want to live in what you create too, even if it's perfect for the house. It’s your home, make it tell YOUR story! A modern story inside an older house if it's you, is what you must do. Being a designer and space planner, I could do a true to 1908 period story, but only if that’s the story I want to live with!

I‘m modifying the house's story to have more straight lines to read, “Modern Rustic Country.”