Antiques and Home Decorating
The manuscript is going well. I wrote 10 more pages yesterday and now I’m within 100 pages of finishing. This is where it gets tricky. I have “Fear of the Ending” syndrome. The closer I get, the more I start to worry about tying up all the loose ends. Hopefully I’ll get it right! 
I have trouble with house decorating. I stand in awe at the people who can hang pictures artistically, color-coordinate fabrics, and make a room look like a Laura Ashley showcase. With that goal in mind, I decided to tackle my daughter’s room.
First, I appealed to my mother for help. She has amazing taste in decorating, not to mention a degree in home economics. The problem I had was the large blank walls. Aside from shelves, how do you fill up the space? My mom, God bless her, raided her extra picture collection. She found several prints of dolls which were gorgeous. 
They were painted by Maud Humphrey. If you’ve never heard of her, she was Humphrey Bogart’s mother. This is a sample of one of her paintings. They’re very delicate and perfect for a young girl’s room. Mom advised me to hang the paintings in triplicate with the larger at the top and the two smaller ones at either side. It looks wonderful. But to me, what’s magical, is having a piece of the past. I love antiques because they make me wonder what the people were like who owned the pieces. Once, my mother bought a secretary when we lived in England. I opened the writing desk portion and found a collection of old fountain pens. 
I’ve often wondered who left them there.
Do you have any antique furniture or furniture that was passed down? Or how about awful, hand-me-down furniture with the electric Day-Glo 1970’s patterns?
Michelle posted in Writing @ 6:48 am | Viewed 3098 times
Kelly Says:
I have an antique bed. When my Mom was pregnant with me, my grandfather found the pieces of the bed in an old chicken coop of all places. He took them home, fixed it up and gave it to me when I was born. Its a 3/4 bed so not real huge but its nice and high, comes to about my waist and I have a real sentimental attachment to it. Its going to be hard to give it up if I get married or move to England some day. Although my sister had a baby and named him after my grandfather so I thought if I moved I would pass the bed on to him. Figured since it came from Malcolm, it made sense it would go back to Malcolm.
Emma Sinclair Says:
I’m still in the apartment phase of life so I don’t really have anything too nice, but it my family we do have lots of ugly lamps and weird knick-knacky things.
My grandfather was a doctor and his patients would give him crazy stuff for holidays (like ugly lamps and weird knick-knacks). We got rid of A LOT when he passed away and sold the house, but both my mom and I kept some of the ugly lamps.
Oh, and my wedding ring is/was a ring of my grandmothers so I guess that’s kind of antique-y.
beth Says:
I love antiques. I have some that aren’t family-related at all but I have an oak table that my great-great grandfather made. They’re fun to have.
The doll pictures sound perfect - yay for your mom for thinking of them (and being willing to share!)
Tori Lennox Says:
That’s a beautiful painting! I have lots of stuff I got from my grandmothers. Some things belonged to my great-grandparents.
Stacy Says:
I don’t think it’s antique but my parents had a painting in their bedroom for as long as I could remember. Every house we went to the painting went up in the same spot in the new bedroom. I always loved it, it was so romantic. When she decided to redecorate a few years ago she had the gall to want to send it to Goodwill….now it hangs in my bedroom.
Melissa Says:
I have a few antiques, but not nearly as many as I would like. And I don’t have the magic touch with decorating, either, but my mom definitely does!
April Says:
My grandmother told me this weekend that she has a wardrobe and dresser she wants me to come and get. My great grandparents used them to start up housekeeping. They’re lovely. I stink at decorating though.
Good luck getting things wrapped up. Just remember if you miss a thread, you’ll catch it when you go back over it and you can wrap it in then!:thumbsup:
Robyn Says:
I’m sooo with you on the awe of good decorators. I have a friend who can artfully drape fabric on a table with a few accessories, and it looks whimsical yet classy. If I had tried, it would look like I threw my laundry on it. :loser:
mary beth Says:
I’m decorating challenged. Seriously challenged. The only antiques I have are three old grandfather clocks that don’t work and a huge pot someone told me was used before Civil War times to do laundry. It’s just ugly to me, but it is cool to think about its life and who might’ve owned it. When I first moved to Texas we found lots of old silverware and plates in our yard. That was strange.
Bonnie Ferguson Says:
Woo Hoo on the ten pages, Michelle :crazyjumping:
Yea on nearing the finish line