Splenderosa Archives - McCormick Interiors

luxury

My friend who writes the blog “Splenderosa” asked us to

write about our “definition of luxury”!

Here is mine!!!

noun (pl) -ries

indulgence in and enjoyment of rich, comfortable, and sumptuous living

(sometimes pl) something that is considered an indulgence rather than a necessity

something pleasant and satisfying: the luxury of independence

This definition works for me!

Now; I will tell you what this means to me! And I suspect it will be quite different from others!

But maybe not!

I will start here! My picnic table my friend found in the nearby “collective antique store” for my 18 chairs I found in Paris

at the flea market 30 years ago! And my beloved bantam “mille fleurs Belgian chickens”! Every morning I let them out of their

coop! The joy of seeing them…indescribable!!!..the roosters, the chicks…and they change every day!

Not to mention their delicious eggs!

LUXURY! Not to most; but to me!!!

Meeting my friend Brooke for the first time! She and her husband Steve are two of my

most treasured luxuries! who could have known how close and

beloved we could become! When she called me her “mentor” and said that

our house had inspired “Patina Farm” (I get goosebumps typing this!!)

was one of the great “luxuries” of my entire life!!!

Honestly.

My family! Here is my darling husband and two grandchildren at

“Grandparents day” a few years ago!

Tremendous “luxury”!!!

5 out of our 7 grandchildren live within a mile of us! Lordy! LUXURY!!!

My Balinese chicken coop; designed and built by my beloved talented Radisha!

Every single day I see it; I think of him….and what a luxury! (as you can see the chickens love it too!!)

One of my greatest luxuries EVER were my parents! My Daddie died when I was 4;

and my Mommie when I was 33; but I had the luxury of the most loving

and supportive parents…in every way! And then I discovered this

amazing video a few years ago! (my cousin’s contractor discovered)!

the BIGGEST LUXURY OF THE LAST DECADE!

(see my blog about it if you are curious!)

An enormous luxury is our amazing house and garden we created

out of a “vacant lot”20 years ago! With more birds and creatures

than you can imagine! The quail running to their roosts; and their sounds

in the morning fill my heart with joy….and are a luxury far beyond!!!

My mother’s pink azalea in a pot…I’ve been dragging that thing around for

60 years…..(honestly, I have proof!) and every year when it blooms;

It is as though she is saying hello!

Our pond! (It was a luxury before when we dug it and it filled with water)

But then; with the drought…..it went away! (see previous blogs for story. SOB!!!!)

My husband Adam spent a fortune to line it. The minute it was lined and the water

trucked in; we set the duck houses in position; the

mother duck for the last 7 years showed up and claimed our pond and her house!

Hatched 7 ducklings the earliest ever in 17 years! March 6th!

My idea of Luxury!

More pictures of things I consider luxuries! Friends, places I have stayed,

things I love. Those are true luxuries to me!

My friend Renees house!

My friend James visit and his partner’s photo of us with dogs!

My husband and my visit to the Columbe d’Or 30 years ago or something!

My deer I bought from Nathan Turner when he was moving his shop! Above my living room window!

part of our garden!

My office!

my path to the pond!

My collection I discovered of china collected over 65 years!

My ducklings every single year! (this was last year….they narrowly escaped by walking a mile to my neighbor’s pond!!!

My collection of the artist Marcel Vertes started by my mother in 1961;

and greatly aided by eBay!!!

and I haven’t even started on my great luxury of true and talented friends.

I am a very rich woman; indeed!

So to wrap it up:

luxury

indulgence in and enjoyment of rich, comfortable, and sumptuous living

(sometimes pl) something that is considered an indulgence ratherthan a necessity

something pleasant and satisfying: the luxury of independence

All those things apply to what I consider “luxury”!!

Thank you Splenderosa for affording us the terrific opportunity to express our

different viewpoints on so many subjects!

BRAVA!!!!!

You are another of my Great Luxuries!!!!

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My definition of “luxury”!Read More

First of all, I have to say how completely thrilled I am to be participating for the first time in Splenderosa’s BY INVITATION ONLY!

AND

Also incredibly lucky to have been able to pick the topic!!!

As some of you may know, I was published in House Beautiful (one of my very favorite magazines!) in September, 2011!

It was about our house! (Which we built from a vacant lot ten years before the photographs).

The photographs were taken a couple of years earlier; and the shoot was presided over by the

darling and wonderful Newell Turner!

I had not seen any of the photographs, and I was interviewed over the phone by one of my favorite writers, Mimi Read

of New Orleans (the Queen City of “Patina”).

I had no clue what the article would say! (nor the title)

“Patina”

I was thrilled with all of it!

Because of that article; I became close friends with Brooke of “Velvet and Linen”,

(author with her darling husband of the book “Patina Style”); started a blog, and have made wonderful friends in blogdom!

Marsha of the divine “Splenderosa” is one of them!

The picture above is an excellent example of what “Patina” is to me; and why I love it!

The dictionary defines it as:

a : a usually green film formed naturally on copper and bronze by long exposure or artificially (as by acids) and often valued aesthetically for its color.

b : a surface appearance of something grown beautiful especially with age or use

I like copper and bronze with patina; but it is the second definition that is what I mean when I talk of “patina”!

The above chairs were my mother’s purchased in Italy 70 years ago.

Their fruitwood frames are faded and nicely worn. The “Fortuny” fabric is inside-out, and the table

is over 300 years old. It was in a French convent. The nuns would work at it all day (probably weaving and

writing. They would then take their dishes out of the space under, have their meal, and return their

plates after the meal. You can see that it sways a bit in the middle; and the top is anything but perfect.

The boxes are antiques; one of them is covered with an ancient French fabric.

This is a personal taste, I am sure everyone understands! This coverlet is all hand sewn copperplate toile

from 1782 England. My friend Eric Haskell (head of the Humanities Dept. of Scripps College has authenticated it). It is faded and worn in places,

(I think the man I bought it from thought I was crazy to buy it for $140.00) Eric has a fit that I use it; he says it belongs in a museum!

It represents the American Revolution! And it is the original from 1785.

It is in “Winterthur”.

(I just found it by “google images” ! It is in many museums!)

Lordy! This sold at auction for $3,500.00!!!

The pillowcases are old French embroidered in a way that cannot be duplicated today.

This gate was made by my pond man; I showed him a picture; and he made it! It is mesquite with leather holding it to the wall.

I said, “How on earth did you know how to make that? ” He said, “we vacation in third-world countries. They use what they have!”

(the mail truck hit one of them once; the man with the clipboard came to make a report; he was just scratching his head …I went out

and explained to him it wouldn’t be expensive to replace. I think he is still trying to figure out why

anyone would want a gate like that!!)

Sharon Santoni showed some lovely French shutters in her blog My French Country Home (below)

I looked everywhere for old shutters like she showed.

Our carpenter made some and they look close!

The patina on this old panelling is very difficult to reproduce. If it isn’t done really, really well; it doesn’t work at all!

(also from Sharon’s blog)

I try to promote the grown of this kind of stuff on our walls……no “power washing “

I actually cried when the floor people took this off our front steps! (it’s back!)

The real thing in France

(I know what a bad picture it is….)

My painter did a great job!

I did find an old gate from France. My husband said, “Do I dare ask? Do we paint it????”

“EEEEK!!!!! NO!!!!!!!! That’s Patina!!!”

The lime wash on the walls of the loggia

My mother’s old “lacca provera” chest from Venice. Old oil paintings, antique Chinese export

porcelain (the color worn off the top handle)

The imperfections in the antique mantle are so appealing to me. And that it is hand-carved. Where has it been???

None of our walls are painted. Lime mixed with natural mined pigments we brought from France.

It is a natural insect deterrent, and leaves a lovely, uneven chalky surface that you see in Europe.

Our loggia again. Can you see the vine growing over hand painted fabric panel?

Now! A different sort of “patina”!!

“Wendy’s chair”!!!

That is Wendy on her chair! Quite proud of what she has wrought!

“Isn’t this how you make chenille??

I took these pictures in to Cowtan and Tout and said, “this fabric just isn’t holding up very well!”

They all laughed their heads off!

Really the best way to learn about Patina is to read Brooke and Steve Giannetti’s book: “Patina Style”!

When Brooke and I first met, I said, “I think we knew each other in another life!” She

said, “Just one?”

THAT WAS ONE OF THE GREATEST COMPLIMENTS OF MY ENTIRE LIFE!

If you find this interesting; please read this book!! It is my favorite!!!

Patina!Read More