Tuesday, April 22, 2008

FLAPPER DECOR ?



OH yeah!

I was surfing the internet for decor from different era's and look what I found. I thought it was fun and worth sharing with all of you! Hey, I had one of those Hoosier's. I just sold it to my niece last year. Since we moved to Oregon and changed our decor, it didn't fit in any longer but my niece loves it!

Living Room

The formal parlor pretty much disappeared by the twenties, and the living room became the gathering room for family and friends.

Middle Class Living Room In this typical middle class living room, note the woodwork, the oriental-style rug and the antique-flavored chair and pier table.

By contrast, here is a more upscale living room. Note the paneled walls, again the oriental-style rug, and the Empire / Duncan Phyfe furniture. Another mark of the era, the wall sconce, is visible in both pictures.

And finally, the famous Pullman Davenport Bed. A comfortable and attractive sofa, Pullman Davenport Bed it could also accommodate those relatives visitingovernight. . . or, in a small apartment, Pullman open it could be the living room furniture by day and the bedroom furniture by night.



Dining Room

The dining room sang its swan song in the twenties. It was smaller, simpler, leaner. Families tended to eat their meals in the kitchen, using the dining room for special occasions when guests came to dinner.

The dining room was the one area of the home where wallpaper was still welcome. Typically, a scenic pattern was chosen to set off the Federal style furniture. Queen Anne and Hepplewhite were also favored for the dining room furniture. The lines of all those styles were clean, uncluttered. On the floor would be the ubiquitous patterned rug, an oriental or a Wilton. Woodwork was usually of North Carolina pine enameled in cream or a pastel gray or taupe.

In 1920, House Beautiful offered this description of an ideal dining room in the Georgian style:

The atmosphere of simple dignity which seemed to pervade the delightful dining halls of Georgian England was inspired by an orderly arrangement of a few well-chosen objects. Such a grouping is particularly appropriate to the moderate size dining room of today. Its broad casement windows and delicately paneled walls present a perfect background for the graceful sideboard and table. The very simplicity of this ensemble creates an air of distinction and effect of spaciousness.

As the dimensions of the dining room grew smaller, built-in cupboards became popular and alcoves or bay windows were designed to hold the buffet.

China was usually of a simple design, perhaps featuring some decoration in light yellow and other pastels. Linens were desirable but expensive.

The Great Depression of the thirties, followed by the wartime priorities of the forties and soaring construction costs tolled the death knell for the expendable dining room.

Dining Room 1 This large, older dining room has been updated to flapper taste. Note the Queen Anne furniture, the oriental rug, the scenic wallpaper.











Kitchen

Floor space shrank during the twenties; extraneous rooms and foyers disappeared, the dining room was scaled down and on its way to oblivion. The kitchen had been either a family gathering place (or a part of family living space) in the old farmhouses, or a large food preparation area staffed by a cook and helpers. Those days ended as the century turned, and the kitchen shrank to accommodate the lone housewife.

Kitchen 1 Kitchens in the twenties were designed for efficiency, a characteristic that still applies today. The biggest impact on the kitchen was electricity. The ice box had been placed in an alcove or porch off the kitchen so that the ice man didn’t come into the kitchen. The electric refrigerator made it possible for the cold storage unit to move into the kitchen, to a much more convenient spot in the food preparation layout. There were quite a few other electrical gadgets, from flat toasters to electric griddles.

Buck Range And then there was the range. The old wood cookstove gave way to the modern range which used either gas or electricity. Several of the new models offered the convenience operating on multiple fuels, such as gas, wood or coal. With such a range, the owner could use whichever fuel was cheapest and/or most available at any given time. Pictured is Buck’s Sanitary Porcelain Enameled Combination Range, which never fails “to brighten monotonous days for weary mothers and housekeepers. They burn gas, coal or wood . . . and thus insure (sic) a kitchen cool in summer — warm in winter. Moreover, they banish dirty blackening. Sanitary porcelain enameled finish wipes clean with just a moist cloth. Choice of colors — pearl gray, blue or black.”

Much was made of efficiency and the clean look. White or gray enameled walls seemed to proliferate. Kitchen with Congoleum Floor Floors were covered in some type of linoleum. Porcelain was a favorite for the large appliances. There was even a garbage disposal of sorts available: the Kelvinator, which was a shoot leading to a natural incinerator. The unit had to be included in new construction; it could not be added to an existing structure. The Walker Dishwasher Corp. introduced the electric dishwashing machine for home use.

Perhaps the handiest step-saver in the servantless kitchen was the Hoosier Cabinet.

Hoosier Cabinet Never requiring the housewife to take a step when a reach would do, the Hoosier Cabinet provided bins for flour (with a built-in sifter) and sugar; spice racks, shelves, cupboards and drawers; as well as a porcelain-enameled work surface.

One last feature of the twenties kitchen: the breakfast nook. It might be tacked on to the back of the kitchen or simply a converted porch. It often had built-in benches flanking a trestle table. And so, even in the downsizing, the kitchen managed to remain, at least to some degree, a family gathering-place.

Bedroom

Tastes in the twenties tended to the traditional, perhaps because those styles evoked the perceived idyllic romanticism of the earlier period. The bedroom incorporated the latest technology in mattresses into the traditional styles of the Colonial, Federal and even Empire furniture from the 17th and 18th centuries. There was one invention of particular note, a handy way to have a full bed at night, but space for other activities during the day. The Murphy bed could be tucked away fully made into its closet. The bed hung on in the thirties and forties and made for some good sight gags in the films from those decades.

Here are three bedrooms showing the traditional decor.

Bedroom 1 Although manufacturers made copies and adaptations of antique pieces in fine woods, the beds in this photo show an interpretation in steel of French Eighteenth Century style.

Bedroom2 “Pastel tints can be joined harmoniously in any combination. . . . Pale green and fresh orchid--a bit of gold and a touch of pink are set off entrancingly by the dark wood shades of the furniture.”

In these two photos you may be able to make out the window treatment which was so common in the twenties: glass curtains ending at the sill, a window shade under the curtains, and draperies over the curtains, hanging at the side and reaching the baseboard.

Bedroom 3

From a Simmons ad: “I’m glad I can make my guests so comfortable at Santa Barbara” says Mrs. J.J. Mitchell, the former Miss Lolita Armour. This was a guest room in Daisy Cottage at Mrs. Mitchell’s estate, “El Mirador” in the hills above Santa Barabara.

Bedroom 4 By the end of the decade, modern geometry foreshadowed the Art Deco that would become so popular in the next decade.


Bathroom

The bathroom had first moved indoors in the mid nineteenth century, and by the nineteen-twenties the indoor facility was pretty much standard, at least in the urban areas. It had become a simple, functional room measuring about 5X7 feet. But in the twenties, bathroom decor became a sort of measure of one’s status. When it came to the bathroom, the flappers were indulgent hedonists. The Necessity was quieted, hidden, decorated around. The bath and sink became available in a variety of colors and styles. Floors and walls gained tiling of various materials. Towel bars were heated. And even the humblest house could have those marvelous fixtures.

Turkish Bathroom Sometimes the bathroom was exotic, as in this Turkish-influenced design.

Crane Bathroom This might be the dream design for a bathroom. The bathtub in the middle of the room, away from the walls, was popular with many people of means.

Flapper Bathroom But then this is what most middle-class Flappers would wind up with. Cute, functional, sort of the bathroom statement of the thoroughly modern Flapper.




Saturday, April 19, 2008

PRAYER WORKS


Thanks to all of your prayers for my daughter in law Mica.
I am happy to say she is feeling much better and does not need to go tot he hospital.

Prayer works! Thanks again.

Monday, April 14, 2008

AND THE WINNER IS................

Okay, first of all thanks to all of you for commenting on my first year anniversary of blogging.

It has been such a pleasure meeting you all and getting involved in the wonderful world of blogging. I am definitely looking forward to many more years of this.

Okay here we go....


I cut out each named entered


I mixed them up in a bowl


My husband drew the name



DRUM ROLL*****************************



AND THE WINNER IS......................




DEB IN NC with Gittin it outta my head !

Congratulations Debbie!

Now you have everything except glue to make a collage. I know you probably don't do collage but there is a first time for everything. Go For It!!

Please email me your address so that I can get your package mailed out to you.

Thanks again to everyone for participating.


************************************************************************************************


Saturday, April 12, 2008

IT"S AN IMAGINARY BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR MICA !

Yep! It is an imaginary party since I cannot be there with you on your special day Mica.


First we will have a party and invite all your friends.



Let's put on our party hats and blow our party horns.


Balloons will fill the room.



This is your birthday table filled with hats and loads of goodies and of course the CAKE!
Make a wish and blow out the candles!


This birthday box is filled with love.



Pretty birthday flowers for the birthday girl!

Oh, Moe the sock monkey is here!



And look Melvin the sock monkey showed up too!


Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday dear Mica
Happy Birthday to you.....and many more.




Hope you have the best birthday ever. I am so proud of you and the person you have become over the years. I am honored to call you my daughter in law.
Love you sweetie, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

OOOPS! !

I am having so much fun creating collages and blogging with my friends that I went right passed my ONE YEAR anniversary of blogging!

So to celebrate this occasion I am having A GIVE AWAY!

Simply comment on this post and your name will be put into a bowl to be drawn by my husband on Sunday April 13th.



These are miscellaneous items that I have collected over the past year. Some I even forgot I had.
Misc papers, Buttons, Ric Rac, Bumble Bee Applique, a pink Feather, copy of a Photo of my husbands ancestors, a butterfly embellishment, A Fabric Leaf, cellophane envelopes of two different sizes to keep you collages in, A sheet of misc. Fairies, Half sheet of misc Butterflies, Music sheet, a very old Drafting sheet, a bookmark painted by the Foot and Mouth Artists and last but not least an Avon American Fashion Timble (Circa 1942) produced in 1984.

Go ahead comment for your chance to win this give away.

Thanks for blogging for all this time. It is my pleasure to have met and blogged with all of you talented artists and Iook forward to many many more years of this.

Love You All and God Bless You

THAT WAS FUN!


I just want to say thanks to Lori at Faerie Window for sponsoring Dolly Day and for inviting me to come play with her. This was so much fun and I got to meet so many new artist.

You all have such a nice collection of dolls and such wonderful blogs. I will be busy surfing all of them at least once a week!

That is what blogging is all about in my opinion. It is a Wonderful World full of wonderful people that just want to share. The more you share the more bloggers you meet. It brings people together.

Whoever invented blogging had the right idea!

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

MY FAVORITE DOLLS

When I decided to join in on the "DOLL SHOW AND TELL" sponsored by Faerie Window I wasn't sure I had any dolls but when I thought about it in remembered that I had an old doll trunk that had some dolls in it.

When my daughter in law Mica was here to visit in July she ask to see the doll trunk and the dolls. We took it down from the shelf in the garage and opened it and she saw the dolls. I had three old dolls in there from the 50's.


My very favorite doll was a baby doll given to me by my daddy in the early 50's probably 2 years before he passed away. She was so old that her rubber body had detached is self from the head. I tried to find a doll hospital that would give her a new body but never got a response. My daughter in law offered to make her a new body but I had put the doll aside and forgot about it until now.

On Saturday I took those three dolls out of the trunk. I had purchased a new baby doll online a few months back thinking that I could use that body on my old baby doll. So I took the head off the new doll and attached the old head to the new body. The surgery was a success and now I feel like a transplant surgeon!

I gave them all baths, washed and styled their hair and washed their clothes. Now they looked excited and happy to be out of that trunk. I could almost hear them say "Thank You Mommy for taking us out of that old, dark, cold trunk. We NEVER want to go back there again. We are so happy that we can now sit in the guest room forever so we can be near you".

We that being said I would like to introduce to you my favorite dolls.





This is My Baby Doll Rose Marie. Given to me by my daddy in the early 50's.




This is my Ballerina Doll Nina. I received this doll from Santa in the late 50's




This is my Bride Doll Veronica. Also from Santa in the early 50's


These are twin dolls Jakie and Jeanine. I won them at a ring toss at the carnival in Caldwell Idaho in the late 50's




I also had a Susie Walker doll in the late 50's. Of course her name was Susie. I do not have her any longer but found this picture on Ebay. She looked just like this.



This little doll brings back precious memories of my middle son (I have three) D'Angelo. This was his favorite toy when he was between 1 and 2 years old (1970). I am not sure she had a name.




This is my Rag Doll Shelly. She was made for me by my daughter in law Lori in the early 90's




This is Jack and Jill. I purchased these twin dolls because I thought Jack looked like my grandson Vinnie when he was about 2 years old in the late 90's

.



OK here they are in there new place. In an antique picnic basket in my guest room. Don't they look happy?



These dolls were made by my very talented doll maker Mica. I just fell in love with these little girls around the may pole.



This doll was also made by Mica. It was special to see that she made this doll with this face. That little face is me when I was 16 months old!

There you have it, my favorite dolls. Guess I had more than I thought. Hope you enjoyed them as much as I do.