Warm Reds

I appreciate the warm red dining room walls, especially during the winter months.  The wall color is Flaming Sunset by Valspar.

Here are a couple photos of a Northwoods punch bowl, pedestal, and 6 cups, I found last weekend at a second hand store.  If you know more about this beautiful piece, please let me know.  I love the marigold color--it's warm like the dining room.  The rim of the punch bowl, i.e. its tips repeat a form found in the kitchen light fixture--tips of leaves around the bowl.  (see kitchen photos Dec 2009).

Here are some little birds sitting on the mantle.  A repeating theme throughout the house is "birds".  I took inspiration from the original etched glass  front porch doors of birds, and the swan medallions on the exterior doors (front porch).

Here's view of the dining room from the kitchen.  We had no antique furniture in the house prior to moving here.  Little by little one piece after another arrived. 

Summer of 2008 I was on the bucket truck scraping the exterior of the house--when my friend Kathy stopped by and asked me to run with her to a garage sale.  She had pre-shopped the garage sale and found two great commodes.  I told her I was too dirty and couldn't go, but she persisted.  So, looking like a ragga-muffin, I grabbed my purse and we went to the sale.  Holy moly, I bought both commodes for $130 right here in my own community of 350 people. 

On the commode here is a photograph of the Thomas Quien family, c 1910.  Left to right are the Quien children Bessie, Gusta, Peter, and Ragnhild.  Peter bought our house in December 1917.  His daughters Donna and Mary Jane inherited the house and kept it in the family until after their deaths, (Donna passed away in November 2006).  We closed on the house in April 2007.

At the lower left of the photo is a white enameled pail with red handle.  I have several enameled pails of different sizes, shapes, and colors.  We use them constantly--in the house and in the garden for harvesting vegetables.  Here, the little pail holds onions for cooking. 

I received the walnut spindle couch from my Aunt Mary in 2007.  Thank you Aunt Mary--we treasure having this piece in our home. 

It was a couch that belonged to my grand parents Bert and Leatha.  It is such a pretty thing.  I bought a bolt of fabric and recovered the couch and had enough fabric left over to make drapes for the office/music room.