“THE LIVIING ROOM”
……………….The “LIVING ROOM” is the first room you come to when you pass through the Library……Whereas the green Library is some what dark and cozy….the living room is light and cheery!…..The two sofas and two arm chairs were custom made for me with my friend Burt Wayne’s help. They are actually upholstered in BEIGE NEEDPOINT fabric…..The floral slip covers were supposed to be for summer only…..but they looked so good for the Holidays we never took them off!….This room used to be the nucleus of the house before we had the gathering/ family room added on. We used to do all of our entertaining in this room, and the Christmas tree used to go in the corner where the red Chinois secretary is…..The low coffee table in the center is also Chinese. There are four fireplaces in the house, and when we used to use the living room for everything, the fireplace was always on. Under the large French mirror is a French Bombe chest. On either side of the couch against the wall are two English end tables….one is a PIE SHAPE TILT table, and the other is an oblong table with a center draw…….There is another table near the huge window that faces the sun porch. This table belonged to Jac’s grandmother, and she brought it with her from Belgium….so the room is VERY INTERNATIONAL!. We keep a silver tray with our collection of cut crystal decanters, glass bells and two large candelabra on Jac’s grandmother’s table…all of which were Christmas presents we gave to each other. I had seen the candelabra at an antique show in Greenwich, Ct…..but Jac said it was the first room we went into, and we should look around the entire show first before making such a big decision…..so I left them behind….We left the show…never to buy them. On Christmas morning Jac brought out these two huge boxes she had hidden on the sun porch, which we rarely went into during the winter….Inside to my great surprise were the two candelabra….She had taken the card of the owner, and called him when we got home. She bought them over the phone, and he had them packed up. She picked them up the next day….SNEAKY!!!!……The red Chinois secretary is an interesting story…..Real antique Chinese secretaries can cost in the hundreds of thousand of dollars. I had seen one on the cover of a magazine, and I showed it to my friend Burt. He said I can have it reproduced exactly for you….He and John Docktor, his business partner brought me to this place owned by a Chinese woman who made all kinds of things. She showed us huge panels she was having hand painted like Coromandel screens that were going to be installed in someone’s dining room….They were magnificent. She said that she could make the secretary!!!!….John designed all of the schematics, every measurement, every detail of the piece…….from the finials on top to the round ball feet below…..When the secretary was built, we then had to go and work with this woman and the one man that was going to paint it and do all the art work on it…..He was a rare artisan, and did amazing work……Step by step we chose the two red colors, one brighter, and one deep for the inside of the cubbies and cabinets. After each section was designed on paper by the artist who would be hand painting the piece, John and I would go and approve it before it was painted onto the secretary….We kept adding more and more designs, and painted trims. There are hidden doors, and candle trays that slide in and out. Every surface has something painted on it. It took months to do, but when it was finished it was amazing. I asked the lady if she was going to take pictures of it to show to other interior designer clients of hers, and she said NO….she never wanted to make another!!!!! TOO MUCH WORK!!!!!….LOL…..All of the blue and white Delft vases that are on the walls and in the secretary Jac and I either bought when we went to Amsterdam and traveled through the Netherlands and to Delft itself….Others we purchased through dealers, but you must buy from reputable people, because there are many reproductions, and we were only interested in authentic old Delft pieces…..The gold leaf wall brackets I bought in a tiny antique store in Florence, Italy. At the time. many years ago, I was single and living in my very modern apartment. I had absolutely no place to hang them!!…but I bought all he had, because antique hand carved, gold leaf wall brackets were becoming more and more rare to find, and more expensive too….and I LOVED them….Such artisan work was becoming more and more rare as the artisans who carved and made them were either retiring or dying…. This sweet old man who owned the store showed me all he had, and I bought them all. They sat stored away for YEARS…..When Jac and I bought this house….they finally had a home!…The mantel is covered with a garland…..assorted fruits and a pheasant in the center….There are Bell Candle holders at either end….All of the grape vine small Christmas trees and Topiaries Jac and I made in 1973, and they still look great.
