Words to Live By...Coney Island Style

Although the signage in Coney Island looks classically vintage, much of it was painting by a semi-homelss man named George Wallace. Wallace embodies the spirit and vision of Coney island and is a master at recreating time and place from an era long past.

Figurative Lines

We found ourselves in Coney Island yesterday...a first time for each of us. Although more "modern" than our weekends in New England, the park was just as steeped in history. The Parachute Jump (built in 1939 for the World's Fair) is an iconic landmark of what was once Steeplechase Amusement Park. Today it's called "The Eiffel Tower of Brooklyn," and welcomes visitors from across the globe. It's round shape, made from straight steel bars, immediately conjured up thoughts of Tony Bevan's work, and had us wondering about what else we would find inside...

Original Parachute Jump on the Coney Island Boardwalk

Tony Bevan Head, 1999

Cyclone

Tony Bevan Studio Furniture, 2003

The Tickler

Tony Bevan Crossing, 2007

Wonder Wheel

Tony Bevan, unidentified

If...Decorating a Old New England Home

So we've been day-dreaming about a certain New Hampshire home since we saw it last. We love the period details and the idea of accentuating them with painted american and mid-century furnishings....both share an economic line and celebration of materials. Here is a little stream of conscious decorating:

A lovely, in-tact 19th century keeping room

with a unique treasure...the inside of the wall cupboard has original grain painting!

So we may bring a bit more texture in, ala Ted Muehling

or reinforce color and patterning with a blanket chest from Jeff Bridgeman Antiques.

We would have loved to have won this Gertrude Abercrombie portrait from Liveauctioneersfor the house, but it went a bit high.

There is a Shaker simplicity that we love in the original, 18th century part of the home.

The same elegant simplicity of a Greta Grossman lamp or

Ellen Silverman's mantle & chair photo from The Improvised Life.

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[2]

Shaker finger boxes are always useful and beautiful...

as is most everything they made--you have to admire this blanket chest from Canterbury, NH.

And the sculptural elements in the little 18th century room.

Ted Muehling's living room conveys the right feel and aesthetic-

lovely as a Mccobb Dowel Chair

Or the upstairs bannister of an old New England home.

Alternative Beauty: Trees

From logs to timber, posts to beams, clapboard to doors, trees are more than just a natural beauty. In alternative forms they can also become warmth, shelter, art and livelihood. Here are some examples from historic New Hampshire...

Stack of firewood for the upcoming winter (yes, they start very early in the north!)

18th century captin's house in Rochester, New Hampshire

Wall of an 18th century post and beam barn

Inside of a 19th century grain painted wall cupboard

Attic roof of a 19th century colonial

Heart carving with original glass on the basement door of antique colonial

Inspired Design

We often talk about about the places we gain inspiration. From city walks to county drives, we seem to bump into inspiration everywhere we go. At the Orford Flea Market a few weekend back, we saw bold interiors in the various shapes, textures and colors...

Inspiration at the Orford Flea Market

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Via Young House Love

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Via Remodelista

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Connie Braemer bedroom via House & Home

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Aerin Lauder bedroom via Habitually Chic

A Taste of Honey

We had quite a few days last weekend and took hundreds of photos! The tiny villages of New Hampshire and Long Island's east end offered sumptuous earthtones and surprising jewels. Here, we found the ambers and blushes of the season to come...soft, but striking.

One of the few pigment saturated structures at Canterbury Shaker Village, New Hampshire

A shot of eerily beautiful silhouttes through a gypsy moth's web

Structure exposed at the Acworth Meetinghouse

On a tree in Rochester, New Hampshire

Taxidermy at the Silsby Library

Southampton Hydrangea

On the beach at Orient, NY

Colors of Acworth, New Hampshire: Reds

Last week's visit to Acworth, New Hampshire for Old Home Day got us seeing red! From produce to barn doors, birds to apples, the town is colorful, quaint and as warm as the reds we caught glimpses of.

Red chest on an old porch...a New England still life

Heirloom veggies grown in the community garden

Barn door of an 1840's colonial

Part of the taxidermy collection at the Silsby Library