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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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.