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.

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