Books on Sunday

After taking a break for a few weeks, I finally made my way back to the Book Thing today. It was as if some books were there just waiting for my arrival, and I found a couple of scores within the first five minutes of my arrival.

First up is The French Touch: Decoration and Design in the Most Beautiful Homes of France, by Daphné de Saint Sauveur. The title initially caught my attention, but then when I looked at the cover, there was something very familiar about it. Hmmmm… I wonder what it could be?  Well, once I read about the house on the cover, I found that it was Manuel Canovas’ flat in Paris, exuberantly papered in his Bienaimee print of peonies in a ginger jar. I had found a few yards of this at a flea market a few years ago and used it to make this wall-hanging, which I threw up on the wall of the new house to semi-disguise a wall that hasn’t yet been painted.  It’s a gorgeous print, but I’d find walls and furniture with that print a bit overwhelming. 

Another great book I found is The Sisters, The Lives and Times of the Fabulous Cushing Sisters, by David Grafton. Sort of tied into that book is this one…The First Four Hundred, Mrs. Astor’s New York in the Gilded Age, by Jerry Patterson. That book looks to have mini biographies of each of the 400.  I also found House Beautiful’s Weekend Homes, which I am hoping will give me some ideas for how my garden at the new house. I was given a lovely gift certificate (thanks K+N) to a garden center, and while I have some ideas, I need firmer ones before I go on a buying spree! Next up is Chippy Irvine’s Town House, which might provide some useful suggestions on space planning in a “smaller” house. While this book dates from the late 1980’s, it’s always fun to read through books like this, and learn from the masters. 

Connor seems to be settling into the new house, although there were some fireworks the other evening. He knew exactly where to head… to the shelf below my “desk” in the kitchen, which in reality is a six-foot long commercial steel kitchen counter! I am already hunting for the drugs to give him on July 4th!