FROM SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA

Chapter 7: New Furniture... Living Room

SCOTTSDALE, Jan 12, 2006 - A few weeks ago, I said to a friend that decorating a home "is a work in progress."  It may never be quite done; never quite perfect.  We can only strive for perfection; never attain it.  

But today was a giant leap forward in that direction.  The new Bassett furniture was delivered.  And I was very pleased.  Let me know what you think...

This is what the living room looks like now when you walk in.  (Notice my new Hawaiian painting above the mantelpiece?).  

A view of the living room from the opposite direction, showing the new Bassett chairs and tables and two of my three Belgian tapestries, now mounted with finials done by Suzy Bornemann, my interior designer from Handmade Legends (store).

A view of the living room and the entrance from another angle (from the kitchen)...

...and from yet another (toward the kitchen and master bedroom)...

...and finally a "frontal" view of the new furniture, the fireplace, and the Hawaiian painting (now moved to my master bedroom - 1/26/06).

...and with a mock up painted accent wall and mahogany mantelpiece with a gold crest, being made for me at the moment in India.

As you saw above, my living room was conceived as a mostly blue and gold affair, with mahogany furniture tying it all together the way Greek columns support the Ionian, Doric or Corinthian cornices. 

New Sideboards, Flowers...

SCOTTSDALE, Jan 26 - Two days ago, I stumbled (almost literally) over this beautiful piece of furniture at a non-descript store in West Phoenix:

The sideboard was supposed to be new but slightly scratched on one of the legs.  Unsure if it was really top quality stuff, given the kind of shady neighborhood in which I found it,I went to the manufacturer's store to see if I could find it there.

Sure enough, there it was... with a $4,500 price tag!  I rushed back to the West Phoenix store to buy it before anyone else did. J

And voila!  This is what it now looks like in my living room...

...and from a different angle...

...including the smaller side table and the lamp that I just got.

Maxfield Parrish Paintings

The other day, I also stumbled (electronically) upon a web site where I was able to order the originals of the three of my favorite Maxfield Parrish paintings.  Here they are, with my mock-up frames...

  Arizona (1930) - destined for the master bedroom, of course, opposite the Guchi painting (the "Arizona" figured prominently in my recent acquisition of that Hawaiian painting by Gucchi.

Ecstasy (date unknown) ... ... and its tentative location...

... with a mock-up painted accent wall behind it.

Contentment (1927) ... and the tentative location - family room.

I expect the three Parrish's to arrive within 6-8 weeks.

Another mock-up painted accent wall behind the St. Nicholas icon, the same blue as that on the Parrish Ecstasy background wall next door.

Family Room, Kitchen...

As for my family room, since I started there with the maroon-red oriental rug, the only thing I had brought back from my former Australian home, I decided it needed to be a red and gold affair, with the gold being the common link between the living and family rooms.  

It was in that spirit that I chose my third Belgian tapestry, visible above.  And voila!  

View from the family room toward the kitchen and the dining/breakfast area...

...and the reverse view.  This is the stark version of that corner of the living room...

A few days later, after adding some flowers, garlands, and lace, the ugliness of the high-tech cornered has been softened somewhat.

 Master Bedroom...

Up until now, you've only seen mock-ups of my new bedding.  Now you can see how it matches up with my new art in the master bedroom.  As you can see, I am back to the blue and gold theme there, too...

Now compare the above with the look of the same house the way I found it back in October 2005.

My First Coyote Encounter

And now, shifting gears from indoors to outdoors, this afternoon I had my first live coyote encounter.  It happened in broad daylight, around 4:20PM as I was biking home from the Village Club.

I was roughly at this spot of my climb from the club (you can see its rooftop [barely] at the  center-right point of the above photo), when I saw a coyote crossing the road about 30 yards ahead of me.  He reached the median, looked left (toward me) for oncoming traffic, as every good pedestrian should, as then stopped.  I stopped my bike, too.  We stared at each other for a while.  I felt very naked.  

When I used to climb the mountains (Camelback in Phoenix, and the Catalina's in Tucson), I would always carry my US Air Force knife with me.  Just in case I encountered snakes or some other aggressive wildlife.  But hiking and biking here in the city, I had stopped doing it.  Today, I wished I had my knife with me again.  Just in case.  After all, this ain't the city, is it?  The look of the desert above attests to it, not to mention that of the Grayhawk golf courses, or the beast that was staring at me up ahead.

Meanwhile, after our staring match that lasted a couple of minutes, the coyote was the first to flinch.  He turned around and crossed the road back from the median, slowly sauntering off into the desert at the above spot.  I gave him about a 50 yard head start before proceeding.  And as soon as I came home, I mounted my knife back at my belt.  Nothing like closing the barn door after the horse is gone, right?  Oh well, nobody's perfect...   J

And that's my life, so far... 

To learn more about my new "wild neighborhood," click here and here (my owl encounter).

Trunk Pet Menagerie 

SCOTTSDALE, Feb 6 - Now that the major pieces are in place, I have been looking for and collecting various trinkets that help make a house a home.  This Saturday, for example,I came across a cute brass miniature "steamer trunk" at an antique store.  I bought it because I liked the way it looked without having a preconceived idea what to do with it.  And then it came to me... 

There is this well-worn stuffed donkey with which I played when I was baby.  My mother had saved it all these decades and had given it to me before she died in 2004.  I put it into the trunk just as a lark.  It looked cute but forlorn.  The donkey was begging for company.  So I went out and bough a bear, two monkeys and a puppy...

...and then stuffed them all into the trunk to keep the donkey company.

The five animals are now my "trunk pet menagerie," ready to sail on a moment's notice, but also quite content to just hang out together in the steamer trunk. J

Scottsdale Art Show, Office... 

SCOTTSDALE, Mar 4 - Upon my return from my 'round the world trip, I toured my neighborhood, glad to be back in the warm and familiar setting.  And I came across an art show nearby...

... that featured outside exhibits of sculptures, too.

A few days later, a setting sun provided this pretty scene back home at my office (above).

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