Christmas tree?
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I caved. Turned out our artificial tree, which we haven't used in years, is just the right size to put atop our free standing gas fireplace (which we don't use, because we have three other fireplaces and it would dry out the room too much and hence the piano). I deep cleaned the living room, even reconditioned the leather sofa and club chair using a spray-on product I use on my cavalry saddle, and did lights as well as decorations. All ready for the neighborhood party on Sunday. OK, now how do I post pictures again?
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The chair and sofa are from the 80s and Mr Pique is very attached to them. I want something more mid-century modern--like an Eames lounge chair and a very different kind of sofa in a bright color, maybe eggplant velvet or deep burgundy. Next house, the leather stuff will live in the man cave. We're not buying any more furniture until after we've moved. For now, this stuff works okay; it's a 70s house and could really use some updating.
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Thanks, SK.
And thank you WTG for the link to the Christmas playlist. That looks like a great collection and perfect for what I have in mind, but unfortunately it wouldn't arrive before the party. And $40 for a used CD .... hmmm.
I guess I'm going to have to mine whatever I've already got on hand. I'm not too great at planning ahead. Oh well.
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That ripple afghan in those colors must have been a kit. My mom did this one many years ago, and it was mostly used as a decorative throw and shows very little signs of wear. I'm guessing 1970s...
When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden - Minnie Aumônier
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Love your house and Chrismas decorations! Very iniviting. We had a sofa like that up until half a dozen years ago when we found this great deal on Craigslist for an Ekornes sofa and loveseat. The old sofa was very comfy. While I love the Ekornes, part of me regrets getting rid of the other sofa.
There are other people selling used copies of the CD set for a lot less than $40. Click on the "Other sellers on Amazon" below the "Add to Cart" button to see them. Delivery times would be an issue regardless.
There is also a companion hardcover book (originally sold through the Metropolitan Museum of Art) that contains arrangements of carols. I found it on the Internet Archive. Sign up is free. Just in case you want to noodle around on the piano before the holidays...or just take a look to see if it's worth finding a used copy of the book.
The preview is useless (doesn't show any of the music), but the download gets you the entire book:
https://archive.org/details/carolsforchristm00will
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Here's our Christmas tree!
[img]https://i.postimg.cc/XGgtfFrb/Christmas-Tree-Closeup.jpg[/img]Here's a longer view of the living room, so you can see the piano in situ, plus some of the period details like the ceiling medallion and woodwork. [url=https://postimg.cc/9wFKJM9q][img]https://i.postimg.cc/9wFKJM9q/Christmas-Tree-Piano.jpg[/img][/url]
And here's the dining room with a few Christmas touches here and there. It shows the medallion in that room, one of the still-working original double pocket doors, and some of the woodwork, but you can also see the stone (maybe slate?) mantelpiece. There's a matching one just out of view in the living room. They're both faux-painted to look like marble. There are similar ones in the rooms directly above, our bedroom and my office, but the design is much simpler. The chimneys have been closed, so they're just for looks and historical interest these days.
[url=https://postimg.cc/fts6S5TC][img]https://i.postimg.cc/fts6S5TC/Christmas-Dining-Room.jpg[/img][/url]We still have things to do--you can see that we've hung nothing on the walls--but we're making progress, and it was so fun to decorate for Christmas!
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@Mary-Anna - Lovely!!! Have to ask - how does the piano sound in that room? I know you were trying to figure out placement before you were in the house.
Here are your photos embedded here on WTF.
A few notes on how to embed photos here...
I'm posting from the full editing screen rather than using Quick Reply. I just clicked on your links, which took me to postimages. Then I hit the Share button there, clicked on Direct link (the second option in the window that comes up and which copies a link to the photo), came back here, and used the Image icon in the full editing screen. Just tap the Image icon and do a paste; your cursor is automatically positioned where it needs to be).
Nice thing about the full editing screen is that you can see a preview of what your post will look like on the right side of your screen, if you're on a laptop or PC. On a mobile device or a tablet, you have to specifically select Show Preview on your full edit screen.
anyway...love your house! It looks so warm and inviting...
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Thank you! I was actually DMing you for help but you anticipated my need.
The piano sounds really good, but LOUD! It's like living inside a hollow-bodied instrument made of wood that's been seasoned for 140 years. And it doesn't help that the sound also reflects off glass windows that are huge, because the house didn't have electric lights when it was built. We just got the Roman shades installed, and maybe they do help the sound bouncing off the windows some, but I raised the one behind the piano for the month, so that the Christmas tree lights would be visible from the street. I also raised the lid for December, just for looks, so I'm sure my holiday playing will be audible to passers-by, poor things.
My new tech (who is great and came recommended by both Jon and Rich) asked delicately whether it might be time to voice it when he tuned it in July, saying that he didn't like to dictate people's taste, but...hmm... I told him I'd wait until his next visit so that I could hear it with rugs, furniture, and window treatments, but we both knew it was going to need voicing. It was already getting a bit bright before we left Oklahoma, so it's time.
We had to put it where it would fit, so there are two floor vents near but not under it. The window on the right gets no sun, because of a tree and the house next door, so that's good. The double window faces north and is under a porch, so no sun there, either. The exterior wall isn't ideal, but we insulated the house and there are storm windows that keep most of the drafts out.
I'm planning to move that recliner upstairs to my office and replace it with someething smaller, and hanging pictures is going to be a more involved process than I'm used to since the walls are plaster and not sheetrock, but I'm really happy to have the rugs down, which only happened right before Thanksgiving. Moving is hard work, y'all. But this place is feeling really homey now.
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Everyone’s rooms and decorations look so nice! It’s fun to see everyone’s different takes on how things should look.
Here’s the tree, finally. We need to do some rearranging towards the top as the ornaments cover some of the lights. Sharon made the bows - which were a lot harder to make than I would have thought.
Longer view with fireplace mantel. Stockings hung, care, etc.
View from my chair. Yes the TV is too big. I got it because the toddlers said they’d never visit if my TV was too small for football.
Closer view of the ceramic manger scene. It was a wedding present from a family friend who did all of the painting and firing. The quality of the paint and transfer work is amazing. It’s survived pretty well for some 50 years -disregard the camel with the missing ear.
And here’s the reason for the season. He’s very excited.
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Wow, those diagonal bows are very striking! It's a beautiful tree, Steve, AND I'm amazed at the level of design and planning. I take more of an accumulate-pretty-stuff-and-then-throw-it-up-there approach.
Everybody's trees are so pretty! I love decorating for Christmas and I love seeing other people's decorations just as much.
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As for the big TV, Quirt mentioned when we met that we had a reverse piano-to-TV size ratio. Now, my smaller TV has long since been set aside for humongous ones in the living room and bedroom, and his smaller piano lives at my son's house in Orlando, where his youngest is working on Fur Elise and Rondo alla Turka.
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wtg, I like your tall, thin tree. It's a lot easier to fit that silhouette into rooms where people live.
EDITED TO ADD: I see that Bernard has three of those tall, thin trees to spread festivity all over the house. And Mik has one, too! And sk!
We've had an artificial tree for many years, but it was huge and heavy and we gave it to someone in Oklahoma, since we knew that the volunteer fire department here would sell us a live one and deliver it. But a real tree has the diameter it has (and that's the diameter that the Christmas tree growers shear it to have.)
Quirt picked it out and was worried that the diameter might not fit the available space, but it fit really well.
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This is so pretty. I'm guessing you quilted that tree scarf?
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