Elena Kagan refused to roll over yesterday in response to Jeff Sessions' (R-Alabama) badgering about her handling of military recruiting while the dean the Harvard School of Law. After her succinct explanation that ended with her clearly stating that they did exactly what the Department of Defense asked them to do, Sessions said "I'm just a little taken aback by the tone of your remarks."
Now it's like this.
SO much better. Should be great when it fills out.
Me blowing bubbles with the birthday boy's little sister
Jack and Uncle Brett doing battle in between dinner and cake.
There were also a number of good old painted pieces, all in the blue family, strangely enough. Nothing I could use here, but definitely ones I wanted to see and touch. This hutch was the best of the bunch. It could use a cleaning but was in pretty good shape overall, with great paint as you can see. I left before it hit the block but checked the online catalog later and it sold for $675. That's the most I've ever seen a painted piece sell for here. 
Oh, so what was the weird blog thing? I got on to upload these pictures and post, and noticed Mrs. Blandings had a new post up, so I took a look. George Terbovich, David Jiminez, and Emily Evans Eerdmans, three gorgeous shots, all related by color. And that color is turquoise.
I feel even better now that the pot came home with me.
I'm probably late to the party on this, but I just discovered OneKingsLane.com. Much like Gilt, only for home furnishings. On Saturdays they have "Tastemaker Tag Sales," and today's was Bunny Williams.
We also enjoy
I've picked my pony and will be rooting like hell for adorable 18 year old Kent Boyd.
If the dancing thing doesn't work out I have some ideas on how he can still achieve fame and fortune. Looking at the photo above I wonder if the show stylists aren't thinking the same thing. Either way, he was first out of the chute on tonight's contestant introduction show and performed beautifully. Fingers crossed.
The dealer at Sparks told me it was a crab basket. Being a midwestern boy I have no idea if that's true or not, but it's round and metal and in good shape which was enough for me.
A pair of metal locker baskets I've had for ages were perfect for holding hand towels and wash cloths in our old steel medical cabinet right outside the bathroom in our new bedroom. The new box and basket will be ready for our next organizing effort.
First, thank you all for the kind words both here and on the Facebook this past week. It really has been a comfort to know that you were thinking of us. We're doing alright, just trying to keep Alex busy and hoping for a smooth transition to a one dog household. At least for a while.
Jack,
We took out a tiny closet full of slanted shoe shelves to make a normal size door into the bathroom. Our old stainless medical cabinet has been pressed into duty, with some baskets to hold products and my favorite ironstone punchbowl full of soap. I need to refold the towels (currently stashed in an armoire) and stack those in there too.
And finally, to break up the dark floor, the 9X12 seagrass rug. Overstock.com, $280, shipping included. Yes, I wish it didn't have the canvas border, but I've looked and I can't find borderless rugs. If it doesn't exactly disappear, it doesn't call too much attention to itself either. We're pleased.
I've got some touch-up painting to do over the weekend, a couple curtain rods to mount, but mostly we're done. Of course from the bed we look directly into the scary bath-let that planning begin!
I've been looking for a big round dining table for our big square dining room, and I think I may have found it. (We're nowhere near ready but you know how I like to plan ahead) Henredon's Warren dining table measures in at 72 inches and doesn't appear to have a leaf, which I like. I also like the simple structure and think the color of wood would work on either a carpet or our dark wood floor. At six feet across I'm betting I could get up to 8 around it comfortably.
Just as exciting as the closet doors, is the closet system itself that we ordered from EasyClosets.com. How about a product review?
Let me start by letting you know I have no affiliation with EasyClosets.com, other than I've just ordered and installed their product.
Just inside the hallway door looking west:
Close-up in front of the (still unfinished) window seat:
This last picture is most representative of the color, a charcoally off-black. Darker than what we originally had in mind, we're totally fine with going deeper. Most of our walls will be on the paler side to keep things light, and I think the darker floors will provide some needed contrast and ground the spaces. We'll use rugs throughout the house and I think the color will also help define spaces, especially in the more open areas of the house. More to come (hopefully) soon.
And here we are after the first pass. I'm not sure if it's obvious or not, but the different is stunning. We've had a bit of a glitch in that Dan forgot to tell his guys that they needed a grey stain, so when they painted two brown patches and had us come look we had an awkward moment. But they've called Dan and are going to finish their sanding and treat the wood (a sealer most likely) and will come back for samples tomorrow. One day is no big deal if it means we get exactly what we've been dreaming of.
This is the most amazing part to me, the closet. There were asbestos tiles glued down in here before. I'd tried to pry some off and came up with some jagged bits, leaving horrible blobs of dried adhesive. We thought at first that they'd simply replaced the wood like they did where we removed a closet and there were voids, but no, this is what was underneath the tile.
We're going with an oil-based stain because while you have drying time to contend with, Dan said that the end result is a deeper, richer looking finish. And we're all about the deeper and richer you know. More to come this week.
Below was our table, designed by the Avila College design department. It was a font theme and very graphic. Fun.
There are always some asian inspired tables. In fact should Brett's firm ever sponsor a table and I get to design, that's the route I'd go.
This elephant was a photo op all evening long.
This year they put the tables that had more enclosed surroundings or tenting on the edges of the floor, and I thought the hall felt much more open and airy. Good call.
Retro living room here, I loved the TV trays, although everyone else thought it would be horrible for dinner conversation.
Barbara Cosgrove brought out this whirlwind of lawn chairs suspended over a long, gorgeous table featuring her lamps and accessories. That cloud of furniture was at least 10 feet wide. If there was any specific idea other than "white" I didn't get it, but I loved it anyway. She also used a pair of floor lamps that I've been drooling over online, so it was really good to get to see and touch them in person.
We sadly didn't get a shot of Mrs. Blandings' table, which was a lovely amalgamation of her favorite things, including a couple of pieces from her own dining room. Beautifully done, just as you'd expect. And because dressing up for the party is as much fun as the tables themselves I'll mention this: When a commenter on her blog asked what she planned to wear she downplayed her berry colored sheath dress. It was a great color, beautifully cut, and impeccably fitted (the ladies in alterations at Hall's are pretty good). Elegant and glamourous, again, just as you'd expect.
Also up is the crown moulding, and I couldn't be more pleased. You'll notice that this is not the profile I had originally chosen. It was special order from a company that KC Building Supply did not work with and was going to be more of an ordeal than it was worth. Proportion was what I was after most, and this simple, traditional profile in a 5.5 inch size works beautifully.
This picture makes it look like the walls and ceiling are the same color, but the ceiling is actually a couple shades lighter. It's Sherwin Williams' (or Shermin Williams as we call it) Fleur de Sel. I like it a lot, I'm thinking about it for the hallway walls.
