Showing posts with label old wood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label old wood. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Welcoming Fall

Fall has arrived in New England bringing with it the cool, crisp days and hints of the glorious colors to come.  The kids are back to school, the days are getting shorter and we find ourselves looking up recipes for the perfect apple crisp.  We begin to take a look inside our home and think up ways to make it cozy and inviting.
At Wrentham Antiques we add touches of bittersweet, pumpkins and colored leaves to well stocked cupboards and place sunflowers and mums in brass, copper and pottery containers.  Candles in warm browns and oranges are added to every tablescape.  Soup tureens, wooden bowls, brass candlesticks and baskets are some of our most sought after items this time of year. Our old wood Farm tables and country cupboards are laden with ironstone china and pewter .  This is the perfect time of year for antiquing and apple picking in Wrentham, Mass.

Many of our customers make a day trip to the farms in our area such as Cook’s Valley Farm and The Big Apple and then meander along the back roads to visit us and the many delightful small shops our town has to offer.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Our Farm Table...the Center of Our Home


Our reclaimed, barn board, farm table is truly the center of our family's life.  It is a true friend of today's lifestyle as it morphs perfectly as a durable, low maintenance and yet decorative work horse.  We find ourselves there at least once a day and more often many times throughout the day.  The simple fact that our farm table holds a prominent location right, smack in the middle of our home and is at the crossroads to the rest of the house, lends itself well as more than just a place to eat and converse.

The occasional ding and dibble seems to blend in as the years of character from weather and wear act as a natural camouflage.  The sponge-wipe-for-life, smooth surface offers a sort of refuge and peace of mind as though to reminded us that the table is here to work and with a sense of "grace under fire."

The busy schedule that we all keep has a way of forcing us to be somewhat centralized as we traverse from room to room searching for the "this that and the other," temporarily misplaced necessity as we prepare for our next trip to and from schools, classes, appointments, work, family functions and social commitments...not to mention the occasional respite from perpetual motion when we actually get a moment to sit!


So, aside from the ever-changing decorative centerpiece, we often have a collection of mail, catalogs, electronic devices, the ever-elusive set of keys, a tea or coffee mug...or two...or three, or so, a few books, newspaper, school projects, coupons and quite often a laptop or two.  All serving an important role in our very current, up to date, can't seem to catch up lives!

We do have the almost daily, traditional meals or holiday feast where we clear the decks and adorn the old wood surface with a full complement of vintage, table appointments suitable for a much needed moment of grace and interpersonal connectivity.  Ah, the slow motion of those moments and the daily updates from whomever about who knows what.  Then, the tranquility is set on pause while one or two unfortunate "volunteers" clatter their way through the clean, rinse and stack ritual that inevitably must follow what was a sacred, healing experience.  Such is the cadence of life.