The Bedroom is Finished! (Almost)

Of course there are always things I wnat to fix/change. (Curtians, professional framing for the family tree, etc) But for the most part the bedroom is done!

See my Flickr account for "notes" on the pictures with stories and such. Flickr stream

letter on canvas

This is another part of my "antique/family heritage" room. I have a copy of a letter that my Great Grandfather wrote to his parents while he was stationed in the Phillipines as an Army Doctor in 1900 during the Philippine–American War.

There's a local scrapbook store that is going out of business so I bought a few canvases from there. I made copies of the letter on yellow paper and then got out my modge podge.

That's the entire letter and the envelope. I have the date and the letterhead blown up on the last small canvas.

This is the actual text of the letter:

Angelus, PI, Dec 17th, 1900


Dear Mother and Father,

I have been looking for a letter from some of you for some time; have received two from Johny in which he stated that Jessie was writing to me - this was in August. I received the letter yesterday it had been misspent to Pikin, China, and therefore did not reach me. I sent you the envelope which shows the stamps of the different mailing stations. I have learned that at the time the 9th Infantry left here for China, I was under orders to join the third Regiment upon the request of quite a number of the Officers, but being in the hospital sick at the time and Gen Grant also requested that I remain here as it would take some time to get anyone to know the business of the office as I did. So, I am still here at the headquarters.

There is a quite a number of changes going on account of the Volunteer Regiments leaving for the States very soon. I am certainly glad they are going home as few of them have done anything here but many of them have been a disgrace to the Army. They want the credit for the work done by the Regulars and have truly earned the credit as deadbeats and especially Hospital beats. -- I have a small house or “Cassa”, as it is called in Spanish, all to myself just opposite the headquarters building and have it fixed it up very comfortably, the present indications are that I will remain at this place for some time on account of being familiar with all the towns and the stations in the district and can speak the native language very well that I have to do considerable interpreting. I have seen circulars issued by the insurgents giving what was or supposed to be Bryans speeches and extracts from letters by Americans which had eluded many of the natives into believing that they would given 40 acres and a mule if Bryan was elected. We heard the election news here about as soon as you did as the Cable Bulletins were sent all over the island to the different Telegraph and Telephone stations. We are having a few hangings of the natives here for Murder and it is having a good moralizing effect on the insurgent bands. Nearly every day some of the insurgents are captured they are being slowly taken and growing fewer in numbers.

I have a small garden connected with my house and would like for you to send me by mail some seeds. Tomato, cucumber, lettuce, celery, peas, beats, cantaloupe, and watermelon. Also some flower seed. Vines such morning glory, medina ___ . I have a watch which I will send to PaPa sometime soon to keep for me. It strikes the hour and the quarter of an hour all you have to do is to press a spring and it strikes the hour the hands on the face represent. Will send it by registered mail.

Will close at this time

You son, Gordon

I received the pictures. Will send you some in a few days.

Family Tree Wall Update

I posted a while ago about creating a family tree for my antique bedroom. (See this post).

I ordered a number of antique oval Italian frames from ebay (sans glass), made copies of old family photos, bought some thick foam board and satin finish modge podge and went to work on a photo collage. (I'm going for art/design - not heirloom - here)

I've also collected a few gold and white saucers and small bowls at thrift stores that I'll either hang on the wall or use to set on top of dressers and such to collect jewelry, coins, etc

This is what I have so far:



This is a close up on the calligraphy and some of my favorite names on my family tree. They're just pretty names. (Calligraphy work the art of Lisa at Pen and Ink Calligraphy)

These are my paternal Grandfather's parents. Great-grandma is a little off-center there, but oh well.

Here is my father as a wee one. (I'll probably re-do this one later to get rid of the line at the bottom - but for now it works) There's a picture of my younger brother about the same age and they look like twins.

and my mother

One of my ancestors was a B movie actor. Here's one of his head shots. I can't recall his name at the moment..I have it written down somewhere (he's a second cousin or something...not on the family tree)

Some of the plates I've collected.

Hopefully I'll get the family tree framed and everything on the wall soon!

Accents

This is the "because it is my blog and I can post random pictures if I want to" post. They're all tangently related to the theme of my blog . . . at least in my mind!

First - a little figurine that I picked up at an estate sale a couple of months ago. She now resides atop my dresser. (The book that you can't see the title of is a 1908 English textbook. So cool!) Oh, and the candle is "Wicks 'n' more" kiwi scent. I love that candle! You get the scent without ever burning the thing. I'd like to order a couple more so that the scent will fill the entire room. I have one on my nightstand as well.



I also got a chair for my bedroom a few months ago. Here is Wilbur snoozing in his new favorite place. I need a side table, lamp, and to get my family tree framed for the wall above the chair - but that's going to have to wait a bit as those things are pricey! I do have all the stuff to start framing the old family photos - so hopefully those will be done soon and I can show ya'll those.

And here is Mishka on the small dresser. The frame behind her was originally the one for the family tree - - but the family tree grew to a larger size. So, that frame is propped up on the wall right now while it waits for an alternate assignment. You can't really see it well right now - but I'm collecting white and gold plates from thrift stores - there's two on the dresser there - and I have a few more to use as well. My plan at the moment is to hang the empty frame on the wall and then put some plates inside of that. We'll see!

The Empty Space in My Bedroom

Here are a few pictures of what I have done so far in my bedroom.

Bedspread/Curtains/Pillows are all from Khols. It is not a color scheme I was looking for - but I fell in love. I made the headboard out of some MDF, quilt batting, fabric, and a staple gun. I wish I had taken "process" pictures, but oh well. I plan on doing something similar in my guest room - so when I get around to that I'll take pictures. The mirrors on the side of the headboard are from Kirklands. Lamp is from Steinmart. The cushion on the chest at the end is covered in the same fabric as the gold on the headboard.

I found the dresser at a consignment store and the beautiful print at a thrift store. The things on top are totally different now - I really should take an updated picture. I have some antique books up there now.

Just a close-up of the pretty lamp :)

So, yes, that's all pretty - but when I'm sitting in my bed I see this:

So I've been brainstorming what to do with the space - here is my original sketch:

The "big" frame in the middle will be a copy of my family tree. I'm having a calligraphist re-write it for me on pretty paper and such. Around that I'll put a collage of family picture in sepia tones. I have a few antique frames that I've collected from ebay - and am continuing the search.

The hardest thing to find is, of course, the chair. I don't' have much space there. I need it to bee green and/or gold, and I want an antique style (I drew a wingback - but I really want more of the style that is in the print over my dresser) - and I don't want to pay hundreds of dollars for it! ha.

I have the lampshade I want on the lamp on the table - but I still need the table....and the lamp. I also need the tall vase - which I believe I'll put in the corner by the dresser rather than where it is sketched at.

I'm kind of use to the white walls of the apartment - but I'm thinking about starching some fabric up on that wall - - if I happen to see the perfect print I'll probably buy it -but otherwise the white walls don't bother me all that much.

The calligraphist's samples should be coming in the mail any day now - so my next project is to figure out who to kick off the family tree so that it all fits in the frame I have....or break down and get the whole thing and just buy a new frame.

I'll keep you updated!

Dishwasing Detergent and Old Jars

I have grown rather tired of the overly chemical-smell coming from my dishwasher so I looked online for a more eco-friendly alternative. I discovered you could make a very simple and inexpensive detergent using 1 part Borax and 1 part Baking Soda. 2 Tbs into the dishwasher detergent slot. Some comments online suggested putting vinegar in the "Jet Dry" spot to avoid spots from the baking soda. So, I loaded my dishwasher up (complete with a casserole dish with baked on cheese) and ran it through a cycle. Everything came out so well! Clean sparkling clear glass casserole dish and all. I've run the dishwasher a few more times with this "detergent" and I do notice that sometimes glasses on the top rack don't get perfectly clean - so I'm going to try another suggestion I saw online when researching - to add just a bit of normal store-bought detergent. Still cheaper and less chemicals - so I'll see how that works.

When trying to find something to put my concoction in I found an old fruit canning jar that had been my grandmother's I believe that works perfectly. (see picture) I love antiques - and there's just something about homemade detergent in an old glass jar that I find appealing. I did a little google searching and found that my jar is from the 1930s. So, I went ebaying to find some more. I just won one that is actually dated 1908. It's a bit taller than this one - but still with the wire closure. I'm excited. I don't know what I'm going to put in it yet - but it's a cool looking jar. I'm bidding on another one as well - so none of you are allowed to go Ball jar hunting on ebay until after the end of the day Thursday!

And then I remembered that my mother used to collect jars when I was a child and I had a "I'm becoming my mother!" moment. But I guess that's not all bad. The jars are pretty.

As you probably noticed - I'm also in the process of changing my blog format. I like the colors. I'm trying to standardize my photo usage so it's not so sporadic looking. I also need a header graphic - I'll get to it eventually I suppose.