In the northeast corner of the house is the small guest bedroom, its one window looking out past the ever expanding lilac bush to the White Mountains. The door opens from the back room and rests against a hand-planed beaded panel wall running the full length, nine feet, of the room and enclosing a large closet, two and a half feet deep. Many old houses don't have any closets, so I'm lucky to have this, along with built-in cupboards.
The walls of the bedroom, aside from the paneling along the closet wall and behind the bed, are plaster covered with wallpaper, which I painted. A chair rail runs along two walls. The landscape painting is by Ed Cato.
Above the bed are two framed still life photographs which I made several years ago when I had a small photo business.
Swinging around to the closet wall, you can see, behind the door, hanging bunches of onions, red and yellow, and garlic. In winter I keep the door to this room closed (not many guests in winter), and the heat register also closed so that I can store crops here, the vegetables that like cool temperatures but not the damp of the root cellar.
I had very good crops of garlic and onions this past summer and they're all hanging in the guest room. I twist the necks of onions around heavy string for hanging; because the garlic is the stiff necked variety, I tie them in groups of several bulbs.
The winter squashes and pumpkins store well in this room. The small squashes are the delicious Sweet Dumpling and the larger are a hybrid variety similar to Buttercup, but sweeter, Sweet Mama.
Holding the door open is a rose covered cottage metal doorstop, a charming miniature, a romantic vision of my little house.
*For earlier posts in this series, click on the following links:
The Back Room/Office
The Mudroom
The Kitchen
The Pantry
The lovely green wall with the bunches of onions thrills me!
ReplyDeleteMegan, that beautiful green was under a few layers of more recent paint, which I stripped several years ago. And the onions: I too feel thrilled by seeing my home grown crops, even after many years of gardening.
ReplyDeleteYour rooms are so aesthetically connected. The age and consistency of the architecture helps but it is your eye and choices that pull it all together. I appreciate so much that you are willing to share these views. We have tons of books about how people live, decorate, collect etc. It's a subject I find endlessly fascinating.
ReplyDeleteLinda, I believe my house does most of the aesthetic work; I just listen to it. A friend and reader requested this series, as she felt teased by the glimpses of house I gave in various posts. I think many of us are fascinated by the homes of other people; at night I try to catch glimpses into lighted rooms that I see while driving past.
ReplyDeleteLovely - where is your house?
ReplyDeleteOH, my gosh! I have a similar doorstop bec it looks like my little house.
ReplyDeleteYou have a wonderful green thumb; I envy those onions, and all the other good crops.