Library

Love books!
Would love to have these stairs and library!

Contemporary Staircase design by New York Interior Designer Glenn Gissler Design

via Provence Mon Amour

Babythings

With a grandchild on the way, the first, naturally mind and eyes turn to babythings.

A lovely "moon crib" from Crème Anglaise.

That time comin' round... and Rosehill Cottage

Warning!: Looooonng post! (with lotsa images!)

Already at the beginning of October the shops' Christmas decorations have been going up... a bit freaky, as just the other day was the beginning of the year!!!

Another sign of that time comin' round is the Christmas movies starting to be shown on tv.

One that I saw again a few weeks ago was The Holiday. I fell in love all over again with Iris's cottage! The next day, stopping quickly by a store on the way to wherever and looking through the sale table, I found the dvd of the film! Very inexpensive, which makes the joy even better!

Then, with the pleasures of googling and actually finding things as we can do nowadays, I found many references and, joy, joy,joy: images!

First the sad: The cottage wasn't a real one, but a life-sized prop at the location in Shere, England, complete with fake snow in June. (How do they get the vapor clouds from the mouths that we read as cold, cold, cold? digital effects?). The interiors were sets built in a studio in... LA., I believe. (writing this from memory as waiting for hair-coloring-goop to work its charm)

Oh, so that's why the cottage was so much larger on the inside than the out!!!

I realized that the interiors were sets when I started perceiving the Old Lady in The Shoe effect (how can you fit those "so many children" in the shoe without it being MUCH larger inside than out? I never saw it as such a huge boot as in the drawing below! Even so...)

Drawing of There was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe by Kronheim, c.1875

                          There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.
                          She had so many children, she didn't know what to do;
                          She gave them some broth without any bread;
                          Then whipped them all soundly and put them to bed.

The earliest printed version in Joseph Ritson's Gammer Gurton's Garland in 1794 has the coarser last line:

                          She whipp'd all their bums, and sent them to bed.

from Wikipedia

(They were were so much more direct in 1794, no?)

But I did think that the cottage, by any other name, was still a Rose ... -hill cottage — that is, a real cottage.
I found that it all being a fake is sort of freeing. Now I can imagine my own little Rosehill Cottage, build it in my brain, and all will fit marvelously inside.

I also found out that the producer of the movie, Nancy Meyers, has made many of the movies that I watch over and over, many for the storyline, but all certainly for the "backgrounds": the houses! Something's Gotta Give and It's Complicated are just two of these.

"... the production team was led Jon Hutman - but Beth Rubino, so wonderful on the set of SGG, was absent for The Holiday.  And just as with Something's Gotta Give, Nancy Meyers' personal interior designer has photos of "The Holiday" houses on his web site, but he is not mentioned in the film credits." — Côte de Texas, The Holiday Houses. Meyer's "personal decorator" is James Radin, James Radin Interior Design.

The Holiday's story and acting is in my "ok" range... Cameron Diaz a bit over at times. It is an enjoyable movie, in the light&cute style. The imagery is lovely... Jude Law's blue eyes (grey? turquoise??... does it matter, as long as we can look?) are always a nice holiday touch. The LA house is also beautiful, but it doesn't warm my cockles as the cottage does.

I believe this movie is based on one I saw many years ago about house swapping. That one was between a Colonial home in perhaps New England?, and a cottage in Ireland? The two women were also trying to forget problems... I think one a love affair, and the other the death of her child in the pool (???... of the Colonial?). As I can't remember the actresses or the movie's name, I can't find any references of it. And "house swap movie" and its variations only come up with The Holiday. So far.

The best definition images I found were from the site OutNow.ch - "Bilder zu The Holiday (2006)". I've posted them below, but they aren't as large as the ones directly on the site [my image hosting sites automatically cut down the size : (  ]
Click on the images to see the larger ones, with all the amazing detail that went into making these sets.

Iris's Rosehill Cottage

*all imagines from OutNow.Ch unless otherwise noted
 (I don't know who the original photographer is)

I want one, I want one, I waaant one! Pleeease!

"Rosehill Cottage 'The Holiday' film set; Shere, Surrey, England (via pg tips2)"
via Sinopse

Snuggly Living Room

Fireplaces all over!

I just love this little library/study that was made of
this little mudroom-type lean-to, with its "home-made" shelves.

 The Mysterious Bathroom
No skylights or windows on the exterior roof!

Rare back view by Paul Orford at Panoramio

Links to more information and sources:
 • Hooked on Houses - "The Holiday": A Tale of Two Houses
 • Movie Real Estate - Movie Real Estate: The Holiday
 • Côte de Texas - Holiday Houses
 • Silver Screen Surroundings  various posts
 • A day in the Life of a Dracofly - "The Holiday" Country Cottage

For more exterior images:
 • The Shere "The Holiday" Film Set  by pg tips2

Other Meyer films:
 • Architectural Digest - Something's Gotta Give
... and many more sites & images on the web...

The Holiday (2006)
Director: Nancy Meyers
Production designer: Jon Hutman

some Christmas candy
(don't forget to click)

 I want one, I want one, I waaant one! 

Not reorganizing my shelves!

Today, as part of the Sept. 7th holiday, I had planned to clean out the shelves in the living room in order to change their places.

Before starting I checked in my webworld as usual, and can't remember how now, came across The Adventures of Elizabeth, Elizabeth Maxson's blog.

I read a few posts, but then just had to go to the beginning and read them all! There went the shelves&moving!

I enjoy "decorating", art, and craft blogs, especially those with before-and-after pictures (lovely photos, she is also a great photographer). She has those plus loads of good ideas and great tips. As in all the blogs I especially enjoy, what kept me interested was her story: she welcomes us into her real world, and not just the glamour of a talented designer/craftswoman/boutique-owner's experience. Her humanity touched me; her rising above her difficulties, and sharing the gifts of insight she gained from them.
I actually was moved enough to actually write a comment, something I don't usually do, as sad to say, this still a place where my old shyness comes over me.

Or maybe it's just that she also loves the movie Fargo, which coincidendently I just saw again, again, last night.

Well, now back to my world.
*sigh* Is there still time to work on the shelves?
Since it is a holiday, I guess not.
I'll just have to console myself by watching my novelinha and having some pizza for dinner. After all, Hubby is in Germany, working but, I'm sure, sacrificing himself to some alt Bier, poor thing. Sons² and ³ are on holiday trip or with girfriend.

Poor, poor me. I guess I'll just have to have a glass of wine with that pizza.

*I just did a Google check to see if I wrote beer correctly in German (I did) and came across How to say "beer" in several languages, good for a quick laugh and some yeast&hops culture. I'm so glad to know that beer in:

       •  Corellian: Lum (in case you find yourself in the Star Wars universe)
and that
       •  English (old): Beor (in case you drunkenly invent a time machine)

Good Sunday

After the rain, some sunshine and better weather — out of the emotional doldrums also.

Spent the last few day out of the house at my latest project, the new appartment of good friends, getting measurements, taking pics, and trying to figure out how to use the old furnishings, fit them, in the new apt. After a few cad (drawing, that is!) sessions in between, starting to have a glimmering!
The decorator-angel is helping.
The client has some 60's sofas, 80's sofas and tables, older fashioned pieces, some made of now forbidden rosewood.
(and lots and lots of romantic doodads, souvenirs, little paintings...)
Have to get everyone talking harmoniously to each other.

I've added a "real-time" Earth and Moon gadget to my side-bar.
I love the Moon, quite a lunatic, in fact.
I hope it doesn't make the loading here too heavy.