Noah Brooks Tavern
May. 23rd, 2003 07:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidLast night I went to a decorators' show house at the Noah Brooks Tavern, out in Lincoln (at least, that's what the ticket said, though the signs seemed to indicate it was just over the line in Concord). It's a beautiful old building, that has been both house and tavern in its time, and is now run by the park service; I'm not sure if it's officially part of the Minute Man Park or not (which has a trail that I have yet to explore. Perhaps sometime this summer...).
First, there was a tent where I had to get a time sticker put on my ticket. It was obfuscatory, since the sign only said ticket sales, but I'd been warned. Luckily I didn't have to wait more than 15 minutes, so I explored the huge heated tent (big enough to have a small wedding with dancing in, definitely). There was food for sale, upscale things, also hot food. It looked good; I felt foolish for not having thought to bring more food to work with me. I browsed the area with tchotchkes for sale, then checked out the little playhouse (I want to call it a Wendy house, for some reason), which was decorated by kids helped by the Junior League of Boston, the group sponsoring the show house. Lots of fun details; I'd've wanted to play had it been more to adult scale, and a bit less girly (dress-up things, no legos...). A happy place for some kids to play, though.
Then into the main house. Each area was decorated by a different professional. There were "before" pictures in each room, and a price list: almost all the furnishings were for sale. There were a lot of interesting spaces, so very different from each other. Some things that stood out for me:
It was interesting, looking at all the different styles, all these possibilities, but it a kind of open studios meets furniture store sort of way. I realized that it's much more interesting for me to see how actual people live, people with clutter, people with kids, and pets, and hobbies, and a variety of things that don't all come from one period, but still works, showing their lives. This was pretty, but too antiseptic to be actually interesting.
There was a garden store set up outside. I browsed that, thinking I might pick up another plant or two, but none of the already-growing things caught my eye. There were some awfully cute tins labeled with different sorts of seeds that were extremely tempting, though I have nowhere to grow that much. Still, it was hard to resist and assortment of heirloom tomatoes, or a kind of squash called moon and stars, or a butterfly garden assortment of seeds.
First, there was a tent where I had to get a time sticker put on my ticket. It was obfuscatory, since the sign only said ticket sales, but I'd been warned. Luckily I didn't have to wait more than 15 minutes, so I explored the huge heated tent (big enough to have a small wedding with dancing in, definitely). There was food for sale, upscale things, also hot food. It looked good; I felt foolish for not having thought to bring more food to work with me. I browsed the area with tchotchkes for sale, then checked out the little playhouse (I want to call it a Wendy house, for some reason), which was decorated by kids helped by the Junior League of Boston, the group sponsoring the show house. Lots of fun details; I'd've wanted to play had it been more to adult scale, and a bit less girly (dress-up things, no legos...). A happy place for some kids to play, though.
Then into the main house. Each area was decorated by a different professional. There were "before" pictures in each room, and a price list: almost all the furnishings were for sale. There were a lot of interesting spaces, so very different from each other. Some things that stood out for me:
- the front hall walls, which had taken three artists three weeks to stencil
- seeing what must've been a cooking fireplace in one room, with the swing arm and two warming spaces on one side
- a totally modern black and red bathroom, with what looked like a light chainmail curtain
- some very interesting ceilings, including one that was plastered, then finished somehow that it became shiny, while another had light clouds, and yet another had light stenciling
- an amazing picture that had 6 old oval photographs set into a wooden carving that was 3-d
- in every room there was a fireplace, usually incorporated into the decorations
- in every room there had been at least one free-standing radiator, each and every one of which was covered or disguised in some way
- the master bath had some gorgeous wallpaper, green with gold fishes on it
- the hall of whimsy was just that, and a wonderful riot of color and unexpectedness
- the kitchen was very pretty, but not usable, really, with the sink so far out of the way
It was interesting, looking at all the different styles, all these possibilities, but it a kind of open studios meets furniture store sort of way. I realized that it's much more interesting for me to see how actual people live, people with clutter, people with kids, and pets, and hobbies, and a variety of things that don't all come from one period, but still works, showing their lives. This was pretty, but too antiseptic to be actually interesting.
There was a garden store set up outside. I browsed that, thinking I might pick up another plant or two, but none of the already-growing things caught my eye. There were some awfully cute tins labeled with different sorts of seeds that were extremely tempting, though I have nowhere to grow that much. Still, it was hard to resist and assortment of heirloom tomatoes, or a kind of squash called moon and stars, or a butterfly garden assortment of seeds.