The Living Room

The woodwork in the living room is mahogany, the same as we have in the music room.  It might be my favorite wood in the house.  I love the way it shines and reflects the light.  The living room fireplace is the largest of the four we have in the house.  It was originally wood burning but was converted to gas at some point.  (I would prefer to switch this back to wood.  I love a wood fire.)  The tiles on the hearth are original and are from Rookwood Pottery in Cincinnati.  The fireplace screen, andirons and sconces are also original.

The wallpaper in this room is staying.  It is the only paper in the house that I can say I like.  There is another crazy bird pattern under this paper and I am glad that isn’t the one we were left with.  I love the built in window seat in the bay window.  Our dog (George Bailey) loves it too.  He can see everything going on in the front and side yards from this vantage point.

I put some of my many small trees on the mantle.  I especially like the mercury glass ones.  I decided to decorate the tree with my collection of old ornaments.  Many are Shiny Brite ornaments from the 50’s and 60’s and some other similar vintage brands.  I pick them up whenever I come across them, many from Goodwill!  They remind me of the ornaments we had on our tree growing up and seemed the perfect addition to the living room tree here.

The story shared at the Christmas tour and that we had heard from the owner who bought the house from the Oblates of Mary Immaculate:  The nine or eleven priests (we have heard both numbers mentioned as the number of priests in residence here) each had a lazy boy chair and a stand ashtray that were arranged in a circle around the room.  They had enclosed the living room from the entry and the woodwork had to be stripped of the accumulated pipe and cigarette smoke that had accumulated during the 40 years the Oblates lived here.