Well Feathered Nest

The other part of the nest that I've feathered is the bedroom. Hey! It's the center of the nest, isn't it?

We bought a new bed. The bed is queen-sized and the room is roughly 9x12 feet. There isn't much room left over. We decided we would share a dresser. It would go at the foot of the bed where Pat has had his dresser. I still need something to hold my hairbrush and a place to hang a mirror, so we figured that left me space for something about the size of a bookcase along the wall on my side of the bed. Pretty tall order, eh?

We found everything we wanted! Pat thought I was into overkill when I fell in love with this chest. Oh,no, it's not overkill. This chest has 12 drawers and 2 cubby holes! If I'm sharing a dresser, I'm not going to try to squeeze everything I own into 2 drawers. This chest is so big, it makes me think of a German shrank. That's a wall-sized piece of furniture that Germans use as a wardrobe or buffet.

For the "bookcase" sized place to keep my hairbrush, we found a drop leaf table -- 12" deep when the leaves are down. Cool, eh? The mirror was found in the Clearance Dept. for $20.00. That helps balance the $$ we spent on everything else. (Fortunately we got sale prices on everything, but damn! furniture is expensive.)

These things had better become heirlooms!!

Feathering My Nest

One thing I wanted from the lump-sum retirement money was some new furniture. With the exception of a kitchen table I purchased about eight years ago, I have never bought new furniture for my house. George and I pretty much lived with family hand-me-downs. (The only exception was the fully furnished house trailer George and I bought in 1980, but still, I didn't get to pick the furniture and it didn't hold up to the test of time.) Pat and I had to decide how to merge two households of stuff! (We're still doing that.) Of course, most of the hand-me-downs were antiques, so I can't complain, but there is something to be said for getting to pick it out yourself.

The first picture is one of the hand-me-downs. It's the Grandpa Herron rocker that came from my Grandmother's father. Joseph Creighton Herron was a farmer, a school teacher, and he served one term in the Kansas House of Representatives about 1901. He raised seven children. When his first wife died in childbirth, he went "back East" to find his high school sweetheart and bring her to the Kansas prairie to help him raise his children. She was the only mother my Grandmother ever knew. Grandma loved her fiercely. It's really cool to have his rocker. I also have his Barrister bookcase/desk. (You can see it in and archway shot in Evolution of a Kitchen.) These are antiques I cherish.

For all of that, I still want some good furniture that I can pass along myself someday. I'd like some grandchild to be proud to have my chair, or bed, or piano.

Pat and I found some pieces that could become antiques. The furniture is solid oak, not particle board. We bought matching recliners, a table and bedroom furniture. We also purchased a futon for the guest room. Yes, they are mission style, just like the Grandpa Herron rocker. See my taste for all things Bungalow started early.