From Lace to Carpet

As previously mentioned, I also consult on historic carpeting for museums, capitols and private parties. A project that I've been working on for quite a while, the T. R. R. Cobb House in Athens, Georgia, has just installed two more carpets. Pictured here is Marion's Sitting room, and we used an archival point paper from the 1850s, recreating it in exact detail. The photograph is courtesy Sam Thomas.

Feeling the Love From Down Under

I've been selling historic lace curtains for 21 years now. I learned all of the aspects of the business; not only sales and customer service, but how to select and develop new patterns. I've observed what to do, but more importantly,what not to do. In 2007, I started Cooper's Cottage Lace and it's been going really, really well!

In those two decades, I've shipped almost all of the lace to the United States; I've sent a bit to Canada, some to eastern Europe, the United Kingdom and the Middle East, but that was it.

Until recently, when Australia came a callin'. I've never seen anything like it; we have been receiving fantastic orders from this country, and we've had multiple custom requests for extra large and extra long panels, and orders to provide lace curtains for entire houses! I don't know why it's suddenly happening, but I'm very grateful! It's interesting dealing with the 14 hour time difference (especially when I also have to work with the mill in Scotland) but we've all given up on real-time conversations between the three. It all works out, though, and everyone's been delighted. So thank you, Australia!

How It's Done

I'm sure you're all familiar with Bradbury & Bradbury Art Wallpapers; they're the leading name in Victorian and Arts & Crafts wall and ceiling papers (along with Art Deco and Modernist ones as well). They're part of Artistic License a guild of "professional artisans in the San Francisco Bay Area, whose work encompasses architectural restoration, renovation, and newly-interpreted period design."

Recently, Artist License posted a time-lapse video of an installation of an entire room's worth of ornate Bradbury papers (augmented with stenciling). It's fascinating to watch how all the borders and corners are cut and applied, and then see the stenciling performed and ceiling medallion affixed. For anyone who has ever wondered how it's done, this is a great way to observe the process.

The room was designed by my friend and colleague Paul Duchscherer; the noted interior designer and author, you've undoubtedly seen his bungalow books on many a shelf.

Mea Culpa

As many of you know, I write for a slew of magazines, as Dan Cooper and under a half dozen pen names. My area of expertise is old houses, antiques and architecture, along with historic interiors and floorcoverings. I was just reminded of this piece that was published in Old House Interiors a while back. An architecture firm in Colorado liked it so much, they used it as their annual Holiday Card.

Hard Lessons Learned.

They say that doctors bury their mistakes, while we in the old house field just paint them over. After countless restorations, I have learned the following truths the hard way. Please, do as I say, and not as I have done…

1. Never wallpaper with someone whom you share a bed. It will bring out the aspects of both of your personalities that the other finds most loathsome. And if you must undertake this task together, agree beforehand that one of you will shut the hell up the entire time. I once sold wallpaper to a married couple who were both police officers and who intended to hang it together; I refused to ship the order until they promised that they would lock all of their firearms, unloaded, in a car trunk.

2. Assume nothing: That 1870s gas nipple protruding from the ceiling medallion is probably no longer pressurized, but if you’re on top of an 8 foot ladder with a pipe wrench on a Sunday afternoon, you can be damned sure it’s live. And the nearest tube of pipe dope is a good 15 minutes away, if the hardware store hasn’t closed.

3. Never buy cheap paint, or you will be repeating this to yourself as you apply the fourth coat of white that still isn’t quite covering the old white. Never trust a paint chip; they magically transform into the wrong color while you’re at the paint store. Spend the $10, buy a quart, and apply liberally. You can always box the remainder into a gallon to ensure that you don’t run out.

4. Beware the wheels of the Shop-Vac, especially at the head of a flight of stairs. I was sucking up joint compound dust from a bedroom that I had just taped and sanded, tugged on the hose, and the entire appliance just rolled on down, popping open at the seventh riser. The ensuing cloud of dust rapidly blanketed the entire first floor as if volcanic activity had occurred in the parlor. Even the once-black cat looked like a powdered-sugar doughnut.

5. A four-foot level offers a quartet of potentially different interpretations of plumb; and just like a Middle School choir, they’re all a little bit off. Split the difference between the readings, and then average that with how it appears to your naked eye. If it still looks weird, have a beer and try again. Repeat as necessary.
   

6. You can’t transport Sheetrock on top of a Jetta. The flapping starts around 10 miles per hour, no matter how many bungee cords you’ve used. It’s also very embarrassing having to retrace your route on foot to pick up all of the snapped-off corners.

7. Avoid power tools after 9pm. Every horror story starts with “It was late, and I was trying to finish a job…” As of this writing, I still have all ten digits, although I did have an 1880s corner block snag in a table saw, kick back, and slam me square in the sternum…the lights went out for a bit, and I was forced to wear the Scarlet Badge of Shame for weeks. Its impact was so forceful that others could actually discern the molding profile on my skin.

8. Auction previews are there for a reason. Suddenly noticing that wonderful Aesthetic Movement footstool as you return from the snack bar and thrusting your paddle into the air will win you what looked to be an amazing steal. Too bad you didn’t notice that it was actually the top section of a fern stand onto which someone had stapled a little pillow.

9. Never leave a hammer or tape measure on top of a step-ladder that is taller than you, i.e. out of sight. Not only will you forget its presence, you will then move the ladder, and said object will immediately plummet, at full velocity, towards something fragile like a set of stacked glass cabinet doors or a stroller-bound infant.

10. Nailguns are not toys. This advice pertains exclusively to men; human females typically possess the common sense that prevents them from, say, overriding the safety mechanism with a screwdriver and pointing the tool horizontally at the neighbor’s birdfeeder. Not that I would ever do this. Someone must have hit it with a baseball.

Copyright 2011 Dan Cooper

Deco The Halls Next Weekend!

The San Francisco Art Deco and Modernism Show.

(Arts & Crafts, too!)

"Over one hundred fifty dealers from across the country selling furniture, accessories, art, pottery, glass, books, jewelry, vintage clothing and collectibles from 1900 to 1980, including Arts & Crafts Mission, Monterey, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Streamline Modern, Vintage Western, Mid-Century Modern and exceptional design to 1980."

If you will be in the Bay Area next weekend, please visit the Bradbury & Bradbury Art Wallpapers booth. Aside from displaying their amazing collection of wall and ceiling papers, they will be showing some of our lace panels, including the Art Deco, Hunter Rose and Prairie Sumac Panels.

They will be featuring a special sale promotion on our lace curtains, good for one week only!
Admission and Hours:
Saturday, Dec. 5th 10 am - 6 pm and Sunday Dec. 6th 11 am - 5 pm

General Admission: $10 and Deco Society members and Seniors: $8
(Admission receipt credit towards single purchase of $100 or more.)

Directions to The Concourse Exhibition Center:

From the north: 101 South across The Golden Gate Bridge. Take Lombard Street, turn right onto Van Ness Avenue. Make a left onto Grove Street to Hyde Street, which becomes 8th when it crosses Market Street. Continue down 8th Street to Brannan.

From the east Bay: Take the Bay Bridge. Exit at 9th Street/Civic Center, go left onto 8th Street. Continue two blocks to Brannan. From the South Peninsula: Take 101 North to 7th Street Exit. Go straight onto Bryant Street, turn right onto 6th Street. Turn right on Brannan and continue to 8th Street.

My Book: New Classic American Houses

File this under shameless self-promotion:

My book is finally out; those of you who know me well are probably aware that I've been working on this for over a year. It's about the architecture of three Boston architects who are currently practicing. They are Albert, Righter and Tittmann, and when I was first shown their portfolio by the folks at the Vendome Press in New York, I said "It looks like McKim, Mead & White had stayed in business for another century!" The first review came out, from Resident Architect, and it is very favorable. You'd think my mother had written it.

You can buy my book pretty much everywhere...Amazon, Borders, Barnes and Noble, etc. If you'd like to meet me, I'll be at the Boston Borders Books on School Street at 1pm on Tuesday, Dec. 8th for a brief signing.

I also owe a shout out to Mo at the William Morris Fan Club Blog, for years ago, she gave me a copy of "The Houses of McKim, Mead and White" which was a huge inspiration for me, not only in how I approach design within my own home and when working for others, but without it, I couldn't have been able to write this book.

Aside from blowing my own horn, I'd like to mention what fascinated me about these gents is their ability to embrace the past, and yet reinterpret it without resorting to rote copying. They are part of the evolution of Classical and Shingle Style architecture, and this willful participation in the progression of past to future is also the concept behind the lace curtain patterns of my company, Cooper's Cottage Lace, LLC. I call it "Artful Lace" and I'll go into this in my next blog.