inner sanctum

Lawrence M. Goldberg

A life well lived

February 14, 1927 - September 23, 2008

Each In Her Own Way

Perhaps you have guessed why my posts here have dropped off to almost nothing. My father’s illness has begun in earnest to take its inexorable toll. Those of you who have been through this will know, exactly, what it feels like to be grabbed by the collar and wrenched, from wherever you were, into the next stage of your life.

On a logistical level, for me this involves devoting the majority of my waking hours to caring for the needs of my parents specifically and my family in general. My apartment decorating efforts have fallen by the wayside, though the limited hours I spend here are so much nicer because of what I did accomplish initially.

On the emotional level, let’s just say I have my hands full. There is a part of me that sits over in the corner and just watches, kind of an objective observer who knows me really well. These days it’s saying, “Whoa, I hope you’ve noticed that you are stopping at Goodwill, like, every day.”

It’s true. Thrift shopping has become a little addiction/obsession for me, albeit a pretty harmless one. There’s a Goodwill Superstore exactly between my house and my parents’ house and I stop there daily. It’s part of the routine of my new life and I don’t like to miss it.

Every day the workers there emerge from the mysterious back room like bees from the hive, rolling out shopping carts piled precariously high with a crazy, random assortment of dishes, pictures, knick-knacks, books, lamps; basically anything a person might have in their home and no longer want.

How I love to pick through these things! I know I’m not alone when I say that few things are as satisfying as finding, and rescuing, some small gem from a tangle of discards and giving it another chance at usefulness. There are so many subtexts here: the thrill of the hunt, the “rescuing” of something, the constant visual feast, the savoring of sometimes subtle beauty that others have missed — and I’m sure these all play a part in somehow comforting me.

All I can say for sure is this: I’ll take every little scrap of sunshine I can get right now.

Photo: vase, American, probably 1960s, $2.

I found this lamp/table in my parents’ basement. I didn’t just happen upon it, but rather went looking for it. I had a vague recollection of it and it popped into my mind as the perfect thing I needed in the bedroom.

This is another thing my dad got before he even met my mom. He bought it in Germany, I’d guess in ‘45 or ‘46. Both my parents say it is very typical of the modern German style at that time. It originally had a medium wood finish but has been painted a buttery yellow at some point over the years. I kind of wish it stll had the wood finish, but that is not something I want to tackle right now. I’m guessing it was a little beat-up looking. .

It’s exactly what I wanted. It’s going to go between the “other” side of the bed (where I don’t sleep) and the reading chair. The swing arm can move back and forth to light my reading or the bed area (in case I have a guest spend the night with me). There’s a light switch right on the column there. The top surface can hold a drink and the bottom shelf is perfect for books and magazines.

I would love suggestions about what kind of shade to put on it.

I haven’t really seen anything like this that’s made now. I think it’s a great idea, though.

It took me way too long to get this little project done. Truth is, I was too busy (=lazy) to set up my sewing machine until last night. So there it is.

I didn’t like the way the long curtains looked; they reminded me of a see-through nightie and they were interfering with the great lines of the window. You know who has one of those nighties? Donald Draper’s wife. I saw it the other night (Mad Men).

So…anyone want to venture an opinion on this vs. this?

I haven’t had enough time lately to work on my bedroom the way I’d like to. In the meantime, I said I would share a couple of my newly acquired treasures from the Goldberg shop. Most of the stuff I’ve gotten from my parents has been things that were kind of gathering dust and not being used (all the more triumph for me, heh). But here are two things, very much cherished by all, that they have given me recently.

My dad purchased this nude  directly at the Rosenthal factory before he even met my mom (which happened a few years later, in Vienna). He was drafted at 18, in 1945, and was shipped to Germany right at the beginning of the Occupation. He has wonderful stories of those times, and I have filmed him telling them.

A Great Find

I was really excited when I found this Mid Century lamp at Goodwill recently. My heart was actually pounding! It was in perfect working order and even had a light bulb still in it.

I found a great hook at Target, called the “Driller Hook,” by Cobra. It has huge threads with a sharp point, and you can just screw it into the ceiling by hand, no tools needed. It’s very strong and holds 15 pounds. My kind of solution!

Once I hung the lamp, I could remove the table lamp from my night table and suddenly I had more room there.The lamp cost $20 and the hook was $4. Yeah, I’m pretty pleased with myself.

I have a confession to make: I have become a little addicted to thrift shopping. I’ve always loved flea markets and thrift shops, but ever since I wrote about reuse and challenged myself to do the bedroom that way, I’ve been looking around me with different eyes. Suddenly “new” just isn’t that appealing anymore.

It’s a kind of triumph when I find “just the right thing,” and in the process give new purpose to something old and unwanted (though sometimes I do get a cherished treasure from the Goldberg shop, too; I’ll show the latest one soon).

Photo: Items by bed: bronze leaf bowl, mid century, from the Goldberg shop; glass, 1960’s, church thrift shop; table covering - silk scarf from my collection; photo frames, Target

Not quite right.

Wanting to soften things up and also enhance the wonderful play of light at the window, I thought I would try curtains. I found some great, simple white sheers at Goodwill ($2 each) and hung them up with high expectations.

But - I didn’t love the look. Something about it bothered me but I couldn’t put my finger on what it was. That is such a strange feeling, like when you’re searching for the right word and can’t exactly find it.

I took a picture to post here, and it wasn’t until I looked at the picture that I figured out what might be wrong. This isn’t the first time that a photo has shown me what my own eyes couldn’t. Guess you somehow see differently when it’s two-dimensional.

Anyway, I think the problem is that although I wanted soft, the curtains are too diaphanous. They cover the beautiful arch, too. So I’m going to try hanging them from a tension rod within the frame, leaving the arch exposed and putting the rod at the level of the first horizontal bar. Also, I’ll run them just down to the sill instead of to the floor.

I’ll post a picture of that and then I’ll want opinions.

Do I LIke This??

I’m taking time out from the bedroom story to write a bit about my wonderful holiday weekend visit to Seattle and Portland. I have never been to the Pacific Northwest and I found it beautiful and inspiring. Being in a new, far away place made me see things through new eyes a little bit, and I always love that.

We stayed one night at the Hotel Monaco in Portland. The decor there is kind of crazy, in a good way — LOTS of mixed patterns. Our suite must have had ten or more different patterns on the walls, floor, furniture, and linens. Relaxing and looking around the room, I found myself in a familiar position: wondering, Do I like this??

The combinations seemed so random — not your typical focus-fabric-with-certain-colors-repeated-in-other-elements -to-make-it-pop. Many of the patterns had no colors in common. I certainly never would have picked these combinations. They reminded me of times when I had really disparate-looking elements, all of which I loved, that I wanted to combine in one space but just didn’t have the nerve to do. But here was a hip and expensive hotel doing it with authority and that made me look at things differently.

Back in Baltimore, I talked about it with a friend who has also been asking herself, and me, the “Do I like it?” question. We both feel like lately we have been unable to answer that question without some external input. And we weren’t like that before!

Then it hit me. She and I have both seriously expanded our sphere of design influence lately, scouring blogs and magazines and thrift shops. We both have become interested in mid-century design, for example. So, yeah, we’re a bit unsure at the moment, and sometimes it takes longer than an instant to know what we like. I guess that’s what happens when you spread your wings a little

Photo: corner of our suite at Hotel Monaco, Portland.