Winter amusements? What I have been doing for 7 WEEKS!

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What have I been doing for 7 weeks????---playing in my craft room and remodeling two dollhouses. Honestly, I could have remodeled my own house in that time. 

Here is the results---enjoy, and if you are into dolls or know someone who is, please direct them to my other blog: barbieoldnewgreenredo

This is one of the latest posts. Everything has been reconstructed or refurbished, and it started out like this:

I had redone this dollhouse 5 years ago for playing with my granddaughter, and now I wanted to do it for my doll stories and eradicate the pink--somehow and expand some areas, update the lighting and hide that elevator, since I can't spray paint outdoors right now. 

So here is the result!

Getting ready for listing!

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Richelle: Hi, Lara, sorry to call so late, but I just texted you some photos of the townhouse...we just finished staging the townhouse!

Lara: Great...so I'm waiting for them...! I'll get Ian over there tomorrow. How about the Mansion...where are we there?

Richelle: Waiting on the chair delivery and Trish...with the plants, otherwise everyone can be out for the open house. Mulan and Belle are staying with Barbie at the rental.

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Lara: The yard looks nice....we need to pull those cans out for the listing photos!

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Richelle: Can we please, never do two locations at the same time again?

Lara: For sure, we are all ragged. I'll send Vanessa over tomorrow to help you at the Manse. 

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Lara: The  office area looks great. Amazing rehab on that equipment.

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Richelle: LOL, well, no one will walk off with a 40# ancient monitor and a dummy keyboard.

Lara: By the way, the sofas look fab, love the pillows!

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...table looks great...and the kitchen...

(sure, beats  MAGENTA???)

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...I love the shelving unit...looks perfect for a family...

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Totally love the accessories...nice homage to the buildings age.

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...What's the story on the painting?

Richelle: It's a watercolor we had resized of the Chicago River. I didn't like the photographs---too contemporary,

...and I wanted to bring something  more personal and historical in with the steamboat.

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Lara: Since we couldn't get historical status, that's a nice way to add history! 1889 is a long time to be a home.

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...I really love the washed oak floors..and with the contemporary fabrics on the second floor, very cool.

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...closet looks good... and the doorwall.

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Richelle: I know the purple and greens are a little unexpected...but I'm sick of grays and neutrals---everywhere! Nothing is permanent that has color.

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Lara: Everything should appeal to the demographic we are going for. 

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...Love the drape wall with the glass in the bathroom.

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I see it just fits up to the tub corner...great I was wondering what you were going to do!

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...nice installation..., Richelle. This really is your calling!

...Are the furnishings for sale?

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Richelle: Sure and thanks, and we came in under budget by using many pieces from the house, before! I can make up a rough list for you on the furnishings.

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Lara: Great and I love the Juliet window, and the shutters close for privacy!

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Richelle: The second floor sitting room was a challenge. The lounge chair was so big..but it can be used for an extra bed. I had 'Woofie' along because I knew it was going to be a very long day! He was so good!

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Lara: Love that little work area, outside of the bathroom. Perfect---very cool wall unit! 

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...the third floor work area works well, and I see you filled the closet! Plenty of storage.

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...I think I like this room the best...the view is fab of the park, and love that rug set!

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Richelle: Just a few plants come tomorrow and I'll finish up the Mansion by three, but I need to get some sleep, now.

Lara: BMR, Ltd. thanks you, Richelle, you did a fab job! And thanks to Ryan, too. I'm sure he helped also! Get me an invoice of your expenses so I can cut you a check immediately!

Richelle: Sure, will do tomorrow, I really need some food, too. Looking at the table makes me hungry!

(Tomorrow  VICTORIAN MANSION)

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Black History Month: James Baldwin

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Author, Activist, Playwright, Poet, Essayist 1924-1987.

During 1969-70, I was fortunate to take two Black Literature classes at University of Wisconsin-Stout. My instructor was a gentleman from South Africa---they were my most memorable courses of my college days. I wish I could remember his name, but, I do remember all the authors and the books, poems, and essays, we read, dissected, and debated. 

 Google search page James Baldwin books drawing from multiple sources.

At the top of the huge heap of reading for these classes---were the American works of James Baldwin. It was the peak of the civil rights movement. Baldwin was everywhere in the news. Our class had students of all nationalities and skin colors, so debates were heated and searching, no begging for points of understanding. 

This last December a movie adapted from James Baldwin's book, "If Beale Street Could Talk," 1974, was well received critically and currently nominated for several Academy Rewards 2018. I'm pleased that Baldwin is again in the news. Now, I have to read that book.

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Collage/Time Magazine cover --1963 from Google image page

His words were unabashedly truthful and unapologetic in assessing the African American experience. Baldwin's writings were and still are intense and unforgiving on all sides. James Baldwin fought for civil rights with his strong voice in novels, essays and poetry throughout the 20^thcentury. 

Born in Harlem, Baldwin wrote in a powerful voice for the oppressed and worked as an activist in the Civil Rights Movement. His early works of the 1950-60's were produced while still living in Harlem.

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Later, Baldwin considered himself a trans-Atlantic commuter, as he spent considerable time living in France.

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Here I imagine him, vividly alive, and still writing---perhaps at a retrospective event on his career. I have no source for the photo on the right.

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Collages from Pinterest photos and the large photo quote/I could not find the original source.

The quote is powerful and applicable today.

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“The place in which I will fit will not exist until I make it!”James Baldwin

Many of his essays as well as poetry are online…take a look. His words will take your breath away and evoke an emotional, as well as an intellectual response. Not for the faint of heart, his writing disturbs us, as does TRUTH.

"All art is a kind of confession, more or less oblique. All artists, if they are to survive, are forced, at last, to tell the whole story; to vomit the anguish up."James Baldwin

Another source of interest, a video compiled for American Masters.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/james-baldwin-civil-rights-highlights/2670/ice 

Features highlights of Baldwin’s deep involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, including “The Fire Next Time,” the March on Washington, the March from Selma to Montgomery and the Baldwin/Buckley Debate at Cambridge University — all excerpted from the film, JamesBaldwin: 

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All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, unless noted. I will be happy to give credit to the photos I used in the collages. I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown or anywhere I shop.

 Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission. 

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Sandi Magle