Game Time

Good Morning Lacquered Lifers. Hope everyone had a safe and celebratory 4th of July weekend. Growing up, my mother told me that my great-grandmother always said that summer was over after the 4th of July. Despite that seeming extremely negative, somehow I always feel like after the 4th the summer just blows right by. So in an effort to seize the summer! I plan on getting outside and acting like a kid as much as possible. Cue the yard games. GamesToday is the last day of Terrain’s summer tag sale, and you don’t want to miss it – especially with all of the extremely chic, vintage inspired yard games that are available. Get your whites pressed for a badminton themed cocktail party. Below are all the games that I plan on purchasing and taking full advantage of this summer. Games 2Paddle Ball. We’re all familiar with the Kadima racquets we have been playing with since we were kids, but this design makes us all the more likely to get out of the lounge chair and start a tourney. Games 3Badminton. Definitely a favorite. But who needs those ugly metallic racquets when you can play with wooden ones like these … and real feather shuttlecocks. Yes, shuttlecocks.Games 4Croquet. Another amazing yard game that is great for a themed party. White dresses, pimms cups, tea sandwiches … sound like an afternoon you would love to have? Get on it! Games 5Horseshoes. My dad always used to say, “Almost doesn’t count except in horseshoes and hand grenades.” Kind of a strange turn of phrase, but hey, he was right, “almost” does count in horseshoes, so who doesn’t love a game when you get credit even when you don’t get it over the pin. I’m in!

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Zero Worries at Zero George

IMG_8824Good Morning Lacquered Lifers. Slowly but surely Mr. B and the pups and I are getting settled here at New Street … not too settled, of course, as we prepare to embark on a renovation, but settled enough that it feels like home. The night before we closed on New Street, however, we were not so settled, as all of our furniture had been moved out of Church Street, so we decided to have a little “staycation” and head over to Zero George for the evening. Upon our arrival at Zero George, the staff asked us how our move was going! That attention to detail and courteousness, coupled with the complementary wine and cheese in our room, was enough for Mr. B and I to immediately decide that we should extend our stay another night … and we had been there all of 20 minutes. IMG_9356

We stayed for two luxurious nights, enjoyed two lovely breakfasts in the courtyard, and one truly amazing dinner as well. Despite our physical and emotional stress over moving from Church Street to New Street, the two nights at Zero George truly helped us relax and unwind amidst the chaos. We stayed for two nights, in two different rooms ( I wanted to check out all the spaces so I could report back), and both rooms were absolutely lovely. Soothing gray tones in the rooms, good lighting, comfortable beds, and cushy robes. Wonderful. In addition, the setting at Zero George, while it feels so very Charlestonian, also feels very European, with the four buildings surrounding a lush courtyard. You can also enjoy cocktails on the piazza of the main building, or on the piazza outside your room!

Only two of my photos really turned out well (the two above), so for the additional photos below, I rely on the photographic skills of Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg of Ann Street Studio (a favorite). 
ZeroGeorge ZeroGeorge_01 ZeroGeorge_03Next time you plan a visit to Charleston, I strongly suggest a stay at Zero George and get a real feeling for the hospitality that the Holy City is known for.

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Greek or Italian? A Little Help from Jane Scott Hodges

Good Morning Lacquered Lifers! The photos of Jane Scott Hodges’ New Orleans home in the current issue of House Beautiful were of particular interest to me as I begin research on our New Street house. My first instinct was to categorize the New Street house as Italianate, based on its build date (1872), bow front, and door surround; and assume that the six over six windows were a later addition. However, upon closer inspection, the windows could be original, and after seeing Hodges’ house, I realize that New Street may just be an amalgam of different architectural styles, which includes Greek Revival, despite a build date which came after the popularity of Greek Revival architecture had waned. The house was in fact built by an architect to be used as his personal residence, so he may have been more eager to incorporate different styles to suit his taste, rather than follow what was on trend at the time. IMG_9380scotthodges4I look at the columns on Hodges’ 1869 Garden District home, and I see similarities between the columns on her house, and the columns at New Street. While Hodges’ house has the Greek Revival facade characterized by a front door surround with a transom and sidelights, the house also sports a bracketed cornice, which is indicative of the Italianate style. At New Street, the Italianate detailing is found at the front door surround (hard to see in the picture above), while the cornice has the wide divided band of trim which is more typical of the Greek Revival style. Both houses, with their late nineteenth century build dates, feature architectural details indicative of the two architectural styles, making it difficult to define their styles. But really who likes to be put in a box anyway?scotthodges2In addition to the exterior, I look at the interior of Hodges’ home, and I can take cues from some of the extant architectural details. At New Street, the majority of the interior architectural details were removed and replaced with a more “colonial revival” look, a change I will be reversing. The crown moulding in Hodges’ double parlors is what would have been at New Street, as well as a ceiling medallion in the center of the room. DSC_0316scotthodges3 copy

Hodges’ marble mantelpieces are also of interest, as the mantels here at New Street were also removed in favor of colonial revival mantelpieces with dentil moulding. In fact, the house has a total of eight fireplaces, only three of which have mantelpieces, the rest of which were closed up in the first part of the twentieth century … looking forward to opening those back up.scotthodges3DSC_0318
scotthodgesOne day, most likely in the very distant future, you will see a scene like this one, with Hamish and Hugh lounging in a finished front hall … until then ….

Photos via House Beautiful

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