Saturday, June 16, 2012

Atlanta porch rocker circa 1890
With Father's Day just around the corner, I am always reminded that my own father who has long ago passed away looked forward to seeing what his youngest daughter thought up for his special day.  As the baby of the family, I agree I was somewhat spoiled by him.  Being ever so appreciative, I felt it my duty to surprise him with something truly special to honor him on his day even though I was far too young to make the actual purchase.  For that purpose, my mother and siblings were willing to conspire with me knowing that it would please him so.  

I think his favorite gifts were always those that contributed to his leisure for which he had little time between working, gardening, tending the animals on our mini farm and driving us to and from our elocution, dance, acrobat and singing lessons, girl scouts, boy scouts and church.  My favorite gifts to him were a stand alone hammock which stood in our front yard every summer (and which I spent summer days reading Nancy Drew) until the metal base rusted and split, and a wicker rocker that served me more than him as he rocked me to sleep in his lap.     

Antique Bar Harbor chaise circa 1920
That hammock and rocker are long gone, but the wicker rocker represents memories of childhood I will never forget.  That is the sort of story I heard over and over for years from travelers and locals alike who were unable to drive by my antique shop on a busy highway in Maine, a shop whose storefront was a turn of the century Victorian farmhouse with a porch covered with antique rockers, tables, chairs and the like, all woven here in America before 1930, before that manufacturing industry too, left for China.  Today, that shop no longer exists, but I am sure that the thousands of pieces of wicker that I repaired, refinished, repainted and rewove are still around.

Reproduction Bar Harbor chaise
If my father were alive today, I would no doubt surprise him with my favorite leisurely piece of all, the chaise longue.  Around for centuries, the chaise is the ultimate single most idyllic piece of furniture whose sole purpose is to promote laziness,  goofing off, rest and relaxation. As far as wicker goes, the chaise was part of every collection from Victorian ornate to Art Deco stark and all were equally decadent.  Today the reproduction Bar Harbor chaise longue is as good as it was 100 years ago.  I think in memory of my father, that is where I will spend his day.    

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Summertime and the living is easy, so says the song.  True, and the easiest way to enjoy summer is on a deep covered porch in wicker furniture covered in chintz and conjuring up images of times gone by.  Whether you live by a lake in the middle of the country, the Atlantic shore in the north east or the Pacific coast, wicker furniture is timeless.

I have owned and operated a wicker furniture business since 1988 at which time I fell in love with the authentic antique classic Bar Harbor designs that covered the porches of tennis clubs and private residences from Kennebunkport to Charleston.  Most people don't know this, but the Bar Harbor designs were not just the square, wide arm pieces that one normally sees in magazines, but rather they came in all shapes and sizes.  The backs were known to have been woven into head and shoulders designs, square with a woven shelf like top, round or square at the top with narrow arms that looked like braid, sometimes with cup holders and magazine racks, and the most popular and hard to find of them all, the wing back.

The 80s brought a rebirth of popularity that lasted well into 2000, but as the popularity increased, my sources for authentic Bar Harbor funiture decreased as interior designers and their clients gobbled up what has remained in our country's inventory since the turn of the century.  Fortuately, in 1990, I found a modern source for the Bar Harbor style wicker furniture made like the old in size, design and quality and have been selling it ever since to replace the ever disappearing originals.  No one (except maybe me) would be able to tell the difference. Some day they, too, will be part of grandma's legacy.

However, around the same time that I started buying, repairing and selling Bar Harbor wicker furniture, I was presented by one of my antique "pickers" with a five piece matching suite of wicker furniture woven by hand of material that resembled brown kraft paper twisted over wire.  It not only resembled it, but was in fact brown kraft paper twisted over wire.  This opened a whole new obsession for me in the wicker of the Art Deco era---an era in which wicker was commonplace in front rooms, bedrooms and dining rooms, not just the porch any more.  More on this fabulous furniture design in upcoming blogs.