It’s no secret that I ADORE Bradbury and Bradbury wallpaper.  I often cycle through the gorgeous photography on their web site thinking ”How big of a deal is it, really, if our kids don’t go to college?”  

Little did I know that dreams of a college education for our children – and Bradbury and Bradbury wallpaper hanging in our bungalow – might not be mutually exclusive.  Turns out, Bradbury and Bradbury actually sells seconds! I had NO idea.

Tremendous thanks to the folks at Bangor Bungalow for outlining the process and making my day!

I can’t decide how I feel about olefin though. On the one hand, I don’t want to spend a fortune on a wool rug which might get trashed, and getting trashed is a distinct possibility in a playroom.Olefin IS typically pretty stain resistant, so that is a plus. Still, I tend to be more of a natural fibers kind of gal. Hmmmm….

This one is interesting too:
http://www.contemporaryrug.com/crugs/control/prod/~pid=102CCL110-203/~color=8240

And crazy as the pattern is, I think I may also like this one: http://www.selectrugs.com/rugdetails.aspx?id=12179&name=pink_flower_power_rug.html

Guess it’s back to the drawing board for me (by which, of course, I mean Photoshop!)

view from outside chloe's room

Chloe turned six earlier this month, and while it may be sort of an odd fixation for a six year old to have, she is nonetheless obsessed with Paris. Santa must have heard about her francophile tendencies, because he left some brand new Parisian-themed bedding under the tree on Christmas morning.

Nicole Miller’s Fifi bedding features dozens of Vespa riding French poodles tooling through the streets of Paris while taking in familiar sights including sidewalk bistros, Hector Guimard’s famous Art Nouveau Abbesses Metro station, and – of course – the Eiffel Tower.

In keeping with the Parisian theme, we framed several posters including one of the above-mentioned Metro station and one of the Eiffel Tower. (Chloe is especially excited about the Eiffel Tower poster because it’s a photo of the tower in the snow, and Chloe loves snow almost as much as she loves the tower itself.)

Her room is far from finished – it’s still lacking sconces and closet doors, and we have a few more items we may want to hang on the walls. That said, the biggest obstacle to finishing her room is my inability to carve out time for sewing.

The Roman shades currently hanging in Chloe’s room are fairly trashed (luckily I bought them on sale!) I had been planning to repair them, but Chloe’s new comforter isn’t white (as advertised) – it’s actually more of a cream color — which looks horrible with the old shades.

The replacement curtains I have in mind might have fit in well at the Moulin Rouge of a century ago – ruffles and stripes and pompoms – oh my! If they turn out the way I hope, I’ll be sure to post photos. In the meantime, here is a photo of Chloe’s room in it’s current incaration.  A bientot!

Chloe's room circa early 2009

If you’ve been following the commentary accompanying my original post, you know that lots of people have had lots of opinions on this topic. However, three clear favorites have emerged: the white and black damask, the pink and green circles, and the black with large pink and white dots.

Many of you brought up good arguments for and against certain choices. For example, a popular concern seemed to be that lint and dog hair would be a nightmare to keep off a mostly black rug. Duly noted. (Although truthfully, I am not all that concerned about pet hair since the pugs aren’t allowed in the playroom. They have a hard time differentiating between dog toys and kid toys, so we’ve found it’s best to just keep them – and their pointy little teeth – away from the playroom completely.)

I am definitely not a vacuuming freak – in fact I seriously hate vacuuming – so I know that lint might be an issue with a black rug. That said, the pink and green circle rug so many of you are fond of is primarily white, and to tell you the truth, I’m a little more scared of Playdoh, magic marker and dirt than I am of lint – enough so that I have pretty much now ruled out that rug.  (I know, I know – I’m sorry!)

That leaves the white and black damask rug:

White and Black Damask

and the black rug with the pink and white dots:

Pink and White Dots

So, here’s the funny thing.  Right before the holidays I’d pretty much decided on the black rug with the pink and white dots. But then a friend suggested that the combination of the dots on the valances, accent pillows AND the rug might be too many dots to squeeze into one space. I really did not want to hear that, having spent over a year trying to decide whether or not to buy that rug, and FINALLY HAVING MADE  A DECISION!

Well, me being me, I completely panicked and started the rug search all over again. I looked at dozens and dozens of rugs. I narrowed it down to a few favorites, then added several more I could live with, and opened it up to a vote.  Strangely, or maybe not strangely at all, before the voting began, my two favorites were the the above mentioned black with pink and white dots and – you guessed it – the white and black damask (I never would have thought I would want damask for that room, but it’s really a great rug.  I especially love the wide black border – it provides such a nice bit of punch.)

So now, I am once again torn.  I thought I might leave the decision up to Chloe but her (completely unaffordable) solution is to buy both rugs AND the circle rug and “have them all!” Yeah. Not going to happen.

The dot rug will show more lint. The damask rug will show more dirt. I worry about the white areas of the damask rug getting really dirty or stained, but truthfully, the white and pink areas on the dotted rug are just as vulnerable to dirt and stains.

I’m so conflicted about this. Could you tell? Maybe the fact that I’m having such a hard time deciding means that I need to keep looking???

Sigh!

When Kim later shared proofs from our photo session, I found myself drawn to one image in particular – a photo of our girls, side by side, in the backyard grass. The picture’s vibrant pink, green and black tones seemed like a perfect fit for the playroom, and I knew instantly it would make a wonderful addition to our home.

Flash forward to Christmas break…

In keeping with my resolution to get organized (making our house a more comfortable and enjoyable place), we finally hung the new photos in the playroom — transforming the space from a cute but somewhat generic-looking room, into one that our daughters can truly call their own.

images of the girls personalize their play space

Now if only I could find a rug to tie everything together…

Suggestions anyone?

One Dan’s most exciting finds was this biography of Edwin Sylvester Burgan, the 1910 occupant of our home. Found on page 720 of the book History of the City of Spokane and Spokane County, Washington (Vol. III, S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1912, Spokane-Chicago-Philadelphia), the bio explains that Mr. Burgan was involved in several business ventures at the time of the 1910 census, including serving as President of the First National Bank in Spokane, Washington and serving as the President of the Burgan and Springer Hat Company of Portland, Oregon. Busy guy!

Dawn has a gift for house genealogy and has very kindly put her skills to work for us, digging up lots of fascinating historical information about our home. On a recent trip to Portland’s Cental Library, she was able to discover the following:

First, as Dan (another house genealogist and Bungalow Insanity reader) had suggested, Edwin and Emma Burgan’s son’s name was Jesse, not James (or Jesse James, for that matter!). Dawn managed to find a photo of Jesse Burgan in a book called “Men of Oregon” which was printed for the Portland Chamber of Commerce in 1911:

Weirdly, despite the census record mentioned in our earlier post, there’s nothing confirming that Jesse actually ever lived in this house, although he did board nearby and was listed as having served as vice-president/secretary/treasurer of a Portland hat company from 1910 – 1911.  

Dawn believes that the census information for 1910 was probably correct and the Burgan family did live here, but not for very long. It’s likely that they traveled back and forth between Oregon and Washington fairly frquently during the time that they did live here. And as there are no Portland records of the Burgans from 1913 onward, Dawn thinks it’s safe to guess that by that time they’d moved to Spokane.
 
Nellie Earsley and her family seem to have moved into our home in 1918, so there’s a big question mark as to who lived here from 1910 -1917. We do know that Nellie and family moved out in 1923 when Fred and Christine Inman purchased the house. The Inmans sold the house in 1930 to George and Mayme Skiff, but the trail then runs cold, as by 1932 George and Mayme had moved.
 
Dawn also forwarded some obituaries to us in hopes that we might be able to use them to track down descendants of the Earsley family. Her thought was that they would be the most likely to have old photos of the house as their family lived here longest.

Getting this glimpse into our home’s past has been both fascinating and fun.  Many thanks to Dawn for all of her research!

a rare sight: our bungalow dusted with snow

 Snow is fairly unusual in these parts, so a white Christmas is a rare treat for us!

wow! looks like the neighbors got snow too!