Smoke and Mirrors

Pecan Sour Cream Coffee Cake

One of the upsides to downsizing is getting rid of the big yard and all the attendant landscaping chores, woes, and expense–though not for my friend. While she was willing to give up a few floors, scads of rooms and the Olympic-sized pool–the yard was not negotiable. Finally, after viewing dozens and dozens of listings, and a few wrong moves, she hit gold–green really.

In, well almost in, tony Sea Girt this acre plus property with its senior friendly ranch style home had nary a shrub but, to one beholder at least, potential galore. Over the past few years, from the safety of the store, I have heard the saga of the plantings; extensive. The kitchen reno, a master class in geometry; as for the bathroom remodels–let’s just say budget busting–but worth every penny. Or so my friend said. Finally, I was invited to go see for myself.

Upon entering the house the first thing I noticed was the British Cottage cupboard in the foyer from our French Country Era–say early 2008. I think it was employed as a server in one of their former dining rooms but certainly now it is more than up to its job front and center here. With the addition of a mirror (the first of many featured throughout this home) wrapped in brass and a table lamp in the same metal, an engaging entryway is achieved with a minimum of fuss–and most importantly in this case–space.

Because two steps later you are in the living room.

When a space is tres petite in scale, the temptation is to use all tres petit furniture but the bold move, for the win by the way, is to introduce a few oversized pieces to the mix–like the fairly massive French armoire in the background and this gorgeous antique pine table pictured below.

You’re barely through the living room when the dining room is upon you. Dining room you scoff. Who needs a dining room when space is at such a premium? Basically anyone over the age of 50 is the answer. We like a space out of the kitchen where dirty dishes can be forgotten; a dedicated place of beauty where we can feature our gorgeous linens, polished silver and lovely china, linger over drinks, over dessert, or over just about any darn anything we choose!

Make sure to note how the oversized mirror enlarges the room visually, a great trick when space is tight.

When downsizing there is an unwritten rule to never buy anything new. But sometimes the furniture from the first, second, or even third house simply does not fit the new one. In this case the space just cried out for a round table and we (British Cottage) were happy to deliver. In a warm oak, with faux bamboo chairs, also in oak, dinner parties are happily back in the picture.

Next up is the family room. Pocket sized, anyone with less bravado would have tacked a tv to the wall, set up two armchairs and called it a day. Not here. Here we have not one, but two sofas, two robust upholstered wing chairs, and, and a massive (well sort of) pine breakfront for the television from yours truly (this was for house number 2 I think).

The wing chairs in question have also been around for numerous moves and have seen better days but made of flexsteel and beloved by the man of the house they are, yet again, en route to the upholsterers. I like the tone on tone animal print that reads as a neutral and balances the boldness of the teal on the Hickory White mid-sized sofa (another new purchase) that fortunately fits like a glove–measure, measure and measure again is a good thing to remember when every inch counts.

There are three bedrooms with three dressers from British Cottage and two British Cottage beds (from the good old days when we used to manufacture our own line of bedroom furniture in England). They were bought, I think, for their Spring Lake house and were a perfect fit for that cozy coastal beach home–and even better–twenty years later they still are for this one.

We used to make them in either an antique white or natural pine.

Pecan Sour Cream Coffee Cake

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter an 8×10-inch baking dish.
  2. Make the topping: Mix pecans, white sugar, brown sugar, melted butter, cinnamon, and salt together in a mixing bowl until thoroughly combined and all components are coated with butter, 3 to 4 minutes.
  3. Make the cake: Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl.
  4. Mix sugar and butter together in a large bowl with a spatula until well blended. Whisk in eggs, one at a time, until thoroughly incorporated. Whisk in sour cream and vanilla. Gradually whisk in flour mixture until flour is just incorporated; do not overmix.
  5. Spread 1/2 of the batter over the bottom of the prepared baking dish, then sprinkle with 1/2 of the topping. Carefully spoon remaining batter over topping, then sprinkle with remaining topping; very gently press topping into batter.
  6. Bake in the preheated oven until a bamboo skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool slightly before servingThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image.png

Domestic Arts 101

In the olden days, decorating was the wife’s job; real men played golf, watched sports on the telly and stayed out of the kitchen.  Clearly those days are over.  Real women go to work, real men cook and everybody has a say in decorating.  But he likes mid-century modern and she wants comfort and warmth.  Holy smokes!  What do you do?

You compromise and together you create your own signature look.
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Take, for example, this Rumson carriage house.   When the new owners took possession they brought with them the husband’s significant modern art collection and his design sense which was perhaps a bit formal, while the wife was angling for an up-dated, yet comfortable, elegant, yet child-friendly end of the spectrum.

First thing they did was transform what had been a formal living room into a lively gallery of amazing art, complemented by a modicum of seating.  The idea was to marry comfort with spare and sleek.  They wanted room where the art could shine, adults enjoy a cocktail and their three children to romp–the walled off living room, like husbands who don’t decorate, a thing of the past.

For a while it was perhaps it was a bit too stark but once they replaced a burnished hunk of copper coffee table with this painted wooden table from British Cottage the living room finally came together.
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The modern, copper coffee table that was in the living room happily found a new home in the family room where it compliments the metal work on the fireplace and anchors the massive leather couch.
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(I’m not sure whose idea was the basketball hoop over the fireplace in the family room–we would have loved this when we were kids).  They added a couple of custom Hickory White side chairs in navy plaid from British Cottage that swivel so you can either have a conversation or watch the game on the television on the wall opposite the couch.

Perhaps my favorite room is the dining room.  They kept the previous owner’s chandelier–from the days when the house was decorated in an over-the-top chateau style–and it looks pretty and romantic.  The husband was quite sure how he wanted the custom British Cottage table to look, striking and vibrant in dark oak which works beautifully with the linen-like but really Sunbrella slipcovered sidechairs chosen by his wife. The plain white walls and woodwork were a bold choice in this time of paint the world fifty shades of grey but it really lets the art and the architecture shine.

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We’ve been making house calls to this home for the last couple of years and every time we go it looks better and better.  I think every nook and cranny  has engaged the attention of both spouses and each has allowed the other their vision creating a lovely, family friendly home in the process.  Not easy.