the marion house book

Monthly Archives: March 2010

forcing branches

A few days ago, I posted about bringing in some branches from my backyard to decorate my house. It turns out that this is the perfect time of year to do such a thing.

If you happen to have a deciduous flowering shrub or tree in your backyard like a magnolia, cherry tree or forsythia than you can force it to bloom early. Your house will be filled with the signs of spring long before your garden catches up. According to the Canadian Gardening website, all you have to do is wait until the temperature is around 10 degrees Celsius and then cut your branches a little longer than you want them. Once indoors, trim about 6 inches from the bottom and smash the ends with a hammer. Place them in room temperature water and within a few days you will have wonderful flowers.

These branches are from the forsythia in my backyard. Aren’t they amazing?

I also put a smaller collection of branches on my mantlepiece.

And just to show you what a huge effect adding some flowering branches can do for your interior check out these two shots.

Jenna Lyon’s kitchen looking a bit cold and sterile. From Levenson McDavid Architects.

And with branches! Much better! From Domino magazine.

Posted by Emma - The Marion House Book on March 30, 2010 – 9:58 PM

Filed under you make it

cast your vote – dining chairs

I’ve been thinking recently of updating four of our dining room chairs. The ones we have at the moment are Thonet knock-offs with white vinyl seats that we purchased five years ago. They look nice but truth be told they are starting to get a bit rickety. In fact, one of them has been repaired so many times that the screws that hold it together are now stripped. If anyone has purchased dining room chairs you know the bill quickly escalates. A $250 chair translates to over $1000 in purchases when you have to buy multiples. It was cost that forced us to buy knock-offs the first time around. This time I’d like to spend my money on either vintage or licensed original chairs. While it may cost a bit more money initially, I think the investment pays off.

Here are some pictures of the dining room as it looks today. The credenza, which I designed, is made of solid white oak as is the table. The painting is predominantly black and has a huge presence in the room. I’d like to also change the light fixture as it is blocking the sight lines of the painting but I’ll save that for another post!

And here are the candidates for the new chairs. Let me know what you think.

The Eames Shell Chair in black with dowel legs. From Design Within Reach, $399

Or the Eames wire chairs with or without their bikinis. Vintage from Retro Modern Decor Store.

Or a selection of the two as seen in Frédéric Mechiche’s 1712 house via the fabulous Door Sixteen

I could buy vintage Thonet Chairs as seen here in Remodelista editor Julie Carlson’s hous e.

Or I could purchase vintage or new Marais chairs. Available from Design Within Reach for $250

Don’t they look great here!

And here. Both pictures via Luphia.

I like the Shaker simplicity of the Salt chair from Design Within Reach for $98.00

The Era Chair, also designed by Thonet and available from Design Within Reach is classic and timeless for $150.

Finally, we could put a bench on one side like this one from Crate and Barrel

or this MASH Studios LAX bench from Modern Karibou and have two chairs on the other side.

So many choices….what do you think?

Posted by Emma - The Marion House Book on March 28, 2010 – 11:19 PM

Filed under please, cast your vote

before and afters

Are you like me? Do you love a good before and after?

Two years ago, this March, we moved into The Marion House. Since that time the house has gone through a lot of alterations and renovations. I have tried to document the changes along the way. The other day, as I was going through my archives I came across this selection of before and afters. What amazes me is that many of the rooms have already changed since these photographs were taken! The living room in particular looks quite different. I guess I really am a serial renovator.

Posted by Emma - The Marion House Book on March 26, 2010 – 9:21 PM

Filed under house projects

time on your hands

Sometimes, on the weekend when I have more free time on my hands and I know I’m going to be in and around the house I like to cook something that takes a really, really long time. Last Christmas, I bought my husband Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s (don’t you love that name!) The River Cottage Meat Book. I have been meaning to cook something out of it for a long time. I am a reluctant meat eater so I was drawn to the more vegetarian-friendly recipes at the back of the book. The recipe for Boston Baked Beans looked rich and satisfying and not too meaty. Perfect! Good thing I started early because five hours later (not to mention the 12 hours the beans spent soaking overnight) I was finished. The result was rich, sweet, soft and creamy.

Boston Baked Beans

400g piece of salt pork, pancetta or unsmoked bacon

500g dried white haricot beans, soaked overnight

50g soft brown sugar

3 tbsp treacle (molasses in our part of the world)

1 tbsp English mustard

4 cloves

8-10 pickling onions, peeled but left whole

Salt and Pepper

Drain and rinse the beans, then put them in a flameproof casserole with enough fresh water to cover them by about 5 cm. Bring to the boil and boil hard for at least 10 minutes. Lower the heat to a gentle simmer, cover and cook for about 1 hour, until the beans are tender but not completely soft. Remove from heat.

Cut the bacon into 5 cm cubes, leaving the rind on, and add to the beans. Stir in the brown sugar, black treacle and mustard. Press each clove into an onion and add, with the extra onions, to the pot. Season with pepper, but no salt at this stage as the bacon will make it salty. If necessary, add a little hot water so that the beans are covered.

Replace the lid on the casserole. Place in a low oven (140C/284F) and bake for about 3 hours. Then remove the lid and drag some of the bacon chunks to the top. Return, uncovered, to the oven, for a further hour. This helps to brown the bacon and thicken the sauce.

Check the seasoning, then serve the beans on their own, with crusty bread (or toast), as a snack or light meal. Or serve with sausages and mash. These baked beans will keep in a sealed jar or Tupperware container in the fridge for 2 weeks.