Gentle Readers: a story like this comes along but once a year. It would be cruel not to share it with you. Here it is, the back story on the drapes featured in Wednesday's post.
"Then came the curtains. I'm from no-where Illinois and my favorite aunt has made it big and bought an amazing $5 million house in North Atlanta that looks like a country french wonderland:
"When she moved in, her designer girlfriend immediately took down the custom window treatments in the kitchen and dining rooms. She left them on the floor in the three car garage next to the matching jaguars.
"Then my Beverly Hillbilly family came to visit the big house. Grandma Betty saw those fancy curtains on the floor and couldn't believe the girls were going to just throw them away. She threw them in the back of the 1983 Crown Vic they had driven down to Atlanta in and took those bad boys home.
"She thought she'd be able to use them at her place that my Grandpa built himself over 60 years ago. Unfortunately, the 12 foot high panels didn't really work in her little ranch house with 10 foot ceilings. She can't sew and they ended up in a cabinet above the closet in the extra bedroom that was originally the garage but converted when they had kids # 4,5, and six (the triplets).
"The curtains stayed in the unheated Illinois closet for the last 13 years-except for two panels that escaped when Grandma put them in a garage sale.
"In early January 2009, I went to visit Grandma Betty when she got out of the hospital just before she passed away. She had me rooting around in the closet looking for some old photo albums and I came across the curtains. I immediately knew they had come from my rich aunt's house and asked Grandma how they came to be stuffed up in the closet. She told me about the visit and the garage and the trunk.
- Jenna
Now THAT, as they say in the art history world, is a heck of a provenance. Thanks so much for telling us about it, Jenna!
9 Gentle Readers have this to say::
What a crazy story! They are pretty wacky and fabulous curtains, though. I would've stolen them too!
Hey Boss! Great story! This is Bugs & Sunshine. Our painters are coming Wednesday and I am narrowing down out paint colors-all Benjamin Moore. For the living areas/halls I'm thinking either Revere Pewter or Edgecomb Gray.
For my master bed/bath Wedgewood Gray & Rockport Gray for the guest bath that is a small room with white cabinets and a big round silver mirror above the sink. That is a lot of gray.
Everyone is telling me these are cool colors. Have you ever done a house with similar colors as these? I have always painted with golds and yellows but am in the mood for change.
Do you ever watch Barefoot Contessa? She painted her barn Farrow & Balls Light Gray and I love the look of her house.
I'm confused :)!!
love the backstory! adds so much to her design dilemma
Now, that IS a provenance. And I love those funny monkey drapes even more.
Thanks for those great comments, everyone!
Bugs & Sun, Those ARE cool colors, but the Wedgewood and Rockport are pretty dark, so please be aware of that!
I suggest Edgecomb over Revere in the hallway if it doesn't get much light - Revere could get dark in a light-deprived stairwell. When you're in the mood for change, you should go with it! Keep me posted!
Great story. What is the origin of the design on those "funny monkey drapes"? Is it Indian? Do you know the story behind it (the way-back story)?
Just curious and thought you might know. Thanks!
Carmen
Those curtains are actually gorgeous. I can't believe anyone would throw them away.
Jenna here--I don't know the way back story on the drapes, but they do have a tag on them that says:
Custom Made by
Davis - Neal Inc.
Drapery Specialists for the Atlanta Area
Decatur GA
377-5152
I've confirmed there's an active company, registered with the Georgia secretary of state with that name, but I can't find anything for them on the internet and the phone number is now unpublished.
They are pretty wacky and fabulous curtains Work from home India
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