HOMES PREPPY STYLE

Preppy Homes are a thing of beauty.  Whereas most of society relies on newly built Mcmansions of 4000 square feet or more to legitimize fine taste and culture, the prep homes virtue lay in it's quaint, established and historic feel.  It is not uncommon for these homes to be one hundred, two hundred or even three hundred years old.  These are not just homes but pieces of history, they attest to the forebears who lived their before and are heirlooms to be passed down from generation to generation. 

With that said I'm starting a series of posts devoted to preppy homes exteriors and interiors.  If any reader would like to submit a picture of their home or favorite abode feel free.

First in this series are homes of Cape Cod.

Posted By The Preppy Times

A HINT OF SPRING

There is a hint of spring in old Annapolis. The trees are beginning to bud and even my trusty friend "blushing bride" Hydrangeas are showing signs of life.
I'm really a kid at heart and so at the first signs of spring I naturally think of May Baskets.




The tradition of the ancient Roman and Druid holiday of May Day has endured for centuries.
It has been a celebration of spring turning into the pleasures of summer. Traditionally, a "Maypole" was the focus of spring. Gathering flowers and branches became a tradition and "bringing in the May" became a
popular activity on May 1.





The giving of baskets became part of the festivities later in the evolution of May Day.
Today baskets are often made by little children, filled with candy or flowers and then placed on people's doorsteps or tied to the door handle, as they ring the doorbell and dash away before they are caught. You can participate in this activity yourself by making a special May Day basket or using any small basket to fill with flowers to give to a friend.





Why wait for May to spread a little cheer, to show someone you care. There is no better time in life than this very moment. May baskets are a wonderful tradition to share with family while displaying another example of the cycle of life.
Go on, feel like a child again. You know you absolutely want to.
Fill a small basket with freshly gathered Spring blossoms. Tuck a small vase or something that will hold water into the bottom of the basket and fill the basket with a selection of flowers. Tie a bow or ribbon streamers onto the handle and fasten it to the door handle of a friend.





























Until we meet again.


















- Posted by The Preppy Times

How to identify Chippendale furniture and a little about the man who started the Chippendale style.

Thomas Chippendale was a furniture maker of the mid to late 18th century. He was probably born in 1718 but there is no record of his birth, only his baptism in that year. He was the son of an Otley, Yorkshire, England carpenter and most likely an apprentice to his father. There are no records of his early life and training but by 1753 he was established in London as a furniture maker. In 1754 he published the first of three editions of his Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, a catalogue of English furniture design. This book is probably the major reason he is one of the world's best-known furniture makers ever.






The description Chippendale has been applied to much of the well-made, English furniture of the 18th century. This is not because the furniture was made by Thomas Chippendale or his factory but because the word Chippendale has become synonymous with a distinguishable style. Surviving furniture actually made by Thomas Chippendale would be rare to the extreme and would require a verifiable provenance. Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director is the picture book of the Chippendale style. This catalogue allowed wealthy patrons to pick out particular elements for their furniture and the furniture would then be custom made for them by the Chippendale workshop. The Chippendale style reflected many elements of the Rococo, Chinese, Gothic and, later, the Neoclassical styles.






The Chippendale style didn't remain within the confines of the Chippendale workshops very long. So popular were the designs with the wealthy class of the mid-18th century that soon other furniture makers were using Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director as a pattern book for their shops, too. The patterns were not really entirely the creation of Thomas Chippendale, but improved, stylized or modernized versions of popular existing patterns.






When we talk about Chippendale furniture today, what we are really talking about is well-constructed, mid- to late-18th century furniture of the Chippendale style. Wood used in this style of furniture was generally mahogany. Though veneers were used for furniture of this period, they are not typical of the Chippendale style. Solid wood was used to accommodate the elaborate carving found in this style. Modern reproductions of the Chippendale style will often be hand carved but will not have the depth and detail of carving that genuine 18th century furniture has.












Another feature of 18th century wood furniture is its irregularity. All the work on this furniture was done by hand and often quite exquisitely. However, handwork, no matter how well done, will not be able to match the exact regularity of machine work. When you examine a piece of wood furniture for the purpose of determining its age, look at the joinery closely. It will reveal a lot about the history of the piece. Hand crafted joints will be slightly irregular and may evidence tool marks, too. Finishes on wood furniture can help reveal its age, too. Many techniques exist to falsely age or distress finishes and unscrupulous furniture forgers use them so don't rely on the appearance of a finish alone to judge the age of a piece of furniture. With age, wood takes on what is called a patina. Patina is the warm, mellow, aged look that wood gets from being touched, lived with, polished and cared for. It's something you must see to appreciate. It takes study to understand the different kinds of patination that different woods take on over time. If you intend to invest money in antique furniture, you must spend time learning about the kind of furniture you intend to buy. Local museums are a great place to start. They give you a wonderful opportunity to study authentic antique period furniture and patination up close. If what you are after is finding a nice, 18th century Chippendale style chair, you must learn the anatomy of a Chippendale style chair.






The legs of an antique chair are revealing. There are six different basic Chippendale style legs. These are the lion's paw, the ball and claw, the late Chippendale, the Marlborough, the club and the spade. Picture books will give you an idea what each looks like but three of the styles are based on the cabriole shape which is an elegant, serpentine style ending in a distinctive foot. These include the lion's paw, which ends with a lion paw shaped foot, the club, which is a simple round foot and the ball and claw, which (not surprisingly) looks like a claw holding a ball. The remaining leg styles are straight with the Marlborough being a plain, square leg; the spade a tapered round leg often with a square or trapezoid foot and the late Chippendale having a square leg with a square foot. There are many variations on the basic leg styles but close observation will reveal the basic pattern. If carving is present, and it most likely will be to some degree, it will be detailed and deeply cut. Leg joints will be precisely done with evidence of handwork.












Check for repairs where the leg and seat frame meet. Sometimes, chair legs will have been cut down at the bottom to a shorter stature and this lessens the value of the chair. Stretchers are the horizontal rungs between chair legs. They are sometimes present in Chippendale style chairs. These, too, will be well joined, show evidence of handwork and will often be carved. Seats on Chippendale style chairs may be wood, upholstered or caned. One way to check if the upholstery is original is to look at the way it is attached. Are other holes present that would indicate previous upholstery? New upholstery can easily hide holes so don't rely on this method entirely. A textile specialist can determine if the fabric is right for the period, too. Where the legs meet the seat, there will generally be supports called glue blocks. These may have been replaced during the life of the chair, check to see how they are joined. The chair backs will vary by the intended purpose of the chair. There are upholstered backs, rail backs, ladder backs, rung backs, splat backs, carved backs and in the case of stools and window seats, no backs. Look for the same kind of quality in the backs that you expect in the rest of the chair. Carvings will be deep, crisp and detailed. Often there will be piercing, where the solid wood has been pierced through as part of the back detail. One popular splat (back support) type is the lyre shape. Joinery will be well done and show evidence of handwork.














There are many variations on the Chippendale theme but one thing you can be sure of is that if you find a genuine 18th century Chippendale style chair in an antique shop, you are going to pay thousands of dollars for it. If it's not appropriately priced, the dealer knows that it's not 18th century. Take great care in purchasing antiques of this quality and expense. A reputable dealer will give you a written guarantee that the piece is authentic and the guarantee will include a detailed description of the piece and its provenance. If your budget is modest but your taste is expensive, you can buy very fine quality modern reproduction Chippendale style chairs that will appreciate in value over the years. As with any major investment, though, know exactly what you are buying before you write the check.








Happy hunting for that perfect chair :)




- Posted using BlogPress

CHELSEA CLOCKS

What is a classic American home without products firmly made in America?  Well......not very classic American.  Even though we are a melting pot here, for the Preppy it's all American and if you're lucky to get a hand me down from old grandad or grandma, antique American is the creme de la creme. 
Now what's more American than the antique clocks that we grew up loving?  Enter Chelsea Clocks from the Chelsea Clock Company.


The Chelsea Clock Company, founded in 1897, is one of the oldest, largest, and few remaining American clock manufacturing companies in existence. For over a century, Chelsea's clockmakers have been designing and handcrafting distinguished, high quality clocks for customers in the corporate, consumer, government and marine markets. Today, the company continues to build and repair clocks at its original corporate headquarters in Chelsea, Massachusetts.
Long regarded as one of America's highest quality products, Chelsea Clocks are found in the White House, on US Naval Ships, and in homes and offices around the world.

Antique Chelsea

Nautical Chelsea

One of America’s earliest and most successful clock makers was Simon Willard, renowned for his banjo and other fine clocks with movements of cast brass and exquisite mahogany cabinetry. In 1842, Edward Howard, who apprenticed under Willard’s nephew Andrew, founded the E. Howard Clock Company. In turn, Howard taught a promising and inventive apprentice named Joseph Eastman, who later founded the Eastman Clock Company. At one point, Eastman adapted the movement from a large Waltham watch to a small clock, thereby enabling it to operate—unlike a pendulum clock—in any position. Eastman’s entrepreneurial efforts, however, ended in bankruptcy shortly after building a new factory just north of Boston in Chelsea, Massachusetts.
For a brief time thereafter, a small group of businessmen operated the facility as the Boston Clock Company of Maine. On July 23, 1897, Charles Pearson, a native Bostonian, acquired the property and, within days, began operating it as the Chelsea Clock Company. The site has been home to the company ever since.
Chelsea’s board of directors elected Whipple Potter the company’s first president and Pearson, a man of considerably less management experience, its treasurer. In buying the company, Pearson saw strong market potential for premium quality timepieces and was soon captivated by the idea of producing the world’s finest clock.  When buying the property, Pearson also acquired its tools and machinery—much of the latter jury-rigged and badly worn. He immediately set about expanding Chelsea’s workforce and investing in major plant and equipment improvements. Early production centered on pendulum models and brass plated, non-striking marine clocks. Pendulum clocks, with their fine mahogany cabinets, often took months to produce. The company produced its marine clocks entirely in-house, so these created revenue far more quickly.
Under Pearson’s guidance, Chelsea made numerous product design improvements, many of which it patented. These included the design for a ship’s bell clock having a fully encased chime and striking mechanism, patented in 1900. By 1903, the company also produced clocks for automobiles, soon counting Rolls Royce, Packard, and Studebaker among its customers. It wasn’t until 1906, however, that the company earned its first profit. The United States Navy was by then ordering Chelsea’s marine clocks in increasing quantities, leading other military branches to follow their lead. In 1907 and 1908, the U.S. Treasury Department ordered more than 100 clocks for its offices throughout the country. This motivated Pearson to establish the Boston Clock Company, essentially a separate brand for clocks and related instruments—including an artillery time fuse—the company manufactured to meet government standards.
From 1906 until the late 1920s, Chelsea’s business grew profitably under Pearson’s guidance. In 1928, however, he died following a brief illness. He wanted William Neagle, who he had hired 26 years earlier, to have first option on buying the company, which Neagle soon did.

Pendulum Chelsea

Neagle was quick to replace less popular models with new ones, including the Forecaster, Fulton, and Georgian. Shortly after he assumed ownership, however, the stock market crashed and the Great Depression set in. Through drastic inventory and cost reductions Neagle managed to keep Chelsea afloat. When World War II arrived, Chelsea’s role as a government supplier helped offset declining consumer sales. Neagle retired in 1945, selling the company to longtime employees George King and Walter Mutz.

In postwar 1946, the United States Air Force created its Strategic Air Command (SAC) and equipped each if its bombers and nuclear missile silos with Chelsea clocks. Meanwhile, Mutz noted a growing demand for electric clocks and, in 1947, introduced Chelsea’s Model VE. He also introduced consumer versions of its popular military clocks, the Type “A” (12 hour) and Type “B” (24 hour). Mutz and King eventually discontinued several models, including the Athena, Fulton, and Magellan, while adding others, among them Bookends, Comet, and Corvette. James Leone, Chelsea’s director of engineering, also introduced several improvements to the company’s Ship’s Bell model, including the addition of a stop strike lever. The redesigned movement, called the Model 4L, remains largely the same to this day.

Nautical Chelsea

In 1970, Mutz and King sold Chelsea Clock to Automation Industries, where Chelsea became part of the marine division. Soon thereafter, Chelsea’s management noted the growing popularity of less expensive European movements, leading it to introduce a line of mid-priced clocks with German-made Hermle movements. To distinguish them from its premium clocks, Chelsea introduced its Boston Ship’s Strike brand. In 1972, just two years after acquiring Chelsea Clock, Automation sold it to Bunker Ramo Corporation who, among many things, was the nation’s largest producer of automotive clocks. In 1975, Chelsea began marketing its Ship’s Bell and house strike (12-hour chime) movements with pendulum escapements in the popular banjo style. That same year, it also designed and introduced its first tide clock.

Bunker Ramo sold Chelsea in 1978 to Richard Leavitt, a native Bostonian, avid sailor, and former corporate auditor. Leavitt soon realized Chelsea could no longer rely largely on its government, marine, and Ship’s Bell sales, so he revitalized its jewelry house line, introducing ten new clock models in 1981. He also resumed efforts to reserve the Chelsea brand name for the company’s premium timepieces, and use the Boston brand for mid-line products—a practice he abandoned ten years later. By 1984, quartz and digital timekeeping technology were well established, leading Chelsea to introduce its Chronoquartz clock, named for its chronometer-like accuracy.

Naval Chelsea

In 2005, after leading Chelsea Clock for more than 25 years, Leavitt, sold the company to JK Nicholas, an investor in Boston Scientific a business consultant, entrepreneur, and longtime collector of Chelsea clocks. Today, the company continues to produce its famed Ship’s Bell clocks and a variety of other models—all crafted, hand assembled, and serviced at the same factory where the company was founded more than a century ago.
Throughout its stormy history, the company’s unflagging commitment to high quality has enabled it to endure and, in the process, brought much notoriety. Many U.S. presidents and government dignitaries have owned, given, and received Chelsea clocks. They ride aboard many of world’s finest yachts to ports large and small throughout the world. Early Chelsea clocks have become cherished antiques, highly valued by museums and private collectors alike. Chelsea Clock's continuing uncompromising attention to quality has resulted in the company’s more recent reputation as “The Last Great American Clock Company.


Chelsea Clocks are really very exquisite timepieces to own.  I will admit that they are a bit pricey but well worth it to have this bit of Americana to enjoy for years to come. 

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Posted By O.C. Cavanaugh Jr.