My Old Historic House: Dec 7, 2011

There is nothing more excited than having your home or business featured in a publication.For years I wanted my home to be featured in a magazine,and after many portfolios sent in and rejected, it finally happened in June of 2011. Victorian Homes Magazine ,did a 12 page spread about, My Old Historic House. I know most of you have heard me brag about this over and over, so I promise this post is not about it.

This is the book.

Years ago,1995, when I lived in St.Louis, in a townhouse, I had a Christmas Party at my apartment, which was decked out for the Holidays. One of my guest ,was a friend and customer of mine, Ms. Mary Engelbreit . When I invited her, I had no ideal she was working on a Christmas book. No, really I didn't. Any how, she asked at the party, if she and her photographer could come and take pictures for her book. Of course, I said yes. And when I asked when, she said, Tomorrow. Well it took a little late night cleaning, to get the after party picked up, but we did the shoot the very next day.
Mary grew up in St.Louis and started her business by selling home made greeting cards to her friends. She became very successful and now, she is almost as well know ,as Norman Rockwell. Mary came into my shop often. Sometimes to buy things for herself, other times to look for props. The shop I had in those days was called, The Antique Garden. It was located in the oldest freestanding greenhouse in the state of Missouri. It had been built by a florist around the 1904 Worlds Fair.The old floral shop was in the front and it housed one of St.Louis's best Antique Shops. I had been working for a wholesale florist for about 10 years and I thought it was time to open my own business.So I did , and I rented this old greenhouse and it was a combination floral and antique shop.But that is another story. Anyhow ,Mary Engelbreit became one of my good customers and this is how I ended up in her book.And, being in her book sure made a difference in my business. Was a very good thing for a new business owner.

This is Dear Sweet Shelia.

This is a comment Shelia left me asking me to post about being in Mary Engelbreit's Book

The comment I left for Shelia at Note Song

Last week I was following one of my dear blog friends- blog and she mentioned Mary. It seems she had gotten an ideal from one of Mary's magazine publications, for her Christmas decorations. That blogger was Shelia from - www.notesong.blogspot.com. I left a comment about being in Mary's book and she in return asked me to post about it. So that's how we got to here.Sorry Shelia, I am not the smartest blogger out there in blogland, so I am afraid ,I do not know how to add your link. But, please everyone, go visit Shelia.

My dining room at my townhouse apartment that was featured in Mary Engelbreit's Christmas Book.

caption from the book.

My townhouse, that is featured in Ms. Engelbreight's book ,was the whole second floor of an old 1900's Victorian Mansion. Parts of the townhouse still retained the Victorian charm, while other parts were very modern. I had never lived in a townhome before and this was a fun adventure. You entered my apartment through the original front doors and went up the original, beautiful staircase. The staircase opened to my entrance hall, which was actually the second floor landing. There was a fireplace in this area. It was a rather large space and I decorated it with a big square marble top table. A very large living room was to the right and the dining room, kitchen and two bed rooms were to the left. You will see things in these photos that you have seen in, My Old Historic House posts, so I am sure you will recognize them right away.
Have fun and enjoy this post. I have to say, I do not have a scanner. I just took these pictures with my post and shoot camera. I am afraid they could be better, but are not too bad. I did not get any pictures from the original shoot, so these, that I did for this post, can now go into a folder, and that's a good thing. I bet if you don't have this book and want a copy it could be found on Ebay or somewhere. The Title of the book is: Mary Engelgreit's Christmas Companion and it was published in 1995 by Andrews and McMeel Press from Kansas City, Missouri. My pictures are featured on pages 22,55,85,92 and 108. If you have some of Mary's books, look and see if you can find me.

This was my Entrance. Notice all my domes. Most of them are now in my Dining room.

Caption from the book.

I added gold stick on stars to lots and lots of candles. They were placed on a large serving tray that I gold gilded. Fresh gardenia flowers and an antique French gilt cherub were also on the tray.

I hope you will come sometime soon for a real tour of, My Old Historic House. I will always leave the lights on and Sissy Dog will greet you with a big jump and a kiss. I am working on Christmas for this year. Don't seem to get much done, too busy writing and posting this blog. So maybe, by Christmas Day, I will have some photo's for you, of Christmas 2011 at The 1845 Historic Elgin/Cottrell House Museum. Happy Holidays.

The dining room with the table set for the party.

I no longer have this side board but I do still have my dogs.They are now in my kitchen.

The dining room had two windows and I added shelves and placed all may cranberry glass on them. Cranberry looks very beautiful when the light can come through.