Archive for the ‘Gussying up’ Category

Our Yard is Lovely. No Really, Just Ask Jason Travis!

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Have you checked out our “Host Your Event Here” page recently?  Not to brag (just kidding — clearly to brag), but it is looking mighty handsome these days.

Here’s why:

Photographer and righteous dude Jason Travis shot a wedding we hosted recently. Jason graciously agreed to let us use a few of the photos to hawk our wares, which is much better than just promising the space looks nice over the phone (our former method).

Please, take a moment to check out the page and Jason’s gorgeous work therein – much improved, right?

Shout Out to Wren’s Nest Victorian Christmas Volunteers

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While I know we have yet to share all the pictures from our Victorian Christmas celebration (which is not to say we don’t have any pictures*), the house has been looking holiday-ready for weeks.

When visitors compliment the beautiful decorations, Lain and I truthfully reply, “Thanks!  But I had nothing to do with it.”

It’s not just false humility, no sir.

We’re lucky enough to have a wonderful team of volunteers here every year to decorate the Wren’s Nest who, most amazingly, get the job done by lunch.  It’s nuts.  All Lain and I are essentially responsible for is locating scissors and telling folks what they can (nothing) and cannot (everything) touch.

Knowing the house will be in good and talented hands is a huge relief to us every year during this busy time.  We wanted to make sure to give a hearty “thank  you!” to everyone who helped out, whether their generosity was court-ordered or of their own volition.

For the last few years, we’ve been lucky enough to benefit from Lauren and Catherine’s design sense. This year we got a bonus in their mom, Jackie, responsible for these much-lauded dictionary-critter ornaments.

That’s Catherine up top and Lauren below with her mom and volunteer and Christmas-decorator-extraordinaire-and-lady-in-charge-Ida Beth.

So thank you, everyone.  Super special thanks to Marshall Thomas for wrangling all of the folks who have never been here before and Annette Shakespeare for regaling those same folks with a history of the house that, most importantly, didn’t disturb their t-shirt folding output.

If you still haven’t seen the decorations, we’ll be closed Christmas day, but open again (with storytelling at 1pm!) on Saturday the 26th.  Come on by!

*Wait, no, that’s exactly what I’m saying.  We are without pictures, totally.

Victorian Christmas is This Sunday from 12 – 4pm! We’re Telling You So You’ll Come!

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Well here we are, post-Thanksgiving and into December.  That can only mean one thing — our annual Victorian Christmas Open House!

This Sunday, December 6th between 12 and 4, we’ll be offering tours of the museum, storytelling, activities for the kids, delicious real food, and everyone’s favorite not-real food, birthday cake!

Why birthday cake, you ask?  Because we’re rapidly approaching Joel Chandler Harris’ 164th birthday, silly.

It’s all free and a great opportunity to see the home at its best. Not only has our recent restoration made the place undeniably lovely, but we never look better than when we’ve been gussied up with historically accurate decorations.

Last year’s Victorian Christmas included highlights such as:

• a kid being called out by Catherine, volunteer and Asian Cajun, for taking 14 cookies at once
• no one touching the cold beverages
• a child rolling down the front stairs and emerging completely unscathed thanks to the padding of her down coat.

Though it may seem impossible, I think we can top it this year.

So hey!  Join us!  It’ll be great.

Brer Wear — Now Featured at the Wren’s Nest Online Store

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Have you taken a gander at our online store yet?  It’s new, up, and running, and we’re pretty proud of it.

But hey, what’s that?  Local celebrity bloggers the Asian Cajuns are in our store too?  How did they get there?!  Answer: THE MAGIC OF THE INTERNET!

While our friends Lauren and Catherine are not for sale, the shirts they’re wearing sure are.  We asked them to model the critter tees for a few reasons:

a. They are far more photogenic than old Closed Eyes McGee over here and her boss, Vermilion-Pate.  Plus they do things like use professional photographers.

b. They have a fashion blog!  A popular one at that.  If their endorsement of the tees isn’t a ringing one, I don’t know what is.  Their endorsement is especially helpful since we’re shy in a 7th grade wallflower kind of way — we’re sure there are people out there who would like us, if only they knew we existed.  Maybe now a few new folks will find their way to our land of tricky rabbits and surprise machetes.

c. Sometimes we just get sick of seeing our faces all over this thing.  Just kidding!  We’re totally self-obsessed!  But we still like variety.

Even if you’re not in the mood to shop, I encourage you to hop on over to the store.  You might just enjoy our descriptions of the items.  They took hours — hours! — to compose, and the effort shows.  I think.

Sneak Peek of Wren’s Nest Interior

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Jonathan Hillyer, amazing architectural photographer, recently snapped a few photos of the Wren’s Nest to mark the completion of our conservation project.

All photos are copyright Jonathan Hillyer, but if you want to use ‘em, you can ask me nicely.  Here are the first four we could get our grubby little hands on:

This is the girls’ bedroom.  Lillian and Mildred, pictured above the mantle, grew up being called Billie and Tommie.  As I understand it, they were spoiled pretty good.

The living room was probably never this clean when Joel Chandler Harris lived here with his wife, mother, niece, 6 kids, and myriad of farm animals.

The table and chairs in the dining room came as a set from Sears for $25.  Note how the ceiling is wallpapered.  As I understand it, that’s kinda like buying a house today with granite countertops.

Joel Chandler Harris’ bedroom is the most famous room in the house.  It’s dressed for summer because Harris passed away in July of 1908.  When Mrs. Harris sold the house to the Uncle Remus Memorial Association, her stipulation was that this room not be touched, so it’s just as it was when Harris lived here.

The crib is an exception, but it is original to the home and the Harris family.  In fact, it’s still used by the Harris family from time to time.  When I was a wee babe, that was my crib.

Thanks again to Jonathan Hillyer for the photos.  There are a few more where these came from, too.

Asian Cajuns Style a Photo Shoot at The Wren’s Nest

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Our lovely friends Lauren and Catherine Lee or, as they’re better known on the internet, the Asian Cajuns, recently styled a photo shoot here at the Nest.

The results are quite fetching, if I do say so myself.

That’s model Haley in our amphitheater, shot by Jamie Hopper.  Though I’m no fashion expert, I would say she looks “nice.”

Check out more pictures here, courtesy of the Asian Cajuns.  Their post on the making-of is great for those of you who (a) like a little background on your photo shoots, and (b) really like the Arms Akimbo stance (see: me in the group shot).  I thought we were all supposed to look triumphant.  My bad.

Thanks for thinking of us, everyone!  The Wren’s Nest is happy to be a background anytime.

Brer Rabbit on The Golden Girls

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Brer Rabbit’s influence on popular culture knows no bounds.

Need proof?  Forget Peter Rabbit or Bugs Bunny.  Look no further than this clip of Pecanne Log The Golden Girls –

And for our Yankee readers, Blanche’s assessment of southerners is completely accurate.  We can’t learn y’all that kind of charm.

Wren’s Nest Conservation Project – Before and After Exterior Photos

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You can stop holding your breath now.

We’ve posted before and after photos of the Wren’s Nest exterior conservation efforts.  There are a whopping 59 in all.

Also, check out Lain’s skills with Photoshop Pixelmator –

It’s like a visual time machine.

There are captions underneath each photo in the album, and remember — you do not need a Facebook account to view the photos.  (However, if your place of work has blocked Facebook, you’ll probably have to wait until you get home to see our progress.  Mom.)

Enjoy!

Previously — Interior Before and After Photos

Wren’s Nest Conservation Update — Cleaning the Interior

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You will be pleased to know that the Wren’s Nest is being cleaned after many years of accumulating dust, grime, and jam (you know, from the jam hands of oh-so-many children).

Don’t ask me how we got jam on the ceiling.

The crew from IFACS will also repair artifacts and explain what they’re doing to curious and apathetic visitors alike. Then they’ll casually namedrop places that they’ve worked at like “Buckingham Palace” and “King Hussein’s Palace” and “The Sultan of Brunei’s Palace.”

Then they’ll continue vaccuming.

Here’s the basic outline (.pdf) of the work plan.  It’s subject to change as I find the answers to questions like –

• Is the hall ceiling devoid of wallpaper because it has always been that way or because we ran out of money 20 years ago while restoring the home?
• What’s the story, exactly, with the matting on the floor of Joel Chandler Harris’s bedroom?

I’ll keep y’all posted.

Free Tickets to the Wren’s Nest!

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Believe it or not, the Wren’s Nest only recently put formal branding guidelines into place regarding our logo, colors, and fonts.  I know, I know, smoke just blew out of your ears and your conductor’s hat flew straight up.

Here’s a good example of why we needed to get these suckers into play.

Behold: the Wren’s Nest’s former “Free Admission” ticket.

Pretty cool, right?  I mean, anyone could make it!  And that purple — it’s almost like someone ran out of regular copy paper and plunked that down without thought.  At least the information on it isn’t bulky.  Oh wait.

In short, we needed something that would actually reflect the Wren’s Nest, as well as look official (instead of counterfeit).

Check out our new “Free Admission” tickets!

Why, is that the Wren’s Nest’s logo?  It is!  And those look like the colors we use everywhere!  I wonder what the back looks like!

Wow!  There’s that logo again!  And what approachable text — it’s almost like a professional put it together (thanks, Lauren).  It even has useful information!

The branding guidelines (.pdf) are also great because anytime any sort of media source wants to talk about us or we’re thrown in a brochure, we can actually have consistency.  It’s been a long time coming.

In short, an improvement.  What do y’all think?