Welcome to the weekly Perfume Chat Room, perfumistas! I envision this chat room as a weekly drop-in spot online, where readers may ask questions, suggest fragrances, tell others their SOTD, comment on new releases or old favorites, and respond to each other. The perennial theme is fragrance, but we can interpret that broadly. This is meant to be a kind space, so please try not to give or take offense, and let’s all agree to disagree when opinions differ. In fragrance as in life, your mileage may vary! YMMV.
Today is Friday, October 23, and we are about to lose power for the day. I know this, not because I am a weather savant, but because we have asked the power company to turn it off today while carpenters and painters renovate the part of our old house where the main power line enters from the street. Yes, our neighborhood and house are old enough that we have unsightly and lethal power lines above ground, where falling tree branches and gnawing squirrels can do their worst. So if I don’t “like” or respond to comments until tonight or tomorrow, the lack of electricity and internet will be the reason!
One reason we need power off for several hours is that the carpenters are building a shallow wall pergola, sometimes called an eyebrow pergola, over our old porte-cochere where a huge and ancient Lady Banks rose grows. It is currently supported by an ungainly system of metal hooks and wire, with one end of the rose basically resting on — yes — the power line. Time for that to change! This is the general idea:
Our Lady Banks rose is very precious despite its lack of fragrance. Our house was owned for almost fifty years by a couple who were passionate gardeners and our 1/3 acre lot has many of their original plantings, including the rose. Its base is as thick as many small trees’ trunks, and strong men have to lift it off the house any time we get the house painted, and rest it on sawhorses made of ladders. We are finally doing the whole-house exterior painting and woodwork repair that are overdue, while we work at home and can supervise, so we’re taking the opportunity to upgrade Madam Lady Banks’ living quarters.
Have you used any pandemic shutdowns to undertake large projects, fragrance-related or otherwise?
Serenity Now Scents and Sensibilities 
Hey OH,
Most of Australia still has power lines too. The newest estates have all underground cabling and it is so much safer. I love the idea of an eyebrow pergola, what a terrific name. That one looks very Frida Kahlo! He he. Good luck with the renovation and paint job. What colours have you chosen?
Early on in the shutdown I got a little busy but nothing major. More rearranging and organising then big renovations.
For the first 7 months this year I bought almost no perfume but have made up for it since. It’s all gone a bit crazy TBH and I’ll have to do a major cull in the new year.
Portia xx
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We’re going to redo in the same colors — silvery grey with white trim. When we bought this house, it was mustard yellow with dark brown trim and a dark brown roof! Awful. When we replaced the roof, it became silvery grey. We had to save up for a paint job after that, so for several months we had a grey roof, white gutters, mustard yellow paint, and dark brown trim. It was a sight! But the neighbors cheered us on because they could see improvement on the horizon.
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HA! How fabulous they all got behind you and made you feel special for beautifying the street. So cool. X
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Yes, our block is particularly friendly, I think, though some of the “cast of characters” have changed. In fact, the new color scheme was so popular that a couple of people actually asked if we would mind if they copied it! Of course we didn’t, so there are a couple more grey and white houses nearby.
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So soothing and restful. The house across the road from our apartment block is in very similar colours. Always looks so clean, modern and fresh. I can see why others would;d want it after seeing it in life.
Isn’t it nice to have neighbourly feeling?
Portia xx
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Electric rose! Should be the name of a perfume. Hope the work goes well.
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What a great name!
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Any repair projects scare me, so we keep postponing even those that we need to do. Good luck to you with yours!
No large projects of any kind for me in the past 7 months: our workload hasn’t got lighter because of Covid, so we didn’t want to add any stress on top of it.
I have a “big plan” for this weekend: I decided to throw away some of the old chipped, discolored or otherwise imperfect day-to-day dinnerware since I bought a couple of new sets and need to make a space for them in the cabinets. Since we don’t eat out any longer, I thought I wanted to feel good about plates we use every day.
Perfume-wise, I’m waiting to see in there is anything interesting at the NST’s splitmeet. I don’t think I have time or energy to host my own (but still might), and I don’t need more perfumes, but I’m curious 🙂
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Such a good idea to get rid of the old china and enjoy the new! I agree, since we’re all at home so much more, we should enjoy what we’re using.
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This felt like a large project me me and hubby because it involved a lot of decisions about tiny little things and painting! We cleaned out and painted inside and outside of our kitchen cabinets and drawers and then organized them meticulously. It took about 3 weeks to finish as we has to let paint dry and wait for organizing bins and cabinet liners to arrive from online sellers. We weren’t able to find everything we wanted locally. Lots of things got tossed (expired spices, yes, we all have them) and utensils I had never used.
Cooking and cleaning up are so much easier now! Next is re-arranging my perfume storage. :-))
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I rearranged my pantries, too. I have a true mid-century modern house, built in 1959. The kitchen is small, but open, and the pantries are on either side of the main pillars and walls that hold up the roof. Small, funky shaped pantries, but with some nice organizing bins and shelves we’ve made them work more efficiently.
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Your house sounds so cool! I love some of the mid-century houses designed by Marcel Breuer.
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I don’t know who designed our house, but our street has a number of mid-century homes from the same time frame, 1959-60. One 2 doors down just sold and it’s a real gem. Most are on the medium side like our house, 3/2’s with about 200 sq. ft. I am a huge Frank Lloyd Wright fan. Not a fan of the man, he was a rotten human to his family, but a fan of his work.I even painted some rooms in my house to match paint colors from Fallingwater, which means the colors are a bit ‘out there’ for the current grey minimalist style. My kitchen is an orange/red, which I love. It’s fun to cook in that kitchen. Every time I go to my son’s home I always want to bring a bright orange pillow or something. Everything is very nice, but it’s all grey, beige and white. Eeek!!!
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That’s so cool that you used appropriate paint colors! All of the rooms in our house are painted various colors. It makes such a difference, and paint is relatively cheap. I’m lucky that I have a friend who previously worked as a high-end interior designer and she is a genius with color, so she has helped me choose. And our house previously belonged to an artist, who chose many colors I would not have been brave enough to try, but I love them! Our living room walls are a deep red, for instance. Thank goodness for Sherwin Williams and Benjamin Moore!
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I’ll bet your house looks beautiful. I love lots of color in a home.
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That is a large project! I think we’ll be doing more of that when we embark on interior painting, after the plumbing and plaster work are done.
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What are your 3 favorite fragrances of all time? It doesn’t matter if they are cheap or expensive. For me they are Musc Ravageur, Colonia Essenza, and Tuscan Leather. 🙂
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Probably Chanel No. 22, Diorissimo, maybe Chanel No. 19? But I really love some newer ones, including Muguet Blanc and Dryad.
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