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Published: Sunday, February 28 2021 14:35

Written by David A. Fuess

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When Natasha's grandpa Larson built his house in 1914 he expected it to first be a boarding house for his logging crew so he built it extra large. Still later, after the logging business dwindled out, it was the boarding house for the teachers at Rock High School, which he also built. Today it's a fully restored four story mansion maintained by Natasha and David in loving memory of Grandma and Grandpa Larson. The work, however, never ends. Our latest project was to completely redo the dining room in more or less traditional Swedish style. The floors, walls, and windows are original to the house. If  you look carefully you might be able to just pick out some of the scorch marks from one of several fires that attempted, but never succeeded, to burn down the house.

(Click on any of the images to see and enlarged view.)

 Here is the overview. The blue discs set in the shoulder height molding are an extensive collection of antique butter plates made in Denmark. The two large platters on the left are original Delfts from Belgium and would have been used for serving.

Each of the other decorating features will be described separately below.

Early Swedish homes would not be complete without a spinning wheel. Natasha got her first spinning wheel about 55 years ago and still spins when her hands allow. The spinning wheel pictured here was hand made by David several years ago (just to prove to himself that he could!) It's a fully functional "Castle Wheel" which is a very compact spinning wheel that could be easily transported to a neighbor's for a spinning bee or easily stored away when not in use.

"Butterfly on Bluebells" This was an early Natasha & David joint project. The frame content is cross stitch executed by Natasha and the custom Frame was designed and executed by David to complement the image motif.

Note: Natasha has been doing needlework her whole life devoting most of it to recovering the nearly lost art of Hardanger. There are other images on this site devoted specifically to her Hardanger art.

The next two images are from the end wall to the right of the photographer in the overview.

The northeast corner of the Dining Room has a short bias wall that was begging for a custom piece of furniture. Natasha suggested a Demilune table which David was happy to design and build for her. The table is dark Walnut with a Birdseye Maple waist band and drawer.

To finish out that wall David made a Dutch clock.