Josh Kilmer-Purcell's Blog, page 45

Five Beautiful Things

 

Edmund Dulmac

On a recent trip to my family’s home, I came across a very old storybook that once belonged to my mother called Stories from Hans Christian Andersen. Inside were the most fantastical illustrations by Edmund Dulmac, a French-born artist who lived and worked in England during the early 20th Century. With snow covering much of the northeast and an increased desire to curl up and dream by the fire with a good book, I thought I would share five of his whimsical illustrations to spur our imaginations.

 

 

The Maine Attraction

Geras Tousignant Gallery in San Francisco has long-included Beekman 1802 products in their “gorgeous little things” collection—products as an art form!  James Geras and Daniel Tousignant are men of great style and taste, which is why we were thrilled when they shared with us the details of a recent renovation project.

1. You live in San Francisco. Why buy a house in Maine?

Why Maine? It’s America’s vacation land; it’s steeped in history; we have some family there; and after visiting we just fell in love with the pure Maine country side and the fact that it has a coastal climate

2. What did you think when you first laid eyes on the house?

The house had been previously owned by a bit of a hoarder, so it was hard to see the entire inside, but we loved the fact that the house was all original and hadn’t been remodeled. They just didn’t see the need to remodel, so some of the rooms had the original paint

3. What was the most surprising thing that happened during the renovation process?

The renovation project was done over a three years, so we took our time and the biggest surprise was the original beams in the kitchen

4. What is your favorite decorative item in the house?

Elmer, Elmer, and Elmer–the full sized one solid piece of wood statue of the local salvage yard owner

5. What feature of the house did you spend a lot of time and thought that people overlook?

Actually the opposite of overlooking, but people love and obsess about the mural in the living room , and I did it in an afternoon *snap*

6. Do you feel that you are completely done with the house or is there another project?

Never completely done, there is a whole list of projects.

Right now we have plans to build a disco room in the middle of the forest–four glass walls enclosing a lighted dance floor, disco ball, and surround sound! We also want to buy a wonderful metal Airstream and trick it out as a guest suite for visiting friends.

We just purchased an 1850 carriage house in the nearby village of Wiscasset that has been used by a law firm for the past 30 years and we are taking it to its original state and making it our east coast gallery and flagship store for our new company Sheepscot Hill. (That will of course feature Beekman 1802 items!!)

 

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This house renovation was recently featured in NEW ENGLAND HOME MAGAZINE.    Click here to see more beautiful photos of the home and read more of the story.

Holiday Pop

Our goal with Beekman 1802 is to create a farm that’s bigger than its fences. We are always trying to figure out new ways to reach Beekman neighbors wherever in the world they may be.

This summer we opened our first ever pop-up store, the Beekman 1802 Summer Annex in Cooperstown, NY.

Now we’ve just opened the Beekman 1802 Holiday Gift Emporium in Manhattan’s East Village.

If you can’t make it to New York City for the holidays, you can still take a look around our teeny tiny piece of the city where we got our start.

From city to country and then back again!

 

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The Gift Emporium is located at 80 East 7th Street (between 1st and 2nd Ave)
Open Tue-Sun from 12-6
Private Shopping Appointments with Brent or Josh on Mondays by calling 518.284.6039

Five Beautiful Things

 

Bruno Walpoth

Silent and motionless, the wood sculptures of Italian-born artist Bruno Walpoth impart either a sense of calm or unease for the viewer. With their fixed gazes, rigid limbs and closed mouths, they evoke those moments in our own lives when we venture inward, looking for answers in a wondrous or troubling daydream. Most of Walpoth’s figures and busts are lifesize, making them all the more intriguing. He begins by selecting enormous blocks of wood, or fusing together several smaller blocks, and then slowly carving out the figures’ features. It is a painstaking process that takes months. Eschewing bold color, Walpoth paints his sculptures in a fine wash of muted paints, giving them a ghostly pallor – like visitors from another realm. Click here to learn more about this fascinating artist.

 

Good as Gold

We first installed bees at Beekman Farm the second year that we were there.  We wanted to give a boost to the flower and vegetable gardens we were planting.  Those two original hives have now grown to almost 100 boxes, producing thousands of pounds of honey each year.  Every jar of Beekman 1802 honey that you purchase comes directly from the farm.

The honey is harvested twice a year–after the Spring flush of flowers and again in the autumn.

Take a photo tour through our autumn harvest:

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We bottle over 10 varieties of honey at Beekman 1802.  Check them out by clicking here

Five Beautiful Things

 

Heirloom Style

I always had a clear sense about what a Beekman 1802 furniture line would look like. Having visited Brent’s and Josh’s home on a few occasions, I understood their style: rough-luxe, a merging of antiquity with modernity and a definite commitment to quality and craftsmanship. I was so excited, then, to see this vision fully realized when their new furniture and bedding line debuted last week. I studied each product shot from every angle and just began to imagine where and how I would incorporate the pieces into my own living space. It is impossible to pick favourites from the collection, as I quickly discovered. With so much ingenuity and style to feast the eyes upon, I really could not pick five favourite pieces from the collection to showcase in the column this week. So, I will say this: the five pieces selected below exemplify the Beekman brand perfectly, in my opinion. And, yes, I want everything from the collection. Every single thing. Be sure to visit the online shop to see the entire line! If you’re in Sharon Springs, visit the store on Main Street and tour the new furniture emporium on the second level.

1. Hollywood Bed in linen dressed with the Bellvale bedding collection

2. Kindfolk Herringbone Rug in indigo

3. Black Willow Farm Table

4. Klinkhard 16-drawer chest

5. Pavilion Hotel Ottoman

 

 

 

 

Paper, Plastic or Vintage?

Paper, Plastic or Vintage?

 

Photography by Adam Milliron

 

Jodi Hilliard is the official curator of the Beekman 1802 Vintage Collection. She shares regular posts about her finds and using them in your lifestyle. 

My husband and I love to entertain whether it’s with family on special occasions or just getting together with friends for the evening. As we were cleaning up after one our gatherings, I noticed I was throwing away a lot of paper napkins, plates and plastic utensils. The wastefulness of it all made me shutter and I decided to make a change!

 

Mismatch Flatware Set

I began collecting vintage flatware, plates and linen napkins to use (and reuse) for our get togethers. I quickly learned that trying to find perfect sets of vintage anything proved to be difficult and embraced the look of my mismatched collection. It’s so much fun to create unique looks for each party with all the different patterns I now have.

 

Beautiful Vintage Bowls and Napkins

 

The best part of having my vintage “party pack”, as I call it, is less waste. I simply wash, store and reuse the pieces which is so much more landfill friendly than creating garbage with the plastic stuff I was using in the past. The second best part is all the money I am able to save from no longer having to stock up on paper and plastic items. Happy environment, happy wallet!

Check out the fun pieces that will help you create your own party pack along with all the other great items in the Beekman 1802 Vintage Collection.

 

Vintagely yours,

Jodi

Mission: MORTGAGE LIFTER

Who knew that when we asked you to go to your local SuperTarget and help us clear the shelves for the launch of the Mortgage Lifter sauces that we would create brand new internet terminology?

Team Beekman showed up in full-force making it the most successful premium pasta sauce launch EVER!   People all across America took their photo standing in front of the empty store shelves and thus, the #shelfie was formed.

Look at all of these bright, smiling faces!

Thank you so much. We hope that you love the sauces and that they become a part of your family’s dinner table every once in a while.

If you are just learning about the Mortgage Lifter Project, click here to learn more

 

 

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Have the Mortgage Lifter sauces not made it to your local Target store yet?  Go to their Facebook page and let them know you need to take your own #shelfie!  Click here.

Leftover Cranberry Sauce Hacks

 

Sccchhhlllupt! Ah, the sound of jellied cranberry sauce coming out of a can. Here at the farm we often substitute other jams & jellies from our own harvests to accompany our turkey…sour cherry, elderberry, rosehip. For most home cooks it’s simple enough to turn fresh whole cranberries into fancy gourmet sauces…but tradition is tradition! Whenever we’ve invited friends who have children for Thanksgiving, we’re sure to serve the old familiar slippery, jiggly, jellied cylinder – even though we know we’ll have a ton left over. (It’s better to poke at than to eat.) So here are 12 “hacks” we developed in our own kitchen to use up the inevitable remaining 3/4 can of sauce…

CRAN-OSAS:  Thanksgiving weekend brunches are sometimes even better than the big dinner. Melt your leftover cranberry jelly over very low heat with some orange juice, pour into an empty bottle, and store in fridge. Add a couple of teaspoons to a champagne glass and fill with bubbly.

BEEF STEW:  Believe it or not, adding a little cranberry jelly to your hearty beef stew will make the gravy even richer and more flavorful. Simply cut your leftover cranberry jelly into ice cube size chunks and freeze. Add one “cube” whenever you make stew all winter long.

HORSERADISH CRANWICH SPREAD:  Puree jelly, sour cream and horseradish (to taste) in your blender. Use it to zuzz up your leftover turkey sandwiches.

SMOOTHIES:  Whiz a few tablespoons of leftover cranberry sauce with plain or vanilla yogurt (and some cinnamon honey if you wish) for a perfect autumn morning breakfast.

CRANAPPLE PIE:   Replace half the sugar in the filling of your favorite apple pie recipe with an equal amount of leftover jellied cranberry sauce.

CRANBERRY GOAT CHEESE HAND PIE: Prepare and roll the dough in our hand-pie recipe. Fill with a scoop of fresh chevre, a teaspoon of cranberry sauce, and a generous sprinkle of freshly cracked black pepper. Bake according to recipe.

TART GLAZE:  You know how tarts in fancy french bakeries always have that great shiny glaze? Usually they brush melted currant jelly over the top of their cooked tarts, but melted cranberry jelly works just as well.

CRANBERRY JELLY CORN MUFFINS: Prepare your favorite corn muffin batter. Fill muffin tins halfway, add a teaspoon of cranberry jelly, top with more batter and bake according to instructions.

FROZEN CRANBERRY POPS:  Cut cylinder into wedges, insert popsicle stick, freeze on parchment lined baking sheet.

CRANBERRY BUTTER: Beat together unsalted butter and cranberry jelly in stand mixer for a wonderful compound butter for your morning toast.

BRAISED CABBAGE:  Add a few teaspoons of cranberry sauce and a handful of golden raisins to your favorite braised cabbage recipe.

AUTUMN SUNDAE:  Melt cranberry jelly over low heat and pour over butter pecan ice cream. Top with toasted hazelnuts and cinnamon whipped cream.

Do you have a hack for leftover cranberry sauce? Or an alternative to cranberry sauce for your Thanksgiving table? Or just a funny cranberry sauce family story? Let us know in the comment section below for a chance to win a signed copy of the Beekman 1802 Heirloom Cookbook.  (Enter before midnight, Nov 19th. One comment per day, please. Winning comment will be chosen randomly.)

The Way We Were

We started designing our first collection of bed linens 3 years ago, collecting scraps of stitch work, antique textiles, block prints, and etchings to use as inspiration. With our ideas in hand, we started scouring the landscape for producers.

But what we learned was that the things we wanted to create could no longer be made in the USA.  The factories for the level of detail and handiwork, the machinery and even the know-how to operate that machinery is slowly fading away into a sepia-toned haze of America’s past.

Maybe one day Beekman 1802 linens will be so popular that we’ll build our own factory, but until then, each of our first 4 bed collections is named in honor of a historic textile town in New York State where beautiful things once were made.

Take a look:

 

STILLWATER

During the Revolutionary War, the Battle of Stillwater was a turning point toward American independence.

Independent spirit. Free spirit. American spirit. Those are the things that inspire our most popular bed design.

 

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BELLVALE

 

Bellvale, NY, was part of a land grant from Queen Anne is 1703. New world settlers were drawn to the area because of the abundant timber, game and water power readily available from Long House Creek, allowing the operation of water wheel driven mills.

Our Bellvale bed is inspired by the currents of that creek and all of the creativity and craftsmanship that it powered.

 

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FULTON

The industrial nature of Fulton, NY, led to a very stable workforce for many years. In fact, during the Great Depression of the early 1930s, the New York Sun newspaper wrote a lengthy article describing Fulton, its residents and the strong local economy. It was headlined as, “Fulton, the City the Great Depression Missed.” That type of work-ethic and the natural beauty of New York State inspired our Fulton Bed.

 

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SANGERFIELD

 

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To see the entire collection of Beekman 1802 Heirloom Bed Linens, click here