Dorothy Brush "Random Thoughts" Published March 20, 2002

The country look is in

For well over a year have you noticed the trend in home magazines? They seem to be obsessed by what they call the "country look." Lovely color photos show rooms filled with furniture that looks old, not antique old, but peeling paint and battered old.

Many of these pieces would have been rejected by second-hand stores in an earlier time. but today they have become prized objects by chic decorators. Authentic country folks would have been ashamed to spotlight them. They would have been relegated to the basement, attic or barn.

During one period in my life I looked for bargains at outdoor auctions. Some I brought home and spent hours removing coat after coat of paint. They were not antiques, but were well made and gave extra storage space. Others that had escaped the paint brush just needed a dose of elbow grease to produce a nice sheen.

Those pieces have served me well and are still in use, but none are in the condition of those pictured with pride in the glossy home magazines. Our daughter has the old dry sink I found. Several of the pieces have been spoken for by the other kids when we no longer need them.

As I thought about old furniture, the tale of the traveling family piano came to mind. It was a brand new small upright piano that my parents bought when I was a junior in high school. Music was part of my life. I played the clarinet and oboe in the orchestra and band, and I was a singer. The one thing I lacked was a piano, and I pleaded with my folks to fill that void.

The trouble was that the only room available for a piano was in a corner of the house that was not accessible to get a piano through the twisting corridor that led to it. When my parents saw the smaller piano, they relented and decided if they removed the window in that room the piano would go through. It was too late to do me much good, so the piano stood silent in that same place for many years.

After the death of my father, Mother eventually sold the house, but what about the piano? I had no space in my home, but the wife of son No. 2 was a pianist, and so once again the window was removed and the piano was put on a truck for a trip of 100 miles to its new home.

After some years and a split marriage, the piano was moved a shorter distance to No. 3 son's home because his wife also played piano and it was hoped their two daughters would learn. Sadly, that marriage ended too after many years. Again, son No. 2 brought his truck and loaded the piano to put it in his new home.

One of his sons was musical, and as long as he lived there, the piano was put to good use. When he went off to college in a faraway state, the only time the piano was touched was when tiny grandchildren tapped the ivories just to hear the response.

Several months ago, the piano began a new chapter. The musical son, our grandson, flew to Ohio, rented a truck and took it back to New York City. It is now in his apartment and used to write songs for a hoped-for musical production in the Big Apple.

For all these moves, that old piano is not battered or peeling its original paint because in its 60-plus years it has been treated with loving respect. To me, that defines the "country look" better than those poor distressed pieces featured in the magazines.

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Dorothy Copus Brush is a Fairfield Glade resident and Crossville Chronicle staffwriter whose column is published each Wednesday.