I had wanted to add pictures to this but did not see an obvious way, like my little "I'm a mountain that represents a picture" icon was gone. But look at
flickr.com/photos/likethatone

This post is like a surprise Easter Egg. The good kind. Not like the kind that sit in a warm corner for 6 weeks.

Mmmmm, BBQ.

"are you going to refinish that one?"

Is polyurethane out of fashion again?

Al, Lee is so excited about your show and I will definitely email her this post as a description of what you're doing, which means then I'll have to hear about her dreams of moving to [Narnia] and learning to artistically restore furniture for the rest of the week. I can definitely live with that.

Sorry, please redact to Narnia. I think my brain wants more tea. But Lee watched a couple shows set there recently (Anthony Bourdain and something on HGTV, probably House Hunters International) and is fascinated by Narnia. I hope she doesn't decide to turn our home midcentury modern while I'm at work today.

Oh, I've been using Disneyland instead of Narnia on an otherwise unconnected part of the web. Your term is both less obvious, and kinder.

Narnglish nitpicking:
The use of "Like that one" and "is it" in this post is strange and I don't quite understand what they are supposed to mean in this context. I'm guessing you're trying to convey "is that how it is?" or something like that, but I don't think I'd use those phrases that way.

I was wondering about "like that one" -- I figured it was a Narnian turn of phrase, but I don't get it.

I assumed it was short for "I want one like that one."

7-9: It's the name of the shop, so I assumed the mothers were being sort of scornfully sarcastic about that. As in, you'd want something like THAT one that I threw away years ago and for HOW much money?

" people are nostalgic inversely to the degree they were poor in the past."

And maybe things like long-lasting furniture were (like they have become now) luxury items, so even one's nostalgia may be segmented by class considerations?

Completely unclear, but maybe you know what I mean.

narnian: the people are generally saying "like that one, is it?" to say "are they seriously fucking ripping you off like that? it's going down like that? that's how they're playing it?" I have compressed the conversation, so I have made it unclear, I agree, apologies. they are really likeliest to say "like that one, is it?" when looking at the combination of the restored piece and the price tag. again to mean "are they fucking serious? they're selling you this one [deictically indicate desk] for this price? like that one, is it? (i.e. "that is the ripoff business model they pursue here, eh? these fucking bastards!") I assure you I hear it a lot.

perhaps I should have made this more plainer?
all our cool stuff. mostly all.

Very pretty. Love the sewing machine tables. We have something similar - single pedestal - in our kitchen. One day we'll sand it down and get rid of the wine stains. Or die of old age first. One or the other.

I want the sideboard and the stuff bird to put on it.

Just the single stuffed bird. I'm a minimalist when it comes to taxidermy.

I would spend all my money at the store if I lived in Narnia and had money.

Thanks. I did a bit of googling using possible Narnglish spellings for the phrase, e.g. "liddat one issit" or "isit". I think I get it now. I guess I never spoke Narnglish enough when I was there, and now I do it only when 'acting Narnian' in an ironic spirit with friends who similarly despise Narnia.

Thanks. I did a bit of googling using possible Narnglish spellings for the phrase, e.g. "liddat one issit" or "isit". I think I get it now. I guess I never spoke Narnglish enough when I was there, and now I do it only when 'acting Narnian' in an ironic spirit with friends who similarly despise Narnia.