Tea at Trianon: Chip and Joanna Gaines Renovated An Emergency Girls' Shelter

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, March 3, 2021

Chip and Joanna Gaines Renovated An Emergency Girls' Shelter

From House Beautiful:

Chip and Joanna met with Barbara and Trasha, who oversee the shelter. Barbara had worked at the home since its opening nine years ago. Meanwhile, Trasha had stayed at the home when she was younger and returned to help run it. Classified as an emergency shelter, it takes in girls between the ages of five and 21 for 90 days at a time. The 3,900 square-foot-facility has a total of seven bedrooms, three full baths, and three half baths. Up to 16 girls can be accommodated by the shelter at once.
When Chip and Joanna did their initial walk through, the home had sparse furnishings and lots of empty space. The activity room, for example, had nothing more than a TV on the wall and two desks. Chip and Joanna set out to make the home feel warmer and more nurturing—a place filled with color and creativity to inspire the girls. Here's a peek at their renovation. (Read more.)