Laowai

It’s taken me a while, but I have fallen in love with our long chime doorbell.

Yes, this is what I think about.  

I happened upon an article tonight that explained the history and the charm of long chime doorbells. Here are a couple snippets from the article:

The premise that a doorbell made noise and a door chime was pleasant to the ears was quite the hot topic in the 1930s. Although electric doorbells had only been common for about 25 years in American Cities and less than 5% of farms even had electricity as late as 1936, marketers were busy convincing consumers they needed a door chime to live in peace.

From a 1930s brochure:

“How often has the peace and quiet of your home been disturbed by shrill, nerve-racking ringing of a door bell? This new and practical door chime replaces the harsh door bell ring with a pleasant musical chime… a sound that will not annoy or startle, yet loud and persistent enough to attract attention.”

I particularly like that our bell goes ding-dong when someone rings at the front door and just ding when someone rings from the back door. Also, strangely, there is a button in my bedroom that  rings the doorbell. Why? The girls love the novelty of ringing the doorbell from the comfort of my bed. It rings ding-a-ling-a-dingity-dong when you press the button in the bedroom… 

Just kidding, it just does one ding from the bedroom. 

Anyway, I think I should shine it up and repaint the top in a contrasting color someday. It’s here to stay.