more interiors

Before the holidays I left you in the front of the house. Now we can tour the back of the first floor.

Turning left in the hallway, you enter the bedroom. Through the french doors is a little deck which overlooks the back patio. One day we plan a spiral staircase from this deck down the ground.

This is the wall behind the fireplace. We saw little built-in nooks in a house we rented in Mexico and decided to add them somewhere in our house. This was a convenient location, but because of the chimney flue they are only about 3 inches deep - not wide enough for most items I want to put there. The stucco backs makes it hard to place hangers.

The painting is a house-warming gift from our friends Zeke & Marty. It depicts a spot where we vacationed together in Belize.

From the bedroom you walk through the big closet into the bathroom, then through to the laundry room. I wasn't sure how we would like this arrangement, but it works well.

The cabinet in the bath is also made from wood off our property - white oak. The top has beautiful grain. I will show the handmade sink in another post.

The shower is a walk-in. James installed the glass block wall and window above the regular windows. The shower is wonderful in the summer but cold in the winter.

James also did all the tile and rock work in the bathroom. I wanted slate tile around the tub, he wanted iron ore flagstone on the walls and floors, so he did both. I think it turned out beautifully. I just noticed this picture was taken before the faucet was installed on the side wall.

Here's a detail of the front of the tub showing the transition from slate tile to rock. I was afraid the stone floor would get slippery, but it hasn't been a problem. We just scrub it with a stiff brush every few weeks.

Here are the cabinets in the laundry room, opposite the washer and dryer. They are made from red cedar off the property and are the most gorgeous cabinets in the house. Too bad they are in the very back corner.

The pale cabinet is a Murphy-style, fold down ironing board. We installed it in our little guest house and James (who is the only one of us who irons), likes it so much he moved it to our new house.

This concludes our tour of the main part of the house. We do have a basement, but it is still unfinished, so I won't show it until it is done.

more christmas decor

My favorite Christmas decorations this year were my centerpieces. I actually stole the idea from James' cousin Nancy who did this at Thanksgiving. She stole it from a magazine.We agree that good ideas are worth stealing and passing along.  I thought it would be perfect for my table candelabra. I like to use the votive cups as vases instead of candle holders.

Fresh cranberries act like a floral frog holding up the flowers. James found these gorgeous orange roses with rosy tips. They were the perfect color for the table.



Below is my table set for 10 with the candelabra running down the center. Notice I have to use several different sets of stoneware when I feed a crowd. I just mix them up.

We had 18 for dinner this night so I had to set up 2 long tables. On the other table I had totally different colors but the same floral theme.

This skinny vase showed the cranberries and roses perfectly.

Decorating inside

We never have a Christmas tree. In years past, we didn't have enough room for one. We also don't believe in cutting down trees for seasonal decoration. So I put up an artificial garland and hang ornaments on it.

This keeps the ornaments out of reach of the cats.  It looks almost snowy outside but it is just rain.          

I love these bird ornaments - they echoe the view just outside the window beyond where a birdfeeder hangs.

I add a little bling with a metallic garland and glittery clip-on birds.  I tried LED lights this year to conserve on electricity but I hate their blue color. It clashes with my yellow-orange sconces on the wall above. Next year I will try to find amber lights.

Here is my mantle. Last year I covered it with magnolia tips, but the summer really did a number on the magnolia trees so there wasn't much to cut. Instead I put up some gold angels and draped them with gold material I have had for years. I thought it needed a spot of color, so added the poinsettia and ribbon.

Christmas decorations

Even though I am married to a man who does Christmas lighting, we do not light up the outside of our house for the holidays. I like to keep my decorations simple and natural.

This is the extent of my outdoor decorating this year. The door swags are made from material cut on our property. We do this at Blue Moon Gardens for our Luminations celebration in early December. We give a free swag to everyone who comes to the event. These are leftovers.

 Luckily, the weather has been rainy and cool so the greenery has continued to look good without any work on my part.

The wreath was made by my sister Ann. I have matching over-the-door swag but I didn't get around to putting it put this year.

A couple of years ago Ann made wreaths for everyone in the family. They are all gorgeous.

The colors match my inside decor quite well so sometimes I hang it inside.

Welcome - come in

Now for a tour of the inside of our very fine house. Come up the front steps to the porch.

We want to screen it in, but that will be a chore for the future. 

I looked and looked for furniture for the porch this year but couldn't find anything I really liked that would fit the space. I really want teak because I love the warm look and durability. 

Walk in the front door and you are immediately in the great room. To the left is the southern exposure - that wall is mostly windows, letting in beautiful natural light and lovely views of the woods. 

Straight ahead in the hallway is a vignette my friend Amy Bott created. She has a re-design business named SpaceLift http://www.spaceliftinteriors.com/spaceliftinteriors/Welcome.html. When I moved in she helped arrange the furniture and hang art. 

The living room. Notice we have no window coverings. Not necessary in the country. The fireplace has a heat exchanger that vents outside air into the firebox and blows hot air out into the room. It is very efficient, unlike conventional fireplaces and heats the whole upstairs in the winter. The spot to the left of the fireplace was intended for firewood, but houses our TV which pulls out on a rotating tray.

To the left of the front door, adjacent to the kitchen is the dining room. My business partner Sharon gave me this fabulous country dining table that seats 10. The chairs are from a local Amish furniture store (as are the rocking chairs in the living room). It is wonderful to have the room to entertain a crowd. This weekend we are hosting our local friends Christmas dinner and having serving 19. We will set up a folding table in front of the desk for the overflow.

Since I have this nice, comfortable space to work I no longer use my little studio building. I am considering turning it into a real craft studio when I take up basket weaving (no kidding, I really want to learn to weave baskets).

Our house, is a very, very, very fine house

Yes, our house is very fine indeed. We worked on the design for several years before we started building. The house is situated in the woods, on a hill. James wanted a basement, so the house is built into the hillside. Follow the driveway for about 1/3 mile before you reach the house.

This photo was taken last winter. The rest of the year you can't really see the house for the trees.
The walkway is crushed granite with long, shallow steps up the hill to the front porch.

The exterior of the house is rough cedar. It still has that beautiful orangy cedar color; hasn't faded to gray yet except on the south side where it is exposed to the sun.

We are circling the house clockwise. This is the southern exposure with a large rock patio, fireplace and waterfalls. The solid color wall is the basement, which James calls the "rumpus room". It has a pool table and very soon, a bar.

On the back of the house is the bedroom and bathroom west walls.

I love the oblong shaped windows up high in the bathroom, and over the front door on the opposite side. On the west side, the small window on the far end of the oblong is red glass. It makes beautiful reflections on the walls in the afternoon.

The north side of the house is my favorite view because you can see all the varying roof lines and clere story windows, but it is the back entrance of the house and where all the junk piles up so I don't have a decent picture.
Next time I will tour you through the interior.

Japanese maples

After years of living in a small house (less than 600 sq ft) I have a rule: no collections. Now that I have loads more space, this rule is slipping, but I hope to keep it in check. One thing I have started collecting is Japanese maples. They really like our bright, shady patio.

The collection started with this beautiful Waterfall maple James brought home years ago. It lived in a pot on our front porch for several years. The dogs kept running into it, breaking off limbs. Finally, it found a permanent home on the wall of our back patio where it has thrived. In the fall of 2009 it had glorious color.

 This summer I was diligent with my watering until October, when I let the poor thing get too dry. The leaves shrivelled up and eventually fell off. This is what it looks like now.

Pretty sad, isn't it? If I do get any fall color this year, it will be very sparse.

In this corner of my patio is two more Japanese maples. The tall one is Butterfly with gorgeous variegated leaves of white and green. My business partner Sharon talked me into this one. She purchased one last year and it did wonderfully for her, even in a location that received afternoon sun. So I got one this spring and have been very impressed with its hardiness. The leaves burned on the edges during this awful summer, but it held all its leaves. I look forward to seeing it if will have fall color.

In front of the Butterfly maple is a dwarf Japanese maple named Sikes' Pygmy. It had a lovely, perfectly round shape when I purchased it. Our cows got out one day and decided to nibble on it. They pulled off one large branch on one side, then spit it out. The dwarf tree is now lopsided so I push it up against the wall to disguise the gap.

Next I will get a red-leaved Japanese maple, maybe a cascading, threadleaf variety.