The natives were getting restless...

Hello! How are you?! I've missed you!! Thank you so much for all of your kind, sweet, touching well wishes that you left for us in my last entry. What sweet gems! Again, you all made me laugh and cry! I'd been toying with coming back, and after a handful of sweet "I'm waiting for your next post..." emails and then after reading my friend Margaret's from Virginia Beach recent charming, touching comment I knew it was time!

In all the trauma in finishing the remodel of the farmhouse and the move, I think I naively thought we would move in and immediately unpack all the boxes, and then I would come back to show you completely decorated rooms. Well, just so you know... that's not happening!! The reality is that up until three days ago we still had not opened one single box! As I mentioned in the last post, when we were moving in, the kitchen was still being painted. That little project took a good two and a half weeks. Then, painters informed me that I should wait at least a week before putting anything on the freshly painted shelves, which of course they painted last. Then, it took those two plus weeks to get my finish carpenter back to the house to build our master closet. Then we had to get the painters, who had moved on to other jobs, back to paint the closet which again took a good week. Without the kitchen and the master closet we had no where to unpack into as all of the rooms were crammed with boxes. And since the barn room (which would have been my "family room" from the old house) isn't completed all those boxes are in the mix as well. The master closet is finally complete and is wonderful!! Pictures to follow in a day or two... promise!

We are now finally rested after the move and feel in sync with the house. But, it took a while. At first it was a bit like when you get a new car, and as much as you wanted and love the new car it just doesn't feel like yours. At the end of last week we finally got all the workers out of the house and that has made a huge difference. We have also informed our GC that his services are no longer needed, and he has removed all of his belongings (and his bad energy) from the property. We will act as our own GC to finish the barn room, and paint the exterior of the house. It is so wonderful to have all of them gone.

As of three days ago, we are finally unpacking boxes and it is like Christmas... it's like opening 200 boxes and getting everything you really, really wanted! I must admit that I spent a good many hours after moving in just staring at the stacks of boxes in each room wondering how in the world did I have so much stuff?! And, how did I have so many "Shells" that were written on so many boxes? Finally, after mustering my courage (with the help of a glass of wine;) I cut a "shell" box open to find one fragile piece of white coral that was the only thing in the box! Whewww! After opening more and more boxes like that I realized that my wonderful Dallas movers had packed many items in their own individual box to keep them safe!! (If you live in Dallas and need an amazing moving company contact I.E.D.S. They are a family run business- the owner and his crew personally drove all of our belongings to New Hampshire last year and then flew back to Dallas. I have not found one single thing broken in any of boxes we've unpacked. I can not say enough wonderful things about them!)

Since I have now realized that my naive thought of immediately posting decorated rooms isn't happening for a while, I thought I will share with you the unpacking process! Usually I wait and post a series of photos that (hopefully) tell a story, but for a while I'll just post a photo or two of things we've unpacked and tell their story. Having been an antiques dealer everything in our house has a story, and while I promise not to bore you with them all, I will share the fun ones!!

This first photo has items from the first couple of boxes we unpacked and randomly placed on the mantle. When I looked up and noticed the grouping I realized how perfectly these few items so completely exemplify my design style, so I've decided to share it with you:

I love birds (you'll see more birds along the way!) and was given this initial pair by my mother as a Christmas present years ago. She still had two pairs. I really wanted another bird. I explained to her how objects (flowers, etc.) are better in odd numbers and after several attempts convinced her to break up one of her pairs and give an extra one to me! (Hi Mama! Thank you!) Don't you agree that three is better than two?!

The oil painting is antique Dutch that I purchased about 16 years ago at an estate sale in Portland, Oregon where we lived at the time. I was just learning antiques and had a gut feeling that this was a good antique piece (for all my knowledge at the time it could have been a print, but I decided to trust my gut.) I think I paid about $125 which was a fortune for us at the time. We've since had it appraised and it is indeed a good old piece!!

The piece of hotel silver on the old books is from the Gunter hotel in San Antonio. I grew up in SA, so it is a special piece for me from our collection. In our last house I kept it filled with river stones picked up from a stream in the Tetons in Wyoming. I grew up going to the Grand Tetons with my parents and the Tetons are very near and dear to my heart.

The blue and white antique temple jar is one of a pair. I collected blue and white Chinese ginger jars for many years, and then along the way I grew tired of them. Sometime last year my love for them was renewed, and I am so happy to see them all again!

Thanks for being back for the continuation of our adventure!
joan