Monday 17 July 2017

Unpacking friends

Posted By: imamsahara 18:31:00 Leave a Reply

the breakfast nook

We have entered the more fun part of moving. The boxes are unpacked, the furniture is arranged, and now we can put up the wall decor. It's been 2 1/2 months since we put a contract on this house and a little over 2 weeks since we moved in, so I've had time to think about where I want to hang things. It's good to have my special 'friends' out where I can see them once again.

the black/brown/white quilt in the dining room

Both the breakfast nook quilt and the dining room quilt are again in the same rooms of that designation.

By the way, those packages on the table are the sheets for the bunk beds. The mattress covers are on order, expected to arrive mid-week. We will be pre-washing the sheets and then spend an afternoon 'dressing' the beds. Dontchaknow how fun it will be making up all those top bunks -- LOL!

the dog cookie jar is new/ the coffee sign has been with us a long time

We are enjoying the butler's pantry in this house because it gives Beloved lots of space for his Keurig coffee maker, resulting in much less 'traffic congestion' in the kitchen when I'm preparing breakfast.

some of my summer quilts on a ladder in the kitchen

These quilts are products from my sewing room when we lived in the house before The Brown Bungalow, so they are old friends. I am using them on this new ladder (purchased at Kirklands on sale last week) to hide a mess of cords for the computer, phone, clock radio, and toaster oven.

the master bedroom

My buddies from the quilting group at church in Colorado will recognize this quilt. We all made our own version of Fons and Porters "Thank You Stars." Not only am I using it on our master bed again in this house, but this room opens directing into the family room, so the quilt is truly on display at all times through a pair of French doors.

Mama's cedar chest

The Cook on Fifth Street gave me her cedar chest a couple of years ago, along with the goldie quilt she had bought second-hand. These things used to be in the family room but in this house they are in the master bedroom so we can sit on it to put on our shoes.

now and then

You may remember my uncomfortable predicament in early June when I was trying to take this large landscape picture down from the wall above our fire place in The Brown Bungalow. I couldn't get one side to release and Beloved was at the dentist so I had to leave it perched on the mantel until he got home.

Now it is hanging in the boys' dorm (the name we've given for the bedroom for our 6 grandsons). The decorating scheme for the boys' dorm is "nature" and the theme for the girls' dorm is "quilts."

the deck table at The Brown Bungalow

One friend that came with us to The Land of Flip Flops but is no longer with us is the beautiful deck table and chairs. We knew that this would be a tight fit on our much smaller covered lanai, but with all of our careful measuring, we had forgot that the columns supporting the roof on the lanai are huge, taking up precious footage on the patio floor. After the table was unloaded the day we moved in, it was clear we had no space for it. Happily, our realtor bought it from us, so it's gone to a good home.

But speaking of old friends, that term is not restricted to my home decor. I know all of you have been wondering if my 'staff' survived the trek down here, and especially since they had to travel in plastic bins in the moving truck, including a week or so of storage in Denver. Well. . . . .

heat stroke epidemic

The transition has been easier for some than for others. Grandad Bear, who is never without his trademark red wooly sweater, felt faint from the moment I unpacked him. He and several others have taken a hard hit with not only the heat but the humidity of our new home town.

Rent-a-Nurse attends to Grandad Bear

Fortunately, I packed Rent-a-Nurse in the same box with him and so she was readily available to minister to his needs. Lily, too, was at the ready since she had traveled in her nursing scrubs. They both helped me unpack a tower fan and aimed it at top speed in the direction of the makeshift infirmary. (Rent-a-Nurse and Lily took care of Grandad Bear after his knee replacement a few years ago. For pictures and more on that story, see the footnotes at the end of this post)

Rent-a-Nurse suggested the obvious, that Grandad Bear remove his red wooly sweater but he can be terribly stubborn at times and staunchly refused! His excuse is that he's taken it off only once before in his lifetime and it was awfully hard to pull it over his ears.

Mrs Berniece Mertz (our chef) and Mandy Sue, with
Eaves Dropping, Home and Garden editor of the Whistlestop Weekly

Mandy Sue, on the other hand, was feeling rather smug that she had allowed herself to be packed for the trip in a sleeveless frock that has allowed her to feel fresh and cool. The other ladies, too, were dressed more suitably for our change to a subtropical climate.

I'm thinking I'll need to be on the lookout for a tank top for Grandad Bear, and if that search proves fruitless, I'll make one for him. He will never survive in that sweater.

Seriously, we continue to settle in here and are loving just about everything about the move. My head is still sort of spinning that so much has taken place in such a short span of time but we've seen confirmations all along the way that this was indeed the right time to do it and the right destination. I will post better pictures of the house after more decorating is done.

Thank you for all of your positive comments along the way and your enthusiasm for the play-by-play blog posts about the move.

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