Oh, yes, Fall is supposed to be about new shows and new shoes, but a couple of folks have asked to see pictures of the house before we move. While I feel like it is all out there already, it is not all in one place. In fact, just putting this together required hunting and pecking through files and blog posts.
Here is my hand-drawn-not-to-scale and likely-inaccurate floor plan. I can’t really visualize houses based on floor plans, but I know some people can (like my husband) so I am including it to provide a little perspective for those who think that way. (What? You were expecting 1/4″ = 1′ and that super-cool architect’s handwriting? Honestly, I wish I worked like that.)
Front hall – Dash and Albert runner, do-it-yourself color blocks and the rug that Rosie wrecks every single day.
Coat closet – channeling Dorothy Draper. A tiny, little bit.
Powder room – this was a last minute spif.
Living room – I did a little shifting in the last few weeks. We purchased a new TV and the chest that was formerly here seemed like a better fit than what we had in the kitchen. Then the dominos began to fall. Dining room tables and mirrors moved here and the dining room was once again (always) barren and sad.
South view – and my favorite of the three configurations over ten years. Also, the briefest.
Office – Sorry, Toad, the rug is coming with.
The National Disaster that is my Dining Room.
Sitting area in the kitchen. That armoire is now upstairs holding books in the boys’ room. Was. The books are all packed. Mr. Blandings, in a move that rivals his rants about how many apples the boys eat, had groused a bit about the number of boxes of books that have been loaded into the container.
Kitchen eating area – with beloved Cherner chairs. They swivel. They are a bevy of gals with the nipped waists and the full skirts doing the twist. I adore them.
Kitchen bath – behind the door is a make-shift mudroom with cubbies and hooks. (Margaret Russell said once, somewhere, in relation to Steven Gambrel’s powder room in the last Sag Harbor house, that it is tricky to photograph bathrooms without showcasing the toilet. Clearly, I didn’t manage it; I’ve done it twice in one post.)
Our bedroom is sort of where furniture goes to die. It was always the step-child of the house.
These pictures were taken once we readied it for the buyers to see, so, per all how-to-sell-your-house tips, we had removed all personal pictures and items. It looks incredibly spare to me.
The sitting room – these chairs are basically staging. There were other, shabbier, more comfortable chairs in here to facilitate TV viewing that are now in the basement. I inherited these from a friend and this is the original upholstery. They will be recovered, someday, when we land in a new spot.
Master bath
with one sink. This was the only drawback that Mr. Blandings could find the first time he saw the house. Just this week, ten years later, he said, “It really wasn’t that big of a deal.”
This room has changed, as you may know, from nursery to teen-ager room. Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of the new set up before tear down.
Play room – I may live to stamp again. I loved this project.
The littler boys’ room,
dressing area
and bath.
Normally this is where we would start, out back, for drinks and snacks. The whole lot is a jumbly mess right now, so it is nice to see each room when it was at its best. We have not confirmed where we are going. Through the power of the universe and the internet we will be held at a friend’s who is on an adventure of her own. No better place to be on-hold than a spot where she coaxed me through the first stages of my oldest putting his toe outside the nest.
From there we will see what comes next.
Process, as is often the case, was the answer. A little like pregnancy in reverse, the unbuilding of the house eased the ache of leaving it behind. It was, in the end, four walls. As so many people had told me, the best of it went with us. It was the first house that I lived in that I had chosen myself; this may be the reason that I let it take on an unreasonable significance. Still, Rosie has lost four pounds in ten days so it is hard to ignore the fact that moving is stressful.
