Inside of the House

A friend asked for some pictures of the inside of the house now that we've almost finished decorating. (There are pictures on the walls now, which is my definition of finishing decorating!)

Here's our living room. The rug is from Turkey; the picture is a framed piece of embroidery done by Palestinian refugees in Syria, who do craftwork to support themselves.

I would never in a million years thought to have painted the walls brown, but I love the warmth it gives the room so I'm glad it came that way.



The fireplace divides the living room from the kitchen and dining area. The rug is also from Turkey, and is one of my favorites. The picture doesn't show the warmth of the colors and the softness of the wool.



The dining area overlooks the pond. I love that rug that Boot the cat is sitting on. It's from a small village in Turkey that doesn't make rugs any more. I was at the rug dealer with a group of people, and when he brought it out, I couldn't believe no one else wanted it. My lucky day!



Below is a view back from the dining area toward the other side of the fireplace and the side of the kitchen. (The kitchen was a mess this morning so I didn't take that picture.)

The floors are the same throughout the house except in the bedrooms. The builder said it's not something he would do again, but we're glad he did it this time. They're from a stand of 100-year-old pine trees down the road from our house. He had them milled locally, and then finished on site. It's definitely not a perfect finish, but we love them.



It's hard to see but on the fireplace above is a stack of books, with a silver-colored pitcher on them. The pitcher came from Muslim pilgrims making their way from the mountainous country of Daghestan down through Syria and Jordan toward Saudi Arabia, heading for the pilgrimage, the Hajj. They stopped in several places along the way to sell things they had brought with them to finance their trip. The pitcher is crudely made, and certainly not worth even the few dollars we paid for it, but it was good to know we helped someone make the trip of a lifetime.

We've loved filling the house with mementos of our travels in that other life we lived. Now that we've settled down, hopefully for a good long while, we can still enjoy our past while we build our future.

I can't say I ever thought the future would hold a horse and goats, but that's the beauty of life -- there's always a surprise ahead!