River House Diary

I've begun styling the chest in the Foyer, using this lovely box made out of seashells from the Seashell Company . I still need to find my Julius Caesar bust and a small tray for car keys. Seashell box; personal collection

This morning the sod arrived for the back yard. They will be sodding the future patio until we can afford to have the pavers laid. Rolls of sod for the back yard; personal collection

North Carolina Governor, Roy Cooper, issued a statewide shelter-in-place executive order, which goes into effect tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. So I am practicing today by watching the sunrise from our screen porch. Sunrise over the Neuse River; personal collection However, my brother, Ted, and Pete were more productive. They moved several boxes from our storage unit and have almost emptied out our last unit (out of three). Hooray! Remaining items that we moved down three years ago from Virginia; personal collection

Our Ethan Allen Aiden Recliners arrived today. They are upholstered in Borini Straw and the lumbar pillows are from Loloi Rugs and no longer available on Hayneedle. The rug is also made by Loloi. Loloi Rugs decorative throw pillow; courtesy Hayneedle.com You can see the South Seas Bar Cart from Serena & Lily in the background. It used to live in our dining room in Virginia. New recliners for the Den; personal collection

Today the Tinsley Three-Drawer Dresser from Arhaus was delivered. Tinsley three-drawer Dresser; personal collection

Today I ironed and hung shower curtains in Bath 2, or our guest bath, and the bathroom upstairs. I continued to work on Bath 2, lining the drawers and shelves in the vanity and filling the etagere with bath accessories and supplies that may be needed by guests. Bath 2 vanity; personal collection Michael Aram Ocean Reef shower curtain in Seafoam; personal collection Etagere of bath accessories and supplies; personal collection This bathroom has a pocket door between the tub/shower and toilet and the vanity, which offers some additional privacy but makes the room feel somewhat smaller than it is.

Zuniga Interiors specified window treatments from The Shade Store throughout River House because we could purchase good quality shades and drapes online. However, Pete and I were worried about measuring accurately and hanging everything like a pro. So we asked our builder's interior designer about a workroom in the area we could use to fabricate our window treatments. She pointed us in the direction of McQueen's Interiors . Zuniga Interiors fabric selections for the Den; personal collection The solid ivory fabric on the far left was recommended for the drapes and the beige and ivory floral next to it for relaxed Roman shades. I am such a sucker for embroidered fabric that when I spotted one in my favorite Kravet fabric book, I was a goner. Beth at McQueens had already suggested using a solid for the shade so we could apply some pretty trim to the bottom edge. That meant we could use the embroidered fabric for drapes. I can't wait to see them on the windows! Rom

We were at  McQueen’s Interiors today finalizing our window treatments and I told Beth about our counter stool saga . She found this beauty — Capitola by Palecek . It’s very similar to the no longer available Ibiza from Williams Sonoma and eight-and-half inches wider than the counter stools we sent back to Serena & Lily. Plus with no arms, it can tuck under the island counter very nicely. Capitola 24” Stool by Palecek; courtesy of Palecek

We had the formal turning over of the house keys ceremony yesterday. We received a lot of nice parting gifts but this one was our favorite. Every once in a while we would receive a credit for something in the contract we decided not to do. Of course, the credits always went towards covering my overages much to Pete’s chagrin. He kept telling TAB he wanted his credits in “dead American presidents.” And he finally got his wish! Dead presidents refund; personal collection

Enjoying a cup of coffee in the mornings is so important to us that we traveled from New York with our coffee maker. It’s no surprise one of the priorities we set for River House was to have the furniture already purchased prior to moving in that would allow us to savor our coffee. Ted helped us set up the very heavy pine farm table from Williams Sonoma Home and the upholstered chairs from iNSPIRE Q Artisan that had been in our storage area since mid-November. Kitchen eat-in area; personal collection.

We’ve got the code to the garage doors and can begin moving in. We concentrated on getting the rugs down in the rooms we’re furnishing first — the Den, Kitchen, and Master Suite (bedroom, bath and closet). Pete and I could muscle all the rugs but one the 10- by 13-foot rug for the bedroom. My brother, Ted, to the rescue. He stopped by after work to see if we needed help. Opening the master bedroom rug; personal collection They also got the very heavy kitchen table assembled. Williams-Sonoma Harvest Dining Table ; personal collection

We brought two of our three counter stools to the walk-through yesterday as my knee was bothering me and Jane’s back was hurting. I relearned a very important lesson — always check the dimensions of furniture before ordering. The Serena & Lily Avalon Swivel Counter Stool was my third choice for stools for the kitchen island. After trying to sit in them, they are no choice at all. Typically dining chairs and stools are 18- to 20-inches wide. The Avalon is 16 inches and are a comfortable fit for only children as far as I’m concerned. Back to the drawing board... Avalon Swivel Counter Stools before being returned; personal collection

We walked-through the the house earlier today with Andy and Jane and created a punch list of small items that need to be finished or corrected. Overall, we are extremely pleased with how the house turned out. Master bath; personal collection

The no-see-um railings I love so much caused us to flunk the county inspection required to receive our certificate of occupancy. The fabricators were at River House correcting what turned out to be a minor issue due to a wrong measurement. And we received our certificate late yesterday. That sets off a chain of events — bank makes the final payment to our builder, our builder’s risk insurance policy gets converted to a homeowner’s policy. All that activity made Pete very happy. It means we are closer to getting our hands on the keys to the house. But for me, I got happy seeing so many pretty plants. Front foundation landscape; personal collection

No-see-ums aren’t always insects. Sometimes they are porch railings. Our builder designed these railings to impede the view of the river as little as possible. They were fabricated by American Marine & Fabricators in New Bern. The railings were powder coated RAL 5009 Azure Blue and the cables are stainless steel. Screen porch railings; personal collection

Flash sale websites are dangerous. This time Joss & Main got me with this cute little seagull. Seagull Cove I; courtesy of Joss & Main

I have strong opinions about the craziest things. Walkways to the front porch or front door are one such thing. First, they should be wide enough for two people to walk comfortably abreast — that’s at least 6 feet. If they start at the driveway, there should be a landing area where a guest’s car would typically park so they can step on it easily without worrying about “falling off” the driveway onto the grass or a plant bed. A luxury would be to have that landing area be large enough for a bench so that one’s guests can set packages or bags on the bench while gathering their other possessions. And most importantly, there are few straight lines in nature — so design a curved walkway. Imagine how pleased I was to see our new walkway yesterday morning. The Eastern Carolina Lawn Care crew ran out of daylight so it still needs sand between the pavers. Front walkway; personal collection

You have to love technology. I visited a website yesterday and discovered the chest for our Foyer was on sale. Today, that website sent an email telling me today was the last day my chest would be on sale. Pete and I were sitting in our car on a ferry in the middle of the Neuse River when I told him how slick that technology was following me around trying to close the sale. Pete said, “Buy it.” I didn’t ask twice. Tinsley Three-Drawer Dresser ; courtesy Arhaus I think it will look great under the mirror I scored on sale during the Cyber Monday sales along with a natural all-weather sisal right. We also sprung for a console table for the Great Room this month from Coastal Living. Escape Brown Long Key Console Table ; courtesy Bellacor