River House Diary

I have been getting a lot of requests for photos of the rooms in our house. This probably isn't the room anyone wants to see, but the pantry is the closest to being finished. So that's what you will see! The pantry is accessible from the kitchen via a swing door. I chose to have glass installed in the top panel of the door to let more light into the kitchen as the pantry window is south facing. Pantry door from kitchen; personal collection I enlarged the pantry by two feet so it is 6 feet 10 inches deep. There is a U-shaped counter that is standard depth under the window but only 12 inches deep along the side walls. An Elkay stainless steel sink is under the window and this is where I hand wash my pots, pans and wine glasses. I am waiting on a woven Roman shade for the window and a fabric "skirt" under the sink to hide the plumbing and whatever cleaning supplies end up down there. The rug is a flatweave outdoor rug that matches the rug we have under our kitc...

My original plan for the Den was to frame Pete’s Dad’s important World War II medals and hang the three of them on the wall above the bar chart. Pete had another idea. And because of all the red and brown leather books on the shelves, it sort of works. It’s not coastal, but I don’t think every room has to be, especially if it doesn’t have a water view. This oversized glicee copy of Audubon’s Scarlet Ibis painting now hangs over the bar cart. I bought it several years ago to hang over the sofa in the den of our home in Oakton. Who knew It became one of Pete’s favorites? I found out when I tried putting it in the donate pile of art because the colors weren’t right. Scarlet Ibis glicee reproduction; personal collection And since we’ve introduced a little red and brown into the room, one of my favorites pieces — a Picasso sketch of a woman reading, probably done in his teens when he still created realist drawings and paintings. Picasso sketch; personal collection

I thought it would be a long time before we hung any art in the house. Pete hates hanging groupings more than he hates Ohio State University. (He’s a University of Michigan alumni.) But we’ve been in our attic for two days unpacking and cleaning all our artwork, which we haven’t seen for three years as we moved none of it to New York. We first had to decide if the art would work in our new house or if it needed to go. Several hard decisions later, we began thinking about where to hang individual pieces. An easy decision was the female nude by Raphael Soyer. It’s an unusual work for him as the painter and printmaker was known as one of the most important American scene painters. His detailed works of people and places in New York City are very well known. Our Soyer piece is much more intimate than his usual work. And because it is so intimate and we are living in the Bible Belt, we chose to hang it in our bathroom. Soyer lithograph in the toilet closet; personal collection T...

The chest  is from Arhaus and the mirror is from One Allium Way and was purchased from Wayfair, but I’ve talked about them before. Today, is a tiny little celebration that one small part of the house is done — styling the foyer chest. The chair is one of our kitchen bistro chairs from Williams Sonoma. I purchased extra for when we add the table leaf. Zuniga Interiors sent me suggestions for styling, which I mostly followed. I used coffee table books I’ve owned for years from some of my favorite designers because the colors were right. The seashell box is from the Seashell Company. The green tray is vintage Bordello Pinhiero pottery from Portugal. I love it because the pattern includes pineapples — a traditional symbol of welcome. I always like to have a tray in the foyer for keys and mail. Zuniga recommended a white or cream tray instead. The new items are: Dimond Home Jaffa, Large Vase  from Houzz. It is 15 inches height by 11 inches in diameter. The vase is navy...

The Serena & Lily South Seas Bar Cart I bought when we lived in Virginia now lives in the Den. I temporarily styled it yesterday. Since we spend our after dinner hours in the Den, it's no surprise this is the most completely decorated room in the house. And that's not saying much. We still need window treatments, art on the walls and a lamp for the table between our recliners. Bar cart in the Den; personal collection

I posted before about styling the bookcases in the den. I had all my leather books organized in a way I liked but I still needed to layer in decorative items and more books. That took some time. As we watched TV in the evenings, I would get an idea. Then, try it the next day. It took several iterations to get just right. Our interior designers will hate it because it’s not color coordinated with the room. They suggested buying books by the foot in certain colors. But I love books too much not to have my favorites on display. Styled bookcases in the Den; person collection

If you follow any designer blogs or read shelter magazines, you’ve likely heard of high-low design. It’s basically the mixing of higher end furnishings with less expensive items or decorative items. Our attempt at high-low design ended in failure. We paired cheap upholstered chairs  with a Williams Sonoma Home table and side chairs . After sitting in the Kimpton Upholstered Button Wingback Chairs for nearly a month, Pete and I were both complaining of sore backs. We decided they were about the most uncomfortable chairs in which we’d ever sat. This morning they got sent to the bedroom where their sole purpose will be to act as a valet stand for Pete’s clothes at night. Pete’s new valet stand; personal collection

Yesterday our the shutters for the two double windows on either side of the front porch were installed. We chose Bahama, or hurricane, shutters for light control and privacy. They were fabricated by Atlantic Breeze in Morehead City. We choose to have them powder coated in Azure to match the stair and screen porch railings. Close up of the storm shutter on the front bedroom window; personal collection Front facade of our house with storm shutters; courtesy Pete Dagutis

I have the throw pillows but no furniture on which to place them. The Shiloh Spool Chairs  from Ballard Designs are stuck in a J. B. Hunt warehouse. They have closed operations due to the coronavirus. I can't order my Oxford Small Sofa from Ethan Allen because they have closed their factory and shuttered all retail stores. So the pillows sit just waiting. Pillows for sofa and chairs; personal collection The bench for our bedroom we had reupholstered and the window seat cushion we had made for our closet are stuck at the workroom and cannot be delivered. No one is working on the window treatments we ordered for most of the windows in our house. And our sideboard was delivered to the furniture store, but it's closed now and cannot be delivered. Most importantly, everyone in my family is healthy and safe. That makes practicing patience easy. I hope everyone out there is also staying safe.

Clutter makes me antsy; so as we've been living in River House and I see opportunities to better organize, I jump on them. Most of my jewelry has been in storage for three years. After finding it, Pete and I spent a couple of hours untangling necklaces I haven't worn in years -- well, because they were so tangled. Etsy's TheKnottedWood store had the perfect solution! Now, my all the necklaces I am privileged to own have a home in our closet and will be so easy for me to select and wear! My necklaces hanging on the organizer from TheKnottedWood; personal collection

Our first Easter in River House was just plain weird as we are under the North Carolina governor's order to shelter in place. But Easter is one of the holidays I associate with cooking a special meal for family and so I did. The kitchen worked well. Both ovens were in use, so was the stovetop and microwave! I am far from a gourmet cook, so nothing was difficult to make and included many family favorites: Honey Baked Ham served at room temperature Baked Curried Fruit * (this fruit compote is best served on the dinner plate on or beside the ham) Sour Cream Potatoes with Cheese French's Green Bean Casserole Honey Glaze Carrots Mom's Cherry Crumble Squares   I baked the curried fruit and dessert on Friday as the fruit is one of those dishes that tastes better reheated. And made the potatoes and beans on Saturday. The carrots were made on the stovetop before dinner.

We are using the garage as a staging area for our boxes and bringing them into the house as we're ready to unpack them so we're not overwhelmed. The downside of this process is we're one of those families that believes garages are for cars, not to store stuff. Having the cars "live" in the driveway has been a trial, especially for Pete. One car in, one to go; personal collection So this morning was a milestone day -- one car now resides in the garage and one to go. And, yes, the Mayan fertility god (also known as a chainsaw carved pelican) made the move to North Carolina with us.

For the past three weeks, we've been using the kitchen island as the place to put things that were unpacked but needed to be cleaned. Yesterday, I cleaned everything remaining on the island and could begin to think about how to style the kitchen. But I am at a loss. Suggestions please. Kitchen perimeter wall; personal collection Refrigeration/pantry wall; personal collection So far, all I have achieved is adding faux green apples from Wayfair to an original piece of pottery we purchased at BLUSAIL GOLITZ STUDIO in Morehead City. Faux fruit in a bowl; personal collection

The night stands in our bedroom are quite small so there is not a lot of room for styling decorative items. The bud vase is from West Elm’s reactive glass collection and was $19. The greenery came from Walmart — their Artificial Eucalyptus Pod Spray . I used three. Faux florals in master bedroom; personal collection

As we begin to live in River House, the lack of counter stools became an issue. I usually sit at the counter when chopping produce while preparing our meals. While I love the Palecek Capitola , I didn't love the price. I thought I would try something less expensive and turned again to Serena & Lily. I chose their Riviera Sunwashed counter stool in Natural. Riviera Sunwashed Counter Stool; courtesy of Serena & Lily The price for the three counter stools I needed was less than two thirds the price of Palecek's Capitola. And the Serena & Lily website said the interior seat dimension was 18-1/2 inches -- 2-1/2 inches wider than the very uncomfortable Avalon . I was a bit skeptical the dimensions provided on the website were correct. The overall size was 18 inches wide by 23-1/2 inches deep by 42 inches high. Yet, the inner seat dimensions were listed as 18-1/2 inches wide by 15-1/2 inches deep. How could the inner seat be wider than the entire piece of furniture?...

The Ethan Allen Oxford Sofa we will be purchasing for the Great Room comes in three sizes and two seat depths, which are 21 or 25 inches: Oxford Grand Sofa -- 100 inches wide Oxford Sofa -- 88 inches wide Oxford Small Sofa -- 76 inches wide Sitters who slouch or those who like to curl up in a sofa will prefer the deeper seat depth. Those who sit upright, the 21-inch depth. Oxford Small Sofa in a Chance Natural (F3831)*; courtesy Ethan Allen So how to determine which width works best in our room? Because we are "floating" most of the furniture, I want to keep at least 2-1/2 to 3 feet for traffic flow through the room.  I make paper templates to figure out how new pieces of furniture will work in a room. Paper template of the Oxford Small Sofa; personal collection After testing the 88-inch and 76-inch sofa, using templates, we decided the 76-inch sofa worked best. It should be noted that the leather recliner is temporary and will not remain ...

I have been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to style the bookcases in the Den. Pete has organized all the DVDs in the drawers below, but the shelves are my territory. I once read somewhere that built-ins were not helpful when selling a house because many people didn't know what to do with them. I am not one of those people. When I style bookcases, there will be a lot of books. First step, add books; personal collection Yesterday, I accomplished the first step of styling bookcases -- add books. Today, I will begin layering in decorative items. I will also plead with Pete to better organize his electrical cords. I so hate those things! I parted company with Zuniga when styling these shelves. They wanted me to buy old books by the foot in specific colors. I could care less about the color of a book; do I love it and will I reread it? That's my only criteria for keeping a book and displaying it.

We have started unpacking the boxes we moved from Virginia three years ago when we sold our house. Yesterday evening I opened a box that said “Bath Stuff.” It was filled with rolls of toilet paper and hand towels. Who does something so silly? I do. And thank goodness I did. Toilet paper is practically impossible to find while we have all been ordered to stay at home in an effort to flatten the Coronavirus curve. A work friend would have said my past self was being good to my future self! Precious toilet paper; personal collection

Once we assembled the kitchen table, we knew the eat-in space would be cramped with a sideboard along the hall wall. So we centered the table and the electricians came out and installed our chandelier. Kitchen Chandelier; personal collection The  Kenroy Home Dumas 5-Light Brushed Steel Wood Bead Chandelier may be purchased at Home Depot.

Eastern Carolina Lawn Service finished laying the sod in our back yard Monday and were back yesterday morning cleaning up, planting a few more bushes and mulching. Master bedroom wing and our future patio; personal collection The retaining wall turned out great and we are very happy with it. Eventually there were be a patio on top of the retaining wall with a grill, bench seating, table and chairs and perhaps even some chaise lounges. But for now, we had sod installed. Belgard retaining wall; personal collection