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...